| about
trismugistus.com
and digital-bondage.net
are my web sites.
trismugistus.com
is where I upload my anime, manga and tv&film reviews,
and also where I occasionally post short stories and longer
works I've written.
digital-bondage.net
is my wallpaper site and provides anime, manga and other
desktop wallpapers in a variety of resolutions. I also
have a few tutorials and some resources, such as psds
for you to download.
I also run a site called scan-city.org,
which provides scans from the latest japanese anime magazines
for you to download and use in your wallpapers.
You can also read my blog here
or check out my anime list here. |
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| details |
| The Genre: Fantasy/Children’s |
| The Format: DVD |
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| The plot: Whilst on a family outing ten year
old Chihiro and her parents stumble upon an abandoned
amusement park. Chihiro's parents find some food
and start to eat it all, they are then transformed
into giant pigs. Now Chihiro must find a way of
returning her parents to human form... |
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| opinion
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| Hayao Miyazaki.
Reams have been written about the man and his works,
many of them by more eloquent people than me, so
I think I’ll just cover it all with 'story-teller
extraordinaire'.
For, if there’s one thing Miyazaki does well,
it’s tell a really good story. A good story
is at the heart of all of the great works of entertainment,
and that’s what his films are – great
works of entertainment. I’d even venture to
suggest that they’re some of the greatest
works ever to be put onto celluloid.
Spirited Away is definitely no exception to this
rule. Like most of Miyazaki’s output it’s
essentially aimed at the children's and family audiences,
but as usual it features a good mix of elements
that will appeal to all. |
Taking the format of a modern fairy tale,
Spirited Away escorts us on a fantastical
journey into the world of, well, spirits.
However, at its heart, like many fairy tales,
it’s really a coming of age tale that
studies how the main character, Chihiro, matures
from a self-centred little brat into a much
nicer and more rounded person.
Chihiro must face various adversities, help
her friends, and rescue her parents whilst
living in a realm where the spirits have taken
over an abandoned theme park. At the start
of the film, Chihiro's parents are turned
into pigs because they ate food intended for
the spirits and Chihiro must rescue them.
She is aided in this quest by Haku –
a young boy who is Yubaba’s servant
– who tells her to get a job working
for Yubaba in the bath house she runs for
the spirits. |
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The film features a great deal of Japan specific
references and cultural elements. However, these
are done in such a way that the film doesn’t
alienate those members of the audience unfamiliar
with these cultural references. Indeed, with the
target audience being of such a young age, these
elements have been introduced in such a way that,
even when intricate to the story, they aren’t
incomprehensible to the viewer.
However, this does mean that some of the subtle
and clever references and nuances of the film will
be lost on all but the most clued up of western
viewers. This won’t have a detrimental affect
on anyone’s enjoyment of the film, but it
does reduce the story to a single level. I guess
it’s a hallmark of Miyazaki's masterful story-telling
then, that Spirited Away is highly enjoyable when
watched at this one level.
The animation throughout is superb. Indeed, there
are moments that are so realistic and beautifully
observed, I found myself wondering if motion capture
hadn’t been used. If you’re ever seen
FF: Spirits Within I’m sure you’ll have
had moments similar to this, where your brain sort
of slips into believing the people are actually
real ones. What makes this even more remarkable
in this case is that not a single shot of the film
involves CGI – it’s all hand-drawn work
(though computers where of course used, especially
for the colouring). |
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I think it’s in the exquisite details that
this film really shines for me. My own particular
favourite moments are the behaviour of the soot
balls in the boiler room and the hamster/bird team.
I won’t explain the latter, but the former
sees the re-appearance of the dust-mite type creatures
that popped up in My Neighbour Totoro (a particular
favourite of mine).
The soot balls are essentially indistinct black
blobs with a pair of large, white eyes. Here they
are tasked with carrying lumps of coal across from
the scuttle and into the furnaces that heats the
water used in the bath-house. This magical element
in and of itself is quite enchanting, but what makes
it extra special is that the details of the soot-balls
characters and movements are beautifully observed
and animated.
When Chihiro helps out one of the soot-balls that
is trying to carry a lump of coal that’s far
too big for it, the reaction of the rest is perfect.
There’s a slight pause, and then in a ripple
effect occurs as the individual balls pretend to
be unable to carry their loads. |
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If you watch it that’ll make more
sense, but it really is very well done. You
can really feel the humanity within these
small lumps of fluff, and the humour is both
perfectly pitched, and immaculately timed.
The only down-side to Spirited Away for me
is that the fundamental plot is a little clichéd,
which is why it doesn’t earn the full
5 out of 5. Whilst it does have a lot of imagination,
and the tale is wonderfully told, it is lacking
a smidge of originality. I say this mainly
in the face of other Ghibli Miyazaki works
such as Laputa and Totoro (my fave) which
were all much more innovative.
If I say “Alice in Wonderland”
you’ll hopefully see the problem of
Spirited Away. Its basic content has been
done many times before and by some masterful
story-tellers. |
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Spirited Away is released in the west by Disney.
Those familiar with the frankly appalling treatment
of some of the Studio Ghibli films at the hands
of this mega-corporation will probably have recoiled
in horror at that. But, in this case, they’ve
done a good job.
I’m quite sure this is entirely down to the
contribution from John Lasseter (the guy behind
Pixar) who is an immense Ghibli fan. Lasseter had
overall control of the project and this especially
shines through in the dub, which I wouldn’t
hesitate in watching or telling others to watch.
Highly recommended. |
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| summary |
| The Summary: A beautiful, if simplistic story,
immaculately told with gorgeous visuals. |
| The Score: 4/5 |
| The Pictures:
(click for larger versions) |
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