The Art of Spirited Away

Spirited Away: Book 1 of 5 is a magical realism fiction manga/graphic novel adaptation of the 2001 film written and directed by Hiyao Miyazaki and adapted into English by Uji Oniki. It utilizes film screenshots and dialogue and reads from right to left in traditional manga format. The manga was published in 2002 by Viz Comics. Hiyao Miyazaki has written and directed several Japanese animated films, and Spirited Away is the recipient of 21 film awards. Book 1 covers the story’s prologue and first act. Several scenes are accented by katakana to show the sounds the character hear or make as they perform actions. A guide to translating the katakana is located in the back of the novel.

This guide utilizes the 2002 first edition of the manga.

Plot Summary

Book 1 of Spirited Away begins as Chihiro and her mother and father drive up the hills to their new home in the country. Chihiro holds a bouquet of pink flowers with a goodbye note from her best friend. She looks forlorn and absolutely unimpressed with leaving the life she knew, but her parents encourage her to keep a positive attitude. They pass by her new school, and Chihiro sticks her tongue out at it, grimacing.  

Father makes a wrong turn and ends up on a grassy, tree-covered road. Mother insists they must be lost until she sees the family’s new house in the distance. Father seems to enjoy the thrill of the mystery and pushes ahead at full speed, thwacking the branches as their little blue car speeds down the forested road. Chihiro looks out the window and spots a pile of discarded Hokora, or miniature Shinto shrines. Chihiro’s mother explains that there is a common belief that spirits live inside the shrines, but Chihiro wonders why they have been tossed in such a way. This scene illustrates the theme of Modern Humanity’s Abandonment of Spirituality and Nature. Next, she spots a Dosojin, a two-faced stone statue, smiling at her in the woods.  

Father presses forward until they reach a large red wall with a small tunnel in the middle. He gets out to look around, and Mother follows him. Chihiro can sense something is wrong and begs her parents to turn back, but they insist on seeing what lies beyond the tunnel. A Dosojin—perhaps the same one from the woods—now stands in front of the entrance, beckoning Chihiro to go in. She reluctantly follows her parents, and they walk through the tunnel into a big station. Mother hears the sound of a train. At the other end of the station is a doorway that leads to a large clearing of grass with several old buildings strewn around it. Father theorizes that it must be an old amusement park, and then he smells food. He and Mother are enticed to follow the smell despite Chihiro again begging them not to do so. She follows them across a dried-out river into a street filled with restaurants and food.  

Mother and Father find a platter laid out and call for a worker, but nobody answers. They decide to dig in and pay later, and Chihiro watches them in horror as they gorge themselves on everything in sight. She runs off to check if anyone is around. She reaches a bridge leading up to a massive red bathhouse and looks over the edge to see the train tracks below. Behind her, a boy named Haku (later revealed to be a river spirit) appears and tells Chihiro to leave. When she returns to the restaurant, she finds that her parents have turned into pigs. They are still eating until Father falls over from being too full and squeals on the ground. Chihiro’s parents give into want, showcasing the theme The Dangers of Abundance and Greed. Chihiro screams and runs in terror, not knowing what to do or where to go. When she returns the way they came, she finds that the stone river has filled up and is much too deep and wide to cross. She becomes increasingly confused and afraid and sees a huge riverboat lit with glowing yellow pull up on the shore. Countless spirits file out of it, each wearing an identical mask. At the same time, she notices that her hands and body are beginning to disappear.

Chihiro runs again, this time to a sheltered place, crouches down, and begins crying. Haku finds her and feeds her some food from the spirit world to keep her from disappearing. He sees a human-headed crow flying through the sky and knows it is a spy sent by Yubaba (the head of the bathhouse for spirits) searching for Chihiro. She finds she cannot move her legs, so Haku says a spell to un-bind them. Chihiro calms down and follows Haku, who leads her across the bathhouse bridge while telling her to hold her breath. Chihiro notices a black-cloaked spirit lingering on the bridge. He has a white mask with a slight grin for a face and seemingly nothing underneath. This spirit turns out to be greed-driven, but Chihiro manages to tame and befriend it later on. She and Haku almost make it across the bridge, but Chihiro is startled by a frog spirit and lets out a breath. Haku freezes the spirit with magic and takes Chihiro to safety, telling her she must follow his instructions to save herself and her parents. Haku instructs Chihiro to go to the boiler room in the bottom of the bathhouse and talk to Kamaji, the boiler man, to demand work. Earning a job at the bathhouse will ensure that she can work and eventually save her parents; otherwise, Yubaba will turn Chihiro into an animal. Haku tells Chihiro that he is her friend and comforts her once more before being beckoned away by someone at the bathhouse. Chihiro makes her way down a massive flight of stairs to the boiler room to speak to Kamaji.