I’ve wanted this video to exist for so many years. Thank you for breaking down so many things that other videos don’t cover. Even the littlest details all mean something to a Japanese watcher. Thank you thank you thank you
I appreciate this. This video, along with your Howl's Moving Castle video, helped me understand so many things that I resigned myself to believing were 100% imagined fantastic nonsense. I can't wait to rewatch Spirited Away for the umpteenth time and finally be able to actually understand more than the basic story. Side note, did anyone else get introduced to Miyazaki through Toonami's Month of Miyazaki? The ads tried to make Spirited Away look like an action movie. It's hilarious.
Hold the what now? “Prior to WW2 Japan was a communist country”???. Incorrect. During World War II, Japan was considered a military dictatorship under the guise of a constitutional monarchy, with the Emperor as the head of state, but real power largely held by the military leadership, particularly during the reign of Prime Minister Hideki Tojo; essentially, it was an authoritarian government with strong militaristic influence.
"Communism" could also refer to Japans economic system, its not only a form of political leadership or an ideology. For example, the economy of the facist nazi Germany was more remniscent of communist countries' economies than of capitalist countries'.
@@abraham2172what??? No it’s not just when government does stuff. The two examples you gave were very fascist with more traditional economies, even though they were authoritarian
Great video, learned a good deal. Not just about the movie, which i love, but the japanese culture, which id love to see you discuss more in the future!
Thank you for another great video! At the end of the movie - spoilers - where Chihiro rightly indicates to Yubaba that her parents are not present among the pigs… i never followed how she determines this. Still my fav film with Princess Mononoke (No Face as a perfect reflection of how we treat each other)
I love this so much, i have watched countless videos analyzing the movie's different aspects, but this video still taught me new things, like about the seasonal clock, and brought new perspectives. Great job!! p.s.: i would totally watch the hour long version of this
Thank you for putting so much work into this video. This is one of my favorite movies and means so much to me. My daughter is almost 3 and although this movie is not aimed for her age group, she enjoys watching it with me. I skip past the parts that might scare her! lol. Anyway, I just wanted to share my appreciation. New Subbie! Wishing you much success!
I re-watched this film and completely forgot about baby Boh, a prominent character! With a lot to unpack in the narrative, I especially appreciate your insights into the themes of Shintoism and environmentalism.
Well, I've gotta watch this again now - not that I need an excuse. Interesting note about the story at 15:18, this sounds nearly identical to the story of Orpheus who went to the underworld to rescue his wife. Cool, how cultures so far apart in time and distance can have such similar stories.
The kanji on the left side of the clock below looks like "長", which means "long." (By the way, a frog is called "Kaeru/カエル/かえる/蛙." And about the name "Chihiro/千尋/ちひろ", the two kanji separately mean "a thousand" and "ask" certainly, but together they make another popular word meaning "very long/deep." You have to be careful when two or more kanji make a word or phrase for it is not so simple as just putting individual meanings together.) And "Kami-kakushi/神隠し" means just "hidden by gods/disappearance without a trace."
it's interesting to see people being scared of this movie as kids. I grew up with only ponyo, and watched spirited away a little later, as a preteen probably. from the moment I laid my eyes on it, instead of seeing the spirit world as a bad thing, I kind of envyed chihiro. I have had a yearning for something beyond this world forever, and this movie absolutely condenses what that craving for wonder and a fresh breath of air feels like. I caught myself wishing that I, too, would find out that there was another side, so much more to our world, I'm a very comforting manner. the world building of the spiritworld, of the bathhouse, makes it look extremely functional and lived in (no pun intended), it's soothing to see how it seems to work even with the diversity of characters, from dragons to huge ducks and almost human entities. this is my favorite movie, to this day I cry throughout it, and in the end I'm always left thinking that if I was chihiro I would've never gone back, I would've grabbed the chance, let myself forget my name and never looked back to my life before. thank you for this video!! it's good to get more tidbits of information about the masterpiece of this movie 🙏🙏
My first connection with Studio Ghibli was also when I was a child (like maybe 6 years old) ! My parents randomly picked the DVDs but I loved them imidetly! Especially the Spirited Away, I was in awe. Watched it ( and all of them) on repeat 24/7!🤭
This was interesting and informative commentary. Kudos. Note on Kamaji: He has only two legs, but he has six arms. I lived in Japan when I was eight years old because my Pappy was an army officer, and served in the occupation forces at the end of WWII. I could speak Japanese well enough to understand and be understood then, but have long since forgotten all but a few words. I am fascinated by Japanese culture and technology, and learn a lot about it by watching NHK TV. I'm a big Sumo fan.
Thank you for your work. Very impressed by the depth of your research, thinking and care you put into your assays. I will be very curious to see your analysis of "The Boy and the Heron". This movie keeps me thinking about its message, in particular to Hayao Miyazaki own personal story personally and creatively. I watched most recent documentary on the film from NHK and the figure of Isao Takahata rather than Miyazaki himself was positioned as a center of the story. This is not what I originally thought. And this is on top of again deep mythology and history that "naturally" include old Miyzaki's movies. After watching your work I think your take will be invaluable. Again, thank you for your fantastic work.
I find funny that this week I was looking up who was the girl in the well In the movie "The Ring". When I found the list of other movies and jobs she had I found Lilo and Shihiro on the list. What a talented person she is.
14:00 interesting thing about the Shinto teaching about not looking back and eating something from that world / dimension will allow you to pass through it. I heard something similar in Greek mythology of Persephone and Hades. They were in love but I think If you are something from the underworld you couldn't leave. It's interesting in the similarities.
Dearest Dimple, you have no idea how much I appreciate your videos, I love these movies and I have always wanted to know the deeper meanings behind the story, especially since it makes it so much easier to understand for an American. I hope you do more, and I completely blew up the comment section of your Howls Moving Castle video😂. I love how you explained both the book and the movie and how they connect. I love them both but they have a lot of differences. Have you ever thought of doing videos like this for books/book series or even for specific characters?
I CAN tell you the first time I saw Spirited Away and why it is so sentimental to me and why I broke down when my baby ripped the tape from my VHS 😢 This movie is soooooo special to me. 10 was when I saw it, truly perfect timing.
Argentina has a shinto shrine, Hawaii supposedly has one, the shrine in California moved to Washington and then to Florida where it currently is. Canada has one as well. Shinto has spread.
The end song was so beautiful. I was in a bad way in my life at one point. I got lucky, i was taken to the hospital, i had an Over dose listen to that song.
The name isn't always spirited away in western media. In germany the title of the movie is 'Chihiros Reise ins Zauberland' I'd loosely translate it to Chirios journey to the magic land in english. Probably not the best translation, but the most accurate i could think of on the spot
It is funny that the movie has a different title in German from the rest of the western world, Chihiros Reise ins Zauberland, in english translated, Chihiros journey in to the magic/wizard world
This was brilliant! I was a mega weeb in highschool and took Japanese for 3 years cuz, well... Anime, but. I wanted, also, to understand what I was watching better. Learn cultural references and enough spoken Japanese to mode appreciate the source material in it's intended form. I already knew several things in this but still learned sooooo much more. Thanks for this! Now I wanna watch Spirited Away again 😂
Btw Chihiro lied to Yubaba. When she wrote her name on the contract she wrote one of the Kanji incorrectly so Yubaba never got to take from her true name. Also I don’t think Yubaba is a Yamauba… she isn’t on a Yama. There’s many different Hags in folklore.
I guess it really depends on the kid, but I never found this movie scary. I saw it younger(I was 7) and it never scared me and my daughter who is 3 absolutely loves it. She thinks the little soot creatures are the funniest thing 😂
To be fair , myazaki demographic was probably 10y old japanese girls. They grow up hearing about yokai and such, so maybe it was less "traumatic" for them? I personnally found these movies enchanting. After all there s a lot of dark scenes in disney too, like the death of the evil queen in snow white just to name this one, and i ddnt find myazaki s movies as dark as disney s movies tbf.(except for the mentions to the war o.c) After all no one dies in spirited away. Not even a baby deer....😅 right? But that s a personnal thing i guess. But the fact that these movies scared u as a kid is probably one of the reason u ended up liking em so much as an adult, dont u think?😊❤
I find it really funny you saying you were scared of these movies as a kid, because I only got to watch them as an adult and I wish so badly I could’ve seen them for the first time when I was little! My favorite movie when i was 5 was Coraline! An actual horror movie for children. So i wouldve loved spirited away and princess Mononoke
Good effort on research but it’s worth looking closer into the blend of beliefs that form Japanese Shinto and Buddhism and mythology. For example Jizou are buddhist in origin.
This video is filled with wrong “facts”. From the highest grossing film, to Shinto religion, to pre WW2 communism, to being the only Japanese film to win an Oscar. 😂
Japan has never been communist country 🤔 Japan was military imperialistic Nazi country, who supported Germany and Italy in WW2, killed more Chinese people, than all the other countries (yes, including Germany kill count in USSR), colonizing almost all Eastern Asia. 🤔 After Americans bombed them with nukes and stripped them of their army and political and military power (which is written in Japanese constitution), Japanese society changed to other form of existence.
" ...winning the Oscar for the best animated film that year. Something never before ever achieved by a Japanese film and not yet achieved since then." uh ...Miyazaki won the same award in 2023 for The Boy in the Heron. Communism Japan? Get your facts straight before you speak any further on any Ghibli or Miyazaki films, you're doing a disservice. This sounds like a grade school report.
I’ve wanted this video to exist for so many years. Thank you for breaking down so many things that other videos don’t cover. Even the littlest details all mean something to a Japanese watcher.
Thank you thank you thank you
Uh- the Boy and the Heron won the Oscar this past year for best animated feature. So he’s actually won twice
I appreciate this. This video, along with your Howl's Moving Castle video, helped me understand so many things that I resigned myself to believing were 100% imagined fantastic nonsense. I can't wait to rewatch Spirited Away for the umpteenth time and finally be able to actually understand more than the basic story. Side note, did anyone else get introduced to Miyazaki through Toonami's Month of Miyazaki? The ads tried to make Spirited Away look like an action movie. It's hilarious.
I heard that No Face represents the generation of young Japanese that have no direction.
Hold the what now? “Prior to WW2 Japan was a communist country”???. Incorrect. During World War II, Japan was considered a military dictatorship under the guise of a constitutional monarchy, with the Emperor as the head of state, but real power largely held by the military leadership, particularly during the reign of Prime Minister Hideki Tojo; essentially, it was an authoritarian government with strong militaristic influence.
Neoliberalism is a hell of drug. Especially when used by so called enlightened centrist. 😂
"Communism" could also refer to Japans economic system, its not only a form of political leadership or an ideology. For example, the economy of the facist nazi Germany was more remniscent of communist countries' economies than of capitalist countries'.
@ lol that’s crazy you just said so many incorrect things.
@@abraham2172what??? No it’s not just when government does stuff. The two examples you gave were very fascist with more traditional economies, even though they were authoritarian
@ 🤣 you clearly know nothing about any economic system if you’re calling any era in Japan as communist.
Great video, learned a good deal. Not just about the movie, which i love, but the japanese culture, which id love to see you discuss more in the future!
Thank you very much!
Oh my God, it's so good to have you back, I have so so so so missed your videos. 🎉
Thank you! 🥺It is good to be back!
Thank you for another great video! At the end of the movie - spoilers - where Chihiro rightly indicates to Yubaba that her parents are not present among the pigs… i never followed how she determines this. Still my fav film with Princess Mononoke (No Face as a perfect reflection of how we treat each other)
Thank you for all youf research and effort in making this video! 🥰
I love this so much, i have watched countless videos analyzing the movie's different aspects, but this video still taught me new things, like about the seasonal clock, and brought new perspectives. Great job!!
p.s.: i would totally watch the hour long version of this
thank you so much! :)
@@dearestdimpleI own the English dub and the Japanese sub of Howl’s Moving Castle
Thank you for putting so much work into this video. This is one of my favorite movies and means so much to me. My daughter is almost 3 and although this movie is not aimed for her age group, she enjoys watching it with me. I skip past the parts that might scare her! lol. Anyway, I just wanted to share my appreciation. New Subbie! Wishing you much success!
Just a correction, the director’s name is Hayao Miyazaki.
I re-watched this film and completely forgot about baby Boh, a prominent character! With a lot to unpack in the narrative, I especially appreciate your insights into the themes of Shintoism and environmentalism.
Well, I've gotta watch this again now - not that I need an excuse. Interesting note about the story at 15:18, this sounds nearly identical to the story of Orpheus who went to the underworld to rescue his wife. Cool, how cultures so far apart in time and distance can have such similar stories.
I first watched this movie at netflix yesterday.Sometimes i regret that i didn't watch this movie earlier.Spirited away was one if my favorite movies
The kanji on the left side of the clock below looks like "長", which means "long." (By the way, a frog is called "Kaeru/カエル/かえる/蛙." And about the name "Chihiro/千尋/ちひろ", the two kanji separately mean "a thousand" and "ask" certainly, but together they make another popular word meaning "very long/deep." You have to be careful when two or more kanji make a word or phrase for it is not so simple as just putting individual meanings together.) And "Kami-kakushi/神隠し" means just "hidden by gods/disappearance without a trace."
Thank you for this video! I really enjoyed it!
Glad you enjoyed it!
it's interesting to see people being scared of this movie as kids. I grew up with only ponyo, and watched spirited away a little later, as a preteen probably. from the moment I laid my eyes on it, instead of seeing the spirit world as a bad thing, I kind of envyed chihiro. I have had a yearning for something beyond this world forever, and this movie absolutely condenses what that craving for wonder and a fresh breath of air feels like. I caught myself wishing that I, too, would find out that there was another side, so much more to our world, I'm a very comforting manner. the world building of the spiritworld, of the bathhouse, makes it look extremely functional and lived in (no pun intended), it's soothing to see how it seems to work even with the diversity of characters, from dragons to huge ducks and almost human entities. this is my favorite movie, to this day I cry throughout it, and in the end I'm always left thinking that if I was chihiro I would've never gone back, I would've grabbed the chance, let myself forget my name and never looked back to my life before.
thank you for this video!! it's good to get more tidbits of information about the masterpiece of this movie 🙏🙏
The english voice for Lin is also Meg in Disney's Hercules.
Agreed that movie scared me but it was also so amazing! The amount of detail he put into his film 😮
One of my fav movies I could watch it over and over
17:01 the use of footage of capybara bathing here is sending me 😂
This is an excellent video. Really beautifully done and insightful
My first connection with Studio Ghibli was also when I was a child (like maybe 6 years old) ! My parents randomly picked the DVDs but I loved them imidetly! Especially the Spirited Away, I was in awe. Watched it ( and all of them) on repeat 24/7!🤭
This was interesting and informative commentary. Kudos. Note on Kamaji: He has only two legs, but he has six arms. I lived in Japan when I was eight years old because my Pappy was an army officer, and served in the occupation forces at the end of WWII. I could speak Japanese well enough to understand and be understood then, but have long since forgotten all but a few words. I am fascinated by Japanese culture and technology, and learn a lot about it by watching NHK TV. I'm a big Sumo fan.
Oh man I have to get to bed but I am genuinely looking forward to seeing this when I get up, I binged your back catalog already lol
Awesome!
Spirited Away is one of my favorite movies of all time...!
I enjoyed watching thank you
I like your voice. Subscribed. Keep it up 😁
Thank you! 😃
Thank you for your work. Very impressed by the depth of your research, thinking and care you put into your assays. I will be very curious to see your analysis of "The Boy and the Heron". This movie keeps me thinking about its message, in particular to Hayao Miyazaki own personal story personally and creatively. I watched most recent documentary on the film from NHK and the figure of Isao Takahata rather than Miyazaki himself was positioned as a center of the story. This is not what I originally thought. And this is on top of again deep mythology and history that "naturally" include old Miyzaki's movies. After watching your work I think your take will be invaluable. Again, thank you for your fantastic work.
must have watched this movie a thousand times with my kids. loved howls moving castle and princess Mononoke too
I find funny that this week I was looking up who was the girl in the well In the movie "The Ring". When I found the list of other movies and jobs she had I found Lilo and Shihiro on the list. What a talented person she is.
I hope you have seen Nausicca as well. The appreciation for the natural world is everywhere in that film and shown in an anti-war style.
The Boy and the Heron won an Oscar last year, and “demon Slayer- Mugen train” is actually the highest grossing film. 😅
14:00 interesting thing about the Shinto teaching about not looking back and eating something from that world / dimension will allow you to pass through it. I heard something similar in Greek mythology of Persephone and Hades. They were in love but I think If you are something from the underworld you couldn't leave. It's interesting in the similarities.
Dearest Dimple, you have no idea how much I appreciate your videos, I love these movies and I have always wanted to know the deeper meanings behind the story, especially since it makes it so much easier to understand for an American. I hope you do more, and I completely blew up the comment section of your Howls Moving Castle video😂. I love how you explained both the book and the movie and how they connect. I love them both but they have a lot of differences. Have you ever thought of doing videos like this for books/book series or even for specific characters?
I CAN tell you the first time I saw Spirited Away and why it is so sentimental to me and why I broke down when my baby ripped the tape from my VHS 😢 This movie is soooooo special to me. 10 was when I saw it, truly perfect timing.
Argentina has a shinto shrine, Hawaii supposedly has one, the shrine in California moved to Washington and then to Florida where it currently is. Canada has one as well. Shinto has spread.
The first 2 minutes are pure facts for me lol
The thirteenth hour is a book series I read in high school, it feels like a fever dream now but I often think about it lol
The end song was so beautiful. I was in a bad way in my life at one point. I got lucky, i was taken to the hospital, i had an Over dose listen to that song.
The name isn't always spirited away in western media. In germany the title of the movie is 'Chihiros Reise ins Zauberland'
I'd loosely translate it to Chirios journey to the magic land in english. Probably not the best translation, but the most accurate i could think of on the spot
It is funny that the movie has a different title in German from the rest of the western world, Chihiros Reise ins Zauberland, in english translated, Chihiros journey in to the magic/wizard world
4:00 What do you mean? Miyazaki won again with The Boy and The Heron.
i found this movie on cartoon network when i was like 11 first anime movie i fell in love with
great video
This was a very fun and informative Video. I moved to Japan in retirement and I'm trying to learn the language / culture.
I have bought this movie in DVD and on demand streaming 9 times. The DVDs somehow keep getting loaned out but never returned.
The Boy and the Heron received an Oscar
To me the most terrifying part as a kid and to this day was Noface's rampage. I refuse to watch it now.
great video! i was hoping to hear about the radish spirit ;((
LILO IS CHIHIRO!?!??!
I LOVE BOTH MOVIES, HOW DID I NO HEAR THAT!?!?
knowing this now, it's so obvious!!!😭😭😭
I absolutely love this movie ,this got me to appreciate Japanese anime.
Thank you for this 🥹💜💜💜
Correction tha pre war Japanese government was a monarchy not communist they had an emperor not an elected leader.
great video. Correction: Boy and the Heron also wont the Academy Awards for best Animated Feature
this is an amazing video! i’ll definitely be watching the howls moving castle video 🫶🏼
Thank you! I hope you enjoy it :)
This was brilliant! I was a mega weeb in highschool and took Japanese for 3 years cuz, well... Anime, but. I wanted, also, to understand what I was watching better. Learn cultural references and enough spoken Japanese to mode appreciate the source material in it's intended form. I already knew several things in this but still learned sooooo much more. Thanks for this! Now I wanna watch Spirited Away again 😂
You have a very pleasant voice.
Btw Chihiro lied to Yubaba. When she wrote her name on the contract she wrote one of the Kanji incorrectly so Yubaba never got to take from her true name.
Also I don’t think Yubaba is a Yamauba… she isn’t on a Yama. There’s many different Hags in folklore.
I guess it really depends on the kid, but I never found this movie scary. I saw it younger(I was 7) and it never scared me and my daughter who is 3 absolutely loves it. She thinks the little soot creatures are the funniest thing 😂
To be fair , myazaki demographic was probably 10y old japanese girls. They grow up hearing about yokai and such, so maybe it was less "traumatic" for them? I personnally found these movies enchanting. After all there s a lot of dark scenes in disney too, like the death of the evil queen in snow white just to name this one, and i ddnt find myazaki s movies as dark as disney s movies tbf.(except for the mentions to the war o.c) After all no one dies in spirited away. Not even a baby deer....😅 right? But that s a personnal thing i guess. But the fact that these movies scared u as a kid is probably one of the reason u ended up liking em so much as an adult, dont u think?😊❤
Amazing film.
pre-WW2 Japan was Feudalist not Communist. The Japanese Imperial Family is still around and last i checked communists were not led by a monarchy.
This is my priests favorite cartoon.
😂 the baby uuugh
I can see where you got a couple things incorrect. Which I get! You can't learn a whole culture in x amount of time. But I still learned and enjoyed!
I find it really funny you saying you were scared of these movies as a kid, because I only got to watch them as an adult and I wish so badly I could’ve seen them for the first time when I was little! My favorite movie when i was 5 was Coraline! An actual horror movie for children. So i wouldve loved spirited away and princess Mononoke
i love this vidio and this movie
Good effort on research but it’s worth looking closer into the blend of beliefs that form Japanese Shinto and Buddhism and mythology. For example Jizou are buddhist in origin.
This video is filled with wrong “facts”. From the highest grossing film, to Shinto religion, to pre WW2 communism, to being the only Japanese film to win an Oscar. 😂
Also MY LEG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reupload?
got a copyright strike from Studio Ghibli on my first one :)
@@dearestdimple oh gosh! Glad you could fix it so easily/quickly!
@@tonylarose4842 Thank you!😁
Japan was far from communist before WW2
The Ring is also orogibally a japanese horror.
I feel like the number on the clock looks like a 19 more than a 13..
Surely Miyazaki never intended all the symbolism to be understood by the audience, so, why bother with so much detail? I don't get it.
Because it’s art. It has most meaning to the artist.
Really can't remember when you 1st seen it no thanks
Japan has never been communist country 🤔
Japan was military imperialistic Nazi country, who supported Germany and Italy in WW2, killed more Chinese people, than all the other countries (yes, including Germany kill count in USSR), colonizing almost all Eastern Asia.
🤔
After Americans bombed them with nukes and stripped them of their army and political and military power (which is written in Japanese constitution), Japanese society changed to other form of existence.
" ...winning the Oscar for the best animated film that year. Something never before ever achieved by a Japanese film and not yet achieved since then." uh ...Miyazaki won the same award in 2023 for The Boy in the Heron. Communism Japan? Get your facts straight before you speak any further on any Ghibli or Miyazaki films, you're doing a disservice. This sounds like a grade school report.
🤗
Japan was communist 😂😂😂😂😂😂 what are you smoking?
11:52 here in the UK we have 24 hours in our day so seeing hour 13 is fairly benign
Very interesting presentation but you are in error to say that before WW 2 Japan was a communist country. Feudal would be more accurate.
Frog 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸
Japanese version of alice adventures in wonderland
yubaba is baba yaga
21:40 "japan was a communist country" - total bs