Sprited Away

Spirited Away (千と千尋の神隠し, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, literally, Sen and Chihiro's Spiriting Away) is a 2001 Japanese animated film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film follows a sullen ten-year-old girl who is in the process of moving to a new town (presumably in the countryside) with her family, and chronicles her adventures in a world of spirits and monsters.
The film received many awards, including the second Oscar ever awarded for Best Animated Feature, the first anime film to win an Academy Award, and the first (and so far only) non-English speaking animation to win. The film also won the Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival (tied with Bloody Sunday) and is among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14
Spirited Away overtook Titanic (At the time the top grossing film worldwide) in the Japanese box office to become the highest-grossing film in Japanese history.

Ten-year-old Chihiro and her parents are moving to a new town, much to Chihiro's displeasure. While driving, they get lost and her father decides to take a 'shortcut' down a mysterious forested pathway. After a short but bumpy drive, the family comes to a stop at what seems to be an abandoned theme park. Curious, the father leads his family through a tunnel and explores the park, finding a deserted town and a stall full of freshly-cooked food. The parents greedily help themselves while Chihiro refuses to eat. As Chihiro's parents are eating, she wanders off and meets a boy named Haku. Haku seems to be familiar with Chihiro and warns her to escape with her parents; she returns to find they have turned into pigs, and that the way back has become a deep river. Spirits appear and go about the park. Haku secretly takes Chihiro to a large bathhouse to avoid alerting the spirits to her presence. Haku then tells her that she must get a job from the boiler man, Kamajii until he can help her recover her parents and escape.
With the help of the six-armed boiler room master Kamajii and a bathhouse servant girl named Lin, Chihiro is able to convince Yubaba to give her a job; in exchange, Chihiro is forced to give up her name so that Yubaba may keep her in service for eternity. Yubaba gives her new servant the name "Sen(千)," which is derived from "Chihiro(千尋)" by removing the second character and using the alternate reading of the first. Chihiro eventually learns that Haku is similarly indebted to Yubaba. Chihiro is put to work alongside Lin, helping to bathe and serve the most difficult spirits in the bathhouse. Chihiro is able to successfully bathe a "stink spirit" (later revealed to be a river spirit who had been heavily polluted), who rewards Chihiro for her service with a magic medicine made from special herbs.
Chihiro discovers Haku's true form, a dragon, and he is later attacked in this form by shikigami in the form of paper birds controlled by Zeniba, Yubaba's twin sister. Haku had stolen and swallowed Zeniba's seal under orders from Yubaba, which has a spell on it that gave Haku internal bleeding and lacerations. Chihiro tries to help Haku recover from his injuries using the medicine given to her by the river spirit, which acts as an emetic to the dragon, causing him to vomit, and thus recovering Zeniba's sigil and squashing a peculiar black slug that had been attached to it. Haku remains comatose, so Chihiro decides to travel to Zeniba's home to return the seal, hoping to break her curse over Haku. Chihiro sets out on a train ride across the spirit world, along with a wraith-like spirit called No-Face, who terrorized the bathhouse and tried to earn the affection of Chihiro, Yubaba's pet raven (who has been turned into a small, fly-like creature by Zeniba), and Boh, Yubaba's gigantic infant son whom Zeniba had transformed into a mouse.
The group arrives at Zeniba's house to find that Zeniba is friendlier than expected. She explains that the seal spell has been broken by Chihiro's love and caring and that the black slug Chihiro has squashed was a curse placed on Haku by Yubaba to control him. Zeniba and Chihiro's friends make Chihiro a special hairband to show her that her friends are with her, as well as for protection, and No-Face is offered to stay at Zeniba's home as her assistant. Haku, now recovered, shows up to return Chihiro to the bathhouse, explaining that Yubaba will return Chihiro's parents to normal and allow all three of them to leave in exchange for returning Boh. As they travel on Haku's dragon form, Chihiro realizes that Haku is the same river spirit that saved her as a small child when she fell into the Kohaku River, and the realization helps to break Yubaba's control on Haku completely. At the bathhouse, Yubaba reveals that Chihiro must pass one more task as part of Haku's deal: identify which pigs in the huge herd are her parents. Chihiro passes the test, as she states that none of them are her parents, and Yubaba is forced to let her and her family go. Haku escorts her to the entrance of the spirit world, telling her that her parents are waiting on the other side, but not to look back or else the deal will be broken. Chihiro rejoins her parents and does not look back. The family returns to their car (now dusty and covered with fallen leaves and branches, looking as though a long time has passed) and continues to their new home. Zeniba's hair band is still in Chihiro's hair, proving her adventure to be true. In the English adaptation, the film ends as Chihiro's parents tell her that they understand her worry, to which she replies that she thinks she'll do fine. This is a significant change from the Japanese original, which leaves Chihiro in silent thought as the car drives away.

Kakurenbo

Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek premiered in March 2008 at the Tokyo International Anime Fair, where it quietly picked up an award for Notable Entry in the General Category. In Korea, it received a Best Film Nomination at the Seoul Comics and Animation Festival. Later, it went on to win Best Short film at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal.

The critical acclaim is well deserved, although this isn't the kind of anime that you would picture when thinking of an award-winning small studio's short film. It's not a thought-provoking drama, like Voices of a Distant Star, but it still manages to resonate with its viewers on a visceral level. In a time when anime seems to have yielded the horror genre over to live action films and TV, Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek is a refreshingly scary anime.


The world of Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek is a grungy, dilapidated city that is a mix of old and new. Masses of wires connect broken-down yet towering traditional Japanese style buildings. The city is often grey and smoggy, but even on sunny days, the buildings are so tall that they block out the sunlight. Rumors spread about this town. They say that kids go there to play a strange game of hide-and-seek. The rumors also say that the children who go to play don't come back. It's said that the demons who live in the city take them away.


This extra layer of danger only makes it more attractive to kids. All you have to do to join the game is to wear a fox mask and follow the directions in the city's neon lights to a certain gateway in the city. Once seven kids have arrived, the gateway opens and the game begins.
Noshiga and his underlings, Suku and Tachiji, play the game to prove how tough they are. Noshiga doesn't believe in demons, and he wants to disprove their existence by playing the game. Once the trio starts playing, however, it soon becomes apparent that Noshiga is all talk. Tachiji was pushed down by Noshiga as Kimo-Tori (liver-taker) was chasing them. He was the first kid to be captured. Followed by Suku as Noshiga told him to run to other place so that the demons can't catch both of them. Suku bumped into Kimo-Tori (liver-taker) and was captured. He was the second kid to be caught. Noshiga was captured by Chi-Tori (blood-taker) as he fainted after seeing Suku in the hands of Kimo-Tori (liver-taker).

Twin brothers (Inmu and Yanku) also join the game. They don't say much, but over the course of the game, they show that they can handle themselves pretty well against the dark forces of the city. Why they want to pit themselves against such powerful forces is a mystery. They bumped into the Abura-Tori (oil-takers) and spend the rest on the movie running away from the demons. They were captured by the Abura-Tori (oil-takers) together and were the fourth and fifth kids to be captured.

Hikora has the most at stake in the game. His sister, Sorincha disappeared after she went to play the game. By playing kakurenbo himself, he hopes to find out what happened to her. Hiroka's best friend, Yaimao is also there to help him out and to find the missing children. Yaimao sacrifices his life to save Hikora and was captured by Ko-Tori (child-taker). He was the sixth and last kid to be captured. That was the brotherly friendship love Yaimao has for Hikora.

In an odd twist, an eighth kid shows up to play as well. She's quiet, and her motives for playing are unclear. Hiroka can't help but notice that she looks a lot like his missing sister. The eighth kid was "it" and she is Sorincha.

Once the eight pass through the gates, they are pursued by four different demons: Kimo-Tori (liver taker), Chi-Tori (blood taker), Abura-Tori (oil taker) and Ko-Tori (child taker). The oni (which means not only 'demon,' but the person who is 'it' in the Japanese version of the children’s game Tag) are a mix of old and new, just like the town. It's hard to tell if they are made from wires and electricity, or muscle and sinew. Their appearance as living mechanical creatures is chilling and an interesting updated take on the whole oni mythology.

The children's designs are remarkable as well. Everything about each character, whether it's their kitsune (fox) mask or clothes gives them character. The animal masks give the characters an almost Walt Disney look to them. This and the young cast may mislead some people into thinking that this is an anime aimed at children. However, unless you want to have a creeped out, sleepless kid on your hands, think twice about showing Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek to any young children. Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek has no gore, but the tension throughout (not mention the monsters) may be too much for anyone under eight years old.


Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek is eerie throughout, but at the end, the true nature of the game is revealed, making the earlier parts even more unsettling upon re-viewing. Even small things, such as the flicker of a neon sign seem that much more sinister once you know the reason behind it.


Many things go into making this a scary anime besides the story. The music is beautiful, although it usually consists of only two instruments and some chanting. Whenever it plays, it ratchets up the tension and gloomy atmosphere of the city. It will be interesting to see what Reji Kitazato, the composer for Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek works on in the future.

The voice acting is great for every character. Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek is a short film, but through the script and the voice talent, every character gets a chance to shine when they are onscreen. The cast includes Junko Takeuchi, best known as the voice actress for Naruto in Naruto, playing the lead once again with the role of Hiroka.


One thing that doesn't get much notice in anime, but it is especally prevalent in Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek is the sound quality. Sound is a huge part of horror, and Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek upholds this tradition. Things creep around and go bump in the night, lights flicker on and off, and people gasp and scream in horror. Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek is still scary, perhaps even more so, when you are merely listening to it.


Although if you only listened to Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek, you would missing out on the spellbinding graphics. Combining 2-D animation with CGI isn't much of a novelty anymore, but few films have been able to do it as well as Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek. The entire city has an amazing amount of detail, whether it's a dingy alleyway or a shot overlooking the whole town. With each viewing, new visual clues and details become apparent.


The quality of the animation would be amazing from a big studio like Mad House or Gonzo, but this is a work of a four member production team called YAMATOWORKS. Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek is an excellent example of how far independent anime has come, that such an overall superb anime can come from such a small group of animators.


Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek came from the director Shuei Morita's desire to reconcile old Japanese folk legends with modern urban dwellings. In an interview, he explains how Japanese folklore legends concentrate much on fog and night, but in modern times, children play at night in the glow of neon lights without any fear of the dark. Because of the merging of old superstitions with modern trappings, Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek is especially scary for the urban dweller. The maze-like city, with its close alleyways and mysterious noises would be very familiar to anyone who lives or has ever lived in a big city. After viewing Kakurenbo: Hide & Seek, walking down a deserted street at night seems a little bit more surreal. It's hard not to imagine that there is an oni is following right behind you. BOO! haha.