Line #37 YMMV/SpiritedAway


1	* AccidentalAesop: Considering that half the plot could've been avoided had Chihiro's parents listened to her warnings about the theme park they visited, it teaches a lesson about being wary of abandoned places because there could be nasty surprises within said places.
2	* AlternateAesopInterpretation: The film can be seen as a take that against hustle culture, capitalism and commercial greed which were issues plaguing Japan from the film's release to present day, if the widespread knowledge of Japan's poor working conditions combined with the need to conform are anything to go by.
3	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
4	** The theory that Yubaba and Zeniba are the same person. This is only applicable in the English dub. In the original Japanese version, Yubaba is much more vindictive and sinister, and has no intention of willingly releasing anybody who's under her power.
5	** Chihiro and Haku's relationship and the nature of it is up in the air. She has a deeper connection to him than she does with the other friends she makes throughout the film - and ThePowerOfLove benefits him far more than anyone else. But as they're so young, Chihiro never treats Haku as anything more than just a friend, so they could entirely be platonic.
6	** Is Zeniba's role in the spirit world to act as an AesopEnforcer? The collection of friends learn something while at her house - Chihiro learning about ThePowerOfLove and Boh learning to become more independent. No-Face meanwhile still hasn't learned his lesson, so Zeniba makes him stay with her so she can teach him. She doesn't need to do the same for Chihiro and Boh because they already learned their own Aesops.
7	* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: As is to be expected of any movie by Hayao Miyazaki, the film's animation is nothing short of ''gorgeous''.
8	* BrokenBase: The English dub inserts one final line from Chihiro saying "I think I can handle it" (re: moving to a new house). WordOfGod is that she doesn't remember any of her experiences in the spirit world, so fans are split over whether this line undermines that. It also means they can't decide whether Chihiro does in fact remember everything or forgets but still keeps the CharacterDevelopment anyway. Unlike the [[FillingTheSilence lull-filling]] in Disney's dubs of ''Anime/CastleInTheSky'' and ''Anime/KikisDeliveryService'', neither Disney nor [=GKids=] removed this (or any of the dialogue Disney added) from any [=DVDs=] or Blu-Ray Discs.
9	* EnsembleDarkhorse:
10	** The Radish Spirit has become incredibly popular in spite of being a minor background character for most of the film. Somehow, being TheSpeechless is part of his appeal. It helps that he is one of the few helpful and good-hearted spirits to Chihiro prior to getting hired, on top of his UglyCute appearance.
11	** The Sootsprites are a fan favorite, as always (basically little black balls of fluff with googly eyes).
12	** "Oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy!" (Yubaba's three "[[https://ghibli.fandom.com/wiki/Kashira Kashira]]" aka the three green heads.)
13	* FanficFuel:
14	** About half of the ''Spirited Away'' fanart and fanfiction department usually involves [[spoiler:Chihiro being reunited with Haku an indefinite amount of time after the end of the movie and/or Chihiro returning to the spirit world]].
15	** Another common scenario in fanworks is what if Chihiro decided to stay in the spirit world instead of returning to her world.
16	* GatewaySeries: Like with ''Anime/MyNeighborTotoro'' and ''Kiki's Delivery Service'', the film has acted as a gateway to both Studio Ghibli and Anime for many born in the late 90s and early 2000s.
17	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff:
18	** The film is just as widely beloved and popular in the United States as it is in Japan, to the point that it received an Academy Award for best animated film, the only Ghibli film to have gotten one until ''Anime/TheBoyAndTheHeron'' in 2024. This is partly thanks to Disney, who handled both the film's English dub, as well as its distribution in the US.
19	** The film is also incredibly popular in China, with its theatrical release in the country having made over 230 million yuan (US$33 million) at the box office and outdoing Pixar's ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory4'' at the box office, which is quite impressive for a film that came out 18 years prior. This is despite the film containing ghosts, which usually gets films BannedInChina.
20	* HypeBacklash: For some people. The film is often lauded as ''the'' greatest animated film of all time, and almost always the best Studio Ghibli film. For a time, it boasted a ''100%'' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is an extreme rarity. While you'd be hard pressed to find someone who actively dislikes it, a few will argue that the film doesn't quite deserve the reputation of being absolutely perfect that it often enjoys.
21	* ItWasHisSled: [[spoiler:Haku's true form is a dragon.]]
22	* JerkassWoobie: Chihiro seems to be a bit of a spoiled and selfish brat in the beginning, but her parents are unsympathetic and dismissive of her plight, she's lost in a completely new world, where her humanity makes her an outcast to most of the spirits who inhabit the place, and she finds herself under contract from a ruthless businesswoman who's not willing to let her go.
23	* MemeticMutation: The scene of No-Face being wiped away by a wave has become a popular reaction meme.
24	%%* {{Moe}}: Chihiro, to an extent.
25	* {{Narm}}: While Chihiro crying and eating a rice cake is definitely a heartbreaking scene, Chihiro's tears are so comically large, that it can be hard not to crack a smile.
26	* NauseaFuel:
27	** The long and drawn-out [[VomitIndiscretionShot projectile vomiting]] sequence, caused when Chihiro feeds No-Face an emetic dumpling.
28	** Even if you have no sense of smell, be thankful that scent can't be captured on film, because if it could, [[https://cdn.myanimelist.net/s/common/uploaded_files/1448853345-704946807f78718c0d373fd38580d3ad.jpeg the first on-screen appearance of the Stink Spirit]] would likely kill you.
29	* NightmareRetardant: No-Face eating people in the bathhouse? Terrifying. No-Face shouting "Wipe that smile off your face! YOU'RE STILL SMILING!" before eating one guy? Hilarious.
30	* OneTruePairing: Chihiro/Haku is this for fans of the movie to the point where you'd think they ''did'' end up together at the end of the movie.
31	* PopularWithFurries: [[spoiler:Haku's dragon form gets a lot of attention from the furry crowd.]]
32	* SpiritualSuccessor: The plot can be a Japanese successor to the first ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'' novel as they both are about innocent young girls who get thrown into a magical world where they meet and helps all kinds of strange characters and both Dorothy and Chihiro at one point are forced to work for a wicked witch and have to look for a good witch with a group of misfits who need the good witch’s help.
33	* SignatureScene: The train ride is the most iconic scene in the movie as it's the most talked about scene; many praise it for its serenity and soundtrack.
34	%%** [[spoiler:Chihiro riding dragon!Haku towards the end of the film.]]
35	* {{Squick}}: Studio Ghibli has a thing for animating goo… and it shows! The fluid 'Stench Spirit' (and his slime trail) and the horrible effects that the purgative has on No-Face are meant to produce that reaction and they succeed! Also invoked with blood: Haku's injuries produce a ''lot'' of blood and it gets everywhere.
36	* UglyCute: Some of the bathhouse spirits, particularly the Radish Spirit. ''squeak squeak squeak''
37	* UnintentionalUncannyValley: Many of the spirits have proportions that are just ''wrong''. The effect can be rather unsettling at first. Lin, for example, looks completely human, but the frog spirits (like the head of the bathhouse, not the green one) look like humans with distorted features.
38	* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: For a film aimed at young children, there's an awful lot of blood and other potentially frightening imagery, especially considering it was released in the U.S. In fact, it was rated PG in the States for the frightening scenes that occur since it might be a bit much for young children.
39	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic:
40	** Yubaba is the only character in the bathhouse who wears a European style dress, while everyone else wears traditional Japanese attire. She also mainly cares about money and figures. This is suggested to be a metaphor for how traditional Japanese values can get lost due to influence from Western capitalism.
41	** It has been suggested that the bathhouse parallels a child entering the work force for the first time. Chihiro is separated from her parents and must learn to get along without them, she must keep different hours than the ones she's used to, and her hard work is rewarded with gifts that help her out.
42	* TheWoobie:
43	** Haku, who [[spoiler: lost his home when his river was filled so apartments could be built, then loses his name to Yubaba and is forced to become her lackey after she puts a black slug in his belly to control him.]]
44	** Chihiro, too. The poor girl didn't ask to get cooped up in the spirit world with a bunch of strangers after her parents get turned into pigs.
45	* {{Woolseyism}}: As mentioned above, the Disney dub is high quality, but there are some things that Disney thought needed to be explained, so a few things are left out that either become more obvious in the Japanese version or were changed in the English to fit in. These changes aren't necessarily bad, and some people prefer them, but they are different.

Context YMMV / SpiritedAway