I always enjoy rereading the review Roger Ebert wrote when he added Spirited Away to his Great Movies list [1]. He touches on a similar point, about how the movie all feels like a gift:
>The story of "Spirited Away" has been populated with limitless creativity. Has any film ever contained more different kinds of beings that we have never seen anywhere before? Miyazaki's imagination never rests. There is a scene where the heroine and her companion get off a train in the middle of a swamp. In the distant forest they see a light approaching. This turns out to be an old-fashioned light pole that is hopping along on one foot. It bows to them, turns, and lights the way on the path they must take. When they arrive at a cottage, it dutifully hangs itself above the gate. The living light pole is not necessary. It is a gift from Miyazaki.
If you liked his review of Spirited Away, you will also like his review of Metropolis. I liked that he enjoyed movies from all genres as long as they accomplished what they set out to do.
> The movie is so visually rich I want to see it again to look in the corners and appreciate the details. Like all the best Japanese anime, it pays attention to little things. There is a scene where an old man consults a book of occult lore. He opens it and starts to read. A page flips over. He flips it back in place. Considering that every action in an animated film requires thousands of drawings, a moment like the page flip might seem unnecessary, but all through the movie we get little touches like that.
To me, the animation in Ghibli movies feels lush and alive in a way that’s rare in the (seemingly) difficult, very cost-sensitive world of animation. Ebert’s review is wonderful; I also enjoyed this video, which touches on some of the same points: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM6PPxN1xas
That feels a bit like he hasn’t seen much Anime. Spirited Away was my first Miyazaki movie and I was similarly blown away, but after watching his other work and other Anime it felt more like a very polished and creative story but not mind-blowing in its originality.
My favorite re-watch movie (or in this case, series) have been Neon genesis Evangelion.
I have mixed opinions about the show but rewatching it in different stage of life (early teen, depressed high schooler, stressed college kid, anxious junior to the worklife) I always saw some new things.
As a kid the robots and fighting the angels were the focus, as a depressed teen the religious symbolism and reading too much in to it was the focus, as a stressed college kid it was the relation between the characters (and their parents) was the focus, and finally as an "adult" it was seeing how completely dysfunctional every single adult is in the series.
A hallmark of good rewatchable show is to always explore new stuff. I wonder what I'll explore if I re-watch it in my next step of life
Reading this essay gave me the opportunity to realize that while I see (and subscribe to) streaming sites as a convenience, the presence of any given title on streaming services has literally zero impact on whether I am able to watch it. Over the past 25 years, the binary NNTP feeds became FTP servers became bittorrent search engines. And of course, that's additive; NNTP is still alive and well, and I'd guess that most people reading this have that one friend with the half petabyte of every movie made in the past 100 years if your login credentials still work. People reliably seem to upload 1080p cuts of literally every show just minutes after it airs to BT.
So yeah, while I usually go the legit and lazy route, if someone says "hey, did you ever see Person of Interest? how about Dollhouse?" it never even crosses my mind that I might have to hope some streaming platform picks it up.
The idea that the author clearly perceives an artificial scarcity is fascinating. It's like... should someone tell her?
On the Ghibli corpus: I recently watched As the Wind rises and I was completely blown away by the kind of perspective it offered into the japanese society of the time.
It is more mature than Spirited Away and definitly worth a watch if you are an engineer as the story is a free fictionalization of the life of the engineer that designed the japanese fighter airplane nicknamed "Zero". The classic Ghibli motifs of clouds, grassy mountaintops and fantasy of flying play their role as one might have guessed — but coupled with the serious and mature topics of the film it is even more magical when in a quiet scene the wind strokes through the grass.
As an Austrian who lives in Germany I also liked the scene where they traveled to Germany to see the Junkers plant (with the goal of spying of course) — I liked it because it offered a unique perspective on Germany of the time.
It was one of those Ghiblis I never watched because of odd reasons, but when I did I was blown away.
Thankfully my kids are devouring my Studio Ghibli collection. Ny Neighbor Totoro and Ponyo are played multiple times in the day. They've not yet gotten to Spirited Away, waiting until they are a little older. I dread the day they turn on Grave of the Fireflies. I thank the stars they have outgrown baby shark and cocomelon.
The movie that scarred me as a kid was Princess Mononoke. I remember my parents had a few friends over to watch it when it first released on DVD and they did this after my bedtime as I wasn't considered old enough to see but of course I snuck down to watch (I'm pretty sure they knew I was watching in retrospect).
The scene that I would relive in my nightmares repeatedly for years was the one where the protagonist's cursed arm comes to life in the middle of a pitched battle and everyone sets down their arms to watch as he pushes open a big gate or something. The music in this scene is foreboding, solemn, yet energetic, and the visual combined with the music evoked exactly the emotion I'm sure Miyzaki intended: dread at the vastness of the power of nature about which humans know naught, finally revealed in all its terrible horror. The prince's fate as a cursed person is supposed to feel worse than death and this was maybe my first time fully appreciating that concept in my short life, so it was doubly effective.
Once in a decade, give Serial Experiments Lain a rewatch. Check each piece of then-crazy-futuristic-technology which since become commonplace; and all the sociological problems which did not get solved then, or since. Eerily prescient.
When my child was two, we re-watched it about once a week for several months since it was her favorite. The theory we keep debating is whether the two old ladies (the sisters) are actually the same person. Still unsettled.
Related: I drew a No-Face on our garage last spring and it's still there, creeping out everyone who walks by. Guess it hasn't rained much in CA! :)
I first saw Spirited Away when I was ten years old or so, and then watched it a bunch of times until I was 16 or so. Many years later, last year when I was in my mid twenties, I rewatched it and it was such a totally different experience.
I think in the time between, I've developed a much better appreciation for the beauty of a lot of the scenery in the movie: even the day later I still had the flower garden scene before my eyes, even if it's so short itself. It just gives and gives and gives, it is so amazing. I think I lacked that appreciation when I was a kid.
I also realized how much my fear of losing my parents has changed. When you are a little kid who loves and is so dependent on his parents, this is the worst catastrophy that can happen to you, and instills such fear. It strikes so different years later when you are a proper adult who has moved out and I only realized that once I actually rewatched it.
It is a movie about the first job, the first love, about independence, about travel, about human's destruction of nature, about japanese religion, and many more things. It is such an amazing beautiful movie. In our field of work you can find many fans of japan's cultural exports, and that's fine, but I was never really deeply into most of it. But Studio Ghibli stuff is just so amazing, I am a great fan (plus Your Name).
The serene joy I get from watching this film with my kids is comparable to nothing. The scene where the parents are turned into pigs is a bit taxing on them, but even that has become an in-joke, with my daughter reminding me that I might suddenly start grunting and keel over if I keep on eating. There are so many inventive moments like those that are also animated with such mastery that you want to rewatch it as soon as you are at the end credits.
What I love about these types of Japanese art is how the magic and the surreal become normalised in a way that western films rarely go anywhere near. I'm not a big anime fan by any stretch of the imagination, but films like Spirited Away and my personal favourite: Tekkonkinkreet just blow my mind with the sheer creative breadth of the vision.
Tekkonkinkreet is great! it's surreal and over the top but somehow still very grounded.
Some other awesome experimental animes that I think are worth watching are Redline, which has some amazing animation during car races on alien planets, and Dead Leaves, which is a classic escape from jail plot on steroids.
> Then again, it’s a strange time to consider the staying power of animation, given that HBO Max just unceremoniously erased 36 animated shows from its platform.
Did they tho? The NPR article this article links to does say they dropped 36 shows, but they include live action shows such as "Ellen's Next Great Designer" as well as animated titles. Animation looks to be the bulk of it at least, but that'd be a weird mistake considering the author directly linked to an article that would have pointed out the error.
> Instead, I’m left with the old ephemeral feeling, anxious about something I may never see again.
no need to feel anxious about never seeing Infinity Train again. There are DVDs for at least the first two seasons and it's available online via less than official channels which is always nice, but who knows for how long that'll stay true.
If you depend on someone else's service for content, there's a good chance you're going to eventually lose access to something you really care about. Having a copy (physical or otherwise) that you control and can backup is a good idea for the media that matters most to you.
Sadly, far too many animated series have never gotten a release on physical media. Disney is especially bad about this, and I suspect it's entirely to help drive up Disney+ subscriptions. Just one more way streaming is bad for consumers.
I didn’t notice mentioned in the article or comments here, but “Studio Ghibli Fest” has been running in Regal cinemas this year and there are still a few movies left (Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirted Away). We’ve pre-purchased tickets; it is a great opportunity for my kids to see some of these on the big screen.
Surprised no one has mentioned the representational content of No Face - it represents YOU, THE VIEWER.
The curiosity, the situational greed and lust, the remorse and the will to be useful and healing...
I love this film, and since learning about /why/ the film was made, I have a deep respect for the execution of something that is at once beautiful and inspiring and kid friendly, while also dealing with an extremely adult topic. Layers.
I'd be interested in hearing from Japanese lawmakers about the effect this had on the legislation drafting and enforcement process.
Try reader mode. Interestingly, this page worked fine for me, but when I clicked links to other pages on the same site they exhibited the same problem you are experiencing. This is on Firefox on Windows. Reader mode fixes the problem.
I think it really says something that besides the usual complaints about the website, all the comments here are about Spirited Away, with no one mentioning Hulu yanking titles, which is a very software-esque thing to do. Maybe it's because everyone here knows how difficult it is to fully delete something from the internet.
"The Sixth Station" always gives me instant goose bumps. Probably stating the obvious but soundtracks can make or destroy a potentially good movie.
The scary trailer recuts of Mary Poppins [1] or Diff'rent Strokes [2] come to mind for example of how influential a soundtrack can be.
I watched it, and rewatched it, because my girlfriend is really into these movies. I just don't understand the point. It seems so aimless to me. Can someone explain the fascination with Spirited Away?
A big thing with Japanese folk tales that is a bit of a jump for people with a European perspective is that they have no moral lesson. They are just a bunch of things that happen. It is fun to watch western audiences come up with theories about what these movies might represent, when they are just very Japanese. There are themes for sure and obvious messages about overconsumption and greed. But they are more about animism.
For me the bit that sticks in my mind about spirited away is the part with the empty train going through the water and it just feels so lonely. I can't describe it very well, but I can't think of another depiction of that feeling.
It's hard to explain why I love it so much. I enjoyed that it wasn't so interested in plot machinery, it was more like the story of her summer. No one's season follows a strict rising action to a climax in the third act/month, but taken as a sum, you get a story about Chihiro learning about friendship, courage, love, and forgiveness. It's kind and gentle in a way that's never cloying or saccharine. I'm thinking specifically of the scene where she gets some rice from Haku and bursts into tears. It's a simple and moving depiction of sadness, homesickness, and fear being chipped away by a small gesture of kindness. But I don't think it's bad at all to have not enjoyed it.
I was high when I watched Spirited Away for the first time. I liked it so much I almost cried sometimes. After that watching I watched this movie multiple times without getting bored. What a masterpiece.
[+] [-] tehnub|3 years ago|reply
>The story of "Spirited Away" has been populated with limitless creativity. Has any film ever contained more different kinds of beings that we have never seen anywhere before? Miyazaki's imagination never rests. There is a scene where the heroine and her companion get off a train in the middle of a swamp. In the distant forest they see a light approaching. This turns out to be an old-fashioned light pole that is hopping along on one foot. It bows to them, turns, and lights the way on the path they must take. When they arrive at a cottage, it dutifully hangs itself above the gate. The living light pole is not necessary. It is a gift from Miyazaki.
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-spirited-away...
[+] [-] dereg|3 years ago|reply
> The movie is so visually rich I want to see it again to look in the corners and appreciate the details. Like all the best Japanese anime, it pays attention to little things. There is a scene where an old man consults a book of occult lore. He opens it and starts to read. A page flips over. He flips it back in place. Considering that every action in an animated film requires thousands of drawings, a moment like the page flip might seem unnecessary, but all through the movie we get little touches like that.
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/metropolis-2002
[+] [-] npinsker|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ericmcer|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] NalNezumi|3 years ago|reply
I have mixed opinions about the show but rewatching it in different stage of life (early teen, depressed high schooler, stressed college kid, anxious junior to the worklife) I always saw some new things.
As a kid the robots and fighting the angels were the focus, as a depressed teen the religious symbolism and reading too much in to it was the focus, as a stressed college kid it was the relation between the characters (and their parents) was the focus, and finally as an "adult" it was seeing how completely dysfunctional every single adult is in the series.
A hallmark of good rewatchable show is to always explore new stuff. I wonder what I'll explore if I re-watch it in my next step of life
[+] [-] peteforde|3 years ago|reply
So yeah, while I usually go the legit and lazy route, if someone says "hey, did you ever see Person of Interest? how about Dollhouse?" it never even crosses my mind that I might have to hope some streaming platform picks it up.
The idea that the author clearly perceives an artificial scarcity is fascinating. It's like... should someone tell her?
[+] [-] krupan|3 years ago|reply
Protip: Go to the preferences and change the settings to reduce your chances of getting all porn in your search results.
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] atoav|3 years ago|reply
It is more mature than Spirited Away and definitly worth a watch if you are an engineer as the story is a free fictionalization of the life of the engineer that designed the japanese fighter airplane nicknamed "Zero". The classic Ghibli motifs of clouds, grassy mountaintops and fantasy of flying play their role as one might have guessed — but coupled with the serious and mature topics of the film it is even more magical when in a quiet scene the wind strokes through the grass.
As an Austrian who lives in Germany I also liked the scene where they traveled to Germany to see the Junkers plant (with the goal of spying of course) — I liked it because it offered a unique perspective on Germany of the time.
It was one of those Ghiblis I never watched because of odd reasons, but when I did I was blown away.
[+] [-] beilabs|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] savanaly|3 years ago|reply
The scene that I would relive in my nightmares repeatedly for years was the one where the protagonist's cursed arm comes to life in the middle of a pitched battle and everyone sets down their arms to watch as he pushes open a big gate or something. The music in this scene is foreboding, solemn, yet energetic, and the visual combined with the music evoked exactly the emotion I'm sure Miyzaki intended: dread at the vastness of the power of nature about which humans know naught, finally revealed in all its terrible horror. The prince's fate as a cursed person is supposed to feel worse than death and this was maybe my first time fully appreciating that concept in my short life, so it was doubly effective.
[+] [-] Freak_NL|3 years ago|reply
As the parent of a three year old: what made you break and put those on? (I'm just happy for the existence of Pat and Mat.)
[+] [-] flanbiscuit|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jvvw|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smegsicle|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dzhiurgis|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kstenerud|3 years ago|reply
- Spirited Away
- Grave of the Fireflies
- Finding Dory
- Up
- Tokyo Godfathers
- Akira (NOT the English dub, which completely changes the story and dialogue for the worse, and for no good reason)
- Mononoke Hime
- Ghost in the Shell (the original one)
- My Neighbor Totoro
Animated series I'll rewatch:
- Guardian of the Sacred Spirit
- Castlevania
- Futurama
- Archer
- Arcane
- Cowboy Bebop
- Ergo Proxy
- The Dragon Prince
- Hakaba Kitaro
- Star Trek: Lower Decks
[+] [-] codeduck|3 years ago|reply
Avoid the American "Warriors of the Wind" because it is terrible, for reasons similar to what you wrote about Akira.
[+] [-] freetime2|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tralarpa|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sdrinf|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] idiocrat|3 years ago|reply
- Red Shoes and the Seven Dwarfs (2019)
- Leap! (2016)
And for the series you are really missing out on:
- Final Space (the first season only)
[+] [-] fredley|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Beldin|3 years ago|reply
- Batmat TAS
- Gargoyles
- Howl's moving castle
And if you'll allow "animation" to also cover animatronics and puppetry:
- The Storyteller
- Labyrinth
[+] [-] finikytou|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] flanbiscuit|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] weard_beard|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pamelafox|3 years ago|reply
Related: I drew a No-Face on our garage last spring and it's still there, creeping out everyone who walks by. Guess it hasn't rained much in CA! :)
[+] [-] est31|3 years ago|reply
I think in the time between, I've developed a much better appreciation for the beauty of a lot of the scenery in the movie: even the day later I still had the flower garden scene before my eyes, even if it's so short itself. It just gives and gives and gives, it is so amazing. I think I lacked that appreciation when I was a kid.
I also realized how much my fear of losing my parents has changed. When you are a little kid who loves and is so dependent on his parents, this is the worst catastrophy that can happen to you, and instills such fear. It strikes so different years later when you are a proper adult who has moved out and I only realized that once I actually rewatched it.
It is a movie about the first job, the first love, about independence, about travel, about human's destruction of nature, about japanese religion, and many more things. It is such an amazing beautiful movie. In our field of work you can find many fans of japan's cultural exports, and that's fine, but I was never really deeply into most of it. But Studio Ghibli stuff is just so amazing, I am a great fan (plus Your Name).
[+] [-] afroisalreadyin|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] louthy|3 years ago|reply
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfQjc2hs34Y
[+] [-] have_faith|3 years ago|reply
Some other awesome experimental animes that I think are worth watching are Redline, which has some amazing animation during car races on alien planets, and Dead Leaves, which is a classic escape from jail plot on steroids.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t26m_Q6ENo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvDMzmcbNkE
[+] [-] autoexec|3 years ago|reply
Did they tho? The NPR article this article links to does say they dropped 36 shows, but they include live action shows such as "Ellen's Next Great Designer" as well as animated titles. Animation looks to be the bulk of it at least, but that'd be a weird mistake considering the author directly linked to an article that would have pointed out the error.
> Instead, I’m left with the old ephemeral feeling, anxious about something I may never see again.
no need to feel anxious about never seeing Infinity Train again. There are DVDs for at least the first two seasons and it's available online via less than official channels which is always nice, but who knows for how long that'll stay true.
If you depend on someone else's service for content, there's a good chance you're going to eventually lose access to something you really care about. Having a copy (physical or otherwise) that you control and can backup is a good idea for the media that matters most to you.
Sadly, far too many animated series have never gotten a release on physical media. Disney is especially bad about this, and I suspect it's entirely to help drive up Disney+ subscriptions. Just one more way streaming is bad for consumers.
[+] [-] LVB|3 years ago|reply
https://www.regmovies.com/static/en/us/promotions/studio-ghi...
[+] [-] mcbishop|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] madmod|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] imagineerschool|3 years ago|reply
The curiosity, the situational greed and lust, the remorse and the will to be useful and healing...
I love this film, and since learning about /why/ the film was made, I have a deep respect for the execution of something that is at once beautiful and inspiring and kid friendly, while also dealing with an extremely adult topic. Layers.
I'd be interested in hearing from Japanese lawmakers about the effect this had on the legislation drafting and enforcement process.
[+] [-] raspberry1337|3 years ago|reply
>The film was made to please the ten-year-old daughter of Hayao Miyazaki's personal friend, director Seiji Okuda.
https://ghibli.fandom.com/wiki/Spirited_Away
[+] [-] AndrewVos|3 years ago|reply
Chrome on Android
[+] [-] Digit-Al|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cmacleod4|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pinato|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drewtato|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mudrockbestgirl|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maaaaattttt|3 years ago|reply
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T5_0AGdFic
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwxLekENDw0
[+] [-] carlmr|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] salty_biscuits|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] overthemoon|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mandmandam|3 years ago|reply
However there is a lot under the surface. Find some theories and interpretations below, and decide for yourself how much water they hold.
https://sites.psu.edu/angelapassion/2016/07/02/spirited-away...
https://visualculture.blog.torontomu.ca/capitalism-in-miyaza...
https://www.thedailystar.net/shout/news/the-metaphors-capita...
[+] [-] pvsukale3|3 years ago|reply