Spirited Away: Peak Miyazaki

Shirleon joins Melvin to discuss what is perhaps Hayao Miyazaki’s most popular feature, Spirited Away! Its music, its character, it’s magic; Spirited Away continues to dominate the conversation among Ghibli and anime fans alike, and the two get into all the good stuff in their latest episode!

Topics:

• (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 23-minutes of wondering if we’re back on the MCU train with the success of Thunderbolts*, and also playing a rapid-fire MCU trivia game! (PATREON EXCLUSIVE)
• Shirleon, “I really don’t think I can say anything bad about the movie.”
• Melvin does a rundown of similarities he’s observed between the 3 Miyazaki-directed movies they’ve covered on the show.
• Chihiro grows from someone who fears a lack of agency into someone empowered with determination.
• Spirited Away is a little different from other family-accessible movies in that its complicating incident isn’t the fault of it’s child-protagonist but rather their parents.
• The concept of “work” is constantly on the mind of the movie.
• Talking about the “weeping rice-cake” scene.
• If we spend time meditating on the blessings of our lives, we start to notice how supported and how resilient we are.

Recommendations:

• Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (2006) (Anime)
• Durarara!! (Season 1) (2010) (Anime)

Spirited Away is Rated PG for some scary moments. It features Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takashi Naitô, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Tatsuya Gashûin, Ryûnosuke Kamiki, and Yumi Tamai. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Spirited Away is available here.

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Melvin Benson is the Founder, Editor-In-Chief, and Lead Host of Cinematic Doctrine. Whether it’s a movie, show, game, comic, or novel, it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s rich, he’s ready and willing to give it a try! His hope is to see King Jesus glorified as far as the east is from the west!

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