What do you think?
Rate this book
千と千尋の神隠し [Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi] #1-5
Spirited Away Box Set
One of the best-selling children's videos, Spirited Away is an Academy Award winner for Best Animated Feature. When 10-year-old Chihiro is heading reluctantly toward a new home - and school - with her mom and dad, Dad takes a wrong turn, and the family becomes lost in a forest. Eventually, they find their way to a strange abandoned amusement park. Chihiro wanders off and returns only to see that her parents have been turned into pigs, and the world she knew has become a netherworld of ghosts, demons, and strange gods. Featuring all five volumes telling the story of Hayao Miyazaki's popular film, this boxed set comes in an exclusive collector's display case with a collectible Spirited Away playing card deck. Each volume is illustrated with stills from the movie, using high-quality coated paper and traditional Japanese right-to-left printing - making it the perfect gift for fans of all ages. The English language dialogue comes from Disney's official movie.
164 pages, Paperback
First published November 5, 2003
2 people are currently reading
188 people want to read
About the author
Hayao Miyazaki
364 books3,479 followersHayao Miyazaki (Japanese: 宮崎 駿) is a celebrated Japanese animator, filmmaker, screenwriter, and manga artist, widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of animation. He is the co-founder of Studio Ghibli, the animation studio responsible for producing many of Japan’s most beloved and internationally acclaimed animated films. Over the course of a career spanning decades, Miyazaki has developed a reputation for creating visually rich, emotionally resonant stories that often explore themes such as nature, pacifism, flight, childhood, and the human condition.
Miyazaki was born in Tokyo and developed an early interest in drawing and animation. His father’s work in the aviation industry had a significant influence on him, particularly in fostering his fascination with aircraft and flight, motifs that would become prominent throughout his later works. After studying political science and economics at university, Miyazaki began his professional career in animation when he joined Toei Animation. There, he worked under the mentorship of directors like Isao Takahata, with whom he would later form a lifelong creative partnership.
In his early years at Toei and other studios, Miyazaki contributed to several television series and animated films. He worked as a key animator and storyboard artist, gradually gaining recognition for his storytelling abilities and attention to detail. Among his early projects were contributions to series such as Heidi, Girl of the Alps and Future Boy Conan. His directorial debut in feature films came with The Castle of Cagliostro, a film adaptation of the Lupin III manga series, which already showed signs of his distinctive style and sensibilities.
Miyazaki's breakthrough came with the film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, based on his own manga. The success of that film prompted the establishment of Studio Ghibli, which he co-founded with Takahata and producer Toshio Suzuki. From that point forward, Miyazaki directed and wrote many of Ghibli’s most iconic works, including My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, and Howl’s Moving Castle. His films are known for their hand-drawn animation, strong character development, and philosophical underpinnings.
In 2001, Miyazaki directed Spirited Away, which became one of the most critically and commercially successful animated films of all time. The film received numerous awards and international recognition, including an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It also became the highest-grossing film in Japanese history at the time of its release. The film’s success further solidified Miyazaki’s reputation as a master storyteller and a visionary in global cinema.
Despite announcing his retirement several times, Miyazaki repeatedly returned to filmmaking. His later works, such as Ponyo and The Wind Rises, continued to showcase his evolving themes and storytelling maturity. His most recent project, The Boy and the Heron, marked a highly anticipated return to the director’s chair and once again captivated audiences with its dreamlike visuals and emotional depth.
Miyazaki’s films are often distinguished by their complex female protagonists, environmental messages, and moral ambiguity. Rather than presenting clear-cut villains and heroes, his stories explore the nuances of human behavior and often focus on characters finding their place in the world. Throughout his career, he has received numerous accolades and honors for his contributions to the arts, including lifetime achievement awards recognizing his impact on both Japanese and international cinema.
His legacy continues to influence generations of animators and filmmakers worldwide, and Studio Ghibli remains one of the most respected names in animation.
Miyazaki was born in Tokyo and developed an early interest in drawing and animation. His father’s work in the aviation industry had a significant influence on him, particularly in fostering his fascination with aircraft and flight, motifs that would become prominent throughout his later works. After studying political science and economics at university, Miyazaki began his professional career in animation when he joined Toei Animation. There, he worked under the mentorship of directors like Isao Takahata, with whom he would later form a lifelong creative partnership.
In his early years at Toei and other studios, Miyazaki contributed to several television series and animated films. He worked as a key animator and storyboard artist, gradually gaining recognition for his storytelling abilities and attention to detail. Among his early projects were contributions to series such as Heidi, Girl of the Alps and Future Boy Conan. His directorial debut in feature films came with The Castle of Cagliostro, a film adaptation of the Lupin III manga series, which already showed signs of his distinctive style and sensibilities.
Miyazaki's breakthrough came with the film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, based on his own manga. The success of that film prompted the establishment of Studio Ghibli, which he co-founded with Takahata and producer Toshio Suzuki. From that point forward, Miyazaki directed and wrote many of Ghibli’s most iconic works, including My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, and Howl’s Moving Castle. His films are known for their hand-drawn animation, strong character development, and philosophical underpinnings.
In 2001, Miyazaki directed Spirited Away, which became one of the most critically and commercially successful animated films of all time. The film received numerous awards and international recognition, including an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It also became the highest-grossing film in Japanese history at the time of its release. The film’s success further solidified Miyazaki’s reputation as a master storyteller and a visionary in global cinema.
Despite announcing his retirement several times, Miyazaki repeatedly returned to filmmaking. His later works, such as Ponyo and The Wind Rises, continued to showcase his evolving themes and storytelling maturity. His most recent project, The Boy and the Heron, marked a highly anticipated return to the director’s chair and once again captivated audiences with its dreamlike visuals and emotional depth.
Miyazaki’s films are often distinguished by their complex female protagonists, environmental messages, and moral ambiguity. Rather than presenting clear-cut villains and heroes, his stories explore the nuances of human behavior and often focus on characters finding their place in the world. Throughout his career, he has received numerous accolades and honors for his contributions to the arts, including lifetime achievement awards recognizing his impact on both Japanese and international cinema.
His legacy continues to influence generations of animators and filmmakers worldwide, and Studio Ghibli remains one of the most respected names in animation.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 16, 2019
"The only way we can overcome our fear of emptiness is to stop feeding it"
***
Understanding Spirited Away: Consumption and Identity:
Hayao Miyazaki's masterpiece Spirited Away is in many ways an episodic film with the protagonist Chihiro's progress marked by repetitive symbolic quests if you've watched this film as many times as I have you'd probably notice that one of the recurring images or themes the ties these quests together is CONSUMPTION and I'm talking about literal consumption here both the ingesting of food and the expelling of it. In an unusual twist consumption in Spirited Away isn't associated with gain but with loss specifically the loss of idenity. Chihiro's parents lose their memories after feeding frenzy that turns them in to pigs. Both Haku and No-Face have forgotten their identities that are helped by being made to vomit up the corrupting influences they've ingested. And Chihiro restores the River God his true from by helping him essentially excrete decades of pollution. Over and over our heroine has to symbolically purge characters in order to restore them to their lost or forgotten selves. Now like any great film, Spirited Away has a number of possible interpretations for instance anime critic Susan Napier reader Spirited Away as an allegory from modern Japanese identity where Chihiro's quest to rehabilitate characters who have forgotten their true selves is a metaphor for Japan's struggle to regain a unique cultural identity in the face of globalization industrialization and corrupting foreign influences. It's an interpretation that's well worth exploring but I'm not going to do it here. Instead I want to look at how the symbolic trails Chihiro encounters bring about her internal growth in a way that makes Spirited Away in my opinion one of the most sophisticated coming-of-age stories on film. One of the things that gives Spirited Away its unique feel and tone is its sense of LIMINALITY. The word liminality from the latin liman meaning threshold is used to describe an in-between or transitional state limbo or the twilight zone but it's also an important term in the field of anthropology where it refers specifically to the transitional phase of a rite of passage, during which the the participant lacks a defined social status. The most obvious example of this kind of liminality is adolescence when a person is no longer a child that not yet an adult meaning that they've shed their old role in society and yet to take on a new one. A lot of anthropologists think that this lack of identity is one of the reasons teenage angst and anxiety is common across so many cultures. Now in a literal sense Spirited Away is set in multiple levels of liminal space for one thing the whole story takes place during a journey taking Chihiro from her old house and life to her new one. For another it takes place in a bathhouse bridging the real world and the spiritual and on top of that there are dozens of crucial scenes that take place in literal in-between or transitional spaces like elevators, staircases, bridges, tunnels, cars and trains. All of these liminality are reflections of our protagonist Chihiro herself on the cusp of adolescence. Japanese speakers will probably recognize that the name Chihiro is formed by the Kanji CHI meaning thousand and HIRO meaning to search or seek. When Chihiro enters the liminal space of the bathhouse the witch Yubaba takes away the second half of her name not only reducing her to a number but stripping away the part of her that seeks and creates meaning. In the same vein the farewell card with Chihiro's name is an important recurring image in the film because it represents two hero's very fear of losing her former self and and being without an identity. A fear that symbolized by her many frightening encounters with characters who have also forgotten who they are. The fact these figures are characterized by hunger is also not a coincidence consider No-Face who not only has no face but also no voice. He consumes people in order to take on their voices and characteristics implying that his hunger for food is really hunger for an identity of his own. In his seminal 1990 article "why the self is empty", psychologist Philip Cushman argued that consumer culture has fundamentally changed how people in the 20th century approach the problem of identity in the Victorian era during the advent of psychoanalysis the self was framed as an unruly force repressed and contained by civilized society but in the 20th century the dramatic rise of urbanization industrialization and increasing social isolation led to a mass crisis of identity to which industries responded with the so-called LIFESTYLE SOLUTION. An advertising model which imbibes the products it sells with the promise of meaning personality and identity. In effect the self has come to be reimagined not as a force to be subdued but a vacuum to be filled. And in order to maintain itself consumer culture actively encourages consumers to see themselves as perpetually empty vessels never whole, never complete, always in need of filling. From a psychological standpoint this a problem because people have to go through rites passage or liminal phases where we temporarily lack an identity in order to grow. The most common criticisms of consumer culture are that it renders people self-absorbed, passive and infantile much like Chihiro at the beginning of the film by purging her of her former identity and pushing her forward into a liminal state. Miyazaki does for Chihiro what she does for the characters she herself encounters.
He helps her to confront the fear of emptiness that makes her so passive and helpless to begin with. Only then can she recognize that she is not empty or helpless at all. And this is a lesson that Spirited Away teaches us through symbolic repetition. What Miyazaki is showing us is the futility of looking for an identity through consumption. After all no faces terrible appetite is counterproductive and self-destructive. The more he feeds it, the more monstrous it becomes. It's only after he vomits up all his false identities that he can move forward towards a sense of real belonging. Miyazaki is showing us that the only way we can overcome our fear of emptiness is to stop feeding it.
***
All credits go to: Margarita
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOy1q...
***
Understanding Spirited Away: Consumption and Identity:
Hayao Miyazaki's masterpiece Spirited Away is in many ways an episodic film with the protagonist Chihiro's progress marked by repetitive symbolic quests if you've watched this film as many times as I have you'd probably notice that one of the recurring images or themes the ties these quests together is CONSUMPTION and I'm talking about literal consumption here both the ingesting of food and the expelling of it. In an unusual twist consumption in Spirited Away isn't associated with gain but with loss specifically the loss of idenity. Chihiro's parents lose their memories after feeding frenzy that turns them in to pigs. Both Haku and No-Face have forgotten their identities that are helped by being made to vomit up the corrupting influences they've ingested. And Chihiro restores the River God his true from by helping him essentially excrete decades of pollution. Over and over our heroine has to symbolically purge characters in order to restore them to their lost or forgotten selves. Now like any great film, Spirited Away has a number of possible interpretations for instance anime critic Susan Napier reader Spirited Away as an allegory from modern Japanese identity where Chihiro's quest to rehabilitate characters who have forgotten their true selves is a metaphor for Japan's struggle to regain a unique cultural identity in the face of globalization industrialization and corrupting foreign influences. It's an interpretation that's well worth exploring but I'm not going to do it here. Instead I want to look at how the symbolic trails Chihiro encounters bring about her internal growth in a way that makes Spirited Away in my opinion one of the most sophisticated coming-of-age stories on film. One of the things that gives Spirited Away its unique feel and tone is its sense of LIMINALITY. The word liminality from the latin liman meaning threshold is used to describe an in-between or transitional state limbo or the twilight zone but it's also an important term in the field of anthropology where it refers specifically to the transitional phase of a rite of passage, during which the the participant lacks a defined social status. The most obvious example of this kind of liminality is adolescence when a person is no longer a child that not yet an adult meaning that they've shed their old role in society and yet to take on a new one. A lot of anthropologists think that this lack of identity is one of the reasons teenage angst and anxiety is common across so many cultures. Now in a literal sense Spirited Away is set in multiple levels of liminal space for one thing the whole story takes place during a journey taking Chihiro from her old house and life to her new one. For another it takes place in a bathhouse bridging the real world and the spiritual and on top of that there are dozens of crucial scenes that take place in literal in-between or transitional spaces like elevators, staircases, bridges, tunnels, cars and trains. All of these liminality are reflections of our protagonist Chihiro herself on the cusp of adolescence. Japanese speakers will probably recognize that the name Chihiro is formed by the Kanji CHI meaning thousand and HIRO meaning to search or seek. When Chihiro enters the liminal space of the bathhouse the witch Yubaba takes away the second half of her name not only reducing her to a number but stripping away the part of her that seeks and creates meaning. In the same vein the farewell card with Chihiro's name is an important recurring image in the film because it represents two hero's very fear of losing her former self and and being without an identity. A fear that symbolized by her many frightening encounters with characters who have also forgotten who they are. The fact these figures are characterized by hunger is also not a coincidence consider No-Face who not only has no face but also no voice. He consumes people in order to take on their voices and characteristics implying that his hunger for food is really hunger for an identity of his own. In his seminal 1990 article "why the self is empty", psychologist Philip Cushman argued that consumer culture has fundamentally changed how people in the 20th century approach the problem of identity in the Victorian era during the advent of psychoanalysis the self was framed as an unruly force repressed and contained by civilized society but in the 20th century the dramatic rise of urbanization industrialization and increasing social isolation led to a mass crisis of identity to which industries responded with the so-called LIFESTYLE SOLUTION. An advertising model which imbibes the products it sells with the promise of meaning personality and identity. In effect the self has come to be reimagined not as a force to be subdued but a vacuum to be filled. And in order to maintain itself consumer culture actively encourages consumers to see themselves as perpetually empty vessels never whole, never complete, always in need of filling. From a psychological standpoint this a problem because people have to go through rites passage or liminal phases where we temporarily lack an identity in order to grow. The most common criticisms of consumer culture are that it renders people self-absorbed, passive and infantile much like Chihiro at the beginning of the film by purging her of her former identity and pushing her forward into a liminal state. Miyazaki does for Chihiro what she does for the characters she herself encounters.
He helps her to confront the fear of emptiness that makes her so passive and helpless to begin with. Only then can she recognize that she is not empty or helpless at all. And this is a lesson that Spirited Away teaches us through symbolic repetition. What Miyazaki is showing us is the futility of looking for an identity through consumption. After all no faces terrible appetite is counterproductive and self-destructive. The more he feeds it, the more monstrous it becomes. It's only after he vomits up all his false identities that he can move forward towards a sense of real belonging. Miyazaki is showing us that the only way we can overcome our fear of emptiness is to stop feeding it.
***
All credits go to: Margarita
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOy1q...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 20, 2020
This is a review of the entire series.
Chihiro and her parents are on their way to a new home. Chihiro is grieving and apprehensive to the idea, as any child that's forced to leave their friends and familiar places behind would be. Her father takes a wrong turn along the way which leads them to a mysterious tunnel that connects to an abandoned amusement park. After having a disagreement, Chihiro separates from her parents and wanders the abandoned amusement park alone, only to find out that it's not nearly as abandoned as the naked eye would leave outsiders to believe.
At night, the amusement park comes to life, as it is inhabited by hundreds of ghosts, demons and spirits of nature. Among the strange inhabitants of the land is a boy named Haku who seems to remember Chihiro from a distant memory that he's now forgotten, but his intuition tells him to help the lost girl survive by finding work and acceptance from the spirits. Determined to save her parents who have been transformed into pigs after being cursed for entering a land forbidden to humans, Chihiro overcomes her inner fears and sadness that gives her the courage she needs to confront the bizarre land she now inhabits as well as learning to leave her past life behind.
It's easy to mistake Chihiro as a bit of a brat when we first meet her, but we soon learn that she's actually quite intuitive while her parents are somewhat ignorant of her personal feelings. Being forced to leave everything she cares about behind and having no one around to help her through the grieving process would be upsetting to anyone in her position, especially at such a young age. The dangers of the amusement park force her to confront the fear of moving to a new place and she learns to adapt to a new way of life. Even after feeling like her parents didn't care about what she was going through, she never once thought of abandoning them. She actually has quite a few selfless and admirable qualities.
The spirits hate the girl at first, but they learn to sympathize with her after seeing how hard she's willing to work for people that may or may not even care about her. Spirited Away is a story about selfless acts of kindness coming back to give you the support you need in your lowest moments. People will remember when you do kind things for them without them asking you for help and without you asking for anything in return. Through the many trials and aid the zany spirits of the land throw her way, Chihiro receives the extra push she needs to accept her circumstances, come to terms with her grief and move on to a better life.
***
My Social Media
My YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPPs...
My Instagram Account: https://www.instagram.com/michael_sor...
My Wattpad Account: https://www.wattpad.com/user/Michael-...
My Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/SorbelloHorror
My Facebook Account: https://www.facebook.com/michael.sorb...
Chihiro and her parents are on their way to a new home. Chihiro is grieving and apprehensive to the idea, as any child that's forced to leave their friends and familiar places behind would be. Her father takes a wrong turn along the way which leads them to a mysterious tunnel that connects to an abandoned amusement park. After having a disagreement, Chihiro separates from her parents and wanders the abandoned amusement park alone, only to find out that it's not nearly as abandoned as the naked eye would leave outsiders to believe.
At night, the amusement park comes to life, as it is inhabited by hundreds of ghosts, demons and spirits of nature. Among the strange inhabitants of the land is a boy named Haku who seems to remember Chihiro from a distant memory that he's now forgotten, but his intuition tells him to help the lost girl survive by finding work and acceptance from the spirits. Determined to save her parents who have been transformed into pigs after being cursed for entering a land forbidden to humans, Chihiro overcomes her inner fears and sadness that gives her the courage she needs to confront the bizarre land she now inhabits as well as learning to leave her past life behind.
It's easy to mistake Chihiro as a bit of a brat when we first meet her, but we soon learn that she's actually quite intuitive while her parents are somewhat ignorant of her personal feelings. Being forced to leave everything she cares about behind and having no one around to help her through the grieving process would be upsetting to anyone in her position, especially at such a young age. The dangers of the amusement park force her to confront the fear of moving to a new place and she learns to adapt to a new way of life. Even after feeling like her parents didn't care about what she was going through, she never once thought of abandoning them. She actually has quite a few selfless and admirable qualities.
The spirits hate the girl at first, but they learn to sympathize with her after seeing how hard she's willing to work for people that may or may not even care about her. Spirited Away is a story about selfless acts of kindness coming back to give you the support you need in your lowest moments. People will remember when you do kind things for them without them asking you for help and without you asking for anything in return. Through the many trials and aid the zany spirits of the land throw her way, Chihiro receives the extra push she needs to accept her circumstances, come to terms with her grief and move on to a better life.
***
My Social Media
My YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPPs...
My Instagram Account: https://www.instagram.com/michael_sor...
My Wattpad Account: https://www.wattpad.com/user/Michael-...
My Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/SorbelloHorror
My Facebook Account: https://www.facebook.com/michael.sorb...
April 11, 2023
Spirited Away is a timeless masterpiece, and this box set is the perfect way to experience the magic and wonder of this beloved story. Miyazaki's artistry and storytelling are on full display in this five-volume collection, which chronicles the adventures of Chihiro, a young girl who becomes trapped in a strange and mystical world of spirits and magic.
The world-building in Spirited Away is truly breathtaking, and Miyazaki's imagination knows no bounds. The characters are all unique and memorable, from the adorable soot sprites to the terrifying No-Face. The story is full of heart and emotion, and it's impossible not to be swept up in Chihiro's journey as she navigates the strange and dangerous world of the spirit realm.
The artwork in this box set is also stunning, with gorgeous full-color illustrations that bring the story to life in vivid detail. Each volume is beautifully designed, with high-quality paper and binding that make this set a true collector's item.
Overall, I can't recommend Spirited Away Box Set enough. It's a must-read for fans of Miyazaki's work, as well as anyone who loves stories that are full of wonder, magic, and heart. Whether you're new to the world of Spirited Away or a longtime fan, this box set is an absolute delight that you won't want to miss.
The world-building in Spirited Away is truly breathtaking, and Miyazaki's imagination knows no bounds. The characters are all unique and memorable, from the adorable soot sprites to the terrifying No-Face. The story is full of heart and emotion, and it's impossible not to be swept up in Chihiro's journey as she navigates the strange and dangerous world of the spirit realm.
The artwork in this box set is also stunning, with gorgeous full-color illustrations that bring the story to life in vivid detail. Each volume is beautifully designed, with high-quality paper and binding that make this set a true collector's item.
Overall, I can't recommend Spirited Away Box Set enough. It's a must-read for fans of Miyazaki's work, as well as anyone who loves stories that are full of wonder, magic, and heart. Whether you're new to the world of Spirited Away or a longtime fan, this box set is an absolute delight that you won't want to miss.
July 2, 2017
Using actual cells from the motion picture, this collection reproduces this charming fairy-tale into book form.
November 18, 2008
in the time where the visual's interpretation limit the boundary of imagination absorbing from the experience of reading...Miyazaki made it the other way around...he simply showed that visual arts are vehicles to move the boundary of imagination to an even greater dimension...unlimited!
i love all of the creations and adaptations of Hayao Miyazaki, he is a genius...i collected all of the anime by studio Ghibli(now owned by Disney) because of Miyazaki sensei.
in the case of Hayao Miyazaki's creations i'm kinda obsessive i have to admit i compulsively hunt for every anime created by him and look for the manga/novel after watching the anime...and Nausicaa has been named as one of the best by him. (geee you must see Laputa 'the castle in the sky' or Zen to Chihiro 'spirited away', and howls moving castle won an award in the children movie in Venice and dont forget My Neighbor Totoro where the Ghibli adopted it's logo...i can go on and on about it and you'll get bored)
Miyazaki sensei, ganbatte kudasai...arigato!
(for complete summary of Miyazaki and his creations, pls visit nausicaa: www.nausicaa.net)
i love all of the creations and adaptations of Hayao Miyazaki, he is a genius...i collected all of the anime by studio Ghibli(now owned by Disney) because of Miyazaki sensei.
in the case of Hayao Miyazaki's creations i'm kinda obsessive i have to admit i compulsively hunt for every anime created by him and look for the manga/novel after watching the anime...and Nausicaa has been named as one of the best by him. (geee you must see Laputa 'the castle in the sky' or Zen to Chihiro 'spirited away', and howls moving castle won an award in the children movie in Venice and dont forget My Neighbor Totoro where the Ghibli adopted it's logo...i can go on and on about it and you'll get bored)
Miyazaki sensei, ganbatte kudasai...arigato!
(for complete summary of Miyazaki and his creations, pls visit nausicaa: www.nausicaa.net)
January 30, 2014
I loved this set by Mr. Miyazaki, this beautiful story about a girl who enters the spirit world to save her parents who ate the food of the spirits. Chihiro and Kohaku together and the adventure that leads them to find one another again. This is undoubtedly a great read.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews