It was one of those exiting days. At that time, I was one of those nerdy collectors (now I’m just nerdy). From Japan, one of the crowns on my DVD gift set collection would come in. The Spirited Away Limited Collector’s Edition. Numbered and everything! Little did I know, I would sell it the following year. But that’s a whole nother story.
As Spirited Away was one of the best rated movies last month, this is a small update on the movie. Not only was Spirited Away a box office success, it was also a big commercial success after the movie left the theater. Particularly in Japan, merchandise was all over the place.
Here's a promo/featurette, with some quite enthusiastic people:
(the audio got a little screwed on this one, sorry for that)
And this is a video of Miyazaki drawing, followed by a great music trailer:
At this point, if you haven't seen this movie yet, the time to at least rent it has come. Read our impression or click "see the results". Only Japanohaters don't like this movie. Are you a Japanohater?
Driving to their new house, Chihiro and her parents stop by an interesting old road. After inspecting it for a while, they suddenly find an open-air restaurant in some sort of town. But except for the food, it is totally deserted. Hungry as they are, Chihiro’s parents can’t wait to dig in and start eating all the delicious meals. Chihiro is not so sure they can be eating all of this and wanders off.
When trying to get back to her parents after a while, she finds them turned into dirty eating pigs. And as the night falls, the place is filling up with strange gods and spirits. In her first steps to breaking the spell on her parents, Chihiro has to start working in a bathhouse nearby. But the gods and spirits turn out to be the regular guests over there too.
Spirited Away is one of the first adult anime features I've seen and well, I can't say anything has topped it yet. It is set in such an extraordinary world, with such beauty and wisdom. With all these fun, unusual and evil characters and brought with all sorts of layers. With Chihiro you first feel totally lost in this strange town, but as it goes you adept to this amazing place you got yourself into. An epic experience, which well deserves its Oscar. And as with every of these great experiences, you come out just a little different than before.
