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| 6 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spiritedaway.png]] |
| 7 | [[caption-width-right:350:''Somewhere a voice calls in the depths of my heart,\ |
| 8 | "Keep dreaming your dreams, don't ever let them part..."'']] |
| 9 | %% |
| 10 | ->''"Once you've met someone, you never really forget them; it just takes a while for your memories to return."'' |
| 11 | -->-- '''Zeniba''' |
| 12 | |
| 13 | Originally, ''Anime/PrincessMononoke'' was meant to be Creator/HayaoMiyazaki's swan song, but much to the delight of the anime world, he returned with a film that managed to top ''Princess Mononoke'''s staggering box-office numbers. This film, ''Spirited Away'' (''Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi'', ''Sen and Chihiro's Spiriting-Away''), is a symbolic and folkloric adventure film about a girl who enters the world of spirits. Comparable to ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'', she has to navigate a place that adheres only to its own odd rules if she wishes to leave safely. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Chihiro Ogino (Rumi Hiiragi), a sullen young girl unwillingly moving to a new town, is stranded in the spirit world after her parents (Takeshi Naito and Yasuko Sawaguchi) stop by what appears to be an abandoned amusement park and eat food that turns them into pigs. At first, her only aid is Haku (Creator/MiyuIrino), a mysterious boy who finds her shelter and a job in a bathhouse that caters to these spirits. Eventually, Chihiro makes more friends as she searches for a way to make her parents human again and escape the spirit world before she forgets her real identity. And that's all just within the first 30(ish)-minutes of the movie--and that doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the odd denizens of the spirit world, ranging from the villainous bathhouse managing witch Yubaba (Mari Natsuki) to arachnid worker Kamajii (Bunta Sugawara) to the enigmatic, near-voiceless spirit No-Face (Akio Nakamura). |
| 16 | |
| 17 | The film also stars Tsunehiko Kamijo as Chichiyaku and Takehiko Ono as the Aniyaku. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | ''Spirited Away'' was released in its home country on July 20, 2001, and an English dub conducted by Disney came to the United States on September 20, 2002. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | The film was an immediate hit in both Japan and America, and was the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time for almost two decades, grossing a total of 31.68 billion yen ($304.2 million), until it was topped by ''[[Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train]]'' in 2020. It also won the MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestAnimatedFeature, making it the first traditionally animated film, anime film, and non-English-language animated film to do so. This victory was especially noteworthy as the Oscars tend to favor [[AllCGICartoon CGI]] and/or American productions. It would hold the record of being the only anime film to win the Oscar in that category until Miyazaki won again for 2023’s ''Anime/TheBoyAndTheHeron''. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | In 2019, ''Spirited Away'' was granted a re-release in Chinese theaters, and [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff managed to outgross]] [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/spirited-away-release-crushes-toy-story-4-at-chinese-box-office-1220251 the opening box office]] of the then-newly-released ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'', even with it being an 18-year-old film at the time. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | A 2022 ScreenToStageAdaptation premiered in Tokyo, under the direction of English stage director John Caird. It is notably the ''third'' Ghibli film to receive a stage adaptation, following ''Anime/KikisDeliveryService'' and ''Anime/PrincessMononoke''. It was released theatrically in North America on April 23-27 by Creator/{{GKIDS}} (the current North American distributor of Studio Ghibli's library). |
| 26 | |
| 27 | [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with the Australian TV show]] ''Series/{{Spirited}}'', the 1974 film ''Swept Away'', that film's 2002 remake[=/=]Music/{{Madonna}} vehicle, the [[Fanfic/SpiritedAway2012 2012 fanfic]], or the [[Creator/DreamworksAnimation DreamWorks]] film ''WesternAnimation/SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron''. |
| 28 | ---- |
| 29 | !!This film provides examples of: |
| 30 | |
| 31 | * ActorAllusion: "I'll miss you, Chihiro. Your best friend, Rumi." (In the original Japanese dub, Chihiro is voiced by Rumi Hiiragi.) |
| 32 | * AdultsAreUseless: Chihiro's parents see nothing peculiar about a beautiful spread of fresh food in a completely empty city on the other side of an abandoned tunnel. Despite their daughter's protests, they decide to dig in while Chihiro wanders around by herself. Unfortunately for them, [[spoiler:the food is intended for gods and spirits, and it turns them into pigs.]] |
| 33 | * AfterlifeExpress: The train that Chihiro takes [[spoiler: in order to reach Zeniba's residence]] is meant for the dead who are moving onto the next life; every other passenger besides Chihiro and her companions is a phantom. |
| 34 | * AlwaysIdenticalTwins: [[spoiler: Yubaba]] is eventually revealed to have a twin sister named [[spoiler:Zeniba]]--while they ''look'' exactly alike, they are the closest things that the movie has to a BigBad and a BigGood, respectively. |
| 35 | * AmbiguouslyHuman: Some of the spirit world's denizens, such as Lin and Haku, look nigh indistinguishable from normal humans. However, even the more humanoid looking spirits have traits and attributes (subtle or otherwise) that make it clear that they're something else entirely. |
| 36 | * AnimalMotifs: |
| 37 | ** All the bathhouse workers are animal spirits. The frog spirits are particularly common, and easy to identify by their upturned lips and wide, wide-set eyes. The Yuna, (hot water women) are the spirits of slugs and snakes, hence their long faces. |
| 38 | ** [[DeadpanSnarker Lin]] is a [[AsianFoxSpirit fox spirit]] who has a knack for nabbing food and avoiding getting in trouble. |
| 39 | ** Yubaba can turn into a giant corvid, a family of birds that has a reputation for being cunning, ominous omens of death and destruction. As corvids can prey on the dead, Yubaba takes advantage of people in the spirit world by stealing their names and enslaving them to her for as long as they are unable to remember their full names. |
| 40 | ** The six-armed Kamaji, with his fuzzy mustache and black sunglasses, is reminiscent of a spider, and takes inspiration from a tsuchigumo, a spider {{yokai}}. |
| 41 | * TheAssimilator: After No-Face [[spoiler:eats Aogaeru, a frog bathhouse worker,]] he is able to speak using the worker's voice and even gains a pair of frog legs. He later loses these attributes after [[spoiler:the river kami's medicine causes him to barf the frog back up.]] |
| 42 | * AuthorAppeal: |
| 43 | ** A [[PluckyGirl determined heroine]], a flood, young love, flying sequences, precipitous heights, gorging on food, and pigs. |
| 44 | ** Miyazaki also loves his environmental messages, and this film has two big, though subtle, examples. The first is when [[spoiler:Chihiro cleanses the river kami after their river was heavily polluted and filled with garbage.]] The second is when [[spoiler: Chihirio remembers Haku's full name, which reminds them both that he is the kami of the Kohaku River, which had been built over years ago.]] |
| 45 | * AwardBaitSong: "Itsumo Nando Demo" (''Always With Me'') by Youmi Kimura, which was originally written for ''Rin the Chimney Sweeper,'' before that project fell through. Miyazaki supposedly listened to the song constantly while working on ''Spirited Away''. |
| 46 | * BadBlackBarf: [[spoiler:No-Face]] starts coughing up and drooling black barf (among other things) after [[spoiler:Chihiro gives him half the river god's medicine.]] |
| 47 | * BaitAndSwitch: The deserted town that the Ogino family encounters after coming out the other side of the tunnel is initially given a not insignificant amount of focus. (Mrs. Ogino explains that it was probably made before the Japanese recession and thus quite old, but Chihiro isn't impressed because the whole place is giving her bad vibes.) However, once the plot really kicks off, the bathhouse that Chihiro stumbles upon serves as the sole focal point for most of the adventure. |
| 48 | * BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: |
| 49 | ** WordOfGod states that this is the reason No-Face, after she lets him into the bathhouse, follows Chihiro around and keeps trying to offer her things--such as the bath tokens and gold--when he meets up with her again later. |
| 50 | ** It's also implied that this is why Kamaji is willing to help Chihiro out so much--she saves a Soot Spirit that is crushed under the weight of his coal and finishes the job for him, proving that she is both kindhearted and willing to do the necessary work. |
| 51 | ** Likewise, Chihiro does all she can [[spoiler:to serve the stink spirit: she uses the tokens that No-Face procures for her, spots the thorn in his side, and then shouts for everyone to help, leading a ChainOfPeople to pull it out with a rope. This cleanses the spirit of a veritable mountain of junk, revealing him to be a formerly polluted river kami. In return, the kami acknowledges her with a "Well done," and rewards her with a medicinal cake that becomes absolutely instrumental later.]] |
| 52 | * BellyMouth: No-Face is revealed to have one [[spoiler: when he swallows a bathhouse worker whole.]] |
| 53 | * BigEater: |
| 54 | ** Both of Chihiro's parents, (her dad in particular) develop ravenous appetites when they discover the food laid out in the abandoned town. |
| 55 | ** Boh, [[spoiler:or rather the three heads transformed to look like him,]] wolfs down copious chocolates. |
| 56 | ** No-Face, who devours a ludicrous amount of food at the bathhouse and [[spoiler: [[ExtremeOmnivore swallows several people whole.]]]] When Chihiro finally faces him, it's in a room filled to the brim with mountains of food. |
| 57 | * BigSisterInstinct: Lin becomes quite protective of Chihiro over the course of the film. |
| 58 | -->'''Lin:''' Don't worry... stay right where you are, I'm coming to get you! You're gonna be fine, I won't let [the Stink Spirit] hurt you.\ |
| 59 | '''Lin:''' No-Face! If you put even one scratch on that girl, you're in big trouble! |
| 60 | * BirdRun: Haku can move so fast that he hovers inches above the ground as he does so. |
| 61 | * BittersweetEnding: |
| 62 | ** Chihiro [[spoiler:restores her parents to human form and returns to the real world, but it's implied that she loses her memories of the spirit world afterward.]] |
| 63 | ** The English dub hints that [[spoiler:Chihiro ''does'' or ''will'' remember some of her adventure; when her father remarks starting life in a new home and school can be scary, Chihiro replies, "I think I can handle it," suggesting that she maintains her memories (or at least the confidence she gained) from her trip to the spirit world.]] |
| 64 | ** In either case, it's implied that [[spoiler:Chihiro won't be able to go back to see Haku or any of the other friends she made on her adventure until her own life comes to an end.]] |
| 65 | * BloodFromTheMouth: [[spoiler:Haku, due to the effects of Zeniba's curse. This makes sense given he swallows her seal;]] Kamaji observes he is bleeding from the ''inside''. |
| 66 | * BlueAndOrangeMorality: A given, considering the [[{{Youkai}} setting]] [[TheFairFolk of the story]]. [[spoiler:Chihiro's parents are turned into pigs for the crime of eating food intended for the gods, and Yubaba nearly slaughters them when Chihiro's final confrontation with No-Face leaves the bathhouse in catastrophic disarray.]] |
| 67 | * BlushSticker: Chihiro sports these throughout the entire film. |
| 68 | * BodyWipe: Near the beginning with Chihiro's dad, when he finds the restaurant that's the source of the delicious smell. |
| 69 | * BookEnds: The film begins and ends with [[spoiler:Chihiro clutching her mother's arm as they follow her father through the tunnel. Her mother even chides Chihiro both times to not hold on so tight--that she'll make her trip.]] |
| 70 | * BoyMeetsGhoul: Chihiro, a normal everyday human girl, and Haku, a person of the spirit world [[spoiler:(who turns out to be a river spirit).]] |
| 71 | * ButtMonkey: The little green frog man, Aogaeru. He is magicked by Haku, he faints when the Stink Spirit gets too close, and then he is [[spoiler: eaten by No-Face.]] |
| 72 | * CainAndAbel: [[spoiler: Yubaba plays the Cain to her twin sister's Abel. [[DownplayedTrope Somewhat downplayed]] in that, while Yubaba commands Haku to steal a gold seal with Zeniba's name on it in order to gain power over her, she doesn't appear to explicitly want to ''hurt'' her sister. Likewise, while she is the wronged party, Zeniba doesn't let her sister ''or'' Haku get away with such a theft unchallenged or without retribution.]] |
| 73 | * CaptainObvious: Chihiro says a few obvious things in the Japanese version. The English dub adds several more examples, albeit some ("It's a bathhouse," for example) for the sake of clarity for a non-Japanese audience (as a Japanese audience, even if they didn't recognize what the bathhouse was by its appearance, would be able to read the sign above its entrance identifying what it was). |
| 74 | * CatharticCrying: When [[spoiler:Haku reunites Chihiro with her parents after their transformation, reminds her of her real name and offers her something to eat away from the bathhouse,]] she eats and bawls her heart out, finally getting to decompress after her trauma. Notably, she is mentally in a much healthier place afterwards and has even regained some hope. |
| 75 | * CentralTheme: |
| 76 | ** The changes that come with growing up. Chihiro is introduced dealing with moving away from her old friends and into a new house in a new city, a dilemma ''dwarfed'' by everything that she experiences in the spirit world. |
| 77 | ** The importance of names. Chihiro's name is turned to Sen when she's "hired" by Yubaba, and Haku forgot his name [[spoiler:(the Kohaku River) when said river was built over.]] Neither character can leave Yubaba's service without recovering their "names", i.e. true lives and identities. |
| 78 | * CharacterDevelopment: Chihiro inspires this in near everyone she interacts with. Kamaji is initially brusque with her, but becomes much warmer when she proves herself to him. Lin first sees her as a burden at best, but eventually becomes very protective of her. [[spoiler:Chihiro leaves No-Face in a better place than she found him, and inspires Boh to become more independent, which plants the seeds for his and Yubaba's relationship with each other to improve. In hindsight, she even seems to have this effect on Haku. When she asks Lin about him, she describes him as cold and untrustworthy; one can infer that he ''was'' like that, but meeting Chihiro inspires him to be more open.]] |
| 79 | * ChekhovsBoomerang: [[spoiler: The medicine from the water kami helps cure Haku's injuries ''and'' frees No-Face from the bathhouse's influence by expelling from him all the food (and people) he's eaten.]] |
| 80 | * ChekhovsGun: Chihiro's farewell card helps her remember her full name after Yubaba takes it. |
| 81 | * ChekhovsGunman: No-Face's first appearance is seemingly as just another "face" in a crowd of equally strange spirits. Once Chihiro lets him into the bathhouse, he becomes much more relevant. |
| 82 | * ComeWithMeIfYouWantToLive: When Haku finds Chihiro again, he keeps her from disappearing and leads her to the bathhouse so she can procure a job and avoid a terrible fate. |
| 83 | * ComfortingComforter: Kamaji does this when Chihiro falls asleep in the boiler room. Guess he's [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold not such a bad guy]] after all. D'aaaw... |
| 84 | * ComfortFood: Onigiri is Japanese soul food; Chihiro has some and takes a moment to cry the night after her incredibly hectic and hazardous introduction to the spirit realm. |
| 85 | * ComingOfAgeStory: Chihiro's experiences in the spirit world build her confidence and let her best qualities rise to the surface in service of her [[spoiler:saving her parents and making it back home.]] |
| 86 | * ConverseWithTheUnconscious: Chihiro tells [[spoiler: an unconscious Haku]] that she is leaving [[spoiler:to return the golden seal to Zeniba]] and that he has to get better. Later when he wakes up, he reveals to Kamaji that he heard Chihiro's voice and followed it until he woke up. |
| 87 | * CoolBigSis: Lin, despite her initially cold reception of Chihiro, develops into this as she warms up to the girl. |
| 88 | * CounterfeitCash: Once he's inside, No-Face uses illusory gold to pay for services in the bathhouse, having witnessed the workers scrambling over the [[spoiler:River Kami's]] gold. After Chihiro successfully [[spoiler: manages to get No-Face out of the bathhouse]], all of the gold No-Face gave out crumbles to dirt. |
| 89 | * CultureChopSuey: The [[SceneryPorn bathhouse and spirit world overflow with every imaginable cultural and aesthetic detail]], from [[FeudalJapan the feudal ages]] to mid-twentieth century Japan. (With the purposeful exception of {{Samurai}} or [[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan soldiers]].) |
| 90 | * CuteClumsyGirl: Chihiro repeatedly trips, stumbles, and crashes into things at first, but she gets better over time. She all but ''flies'' down the wooden staircase to the boiler room at the beginning of the film, but she later manages to run across a ''pipe'' to safety before it detaches from the building almost under her feet. |
| 91 | * CuteMonsterGirl: |
| 92 | ** Despite being a fox spirit, Lin looks indistinguishable from a human; some fans have theorized she may have once, indeed, been human and been in the same situation as Chihiro. |
| 93 | ** Haku is a male example: he presents as a [[Bishonen young boy]] about Chihiro's age. [[spoiler:In his true form, he's a dragon.]] |
| 94 | * DarkIsNotEvil: A few spirits are helpful to Chihiro initially--most notably Haku, Lin and Kamaji--but many others warm up to her and start to like her over the course of the film. |
| 95 | ** No-Face is initially somewhat spooky, [[spoiler:and temporarily develops into a rather terrifying HumanoidAbomination, but in the end, all he needed was a healthy, loving environment.]] |
| 96 | * DarkWorld: After dark, the abandoned city becomes a hub for spirits and gods. |
| 97 | * DeadpanSnarker: Most of Lin's lines are sarcastic or snide. Especially the ones directed at Kamaji or, initially, Chihiro. |
| 98 | * DigitalDestruction: The first DVD release of ''Spirited Away'' in Japan had a red tint added to it. |
| 99 | * DirectionlessDriver: Chihiro's father loses his way, which is what brings the family to the hidden derelict town in the first place. |
| 100 | * {{Disneyfication}}: the film seems to take some cues from a rather grisly Japanese fairy tale "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shita-kiri_Suzume Shita-kiri Suzume]]" but employs a much LighterAndSofter presentation and resolution. |
| 101 | * DisproportionateRetribution: Chihiro's parents eat food that's left out in the open in unattended booths (that look just like food service stalls) and are fully willing to pay for it when the owner returns. So naturally they [[spoiler:deserve to be turned into pigs. (Of course, Humans might consider it Disproportionate Retribution, but seeing as this is a common theme in stories among [[TheFairFolk fairies and spirits]], such beings [[BlueAndOrangeMorality usually do not.]] If it wasn't a [[FoodChains trap]] in the first place.)]] |
| 102 | * TheDissenterIsAlwaysRight: Chihiro and her parents come across an abandoned town. In that town, there's a spread of freshly made food that smells so delicious that her parents start digging in. Chihiro protests that they shouldn't because they might get in trouble, but they don't pay her any mind and continue eating. [[KarmicTransformation This winds up turning them into pigs]] because the food wasn't meant for humans. |
| 103 | * DistressedDude: [[spoiler:Haku]] is heavily injured from [[spoiler:Zeniba]]'s spell, and needs both [[spoiler:[[ChekhovsGun the medicine from the river kami]]]] and Chihiro's [[ThePowerOfLove care]] to save him. |
| 104 | * DontLookBack: Chihiro is instructed not to look back [[spoiler:when she leaves the spirit. She ''nearly'' turns when she's almost out, but she resists the temptation.]] |
| 105 | * DownTheRabbitHole: The long, dark tunnel Chihiro's family traverses in order to reach the empty city [[spoiler: and return home.]] |
| 106 | * DragonRider: Chihiro briefly gets to take a ride on [[spoiler:the dragon Haku.]] |
| 107 | * DubSpeciesChange: The English translation of the artbook for the movie refers to Lin as a weasel spirit, when she's a [[AsianFoxSpirit fox spirit]] in the Japanese version. |
| 108 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: Chihiro has to go through some significant hardship in order to stay alive and save her loved ones. [[spoiler:Seeing her parents [[ForcedTransformation transformed]] working in the bathhouse, dealing with No-Face, freeing Haku and rescuing her parents shapes her into a more confident person along the way. The English dub even ends with her reassuring her father that she can handle her new school.]] |
| 109 | * EatenAlive: [[spoiler:No-Face swallows three of the bathhouse employees once he succumbs to the its influence. Fortunately, Chihiro's medicine makes him cough them up. (Along with everything else he's eaten.)]] |
| 110 | * EccentricMentor: [[spoiler:Yubaba's twin sister Zeniba is a friendly witch who offers some sage advice to Chihiro during her stay.]] |
| 111 | * EmotionEater: WordOfGod has stated that the reason [[spoiler: No-Face goes on a rampage is that he feeds on the emotions of those around him. In the bathhouse's case, {{Greed}}.]] Good thing it isn't permanent. |
| 112 | * EndOfAnAge: There's a subtle theme of cultural traditions eroding: Chihiro doesn't recognize roadside shrines or understand the traditional etiquette, and the formerly [[{{Reincarnation}} two-way]] AfterlifeExpress now only goes in one direction. The [[ImageSong image album]] has the workers lament that fewer and fewer gods show up every year, as they're slowly dying out because "-there are no gods in electric things". |
| 113 | * EnigmaticMinion: Haku is bound to Yubaba's service, but helps Chihiro whenever no one else is around to see. |
| 114 | * EstablishingCharacterMoment: After Haku gives Chihiro the berry to stop her from disappearing and to prove that it worked, they gently touch hands. It's a blink-and-you-miss moment, but [[TheStoic Haku's]] tender expression makes Haku's true nature clear to the audience. |
| 115 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Yubaba genuinely cares about her infant son. She spoils him rotten and [[spoiler:absolutely ''loses it'' when she discovers he's missing.]] |
| 116 | * EverybodyHasStandards: Yubaba spitefully claims she's going to punish Chihiro the state she left the bathhouse in [[spoiler: even though part of that was due to her luring No-Face away) by having her [[{{Pun}} piggish]] parents slaughtered and made into food. Her employees, upon hearing this, appear distraught and rather disturbed at the idea. Thankfully for Chihirio, Haku has a bargaining chip.]] |
| 117 | * EverybodyHelpsOutDenouement: Although they are initially content to sit back and watch her suffer, the denizens of the bathhouse band together to help Chihiro with the stink monster. Kamaji gives her the train ticket she needs to undo a curse. Later, a group of characters who were all originally hostile to Chihiro work together to make her a protective charm. |
| 118 | * EvilTwin: Played with in the case of [[spoiler:Yubaba and Zeniba. Zeniba claims that the two of them are opposites in every way. Zeniba ''did'' lay a curse on the seal Haku stole and threatens Chihiro in order to keep her quiet, but she is ultimately a kind old woman, especially compared to her much more abrasive and greedy twin.]] |
| 119 | * ExpressiveHair: Chihiro's hair tends to spike up whenever something startles her, or just freaks her out in general. |
| 120 | * ExpressiveMask: No-Face's mask to some extent; it almost seems to smile or frown from time to time. The artists noted that they wish they'd been able to rely on lighting a little more to set his mood instead. |
| 121 | * {{Expy}}: |
| 122 | ** Yubaba shares more than few similarities with the Duchess from "Literature/AliceInWonderland". Both are older ladies who have grotesquely gigantic heads, both are mean and bad tempered, both care immensely (and unhealthily) for a huge, spoiled baby who is actually happier to be transformed into a simpler creature, and both can turn people into pigs. The Duchess, when first met, is grumpy and grouchy, but the second time, in the Queen of Hearts' party, she is almost uncomfortably friendly to Alice. [[spoiler:Yubaba and Zeniba may not be the same person, but they do look the same and are exact opposites in terms of personality.]] |
| 123 | * FacialFacade: Implied with No-Face, who has what appears to be a white mask for a face. |
| 124 | * TheFairFolk: The whole film (and the abandoned town) is built around a traditional FairyTale portrayal of {{Youkai}}. |
| 125 | * FeudalJapan: Though the time period of the "human world" is the modern day, the spirit world has this aesthetic to it, from the clothing of its people to the architecture of the buildings. |
| 126 | * FillingTheSilence: Quite a bit in the English dub; background chatter was added to otherwise quiet scenes and a few ad-libbed lines were thrown in. |
| 127 | * FineYouCanJustWaitHereAlone: Chihiro originally refuses to accompany her parents into the empty amusement park, but follows when they decide to go on ahead anyway. |
| 128 | * FishOutOfWater: Humans like Chihiro are detested in the spirit world, partly because they smell funny to ''kami'' (spirits). |
| 129 | * FlightOfRomance: In the climax between [[spoiler:Haku and Chihiro. Although it temporarily turns into a FreeFallRomance before turning back into a FlightOfRomance again once Haku recovers.]] |
| 130 | * FoodChains: Chihiro's [[GenreBlindness parents]] wind up making a big mistake by eating food that isn't for them. Chihiro, contrarywise, must eat a morsel of the spirit world's food in order to avoid fading away. |
| 131 | * FoodPorn: Typical for films directed by Miyazaki; this one ''begins'' with a suspiciously delicious looking banquet waiting in the empty amusement park, and it's designed to make viewers' mouths water. |
| 132 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 133 | ** [[spoiler: The cleansed river spirit moves through the air in a sinuous, looping motion reminiscent of flowing water. Haku's dragon form emulates this style of movement in flight; he is revealed to be a river spirit as well.]] |
| 134 | *** [[spoiler:When the Stink Spirit first appears, Yubaba finds its behavior familiar and suspects there is more too it than its appearance would suggest. She's proven correct when its MuckMonster body is revealed to be an outer-shell for a dragon-like River Spirit. This makes sense in hindsight, as she'd encountered a very similar spirit at least once before: Haku.]] |
| 135 | ** Chihiro's father can be heard snorting as he eats in the English dub, which works to subtlety foreshadow his and Chihiro's mother's fate. |
| 136 | * ForcedTransformation: |
| 137 | ** [[spoiler: Chihiro's parents and presumably other humans are turned into pigs. They show no sign of being anything more than mud-rolling animals after.]] |
| 138 | ** [[spoiler:Zeniba turns Boh (Yubaba's son and Zeniba's nephew) into a mouse and Yubaba's servant into a tiny bird.]] When Chihiro later asks her to change them back, she says that the spell has worn off in the interim, and they can change back any time they want. |
| 139 | * ForgottenFirstMeeting: [[spoiler:Haku, a river spirit, saved Chihiro when she fell into his river as a child. Chihiro remembers this as they're [[FlightOfRomance flying back to the bathhouse together near the end of the film]], recovering Haku's full, true name.]] |
| 140 | * FrogMen: Yubaba's male workers range from somewhat froggish-looking humanoid men to complete frogs. |
| 141 | * FunnyBackgroundEvent: Lin is a little annoyed that Yubaba doesn't compliment ''her'' after they help the stink spirit. |
| 142 | * {{Geas}}: Yubaba swore an oath that binds her to employ anyone who asks her for a job. She doesn't like it. And, as detailed in LoopholeAbuse below, she tries to weasel her way out of hiring humans. However, she eventually concedes when Chihiro insists. |
| 143 | * GenericCuteness: Chihiro was specifically designed to ''avoid'' this trope, as Hayao Miyazaki has complained about how a plain or unattractive male character can still be the star, but female characters all have to be cute to be the protagonist. |
| 144 | * GentleGiant: The Great Radish Spirit is gigantic, but comes across as gentle and supportive, even without saying a word. |
| 145 | * GettingEatenIsHarmless: [[spoiler:No-Face, after Chihiro feeds him the river spirit's medicine, throws up everything and everyone he ate.]] They are all none the worse for the experience. |
| 146 | * GhostTown: At first. By day, the bath house and thesurrounding village look like an abandoned amusement park. Then night falls. |
| 147 | * GiantFlyer: |
| 148 | ** [[spoiler:Haku and the purified river spirit]] are huge, serpentine dragons that can fly through the air the way fish swim through water. [[spoiler: In this form, Haku flies Chihiro back to the bathhouse towards the end of the film.]] |
| 149 | ** Yubaba can drape herself in her cloak and fly like a very large bird. |
| 150 | ** During the [[spoiler:cleansing of the River Spirit]], Yubaba demonstrates an ability to float in mid-air; given her enormous head, she might qualify for this trope. |
| 151 | * GiantSpider: Kamaji's eight limbs bring to mind a spider, or opilione, also known as harvestmen or daddy longlegs. |
| 152 | * GluttonousPig: [[spoiler:Chihiro's parents turn into pigs after gorging themselves on the spirits' food.]] |
| 153 | * GoldFever: All of the employees at the bathhouse go crazy trying to scoop up all the gold that No-Face drops. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be enough to cover the resulting damages, even if it hadn't all been made of dirt.]] |
| 154 | * {{Gonk}}: |
| 155 | ** Yubaba, her baby, and [[spoiler:her sister.]] There are two scenes with Yubaba nose-to-nose with more properly proportioned characters, and her head is taller than Haku's head and torso combined. |
| 156 | ** The Great Radish Spirit. He has stubby little root-fingers, a face like conjoined elephant twins, and... [[BrainBleach radish nipples]]. |
| 157 | * GoodSmokingEvilSmoking: Yubaba smokes a cigarette and exhales billowing clouds of smoke right into [[SecondFaceSmoke Chihiro's face]]. [[spoiler:Her nicer sister Zeniba is not seen smoking.]] |
| 158 | * GratuitousEnglish: In the original Japanese-language dub, Kamaji wishes Chihiro "Good luck!" in English as she leaves the boiler room to seek a job from Yubaba. |
| 159 | * GrayAndGrayMorality: One of the main themes of this movie is the blurred line between good and evil. Even Yubaba, the closest thing the film has to a villain, can act fairly and dearly loves her son, Boh. |
| 160 | * TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: After [[spoiler: Chihiro's parents are turned back into humans, they have absolutely no recollection of what happened and thus have no idea what their daughter went through in order to save them. Even if Chihiro keeps her memories and is the only member of her family who knows the truth, we may safely assume that nobody would believe her.]] |
| 161 | * {{Greed}}: The greed for gold that the bathhouse employees exhibited [[spoiler:influences No-Face to conjure up gold and go on a monstrous binge that includes three bathhouse workers.]] |
| 162 | * GreenAesop: |
| 163 | ** This movie has an unusually subtle one for Miyazaki: a "stink spirit" comes to visit the bathhouse, and the bathhouse workers try to turn him away because he is so rank. [[spoiler:The "stink spirit" is actually the spirit of a polluted river. After Chihiro gives him a bath and de-pollutes him with the others' help, he rewards Chihiro with the medicine that later helps both Haku and No-Face.]] |
| 164 | ** The spirit of the Kohaku River ([[spoiler:Haku]]) was enslaved and forgot his identity after that river was filled in by humans. |
| 165 | * TheGrotesque: |
| 166 | ** [[spoiler:The silent spirit No-Face is shunned by everyone but Chihiro, who treats him with kindness. He later begins swallowing up spirits, which bloats him into an obese, multi-limbed creature. Only medicine from Chihiro is able to undo his corruption.]] |
| 167 | ** The Radish Spirit is a big, floppy, vaguely obscene-looking example of this trope -- as well as TheSpeechless and a GentleGiant. On the other hand, he doesn't suffer the social ostracism usually associated with TheGrotesque. |
| 168 | * GrowingUpSucks: Subverted. Chihiro acts sulky at first, but then as the film goes on she is revealed to be more mature and resourceful than she initially appears. |
| 169 | * HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: A non-lethal example; [[spoiler:when Dragon Haku destroys Zeniba's enchanted shikigami, her projection cartoonishly splits in half before fading away.]] |
| 170 | -->[[spoiler:'''Zeniba:''']] Ow, a paper cut! |
| 171 | * HandsLookingWrong: After Chihiro has been in the spirit world too long, she notices that her hands are becoming translucent, and more and more she's vanishing. Naturally, she starts to panic about this before Haku arrives and gives her some spirit food to insure that she won't disappear. |
| 172 | * HeadbuttOfLove: Chihiro and Haku touch forehead while [[FreeFallRomance free-falling]] through the sky. |
| 173 | * HeroicBystander: Believe it or not, the Soot Spirits get to be this! When [[spoiler:Zeniba's]] cursed slug tries to escape, the little balls of soot team up to block their tunnels, keeping the creature from getting away and allowing Chihiro to kill it. |
| 174 | * HighPressureBlood: A small amount spouts out of the [[spoiler:River Spirit]] after Sen pulls the last of the junk out of him. |
| 175 | * HoldingHands: Chihiro and Haku do a lot of this, complete with IntertwinedFingers. It's most appropriate considering their young age. |
| 176 | * HumansAreSmelly: Most everyone in the bathhouse remarks on the "human stink" on Chihiro, some suggesting it's bad for business. |
| 177 | * {{Hypocrite}}: Maybe unintentional, but when Chihiro first goes to Yubaba asking for a job, she initially refuses, saying that Chihiro is, "A spoiled, lazy crybaby and you have no manners!" and shortly after this is interrupted by her baby, who fits her description of Chihiro pretty much perfectly. Furthermore, she criticizes her employees for being greedy and attracting the wrong type of customer, when greed is pretty much her sole defining characteristic. |
| 178 | * IGaveMyWord: This actually happens ''twice'' in the span of ten minutes at the climax of the story. First, [[spoiler:Boh tries to convince Yubaba to release Chihiro and her parents without testing Chihiro, and she almost considers it; however, Chihiro insists that she be tested, saying that a deal is a deal (even though she is not the one who actually made the deal). Second, Chihiro ends up passing the test, despite the fact that Yubaba made it extra tricky (she has to identify her parents in a large group of pigs and correctly guesses that it's ''none'' of them) and Yubaba keeps her end of the bargain by voiding her contract.]] |
| 179 | * IKnowYourTrueName: Yubaba binds people to her by stealing important parts of their names from their memory. Unless they have a way of preserving the original name prior to the deal (the way Chihiro's was written down on her goodbye card) or some other way to remember the full name, they can never leave her service. [[spoiler: This is why she sends Haku to steal the gold seal with her sister's name on it.]] |
| 180 | * ImAHumanitarian: Apparently humans taste good to the spirits, though they're apparently not inclined to eat them on a whim. |
| 181 | * ImageSong: Yes, an image album exists, but [[NoExportForYou only in Japan]]. |
| 182 | * IndirectKiss: Chihiro [[spoiler:bites the medicine ball in half before feeding it to Haku. Possibly because she is trying to show Haku that it is safe to eat, or because she simply doesn't have the strength to break a very hard piece of medicine with her hands fast enough.]] |
| 183 | * InterspeciesRomance: Chihiro and Haku. She's a human girl and he's a [[spoiler:river spirit/dragon.]] |
| 184 | * InTheNameOfTheMoon: Haku's incantation to un-paralyze Chihiro's legs. |
| 185 | * ItsAllAboutMe: After Chihiro pries a job out of Yubaba, after she's nothing but relentless and vicious in her attempt to intimidate her out of asking, Yubaba laments her promise to employ anyone who asks for a job, as it makes her have to be so nice all the time and she really hates that. |
| 186 | * IWantMyMommy: PlayedForDrama. [[spoiler:As it gets dark, he lights start coming on in the amusement park and spirits begin to appear, Chihiro runs to find her parents so they can escape. But going back to the food stall all she finds are two large pigs wearing their clothes. On her own in a ''very'' strange place, she's unable to process what's happened, and she starts running through the stalls, calling for her parents, becoming more and more panicked the longer she can't find them. The English version takes it further by having her break down and scream, "MOMMY!" It doesn't help that her actress is actually a kid, Creator/DaveighChase. |
| 187 | * KarmicJackpot: For Haku and Chihiro mutually. |
| 188 | ** Haku tries to warn Chihiro away from the spirit world before night falls, ensures that she doesn't fade and disappear when she doesn't get away in time, sets her up with Lin and Kamaji who, despite their rough edges, come to care about and root for her, rescues her clothes and name, and supports her at every turn. [[spoiler:Chihiro gives him half the medicine she earned while he's suffering under Zeniba's curse, allowing him to recover and follow after her. When they meet again at the climax and are flying back to the bathhouse, she remembers that they've met once before, and is able to give him back his real, full name, freeing him from Yubaba's service]]. |
| 189 | ** Meanwhile, Chihiro proves herself to Kamaji, shows kindness to No-Face, [[spoiler: discovers what's truly ailing the stink spirit and cleanses him of it, and defends Haku when he is attacked by Zeniba's paper birds. In turn, Kamaji gives her the train ticket that let's her return Zeniba's seal and free Haku from her retribution, half of the medicine she's given helps Haku recover, her kindness to No-Face let's her get close enough to him to give him the other half of the medicine and wind down his rampage, and when Yubaba is so furious with her that she's about ready to slaughter the Oginos for bacon, Haku points out that her son is missing and bargains for Chihiro and her family's freedom.]] |
| 190 | * KarmicTransformation: [[spoiler:Chihiro's parents are transformed into pigs.]] |
| 191 | * KickTheDog: It's unintentional, but when Yubaba first glimpses Boh as a mouse, she fails to recognize him and only sees a rodent that she rudely dismisses. Even in mouse form, Boh is clearly hurt and angry, and he and Yubaba's servant-bird both leave with Chihiro. |
| 192 | * {{Letterbox}}: Disney included widescreen picture on the 2003 VHS, even though they rarely released widescreen videotapes of their own movies. |
| 193 | * LoopholeAbuse: As noted above, Yubaba is magically bound to hire anyone who repeatedly asks her for a job. However, she's free to distract, insult, or even physically assault any potential employee in order to dissuade them from their request; anyone seeking work must remain completely steadfast and bear all her abuse, refusing to be turned away until she relents. |
| 194 | * LossOfIdentity: Yubaba steals parts of the names of anyone who works for her, thus taking their memories of their past and their real name. Even Chihiro, who was in the spirit world for only a day, nearly forgets her name until she is reminded. In fact, Haku is trying to free himself from Yubaba's contract by remembering who he is as well. But for [[ThePowerOfLove some reason]], [[spoiler:he was only able to recall that he's previously met Chihiro.]] |
| 195 | * LoudGulp: When Chihiro has to pick out which of the pigs are her parents, she makes one of these to steel herself. |
| 196 | ** One of the most notable examples is the very end of the film, where in the English dub we hear Chihiro commenting on how a new school doesn't seem that scary anymore. The Japanese original simply has the family drive off in silence, leaving us to wonder how much of her time in the spirit world Chihiro has retained - a much more subtle and ineffable ending. |
| 197 | * MacGuffin: Averted with [[with Zeniba's seal. It is stolen specifically because it has Zeniba's name on it, which can give Yubaba power over her. It also curses anyone who tries to steal it, so in order to help Haku, Chihiro has to return it.]] |
| 198 | * MagicalLand: The bathhouse borders two worlds--the human world (which can be reached by going across the dry riverbed by day), and the world of the ''kami'' (which can be reached by taking a ferry across the still-flowing river by night). The latter is a Magical Land. |
| 199 | * MamaBear: Yubaba nearly assumes a OneWingedAngel form out of rage when she discovers [[spoiler: that her son is missing.]] |
| 200 | * MagicallyBindingContract: How Yubaba employs people for her bathhouse--she literally rips pieces of their signature from the paper. |
| 201 | * TheMagicGoesAway: |
| 202 | ** The spirit world, being mostly nature-associated, is being gradually hemmed in by redevelopment, with especially tragic consequences for river spirits. [[RealitySubtext Sadly true in reality,]] in that almost all rivers in Japan that go even remotely close to developed areas are turned into concrete troughs. |
| 203 | ** The AfterlifeExpress used to go both ways; now it only goes one. |
| 204 | * MeaningfulName: |
| 205 | ** Chihiro's name can be translated as "a thousand fathoms" or "ask a thousand questions". Several characters of Chihiro's name are "stolen" by Yubaba, so that all that's left is the generic name Sen, which means only "a thousand." Essentially, Chihiro has been reduced from a person to a number in Yubaba's service, and according to Haku, she can only break free of it if she remembers her full name. |
| 206 | ** Chihiro was the name of the real little girl upon whom Miyazaki based the character, like "Literature/{{Alice|InWonderland}}". |
| 207 | *** Also, possibly by coincidence, the kanji characters left after Yubaba removes most of Chihiro's name resemble the English word "it". A further dehumanization. |
| 208 | ** The movie itself: ''Sen to Chihiro'', or "Sen and Chihiro", -- two different people. |
| 209 | ** No-Face, a featureless black spirit that literally has no face, only a mask to represent one. |
| 210 | ** Haku, while having its own meaning, also sounds very close to the Japanese word for "100", Hyaku. This goes rather well with Chihiro's new name, Sen, meaning "1,000". |
| 211 | * MindScrew: '''Big time.''' This was lampshaded by Creator/CartoonNetwork's ads for it, which, after explaining that Chihiro gets stuck in an alternate universe, [[spoiler her parents are turned into pigs, and she sells her name to a "crazy witch lady",]] the narrator goes on to say, "And that's just the first twenty minutes!" |
| 212 | * MissingChild: Chihiro gets trapped in the spirit world after her family [[spoiler: is changed into pigs.]] She has no way home and in the moment, she has no she can trust or ask for help. |
| 213 | * MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: Actually, two of them. Despite initial impressions, both [[spoiler:Yubaba nor Zeniba have HiddenDepths, and No-Face tells Chihiro/Sen that he is lonely, he doesn't have any friends or family, initially tries very hard to repay her kindness and is only disruptive while he is in the bathhouse.]] |
| 214 | * MonsterAndTheMaiden: A human girl named Chihiro befriends and works with Haku, [[spoiler:a NatureSpirit who can turn into a [[DragonsAreDivine dragon]]]]. Haku [[MysteriousProtector looks out for Chihiro]] while she works to get her parents back, and in exchange, she [[spoiler:breaks the curses [[CainAndAbel Yubaba and Zeniba]] placed on him.]] |
| 215 | * MoodWhiplash: There are quite a few moments: |
| 216 | ** When her parents start eating the food, Chihiro takes the time to admire the beauty of the bathhouse and, noticing the train tracks, tries to see if she can spot the train. Then, in this previously completely abandoned town, a boy abruptly appears, has ''[[OhCrap very surprised]]'' reaction to her presence, and curtly tells her to run across the river before it's too late. When Chihiro goes to find her parents, [[spoiler: she finds they've been turned into pigs,]] the lanterns are lighting one by one, strange spirits are arriving from everywhere, and the dry riverbed her family crossed is now an impassable river. The poor girl goes from exploring an abandoned amusement park with her family to being trapped in a strange and dangerous magical world in the span of ''minutes.'' |
| 217 | ** [[spoiler: During the river spirit scene, it goes from comical to awesome when Chihiro realizes he has a "Thorn" stuck in his side that needs to be pulled out. Then a lot of garbage comes out, revealing a wizened smiling face who thanks Chihiro and rewards her.]] |
| 218 | * MoralityPet: |
| 219 | ** Yubaba's son, Boh, who seems to be the only thing she cares about more than making money. [[spoiler:When he goes missing, she goes full MamaBear on Haku, complete with breath of fire.]] |
| 220 | ** Chihiro herself is also this to a number of characters. She brings out the best in the sarcastic Lin, the stoic Haku, the grouchy Kamaji, and is the only one who cares for No-Face properly. |
| 221 | * MuckMonster: The bathhouse is visited by an incredibly stinky spirit that resembles an enormous pile of sludge. [[spoiler:It turns out that the visitor is actually the spirit of a river that has been badly polluted by garbage.]] |
| 222 | * MuggleInMageCustody: The ordinary girl Chihiro becomes a de facto slave to the powerful witch Yubaba, working for her in her bathhouse for spirits. |
| 223 | * MultiArmedMultitasking: Kamaji single-handedly runs the bathhouse's boiler room by using his six arms to simultaneously stoke the boiler, collect ingredients from the many drawers in the wall behind him, grind them to powder, and mix them into herbal blends to add to the bathwater. The only thing he can't do himself is feed coal into the boiler; for that, he enchants soot into little spirit-balls who toss the coal in for him. |
| 224 | * MyBelovedSmother: Yubaba, who keeps her baby sheltered in a room where she relentlessly indulges him, producing a SpoiledBrat. |
| 225 | * MysteriousProtector: Haku for most of the film. He's the only friendly face Chihiro initially has in the spirit world and is a significant pillar of support, but he goes long periods without appearing and is tight-lipped about his motivations. |
| 226 | * NameAmnesia: Yubaba controls her workers by taking away pieces of their names. Haku warns Chihiro that if she forgets her full name like he did, she won't be able to escape and will have to serve Yubaba forever. [[spoiler:Just as he reminds her of her name with her goodbye card, Chihiro reminds Haku of his full name when she remembers they've met years before.]] |
| 227 | * NamedByTheDub: Somewhat {{inverted|Trope}} twice: |
| 228 | ** Boh's name is never mentioned in the English dub, but [[AllThereInTheScript the credits still refer to him by his name]]. |
| 229 | ** Yu-Bird, AKA Haeldori, is never referred to by name in the English dub and is just called "that bird". |
| 230 | * NatureSpirit: Most of the creatures in the spirit world qualify, with the notable example [[spoiler: of the river spirits that Chihiro assists.]] |
| 231 | * NeedleInAStackOfNeedles: The test at the end of the movie, where Chihiro has to find [[spoiler:her parents hidden amongst other pigs. She correctly guesses that none of them ''are'' her parents, breaking the curse.]] |
| 232 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: |
| 233 | ** If Chihiro's parents hadn't explored that abandoned amusement park and gotten tempted by the strange food, they might not have stranded themselves and their daughter in the spirit world. |
| 234 | ** Chihiro lets No-Face into the bathhouse, which leads to him wreaking havoc after she rejects his gold. Before [[spoiler:going to Zeniba to help Haku, Chihiro must confront him and lead him out, after he's become very big, very volatile and very dangerous.]] |
| 235 | ** Played with. Chihiro already knows the power of names and how they can break spells. [[spoiler: She reveals Haku's true name to him while they're at cruising altitude, and the dragon reverts to human form. Luckily, he can fly in that form, too.]] |
| 236 | * NightParadeOfOneHundredDemons: While it is not overtly said, the plot has hints that this is what's occurring during the film's events. The protagonist Chihiro and her parents end up trapped in the Spirit World when they stay at the abandoned amusement park before sunset, something that is commonly believed would happen to humans who happen upon the Hyakki Yagyo. The fact that it is set in an amusement park with food processions, in and out-going cruise ships and a fully-stocked bathhouse hints that the story is taking place in the middle of a festival. |
| 237 | * NoOneGetsLeftBehind: PlayedWith. When Haku tells Chihiro to leave before it gets dark, she goes back for her parents. When she sees [[spoiler:they're turned into pigs,]] she's unwilling to believe it. She runs through the road for a while calling for her parents, before trying to cross the river alone. Haku then tells her she has to save her parents by getting a job with Kamaji, and Yubaba. |
| 238 | * NoOSHACompliance: The bathhouse has a steep, rickety wooden stair case along the outside of the building, that has no railing, and overlooks a deep trench. Chihiro's lucky she slid straight down... into a wall. |
| 239 | * NoMouth: The Radish Spirit has no mouth and doesn't appear able to talk. [[SilentSnarker Not that he needs to.]] |
| 240 | * NoSell: Yubaba's fireball doesn't even slow down [[spoiler: No-Face.]] |
| 241 | * NotAllowedToGrowUp: A supernatural reason for this one. It's implied that Yubaba's coddling of her son Boh is why he's literally a big baby. |
| 242 | * OcularGushers: As is par for the course for a Miyazaki film. After Chihiro's first night in the bathhouse, as Haku's comforting her and she's coming to terms with everything that's happened, she cries explosively and at length before resolving to rescue her family and get home. She ''is'' going through a pretty traumatic experience, and at only 10 or 11 at that. |
| 243 | * OddJobGods: There are various kinds of spirits in this world, including a Radish Spirit and a Stench Spirit. [[spoiler: In the latter's case, this is somewhat subverted in that he isn't an actual stench spirit -- he's actually a powerful river spirit, whose river had been polluted. Still, the fact that he was initially mistaken for one does suggest that Stench Spirits ''do'' exist.]] |
| 244 | * OhCrap: |
| 245 | ** Haku when he first sees Chihiro on the bridge. |
| 246 | ** Chihiro when she sees that [[spoiler:her parents are transformed into pigs.]] |
| 247 | ** Chihiro and Lin when they encounter each other for the first time, since Chihiro is a human in the spirit world. |
| 248 | ** Yubaba gets a good one after [[spoiler:No-Face {{No Sell}}s her fireball and just before [[CoveredInGunge she's engulfed in a wave of vomit]]]]. |
| 249 | ** Yubaba gets another one when she's told that [[spoiler:Boh is with her sister Zeniba.]] |
| 250 | * OneBookAuthor: Yūko Ogino was Yasuko Sawaguchi's only anime voice-over role, as she's primarily a film/television actress and singer. |
| 251 | * OneWingedAngel: Yubaba takes on a terrifying transformation when she's angry. |
| 252 | * OurDragonsAreDifferent: [[spoiler:Haku a.k.a. Kohaku]] is in fact a river spirit. This makes sense since in Eastern mythology, dragons are more strongly associated with water than fire. As a dragon styled on Japanese myth, he has a wolf's head, feelers like a koi or catfish, antlers like a deer or elk, a serpentine body, and bird-like legs. |
| 253 | * ParentsInDistress: Chihiro's parents are cursed at the beginning of the movie. Most of the plot revolves around her finding a way to free them, and in the process getting acquainted with the Spirit World. |
| 254 | * ParentsKnowTheirChildren: Inverted. [[spoiler:To rescue her parents, Chihiro must pick them out of a line-up of several dozen other pigs. She correctly determines that ''none'' of them are her parents.]] |
| 255 | * PolarOppositeTwins: [[spoiler:Yubaba and Zeniba. Though the two of them ''look''' exactly alike, Yubaba is a manipulative, callous overseer who lives in opulence and whose only concern (besides her son) is making as much money as possible. Zeniba, meanwhile, lives a solitary, humble life in the forest and after an initial bad impression is nothing but friendly and forgiving of Chihiro and her friends.]] |
| 256 | * ThePowerOfFriendship: When Chihiro leaves [[spoiler:Zeniba's house]] she is given a ribbon to protect her that "was woven from threads made by your friends". |
| 257 | * ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler:In the English dub, Zeniba reveals that Haku could only have been saved from her spell by Chihiro's love for him.]] |
| 258 | * ProductPlacement: Based on the frontal shot of Chihiro's father's car during the opening credits, it would be obvious that it was an Audi even if the four-rings symbol wasn't holding pride of place in the middle of the grille. Lampshaded later when Chihiro asks her father if they're lost and he replies, "Don't worry, honey; Daddy's got four-wheel drive!" Whether the car's a 100 or a 200, it's definitely the quattro version. |
| 259 | * ProperlyParanoid: Chihiro tells her parents to keep away from the abandoned amusement park and not eat the food that's left out there because the place gives her the creeps, but they are too entranced by the food and sure of themselves to listen. Chihiro is proven completely correct when the sun goes down, the town comes to life, and her parents fall under a terrible curse. |
| 260 | * PunchClockVillain: Yubaba is a very unpleasant old lady, but curses Chihiro not necessarily malice but primarily out of practicality. |
| 261 | * PuppyLove: Chihiro and Haku share a young and innocent affection that sees them through their ordeals and their ultimate rescuing of each other. |
| 262 | * RealAfterAll: [[spoiler:Chihiro retains the hairband she got from Zeniba after exiting the spirit world.]] |
| 263 | * ReasonableAuthorityFigure: |
| 264 | ** Kamaji. Haku tells Chihiro to seek a job from him for this reason. Although Kamaji doesn't need Chihiro's help himself, he does see her pluck and spirit, so he bribes Lin into taking Chihiro to get a job directly from Yubaba. Later on, he helps her [[spoiler:when she and Haku fall into the boiler room and Haku is suffering from heavy external and internal bleeding.]] |
| 265 | ** Despite being a significantly unsympathetic antagonist, Yubaba turns out to be somewhat reasonable as well. Even though she very obviously doesn't want to, she keeps to her word and gives Chihiro a job when she refuses to be dissuaded. Later, when the stink spirit's stench visibly affects her just as much as the other workers, she snaps at Chihiro to keep her hands away from her nose (as Yubaba is) so as not to be rude. And when Chihiro discovers [[spoiler:that something is wrong with the guest, Yubaba orders all the bathhouse employees to help Chihiro pull out the "thorn" that she finds, resulting in the spirit's cleansing, and his rewarding the bathhouse with piles of gold.]] Yubaba is honest and effusive in her praise, hugging Chihiro, gushing about how much money she made and telling her other employees that they could learn a thing or two from her. At the end, [[spoiler:she agrees with Haku to give Chihiro one last test to earn her's and her parents' freedom back, and honors her word when Chihiro passes with flying colors.]] |
| 266 | * RecycledTrailerMusic: One of the Japanese trailers for the movie uses the song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2EDABZX_Ow "The Lost Paradise"]] from the American soundtrack of ''Anime/CastleInTheSky''. |
| 267 | * RedHerring: |
| 268 | ** The bathhouse is located at the end of the abandoned amusement park, the latter of which is given the most emphasis before the plot kicks off. After the family becomes trapped, the park doesn't really factor into the plot at all. |
| 269 | ** [[spoiler:The river spirit that Chihiro cleans gives her an herb cake, and she dreams about using it to change her parents back. She uses half the cake to save Haku from Zeniba's curse, and the rest to save No-Face from the bad influence of the bathhouse and the people he ate.]] |
| 270 | * RescueRomance: Both Chihiro and Haku for each other. Haku is Chihiro's MysteriousProtector who helps her through her ordeal and is revealed to have [[spoiler:saved Chihiro when she fell into a river as a child. Chihiro gives him half the medicine she was planning on giving to her parents, relives him of Zeniba's curse and reminds him of his full name, freeing him.]] |
| 271 | * ResignationsNotAccepted: Yubaba will employ anyone at her bathhouse who asks, but they must sign a contract that makes them forget their true name and binds them to her service until they recall it. |
| 272 | * RidiculouslyCuteCritter: |
| 273 | ** The Soot Sprites, who also appear in ''Anime/MyNeighborTotoro'', another Miyazaki-directed Studio Ghibli film. |
| 274 | ** Boh as a mouse also counts. |
| 275 | * RunningGag: Chihiro is continuously getting [[AmusingInjuries knocked on the head]]. |
| 276 | * SceneryPorn: This movie is chock full of it, as can be expected from anything by Miyazaki--the fantastical and finely detailed architecture of the bathhouse is given the most attention, and it ''earns'' it. |
| 277 | * SchmuckBait: Subverted at the end. [[spoiler: Chihiro is specifically told ''not'' to look back when leaving. She almost does, but she has enough willpower not to.]] |
| 278 | * SchmuckBanquet: Chihiro's parents can't help but eat the food laid out for them in the abandoned park. Chihiro resists it because she senses something is wrong with the place. |
| 279 | * ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: |
| 280 | ** The "lesson" that No-Face learns from the bathhouse residents. Chihiro teaches him an opposing lesson when she refuses his offered gold. |
| 281 | ** Chihiro's parents at the buffet. "Daddy's got credit cards and cash!" Her father's blind faith in cash gets everyone in trouble; he ''assumes'' the price is paper money or credit. |
| 282 | * {{Shapeshifting}}: [[spoiler:Haku, a dragon]], can transform into a human, and Yubaba can become a birdlike creature to get around or spy on people. [[spoiler:Zeniba turns Boh, her nephew, into a mouse.]] In the Japanese version, it's explicitly stated that ''every worker'' in the bathhouse is a transformed animal spirit. |
| 283 | * ShooTheDog: When Chihiro first meets Haku, he tells her she shouldn't be at at the bathhouse and to run across the river before sundown. Night falls ''as they're speaking''. He tells her to GetOut while he distracts someone. Despite her confusion and misgivings, Chihiro tries, but she can't rescue her parents or make it out in time before the formerly-dry river becomes full. |
| 284 | * ShoutOut: |
| 285 | ** Zeniba's hopping lamppost is an homage to WesternAnimation/LuxoJr, Creator/{{Pixar}}'s mascot. |
| 286 | ** Boh's room is based on Princess Clarisse's room from ''Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro''. |
| 287 | ** The birds in the bath-house with wide, staring eyes and leaves on their heads could be a ShoutOut or reference to ''Anime/MyNeighborTotoro'' as well. |
| 288 | ** The AfterlifeExpress above is a shout out to ''Anime/NightOnTheGalacticRailroad'' (book or film). |
| 289 | ** The film's ending is very slightly similar to the ending of ''Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon'' (1965), which had been rewritten on Miyazaki's suggestions. |
| 290 | ** Being told not to look back may be a reference to various myths, including the story of Izanami and Izanagi, Orpheus and Eurydice, or Lot and his wife...[[spoiler:except in Chihiro's case, she's successful.]] |
| 291 | ** Speaking of Greek mythology, [[spoiler:Chihiro's parents being turned into pigs after eating enchanted food]] hearkens back to ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', with Yubaba playing the part of Circe. A similar danger is posed to them but, [[spoiler:much like Odysseus, Chihiro saves them in the end. Furthermore, her parents' lack of awareness that they've been in the spirit world for as long as they were, thinking it was only an hour or two at most, is reminiscent of the Land of the Lotus-eaters.]] |
| 292 | * SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Though taking place in a fantasy world full of wonder, much of the story is Chihiro suffering through her job at the bathhouse, exploited, lonely and yearning for her home and her parents. The movie leans more towards the idealistic end of the scale near the end however, wherein Chihiro has endeared herself to many of the spirits she's met, which prompts them to lend her aid to survive and do whatever it takes to help Haku and her parents. |
| 293 | %%* Small Parent Huge Child: Yubaba's son Boh is a massive baby twice the height of his mother. Seems to be a family trait, given Yubaba's proportions. |
| 294 | * SmallRoleBigImpact: Aogaeru, the frog spirit; while he only has a handful of lines, it’s his greed that ultimately [[spoiler:corrupts No-Face]], initiating a major conflict later in the film. |
| 295 | * SpiritWorld: The world on the other side of the abandoned theme park is a city of spirits, who bustle through the streets and patronize the bathhouse. |
| 296 | * SpiritedYoungLady: Like many of Miyazaki's other female protagonists, Chihiro is a modern version of this trope. Outwardly, she is everything a well-brought-up girl should be, but she is not exactly poised or well-mannered. She is understandably upset when she and her parents have to move to Tochinoki, is [[spoiler:traumatized by her mom and dad turning into pigs, has to be a virtual slave to a powerful witch and has to fight for her life in a dangerous and unfamiliar world of magic. When Haku is being attacked by Zeniba's paper airplanes, she loses all her "spoiled little rich girl" qualities and battles against all of the odds to save his life. |
| 297 | * SpoiledBrat: |
| 298 | ** Yubaba's baby spends his days in a room full of pillows and presumably eating as much as he pleases. Upon finding Chihiro, he threatens to ''break her arm'' if she doesn't play with him. Zeniba gets tired of him so quickly she transforms him into a mouse. |
| 299 | * StalkerWithoutACrush: No-Face is this for Chihiro. Even after he becomes the center of the entire bathhouse's attention, it's her he offers a mountain of gold to, and when she says no thank you and runs off (as she's desperately hurrying to help Haku while all this is going on) he goes on a rampage and isn't satisfied until she agrees to speak with him again. |
| 300 | * StatingTheSimpleSolution: When her family first enters the spirit world, they cross over a dried-up river. Haku stridently warns Chihiro to get across the river before sunset, or she'll be stuck. After failing to rescue her parents, Chihiro does try, but it gets dark all too quickly and the formerly dry riverbed is filled with water, too deep for her to wade across, by the time she gets there. |
| 301 | * StinkSnub: |
| 302 | ** The other bathhouse workers complain about Chihiro's [[HumansAreSmelly human stench]] potentially driving away customers. Once Chihiro is employed under the name Sen, Yubaba tells her workers to stop complaining, as Sen will soon [[GoingNative stop smelling like a human,]] and in the meantime, they're stuck with her anyway because Yubaba is honor-bound to give Sen the employment that she asked for. |
| 303 | ** When the polluted river spirit approaches the bath-house, Madame Yubaba defies this trope and warns every employee to not react to the stench because a customer is a customer. No matter how difficult the stench is to endure, they still don't want to offend their customer. |
| 304 | * TheStoic: Haku, when he's in the bathhouse and presumably under Yubaba's watch. [[spoiler:He doesn't even bat an eyelid when Yubaba breathes fire at him.]] |
| 305 | * TakeAThirdOption: At the end, [[spoiler:Chihiro is shown a dozen pigs, and has to choose which two among them are her parents in order to free them and herself. But she can't pick them out. Because, as she says, her parents aren't in there.]] |
| 306 | * TakeAwayTheirName: Yubaba magically enslaves her employees by stealing bits of their names, which also robs from them memories of their full name and eventually their former life. They can only get free of her if they remember their real, full name. |
| 307 | -->'''Yubaba:''' So, your name's Chihiro? What a pretty name! And it belongs to me now. |
| 308 | ** In Chihiro's case, Yubaba goes further than taking away the characters of Chihiro's name, as the MeaningfulRename trope shows. Chihiro's new "name" isn't really a name at all - it's a ''number''. |
| 309 | * TheyShouldHaveSentAPoet: Several times--as Chihiro takes in the sights of the bathhouse, the endless ocean, etc.--she notes aloud on how amazing the view is. |
| 310 | * TightropeWalking: Chihiro has to do this on a thin metal pipe attached to the outside of the building to reach a far ladder overlooking the deep water below. At the end, however, she is absolutely terrified when she makes it. |
| 311 | * TomboyishPonytail: Chihiro wears a ponytail combined with sidetails. |
| 312 | * TooDumbToLive: |
| 313 | ** You can't tell in English, but Chihiro's parents should really have known better than to eat in a "park" where the signs advertise such foods as "dog" and "[[ImAHumanitarian eyeball]]". Not to mention that they really should have waited to pay before digging in, and they kept insisting that there was nothing weird or supernatural about the 'park'. It's pretty easy even for someone who doesn't read or speak Japanese to tell that there's something ''very'' strange about all the situation. It can be theorized that the food is more than a little magical and that probably didn't help, though they still fell for the SchmuckBanquet big time. |
| 314 | ** Most of the bathhouse employees, who cheerfully serve No-Face without even questioning where he's from, even though he just pops up in the middle of the night and mysteriously speaks with the voice of another employee. Yubaba later curses their stupidity over letting No-Face in, suggesting that they ought to have recognized the threat he potentially posed. |
| 315 | * TrappedInAnotherWorld: Chihiro's parents ate food intended for spirits, and are turned into pigs as punishment. To help them, Chihiro must work at the bathhouse under Yubaba's rule. Until she can succeed, Chihiro and her parents are stuck in the spirit world. |
| 316 | * UncomfortableElevatorMoment: A hilarious scene in which Lin smuggles Chihiro aboard the bath house's upper elevator. She's stuck on it with the elephantine, UglyCute Radish Spirit. Since she's ''really'' not supposed to be in the bath-house at all and most of the other spirits have already expressed their revulsion for humanity, she's trying hard to brace for the worst while remaining unnoticed. (Not easy when the other passenger is so big that you're being squeezed against the side of the elevator.) Veeery awkward. Luckily, he's either kindly enough, mischievous enough, or apathetic enough to call nobody's attention to her. |
| 317 | * UnfoldingPlanMontage: When instructing Chihiro how to get to Kamaji, Haku touches her forehead and we see a preview of the path ahead. |
| 318 | * VisualPun: |
| 319 | ** No-Face could be described as having a ''[[http://i52.tinypic.com/nxmjcz.jpg Noh]] face'', though only in English. |
| 320 | ** Yubaba's son, Boh, is roughly twice her height, yet he's still an infant both physically and mentally. In other words, he's a big baby. |
| 321 | * VoiceChangeling: No-Face can perfectly imitate the voices of people he's just eaten. Otherwise, he's silent. |
| 322 | * VoluntaryShapeshifting: Several characters portray this ability, such as Yubaba's ability to turn into a crow-like creature, and Haku's alternate form as a dragon. |
| 323 | * VomitIndiscretionShot: No-Face is given an emetic dumpling by Chihiro, sending him into a rampage that ends with the bathhouse being covered top to bottom with his vomit. Yubaba gets the worst of it, however. |
| 324 | * WainscotSociety: The spirit community doesn't appear to be in very regular contact with the human world -- but nonetheless, {{Muggles}} can fall into it by just wandering into the wrong abandoned amusement park. |
| 325 | * WatchOutForThatTree: After all but flying down a staircase, Chihiro runs straight into a wall at the end. |
| 326 | %%* WeNeedADistraction: Haku covers for Chihiro's appearance. |
| 327 | * WhamShot: Chihiro's parents turning away from their SchmuckBanquet to reveal [[ForcedTransformation they've been turned into pigs]]. It's at this point both Chihiro and the audience realize things have turned FromBadToWorse, and that she won't be leaving the area anytime soon. |
| 328 | * WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: |
| 329 | -->'''Lin:''' What's going ''on''?\ |
| 330 | '''Kamaji:''' Something you wouldn't recognize. It's called "love". |
| 331 | * WhatYouAreInTheDark: Towards the beginning, when Chihiro and her parents find the abandoned restaurant, they have either two ways to respond to the situation at hand. On one hand, Chihiro's parents have a moment of weakness when they let even a little greed and hunger tempt them to help themselves to the food before they've even paid. On the other hand, Chihiro refuses to partake the food, even at her own parents behest, because she recognizes they'll get in trouble for eating without permission from the restaurant's owners. Three guesses as to which party had the right idea. |
| 332 | * [[WhenSheSmiles When He Smiles]]: When Haku smiles, it's only around Chihiro. But when he does smile, boy does it light up his face. |
| 333 | * WhiteMaskOfDoom. No-Face is first encountered as a partial black cloak and a white mask. Later his body grows a horrible maw, jarring with the lost-child-in-pain expression of the mask. |
| 334 | * WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: No-Face. Terribly lonely, he took a liking to Chihiro when she offered him kindness and let him into the bathhouse. Unfortunately, something about said bathhouse leads him to become [[spoiler:an ever-growing monster that eats everything in sight and becoming more and more obsessed with Chihiro.]] |
| 335 | * YearOutsideHourInside: While the audience is never given an exact amount of time that the Onigos were in the spirit world, the trope is heavily implied: when they return to the living world, the car is dusty and it's been overgrown with foliage. The car ''does'' start without a problem, however, so it can't have been more than a few days or weeks. |
| 336 | * YouAreACreditToYourRace: Yubaba doesn't like humans at ''all'', and at their first meeting she shows tremendous contempt for Chihiro. However, by the time Chihiro has proven herself several times over and ''insists'' on facing Yubaba's challenge fair and square, the old ogress seems to have devloped a grudging respect for Chihiro's courage and determination. |
| 337 | * {{Youkai}}: Most of the background characters, being nature spirits of one form or another. At the very least, several important characters appear to take inspiration from various yokai. |
| 338 | ---- |
| 339 | ->''"Now go, and don't look back."'' |
| 340 | -->-- '''Haku''' |
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