Spirited Away

Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli

Design by: Asia Sansalone

"Spirited Away," is one of my all time favorite Miyazaki films. Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi?, "Sen and Chihiro's Spiriting Away") is a 2001 Japanese animatedfantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli.]The film stars Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takeshi Naito, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Tsunehiko Kamijō, Takehiko Ono and Bunta Sugawara, and tells the story of Chihiro Ogino (Hiiragi), a sullen ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood, enters the spirit world. After her parents are transformed into pigs by the witch Yubaba (Natsuki), Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba's bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirited_Away)


Hayao Miyazaki was born January 5, 1941 is a Japanese film director, animator, manga artist,  illustrator, producer, and screenwriter. Through a career that has spanned six decades, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and as a maker of anime feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli, a film and animation studio. The success of Miyazaki's films has invited comparisons with American animator Walt Disney, British animator Nick Park, and American director Steven Spielberg. He is considered one of the most popular and influential animators in cinema (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayao_Miyazaki)
 

I have a strong love for Japanese anime. Although I started watching anime when I was in my toddler days I have recently just started watching it religiously. When I was little another Miyazaki/Ghibli film took my heart. It was called "Totoro." Back then the movie didn't have English dubbing and I wasn't that great at reading too fast either ( I was around 3-4 when i first found this movie) but I loved it anyway. I went years with out watching that movie until I joined Pinterest in 2011 and saw a picture of Totoro, Immediately a childhood long lost returned to me and I was obsessed with obtaining a copy of the movie.

Being older I was able to do more research on other related films and discovered that there was a plethora of movies waiting for my eyes to behold. My second movie from the Ghibli collection was "Spirited Away." However, when I was viewing the movie I realized that I also watched that movie in my childhood as well! (Yubaba, the witch is kind of a hard character to forget)

After falling in love with two of my favorite movies all over again, my husband went on a man hunt to add more of the Ghibli/Miyazaki films to my collection. I believe I own all of the movies besides the most recent movie "The Wind Rises."

My Ghibli Movie Collection

If you haven't checked out any of the Ghibli films it would be a great introduction to this genre of film and maybe even open your door to more types of anime. I know it did for me. I honestly sit for hours watching all sorts of anime on Netflix, but I will make another post on that. This is for Miyazaki! One of the greatest animators/illustrators/directors that this industry has ever seen!!!