Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney and with special guests Deirdre Molumby, Graham Day and Bríd Martin, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every Saturday at 6pm GMT.
This year, we are proud to continue the tradition of Anime May, a fortnight looking at two of the animated Japanese films on the list. This year, we watched a double feature of the last two anime movies on the list, Hayao Miyazaki’s Mononoke-hime and Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi.
This week, the second part of the double bill, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, perhaps Miyazaki’s breakthrough to western audiences.
Chihiro is moving to a new town and a new school. Her parents take a detour down a dirt road and stumble across a mysterious abandoned theme park. Chihiro quickly finds herself trapped in a weird world of spirits, witches and dragons. She needs to learn to navigate this mysterious setting and maybe find a way home.
At time of recording, it was ranked 28th on the list of the best movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.
Show Notes:
- Recorded 7th May 2021.
- Note: Due to the COVID-19 situation, this episode was recorded remotely. We suspect, going forward that a lot of our episodes will be until the crisis resolves.
- Spirited Away at The Internet Movie Database.
- The IMDB Top 250 as it appeared at time of recording.
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- Mari Yamaguchi at Japan Today reports on Hayao Miyazaki’s plans to adapt The Hungry Caterpillar, July 2015.
- Nick Romano at Entertainment Weekly reports on Hayao Miyazaki’s plans to adapt How Do You Live?, May 2020.
- Anthony Fiola at The Washington Post reports on the breaking of anime into the American mainstream, December 2004.
- Andrew Pollack at The New York Times reports on the distribution deal signed between Disney and Studio Ghibli, July 1997.
- Mark Hairston at Frames Per Second Magazine reports on the battle within Disney considering the American distribution of Spirited Away, March 2003.
- The Telegraph reports on the state of contemporary American animation, September 2003.
- Patrick Brzeski at The Hollywood Reporter covers John Lasseter’s long-term relationship with Hayao Miyazaki, October 2014.
- Michael Howe at Jim Hill Media offers an account of how Spirited Away came to American audiences, April 2003.
- Josh Spiegel at Polygon looks at the complicated history between Disney and Studio Ghibli, May 2020.
- Steve Daly at Entertainment Weekly contextualises John Lasseter’s support of Hayao Miyazaki with George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola’s support of Akira Kurasowa, March 2020.
- Stephen Hunter reviews Princess Mononoke for The Washington Post, November 1999.
- Roger Ebert shares his initial reactions to Princess Mononoke at The Chicago Sun Times, September 1999.
- Justin Sevakis at Anime News Network reports on the importance of DVD in helping anime break into the United States, August 2016.
- The BBC reports on John Lasseter going on leave following allegations of “unwanted hugs”, November 2017.
- G. Allen Johnson at The San Francisco Gate reports on how American studios held Asian films hostage, February 2005.
- The Japan Times reports on Hayao Miyazaki winning the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, February 2002.
- Roger Ebert at RogerEbert.com reports on the success that Spirited Away enjoyed even before it arrived in American cinemas, July 2012.
- Dawn C. Chmielewski and Claudia Eller at The Los Angeles Times report on Disney’s efforts to appeal to young male audiences at the turn of the millennium, March 2010.
- Darren Mooney at The Escapist discusses TRON: Legacy as the culmination of this trend, a Disney princess movie aimed at a male audience, August 2020.
- Petrana Radulovic at Polygon offers an account of the troubled production and legacy of The Emperor’s New Groove, June 2020.
- Bill Desowitz at Animation World News reports on Disney’s swing towards computer-generated animation with movies like Chicken Little, November 2005.
- Douglas Cohen at Tor.com discusses the Studio Ghibli adaptation of Tales From Earthsea, October 2008.
- The Japan Times reports on Demon Slayer becoming the highest grossing movie of all-time at that Japanese box office, December 2020.
- Tasha Robinson at The Dissolve discusses the grossness of Spirited Away, November 2014.
- Maria Cramer at The New York Times reports on how the pandemic has changed showering habits, May 2021.
- Hayao Miyazaki talks to Midnight Eye about some of the inspirations for Spirited Away, January 2002.
- Jana Monji at RogerEbert.com discusses a lot of the specific Japanese references and allusions in Spirited Away, August 2015.
- Jeanna Smialek and Keith Collins at The New York Times explore the fascination and obsession with “full employment”, December 2019.
- Sayuri Shirai at The Japan Times discusses “full employment” in Japan, May 2019.
- Akani Otani at The Wall Street Journal discusses the legacy of Japan’s “lost decade”, January 2021.
- Ghosts of Asia discusses Spirited Away as a parable about modernising Japan, January 2017.
- Ayumi Suzuki at eJumpCut writes about Spirited Away as a nightmare of capitalism, 2009.
- Michal Wojcik at One Last Sketch on the similarities between Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and Dune, November 2017.
- David Moisan at The Japanese Animation News and Review on the similarities between Frank Herbert and Hayao Miyazaki, July 1991.
- Hayao Miyazaki talks to The Guardian about his influences and inspirations, September 2005.
- Clint Worthington at The Spool takes a look back at Miyazaki’s first film, The Castle of Cagliostro, May 2019.
- Hayao Miyazaki discusses his inspirations with The New Yorker, January 2005.
- John Lasseter and Hayao Miyazaki discuss their friendship with Collider, July 2009.
- Oona McGee at Sora News reports on the inspiration for the central train journey in Spirited Away, March 2017.
- The team at Anime UK News discuss the train journey in Spirited Away, August 2008.
- Genevieve Koski and Scott Tobias at The Dissolve discuss Spirited Away as a fundamental coming of age tale, November 2014.
- The Otaku discusses the debate around the translation of Spirited Away for American audiences, March 2008.
- Tenken Smile discusses some subtle differences between the English and Japanese versions of the movie, April 2017.
- Reito Adachi at Studies in Translation and Practice discusses how the English dub is just noisier than the original audio track, August 2015.
- Joe Hisaishi talks to Keyboard Magazine about remastering the soundtrack to Laputa: Castle in the Sky for American audiences, August 1999.
- Paul Chang at Intermittent Mechanism discusses the use of stillness and silence in Spirited Away, November 2019.
- Clyde Haberman at The New York Times reports on the “wet” and “dry” philosophy of Japan, July 1986.
- Bill Higgins at The Hollywood Reporter looks back on the success of Spirited Away, December 2016.
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Filed under: The 250 | Tagged: ani-may, anime, anime april, brid martin, capitalism, coming of age, deirdre molumby, economy, employment, full employment, graham day, Hayao Miyazaki, japan, Life, miyazaki, podcast, spirited away, spirituality, The 250 |
the m0vie blog 
My take on it is that it deserves every inch of praise it gets.Though I love many of Ghibli’s other films (notably ‘Grave of the Fireflies’, ‘Tale of the Princess Kaguya’, ‘Porco Rosso’, ‘The Wind Rises’, and ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’), there’s never been a doubt in my mind as to which one takes the crown. Overflowing with brilliant little details, the film’s world is so rich it’s easy to get lost in and assume that there’s nothing else of substance. That, of course, couldn’t be further than the truth, as buried within is an incredibly mature and thoughtful tale about the modern world.
In short, one of the all time great ‘children’s’ films.
I can see that, even if I wouldn’t be quite as ecstatic in my praise of it. (I think it would probably be fifth in terms of my favourite Miyazaki films.)