Spirited Away (2001)
- To accurately portray their role in Spirited Away, Rumi Hiiragi spent weeks conducting hands-on research and rehearsing directly with director Hayao Miyazaki.
- Spirited Away utilized mostly practical sets and locations to ground the story, a specific choice insisted upon by Hayao Miyazaki.
Spirited Away is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, produced by Studio Ghibli. The story follows Chihiro Ogino, a ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new neighborhood, enters the world of Kami — the spirits of Japanese Shinto folklore. After her parents are transformed into pigs by the witch Yubaba, Chihiro must work in Yubaba's bathhouse for supernatural beings to find a way to free herself and her parents.
The film draws heavily on Japanese mythology and themes of environmentalism, greed, and the loss of identity. Spirited Away became the highest-grossing film in Japanese history upon its release, earning over $395 million worldwide. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards, the only hand-drawn and non-English language animated film to win the award.
The film is widely considered Miyazaki's masterpiece and one of the greatest animated films ever made, praised for its imaginative world-building and emotional depth.
