Line #227 Anime/SpiritedAway


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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..."'']]
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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 eyes. Slug women are also incredibly common.
38	** [[DeadpanSnarker Lin]] is a [[AsianFoxSpirit fox spirit]] who has a knack for getting out of trouble and nabbing food.
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 what was taken.
40	** The six-armed Kamaji, with his fuzzy mustache and black sunglasses, is reminiscent of a spider.
41	* TheAssimilator: After No-Face [[spoiler:eats 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 spirit'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 heals the river god 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 spirit 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: When Chihiro's parents cross traverse the tunnel and come out on the other side, there is a not insignificant emphasis placed on the empty amusement park that they find there. (Mrs. Ogino explains that the park 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 focal point for most of the adventure.
48	* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe:
49	** WordOfGod states that this is the reason No-Face follows Chihiro (to him, Sen) around after she lets him into the bath-house and keeps trying to offer her 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 work if it's necessary.
51	** Likewise, Chihiro does all she can [[spoiler:to help clean the stink spirit: she uses the tokens that No-Face steals for her, and when the spirit shows her a thorn in its side, Chihiro 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 god. In return, the spirit tells her "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 in the abandoned amusement park.
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 he hovers inches above the ground.
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 American ending hints that [[spoiler:Chihiro ''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's maintaining 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. Makes sense given he swallowed her crest;]] 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, if that's not just the result of humans eating such food.]]
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 tells Chihiro both times to not hold so tight--that she'll make her fall.]]
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. 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 she doesn't appear to want to directly ''hurt'' her sister, Yubaba does command Haku to steal a gold seal with Zeniba's name on it in order to gain power over her. Likewise, Zeniba doesn't let her sister ''or'' Haku get away with such a theft unchallenged and without retribution.]]
73	* CaptainObvious: Chihiro says a few obvious things in the Japanese version. The English dub added several more examples, albeit some ("It's a bathhouse," for example) to add for 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 follows.
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 inspired him to be more open.]]
79	* ChekhovsBoomerang: [[spoiler: The medicine from the water god helps cure Haku's injuries ''and'' frees No-Face from all the food (and people) he'd eaten.]]
80	* ChekhovsGun: Chihiro's farewell card helps her remember her name after Yubaba steals 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 a much more relevant character.
82	* ComeWithMeIfYouWantToLive: When Haku finds Chihiro again, he keeps her from disappearing and leads her to the bathhouse so she can procure a job to 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 after her incrediblly 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: the unconscious Haku]] that she is leaving for some time [[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 an illusion of conjured gold to pay for services in the bathhouse, having witnessed the establishment's employees scrambling over the [[spoiler:River Spirit'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 in the same situation as Chihiro.
93	** Haku is a male example: he presents as a young, {{Bishonen}} boy about Chihiro's age. [[spoiler:In his true form, he's a dragon.]]
94	* DarkIsNotEvil: Quite 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 carnival site becomes a hub for spirits and gods. However [[DarkIsNotEvil dark is not necessarily evil.]]
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 derelict amusement park in the first place.
100	* {{Disneyfication}}: Less so than most, but in addition to ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'', the film is also partially a LighterAndSofter version of the rather grisly Japanese fairy tale "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shita-kiri_Suzume Shita-kiri Suzume]]".
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 if an owner appears. So naturally they [[spoiler:deserve to be turned into pigs, right? (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 amusement park. In that park, 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 turns 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 god]]]] and Chihiro's [[ThePowerOfLove love]] to save him.
104	* DontLookBack: Chihiro is instructed not to look back [[spoiler:when leaving the Spirit World. She ''nearly'' turns when she's almost out, but she resists the temptation.]]
105	* DownTheRabbitHole: The long, dark tunnel Chihiro's family passes through before reaching the amusement park.
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:Working in the bathhouse, healing Haku, and rescuing her parents shapes her into a more mature and confident person along the way. The English dub even ends with her reassuring her father that she can handle school her new school.]]
109	* EatenAlive: Happens to [[spoiler:three of the bathhouse employees after No-Face goes nuts. 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 went on a rampage is that he feeds on the emotions of those around him. In this case, {{Greed}}.]] Good thing it wasn'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 fast blink-and-you-miss moment but [[TheStoic Haku's]] tender expression quickly reveals Haku's true nature 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 for leaving her post [[spoiler:(even under the circumstances of luring away Noh Face) by having her [[{{Pun}} piggish]] parents slaughtered and made into food. Her employees, upon hearing this, appear distraught and rather disturbed at the idea. Thank goodness for Haku's 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. 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 ultimately is a kind old woman compared to her much meaner and greedier 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 sometimes. 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	** The name Yubaba is reminiscent of "Literature/BabaYaga", a witch of slavic folklore who usually presents as an incredibly dangerous obstacle on the path to some goal.
124	* FacialFacade: Implied with No-Face, who has what appears to be a white mask for a face.
125	* TheFairFolk: The whole film (and the amusement park) is built around a traditional FairyTale portrayal of {{Youkai}}.
126	* 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.
127	* 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.
128	* FineYouCanJustWaitHereAlone: Chihiro originally refuses to accompany her parents into the empty amusement park, but follows when they decide to go on ahead anyway.
129	* FishOutOfWater: Humans like Chihiro are detested in the spirit world, partly because they smell funny to ''kami'' (spirits).
130	* 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.]]
131	* 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.
132	* 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.
133	* {{Foreshadowing}}:
134	** [[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.]]
135	*** [[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.]]
136	** 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.
137	* ForcedTransformation:
138	** [[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.]]
139	** [[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.
140	* 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.]]
141	* FrogMen: Yubaba's male workers range from somewhat froggish-looking humanoid men to complete frogs.
142	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Lin is a little annoyed that Yubaba doesn't compliment ''her'' after they help the stink spirit.
143	* {{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.
144	* 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.
145	* GentleGiant: The Great Radish Spirit is gigantic, but comes across as gentle and supportive, even without saying a word.
146	* 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.
147	* GhostTown: At first. By day, the bath house and thesurrounding village look like an abandoned amusement park. Then night falls.
148	* GiantFlyer:
149	** [[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.]]
150	** Yubaba can drape herself in her cloak and fly like a very large bird.
151	** 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.
152	* GiantSpider: Kamaji's eight limbs bring to mind a spider, or opilione, also known as harvestmen or daddy longlegs.
153	* GluttonousPig: [[spoiler:Chihiro's parents turn into pigs after gorging themselves on the spirits' food.]]
154	* 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.]]
155	* {{Gonk}}:
156	** 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.
157	** The Great Radish Spirit. He has stubby little root-fingers, a face like conjoined elephant twins, and... [[BrainBleach radish nipples]].
158	* 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.]]
159	* 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.
160	* 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.
161	* 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.]]
162	* {{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.]]
163	* GreenAesop:
164	** 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.]]
165	** The spirit of the Kohaku River ([[spoiler:Haku]]) was enslaved and forgot his identity after that river was filled in by humans.
166	* TheGrotesque:
167	** [[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.]]
168	** 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.
169	* 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.
170	* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: A non-lethal example; [[spoiler:when Dragon Haku destroys Zeniba's enchanted shikigami, her projection cartoonishly splits in half before fading away.]]
171	-->[[spoiler:'''Zeniba:''']] Ow, a paper cut!
172	* 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.
173	* HeadbuttOfLove: Chihiro and Haku touch forehead while [[FreeFallRomance free-falling]] through the sky.
174	* 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.
175	* HighPressureBlood: A small amount spouts out of the [[spoiler:River Spirit]] after Sen pulls the last of the junk out of him.
176	* HoldingHands: Chihiro and Haku do a lot of this, complete with IntertwinedFingers. It's most appropriate considering their young age.
177	* HumansAreSmelly: Most everyone in the bathhouse remarks on the "human stink" on Chihiro, some suggesting it's bad for business.
178	* {{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.
179	* 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.]]
180	* IKnowYourTrueName: Yubaba binds people to her by stealing their names, and they can only get free of her if they remember their real name. The theft of her sister's gold seal is an attempt to steal her name as well.
181	* ImAHumanitarian: Apparently humans taste good to the spirits, though they're not inclined to eat them on a whim.
182	* ImageSong: Yes, an image album exists, but [[NoExportForYou only in Japan]].
183	* IndirectKiss: Chihiro bites the medicine ball in half before feeding it to Haku. She may have been trying to show Haku that it was safe to eat, or simply didn't have the strength to break a very hard piece of medicine with her hands as opposed to her jaw.
184	* InterspeciesRomance: Chihiro and Haku. She's a human girl and he's a [[spoiler:river spirit/dragon.]]
185	* InTheNameOfTheMoon: Haku's incantation to un-paralyze Chihiro's legs.
186	* ItsAllAboutMe: After Chihiro has pried a job out of Yubaba, over relentless and vicious attempts to intimidate her out of asking, Yubaba laments her promise to employ anyone who asked for a job, as it makes her have to be so nice all the time and she really hates that.
187	* IWantMyMommy: PlayedForDrama. When her parents turn into pigs, Chihiro is in denial. She starts running through the stalls, calling for them. Her panic increases with the lack of response. The English version takes it further by having her break down and scream, "MOMMY!" No, it doesn't help that her actress was actually a kid, Creator/DaveighChase.
188	* JerkassHasAPoint: Even for a then [[SpoiledBrat spoiled kid]], Chihiro has the right idea when she tells her parents not to eat the food they find in the abandoned town. After all, they didn't really know if they could afford to pay for even a portion of the food they ate. In this case, [[ForcedTransformation the price was too high]].
189	* KarmicJackpot: For Haku and Chihiro mutually.
190	** Haku finds out that [[spoiler:before he worked for Yubaba, he rescued Chihiro as a child from drowning when she fell into his river]]. At the bathhouse, he sets up Chihiro with Lin who is a MamaBear, rescues her clothes and name, and protects her at every turn. [[spoiler:Chihiro remembers his real name, defends him from Zeniba, and frees him from Yubaba's mind control, allowing him to regain his free will]].
191	** Meanwhile, Chihiro is kind to everyone at the bathouse and runs to rescue Haku from Zeniba's paper birds, while following the rules and working hard. [[spoiler:The River Spirit gives her medicine to heal Haku and No-Face, Kamaji gives her train tickets to return Zeniba's seal, and Haku bargains for her and her parents to return to the human world]].
192	* KarmicTransformation: For Chihiro's parents when their gluttony gets them transformed into pigs.
193	* KickTheDog: Though unintentional, when Yubaba first glimpses Boh as a mouse, she fails to recognize her son and only sees a rodent and adds an insult. With only his eyes, Boh clearly expresses his hurt and then anger at his mom. After this, Boh and Yubaba's servant-bird both stick with Chihiro.
194	* {{Letterbox}}: Disney included widescreen picture on the 2003 VHS, even though they rarely released widescreen videotapes of their own movies.
195	* 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 the potential employee; that person has to remain completely focused on requesting employment to counteract this.
196	* LossOfIdentity: Yubaba steals 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 a day, had nearly forgotten her name until 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 Chihiro.]]
197	* LoudGulp: When Chihiro has to pick out which of the pigs are her parents, she makes one of these to steel herself.
198	** 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.
199	* MacGuffin: Chihiro leaves the bathouse to returns Zeniba's figure to her in hopes that she can help Haku in turn.
200	* MagicalLand: The bath-house 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.
201	* MamaBear: Yubaba nearly assumes a OneWingedAngel form out of rage when she discovers her son is missing.
202	* MagicallyBindingContract: How Yubaba employs people for her bathhouse--she literally rips their signature from the paper.
203	* TheMagicGoesAway:
204	** The spirit world, being mostly nature-associated, is being gradually hemmed in by redevelopment, with especially tragic consequences for river spirits. (Sadly true in reality, in that almost all rivers in Japan that go even remotely close to developed areas are turned into concrete troughs.)
205	** The AfterlifeExpress used to go both ways; now it only goes one.
206	* MeaningfulName:
207	** Chihiro's name can be translated as "a thousand fathoms" or "ask a thousand questions". Chihiro's name is later "stolen" by Yubaba and she is given the more 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 true name. Turns out Chihiro was the name of the real little girl upon whom Miyazaki based the character, like "Literature/{{Alice\|InWonderland}}".
208	*** Also, possibly by coincidence, the kanji characters left after Yubaba removes most of Chihiro's name resemble the English word "it". A further dehumanization.
209	** The movie itself: ''Sen to Chihiro'', or "Sen and Chihiro", -- two different people.
210	** No-Face, a featureless black spirit that literally has no face, only a mask to represent one.
211	** 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".
212	* MindScrew: '''Big time.''' This was lampshaded by Creator/CartoonNetwork's ads for it, which, after explaining how Chihiro got stuck in an alternate universe, her parents turned into pigs, and she sold her name to a "crazy witch lady", the narrator goes on to say, "And that's just the first twenty minutes!"
213	* MissingChild: The moment where Chihiro gets trapped in the spirit world with her family having changed into pigs. She runs through the food stalls in a strange place, desperately calling for her parents. Chihiro deals with some pretty grown-up situations while maturing as a person.
214	* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: Actually, two of them. Despite initial impressions, neither Yubaba nor Zeniba are all that evil. Neither is No-Face, who is seen only by himself, and tells Chihiro/Sen that he is lonely and doesn't have any friends or family.
215	* MonsterAndTheMaiden: A human girl named Chihiro befriends and works with Haku, 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 curse [[CainAndAbel Yubaba and Zeniba]] placed on him.]]
216	* MoodWhiplash: There are quite a few moments:
217	** Chihiro leaves her parents when they start eating the food. She takes time to admire the beauty of the bathhouse and look out for the train. Haku appears, goes OhCrap and tells her to run across the river before it's too late. When Chihiro goes to find her parents, she finds out they turned into pigs, and a strange spirits have arrived. Chihiro freaks out, calls for her parents, and ends up in a TroubledFetalPosition when she can't make it across the river.
218	** 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.
219	* MoralityPet:
220	** Yubaba's son, Boh, who seems to be the only thing she cares about more than making money. When he goes missing, she goes full MamaBear on Haku, complete with breath of fire.
221	** Chihiro herself is also this to a number of characters. She brings out the best in the sarcastic Lin, the stoic Haku, and the grouchy Kamaji, and is the only one who cares for No-Face properly.
222	* 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.]]
223	* MuggleInMageCustody: The ordinary girl Chihiro becomes a de facto slave to the powerful witch Yubaba, working for her in her bathhouse for spirits.
224	* MultiArmedMultitasking: Kamaji, the spider spirit, runs the bath house's boiler room without any help from the other employees. He uses 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.
225	* MyBelovedSmother: Yubaba, who keeps her baby sheltered in a room and relentlessly indulges him, producing a SpoiledBrat.
226	* MysteriousProtector: Haku for most of the film. He's the only friendly face Chihiro has in the spirit world and constantly helps her, but he goes long periods without appearing and is tight-lipped about his motivations.
227	* NameAmnesia: Yubaba controls the workers at the baths by taking away their names and giving them new ones. Haku warns Chihiro that if she forgets her real name like he did, she won't be able to escape and will have to serve Yubaba forever. [[spoiler:Chihiro manages to free him by reminding him that his true name is the Kohaku River.]]
228	* NamedByTheDub: Somewhat {{inverted\|Trope}} twice:
229	** Boh's name is never mentioned in the English dub, but [[AllThereInTheScript the credits still refer to him by his name]].
230	** Yu-Bird, AKA Haeldori, is never referred to by name in the English dub and is just called "that bird".
231	* NatureSpirit: Most of the creatures in the spirit world qualify, with the notable example of the river spirit Chihiro assists.
232	* NeedleInAStackOfNeedles: The test at the end of the movie, where Chihiro has to find her parents hidden amongst other pigs. [[spoiler:She correctly guesses that none of them are her parents, breaking the curse.]]
233	* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
234	** 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.
235	** Chihiro lets No-Face into the bathhouse, which leads to him wreaking havoc after she rejects his gold. Chihiro then lures him out while going to Zeniba to see Haku.
236	** Played with. Chihiro already knows the power of names and how they can break spells. 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.
237	* NightParadeOfOneHundredDemons: While it is not overtly said, the plot has hints that this is 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 this is occurring in the middle of a festival.
238	* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: PlayedWith. When Haku tells Chihiro to leave before it gets dark, she goes back for her parents. Then she sees they're turned into pigs, but is 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.
239	* NoOSHACompliance: The bathhouse has a steep, rickety wooden stair along the outside of the building, overlooking a deep trench. Chihiro's lucky she slid straight down... into a wall.
240	* NoMouth: The Radish Spirit has no mouth and cannot talk. [[SilentSnarker Not that he needs to.]]
241	* NoSell: Yubaba's fireball doesn't even slow down No-Face.
242	* 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.
243	* OcularGushers: Chihiro cries quite a lot at first until she begins to grow up and take responsibility for herself. Then again, she ''is'' only 10 or 11, and is going through a pretty traumatic experience.
244	* OddJobGods: There are some pretty weird spirits in this world, such as the Radish Spirit, and the Stench Spirit. [[spoiler:A subversion; he isn't an actual stench spirit -- he's actually a powerful river spirit, whose river had been polluted. Still, this does suggest that Stench Spirits ''do'' exist somewhere.]]
245	* OhCrap:
246	** Chihiro when she sees that her parents are transformed into actual 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 No-Face {{No Sell}}s her fireball. [[CoveredInGunge Just before 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 transforms into a terrifying form 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 during the beginning of the movie. Most of the plot revolves around her finding a way to free them, while also 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 the pigs 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 is leaving Zeniba's house she is given a ribbon to protect her that "was woven from threads made by your friends".
257	* ThePowerOfLove: [[spoiler:Zeniba reveals that Haku could only have been saved from her spell by Chihiro's love for him.]] Strangely, this line does not exist in the Japanese version.
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 yells at her parents to keep away from the abandoned amusement park and not eat the food that's out there because she's getting the creeps. They ignore her since she's been bratty during the drive. Surprise, surprise, the bathhouse is a portal to the spirit world and the enchanted food turns them into pigs! Say what you will about Chihiro, but she has good instincts.
260	* PunchClockVillain: Yubaba is a very unpleasant old lady, but only curses Chihiro because she's basically constrained to carry out her role by her job.
261	* PuppyLove: Chihiro and Haku are both young, and though they are not an OfficialCouple, there's enough implication for this trope.
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 sees her pluck and spirit. So instead he bribes Lin into taking Chihiro to get a job directly from Yubaba. Later on, he helps her when Haku falls into the boiler room and is bleeding heavily.
265	** Despite being quite unsympathetic as an antagonist, wanting to turn Chihiro's family into pigs and all, Yubaba turns out to be reasonable as well. She makes Chihiro work as hard as the rest of the other workers, who have years of labor behind them, but sees that she has potential. Yubaba senses that the Stink Spirit is something more, and orders Chihiro to clean him as a SecretTestOfCharacter; when Chihiro says he needs help because something is stuck in his side, Yubaba orders all the bathhouse employees to help Chihiro pull out the "thorn" (actually a lot of garbage) from the spirit, cleaning it, unveiling its true form as a river dragon, and leaving them with piles of gold. She then hugs Chihiro and says SoProudOfYou for figuring out what was wrong. At the end, [[spoiler:she agrees with Haku to give Chihiro one last test to earn her parents and 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 being located at the end of an abandoned amusement park. Mrs. Ogino gives some exposition to Chihiro that the park was probably abandoned because of the recession probably so now it's just a lot with relics. The amusement park then disappears when Chihiro and her parents accidentally cross over into the spirit world and doesn't factor into the rest of the plot; Chihiro doesn't even remember what her mother said about it.
269	** The river spirit that Chihiro cleans gives her an herb cake, that she thinks she can use to change her parents back. [[spoiler: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: Chihiro and Haku since he is her MysteriousProtector and it's revealed that [[spoiler:he saved Chihiro when she fell into a river as a child.]]
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 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 keeps 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.
277	* SchmuckBait: Subverted with the ending in which Chihiro is 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 at the beginning. 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 a lesson when she refuses his gold.
281	** Chihiro's parents at the buffet. "Daddy's got credit cards and cash!" However, this may not ''entirely'' count given that they mention that they can pay the bill when the workers get back.
282	** It's her father's blind faith in cash that gets everyone in trouble. After all, he's ''assuming'' the price is paper money or credit.
283	* ShadowArchetype: Boh acts as this for Chihiro, representing what would she be like if she never encountered the Spirit World.
284	* {{Shapeshifting}}: [[spoiler:Haku, a dragon]], can transform into a human, and Yubaba into a birdlike creature. [[spoiler:Zeniba turns Boh into a mouse.]] Also, in the Japanese version, it's explicitly stated that ''every worker'' in the bathhouse is a transformed animal spirit.
285	* 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. The sun then goes down ''fast''. He tells her to GetOut while he distracts the spirits. Chihiro tries, but she can't rescue her parents and doesn't make it in time before the formerly-dry river becomes full.
286	* ShoutOut:
287	** Zeniba's hopping lamppost is an homage to WesternAnimation/LuxoJr, Creator/{{Pixar}}'s mascot.
288	** Boh's room is based on Princess Clarisse's room from ''Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro''.
289	** 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.
290	** The AfterlifeExpress above is a shout out to ''Anime/NightOnTheGalacticRailroad'' (book or film).
291	** 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.
292	** Being told not to look back is a callback either to the story of Izanami and Izanagi, Orpheus and Eurydice, or Lot... except in Chihiro's case, she's successful.
293	** Speaking of Greek mythology, Chihiro's parents being turned into pigs after eating food belonging to the supernatural hearkens back to ''Literature/TheOdyssey'', with Yubaba the spirit/witch/youkai in place of Circe the goddess/sorceress/nymph. The same danger, just stretched out over a longer period of time, is posed to her parents but, 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.
294	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Though taking place in a fantasy world full of wonder, much of the story is Chihiro suffering through her job at the bathhouse, lonely and yearning for her parents. The cynicism leans more towards the idealistic end of the scale near the end, wherein Chihiro finds a newfound determination to survive and do whatever it takes to help Haku and her parents.
295	%%* Small Parent Huge Child: Yubaba's son Boh is a massive baby twice the height of his mother. It's implied that he's actually an adult who resembles a baby due to his mother continuing to coddle him into adulthood.
296	* 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.
297	* SpiritWorld: The world on the other side of the abandoned theme park is a city of spirits, bustling through the streets and visiting the bathhouse.
298	* SpiritedYoungLady: Like some 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 supposedly 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.
299	* SpoiledBrat:
300	** 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.
301	* [[StalkerWithACrush Stalker Without a Crush]]: No-Face may qualify as this for Chihiro.
302	* StatingTheSimpleSolution: When her family first enters the spirit world, they cross over a dried-up river. Haku shouts at Chihiro to get across the river before sunset, or she'll be stuck. Chihiro does try, but it gets dark all too quickly and the dry-river fills up with water, too deep for her to wade across. There's also the problem of her parents being turned into pigs, since she can't and won't leave them behind.
303	* StinkSnub:
304	** The other bath-house workers complain about Chihiro's [[HumansAreSmelly human stench]] potentially driving away customers. Once Chihiro, now known as Sen, is employed, Madame Yubaba tells the workers to stop complaining, as Sen will soon stop smelling like a human, and in the meantime, they're stuck with her because Madame Yubaba is honor-bound to give Sen the employment that she asked for.
305	** 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 it will be to clean their customer, they still don't want to offend their customer.
306	* TheStoic: Haku, when he's not with Chihiro. He doesn't even bat an eyelid when Yubaba breathes fire at him.
307	* 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. Her choice? Her parents aren't in there.]]
308	* TakeAwayTheirName: The witch Yubaba magically enslaves her employees stealing their names, thus taking their memories of their past and their real name. She gives them new names, to avoid nameless confusion. They can only get free of her if they remember their real name.
309	-->'''Yubaba:''' So, your name's Chihiro? What a pretty name! And it belongs to me now.
310	** Yubaba has gone further than taking away names and giving new ones, as the MeaningfulRename trope shows. Chihiro's new "name" isn't really a name at all - it's a ''number''.
311	* TheyShouldHaveSentAPoet: Several times--as Chihiro takes in the sights of the bathhouse, the endless ocean, etc.--she notes aloud on how amazing they are.
312	* TightropeWalking: Chihiro has to do this on a thin metal pipe outside to reach a far ladder overlooking the deep water below. At the end, however, she is absolutely terrified when she makes it.
313	* TomboyishPonytail: Chihiro wears a ponytail combined with sidetails.
314	* TooDumbToLive:
315	** 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 this. It can be theorized that the enchantments on the food are probably what caused them to gorge themselves, though they still fell for the SchmuckBanquet big time.
316	** 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.
317	* 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.
318	* 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.
319	* UnfoldingPlanMontage: When instructing Chihiro how to get to Kamaji, Haku touches her forehead and we see a preview of the path ahead.
320	* VisualPun:
321	** No-Face could be described as having a ''[[http://i52.tinypic.com/nxmjcz.jpg Noh]] face'', though only in English.
322	** 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.
323	* VoiceChangeling: No-Face can perfectly imitate the voices of people he's just eaten. Otherwise, he's silent.
324	* 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.
325	* 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.
326	* 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.
327	* WatchOutForThatTree: After all but flying down a staircase, Chihiro runs straight into a wall at the end.
328	%%* WeNeedADistraction: Haku covers for Chihiro's appearance.
329	* 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.
330	* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove:
331	-->'''Lin:''' What's going ''on''?\
332	'''Kamaji:''' Something you wouldn't recognize. It's called "love".
333	* 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.
334	* [[WhenSheSmiles When He Smiles]]: When Haku smiles, it's only around Chihiro. But when he does smile, boy does it light up his face.
335	* 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.
336	* 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 led him to become an ever-growing monster eating everything in sight and becoming more and more obsessed with Chihiro.
337	* YearOutsideHourInside: While the audience is never given an exact time scale for how long Chihiro was in the spirit world, the trope is heavily implied: when she returns to the living world, the car is dusty and the foliage around it has grown some. The car does start without a problem, however, so it can't have been more than a few days or weeks.
338	* 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 admits her uppity servant has courage and determination.
339	* {{Youkai}}: Most of the background characters, being nature spirits of one form or another.
340	----
341	->''"Now go, and don't look back."''
342	-->-- '''Haku'''

Context Anime / SpiritedAway