I just watched “Spirited Away,” directed by Hayao Miyazaki. This is an amazing animated film that I watched 10+ years ago and forgot most of the plot since then. The movie follows a little girl, Chihiro, who is moving to an unfamiliar place. She suddenly is whisked off into a mysterious place alive with spirits from another world, and she has to survive and save her parents from an unlikely doom. The colorful imagery along with a moving, magical soundtrack immerses the watcher and portrays a simple story about the maturity and love of young individuals.

  The first thing that I thought about the moment the film ended was the meaning of its full circle ending. It’s like wrapping up a present with a nice silk bow. The present, however, is not the most extravagant of presents. It is a simple present, yet intimate, meaningful, genuine. The film had no big action scenes, no dramatic romance, no nail biting suspense. Yet there was something about the story told, just a simple story about a simple girl in a very strange world. In this case, the bow was the subtle details of the scene at the entrance to the spirit world. One statue, a run down entrance made of plaster. Yet the car was dusty. There were leaves on the hood. The path was overgrown, the entrance filled with overgrown weeds. All these subtle changes represented the change in Chihiro herself. Subtle, but not completely showing. She was an immature little girl during the beginning, and she complained even about the sagging of her rose bouquet. However, by the end, she confidently strided out of the spirited world, holding her mother’s hand in the same way as the beginning, but in this case, out of love and appreciation for her parents rather than fright.

  Something about the world that Miyazaki creates is so magical. There are too many parts of the movie in which I was in awe. Chihiro’s facial expressions. Running through the flower garden. Even the interactions between the baby turned mouse and the fly during the most serious of scenes. The soundtrack is light, and the main theme One Summer’s Day is such a simple piano based melody that is known throughout the animated community. The sights and sounds immerse you into the animated world like no other.

  I want to touch on in interesting motif that I read in a review of the film. All the characters in the movie had a dual nature of good and evil; no one character was completely good or bad. For example, the main character Chihiro matured from a naive girl to a confident young lady. Similarly, even antagonists weren’t truly evil. Yubaba, in the end, showed humanity and care in comparison to a very polarizing beginning. No face represents the idea of a child, or a blank slate. Affected by the people around him, he wanted to please Chihiro, but in the face of the workers of the bathhouse, he became glutonous and greedy. I think the main effect of this is that it demonstrated a truly realistic impression. I felt more intimately connected and understood the characters, both the “good” and the “bad”.

  What is intriguing is that when I watched the movie this time around, I kept thinking about why I originally thought it was one of the best animated films I’ve ever watched, if not the best. It left me somewhat confused. However, upon reflection, I realize that it wasn’t the best because of something standout. One just needs to sit back and immerse themselves in the beautiful story that Hayao Miyazaki has perfected.