Hayao Miyazaki gives us another amazing animated epic with Spirited Away. Anime might be crazy sometimes but it sure knows how to get me hooked at the Japanese Anime and Manga Society at the University of Lincoln.
I have nothing but praise for this amazing epic of a film. Not only is it one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen but it also captures the imagination perfectly and allows us to escape into a world where nothing needs to be what it is.
Alright so anime might still be a bit of a niche market but this is the film that can not only show you how beautiful the genre can be but how enthralling it can be without the stereotypical planet destroying energy beams or over the top martial arts. Between this and Wolf Children these are the tamest but most beautiful films I’ve seen in a long time.
The plot centers around a ten year old girl whose parents become lost in a magical world after taking the wrong turning on the road during their move to a new house. The young girl, Chihiro, is quite captivated by the world but nothing is as it seems as the place becomes darker by the moment.
I won’t spoil the plot as that is something that has to be seen and experienced and I won’t ruin something as amazing as this with these words.
The animation quality is stunning. Spirited Away cannot be compared to other animations from Disney as they’re on two different playing fields. For example Disney is much more about the child friendly aspects of life but Spirited Away isn’t afraid to show you a more realistic depiction of fantasy, if that makes sense.
While we did have to wait over two years to see an English dub of the film, originally released in 2001 and dubbed in 2003, it was worth the wait. Some instances of dubbing can go horribly wrong with anime due to censorship and poor lip sync, but here the voices work so well and they feel natural.
Miyazaki is one of the legends of the anime world and his pieces continue to shine on as timeless classics. Spirited Away does that and gets away with a five star rating from AltLinc.
