Animation
Animation in Spirited Away is nothing less than skilful. From the meticulous attention to details, to the fluidity of movement realised by hand-drawn frames; Studio Ghibli brings the magical world to life with exceptional animation.
To illustrate the level of attention paid by Studio Ghibli in producing the film, let us take a look at one wide shot.
In the foreground, we see Chihiro running towards the right side of the frame; in the middle ground, Boh is waving Chihiro goodbye; finally, in the background, the Bathhouse staff, including all the characters who have helped Chihiro in her journey, are all-smiles while seeing her off, with only Yubaba turning her back on Chihiro. We could also see the Radish spirit peeking out behind the tree.
Impressively, each of the supporting characters in the background has distinctive facial expressions and features. Some frog spirits are missing a tooth, some are holding their hats on their hands while Yunas are wearing Hakama of different colours. Although the supporting characters are not to be seen in reality, these individualistic characteristics bring them to life, accomplishing magic realism.
Animation on character movement and their interactions with the environment are equally as astonishing. As mentioned, frames in Spirited Away are hand-drawn. This contributes to a great fluidity in movements of characters. One such example would be when Haku drags Chihiro to the bridge. Both of them are performing the same action of running; yet, Haku's motion is much more steady in his pace while Chihiro appears to be perplexed and is more unstable in her pace.
Interactions between characters and the environment, too, play a significant role in the worldbuilding process in Spirited Away. In the scene when No Face follows Chihiro to the train station, we see No Face emerge from the water. As he stands, water drips down along his figure and ripples appear around his body on the water surface. No Face's shadow also follows his movement.
The animation presents properties that resemble our reality. With water dripping towards the earth and ripples appearing the way they would in the real world, we find a sense of familiarity in the world of Spirited Away through realism. This sense of familiarity would allow us to believe in this illusion constructed by Studio Ghibli despite the magical element.
Setting
The setting of Spirited Away is centred around Japanese culture, in particular, its traditional culture. In the Bathhouse, Aburaya, references of Japanese bathing culture, Shintoism and customer service etiquette are quite noticeable, furthering the element of familiarity to the intended Japanese audience.
Public bathhouses have played a salient role in the lives of Japanese people for many decades, first appearing in as early as the end of the eleventh century in Kyoto (Shinobu). Comparing Dogō Onsen, Japan's oldest hot spring spa (Dayman), and Aburaya, they share striking similarities, especially the iconic tiled roof.
Apart from the architecture, customers inside Aburaya, too, share a deep linkage with traditional Japanese culture. They are kami in Shintoism - a religion indigenous to Japanese people - emphasising that elements and concepts such as wind, rain, mountains, trees, rivers and fertility are sacred spirits ("Shinto"). The Otori-sama, for example, are duck spirits, while Haku, the dragon, is a river spirit.
Finally, the customer service etiquette inside Aburaya relates closely to the Japanese culture that values respect and friendliness while serving customers. As the Japanese proverb goes, "The customer is god" ("The Customer is God"). While Chihiro asks for a tag from the foreman, he shows distain towards her, but his facial expression changes whenever a customer comes close to his work station, immediately grinning and greeting customers energetically with "Good morning!"
The worldbuilding of Spirited Away, including its animation and setting, produces a world that is both magical yet still realistic and familiar to its intended audience. The incorporation of magic realism in this process leads to a better foundation to create an immersive "reality" in this film, which I will examine in the next section.
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