Spirited Away　　　A little introduction

Part 1

I will be introducing the first 30 minutes or so of the film without any dialogue.

All of the illustrations will be hand-drawn by me.

Please forgive me, Ghibli and everyone involved.

♩♩♩♫・・・・

I really like how Spirited Away begins.

She has been transferred to a new school and seems unable to accept reality. She holds on to the bouquet because she is clinging to the past. She seems listless and doesn’t want to think about the future.

She doesn’t know anything about her new school and she hates it.

Chihiro is disappointed when the first bouquet she received has wilted.

Her mother reminds her that she received a bouquet before. She feels dejected because it was just one flower and it wasn’t really a bouquet.

Spirited Away　

We stop at the entrance to the forest. Normally, we would turn back here, but…

The torii gate marks the boundary and entrance between human society and the realm of the gods.

This is one of my parents’ mistakes. The car is an Audi. That means they are a fairly wealthy family. Drawing cars is quite difficult. After drawing them over and over again, I start to feel like, “Oh, cars again…”

The scenery behind the car is full of vacant lots, so it seems like they moved to a new town or a newly developed residential area, somewhere in the countryside that is just starting to open up.

When Chihiro asks if everything is okay, Dad replies that the car is a four-wheel drive. Chihiro asks, “Is it okay to come to a place like this?” but Dad says he’s not worried about the car.

He looks full of confidence. The scenery is shown passing by outside the window. Mom looks cool.

Her mother tells her to sit down, but she is also a mother. (It’s dangerous if an accident occurs, so sit down.) She knows the danger and tolerates it. They may be a slightly strange but well-matched pair of parents. Chihiro’s face may be that she is surprised by her parents.

Chihiro finds something

This painting shows a view from the side of something moving, but the outlines of the trees are blurred to give the impression of movement.

Dad is so involved in the situation. He doesn’t seem to be listening to anything I say. Mom tells him to stop, but it seems he’s not listening.

Dad finally regains his senses. The next car inspection is in December. Is that really necessary? he wonders as he draws. Mom is so shocked she can’t say anything. When people are really shocked, they can’t even speak.

Brake suddenly!!

There are also drawings on the car’s side mirrors. These kinds of details are hard to see when watching the video. I’ve been a little sloppy with the coloring so far, so I might tweak it if I have time.

Chihiro says she is breathing in the wind. Her hair is being sucked in and fluttering.

Chihiro is a cautious type, but perhaps this is a reaction to her father’s overly active personality.

Chihiro says she doesn’t want to go,

Chihiro stubbornly refuses to go. The statue beside her is smiling. It seems to be mocking the foolish human.

Her parents are full of curiosity. Usually, children are the ones who get ahead of themselves, but it seems like it’s the other way around. I feel sorry for Chihiro, whose parents keep pushing forward until they fail. She takes all the blame for her parents’ bad points and suffers a lot, but she’s so innocent…

Scenes like this are also beautifully drawn. Apparently the landscapes were painted by an artist who specializes in landscapes. I’m sure. Nature is difficult to paint. Mountains and grasslands like this are not painted exactly like the originals, or rather, that’s impossible. I draw them from my imagination, and use the originals as a rough reference. That’s why these kinds of paintings are so hard. It’s hard to draw from your imagination. No matter how complex a building is, you just have to draw it as it is, so that’s often easier.

The buildings are drawn in great detail. I will try to draw them as detailed as possible.

Mom was refusing to eat just a moment ago, but now she’s in a good mood and says she wished she’d brought a sandwich.

Her parents sniffing like dogs, drawn to the delicious smell.

Chihiro is left to her own devices. She seems to be fascinated by the smell of cooking and is constantly at the mercy of her mother.

Chihiro’s mother is cold and tells her to hurry up.

Apparently there’s draft beer

Hunger and eating…both?

Is this kind of food Taiwanese? It’s wrapped in some kind of skin.

This huge amount of food is probably being prepared for a group of tourists, so if I eat it in silence, I won’t get away with just getting told off. Don’t they think so?

They’re the kind of people who annoy people the most, thinking that as long as I pay, it’s fine.

You might think that there are no people like that, but they do exist. Very rarely.

Chihiro is astonished

It takes a lot of guts to eat food from a restaurant with a knife stuck in it.

If it were me, I would never do that. It would be a big incident.

Her mother tells her to eat some too, but Chihiro says she doesn’t want any.

No matter what I say, it’s useless…

She gave up and left. Poor Chihiro, I’m sure she will grow up to be a decent person. Good luck, Chihiro.

This scene seemed like it would be difficult to draw, and I thought about giving up, but I thought that if I stopped here, there would be no point in drawing Spirited Away, so I decided to continue.

This was also difficult. There are very few drawings that aren’t difficult.

If you draw buildings carefully, you won’t make any mistakes, so in a way it’s easy.

Chihiro hears a bang and looks in.

There is a train running that does not know where the bottom of the valley is.

Haku appears

　Perhaps Haku knew about Chihiro, which is why he was surprised. Why is she here? This expresses a surprise that cannot be expressed by saying “Ah!”

Haku sternly tells him to go back. The shadow stretches out with incredible speed, heading straight for sunset. It seems like even if they return immediately, it would be impossible to make it in time, but it’s an interesting scene.

The idea behind this is amazing. This scene cannot be expressed in a picture. It can only be expressed in a video.

It will soon be night, but before that,

The light will come on soon

The lights are already on! Chihiro…what is this guy saying all by himself???

He has his mouth open, blank-faced.

I drew this picture a long time ago and took my time to paint it carefully, but I think the time I spent on it has made it a better picture.

Run to the other side of the river. Run. Why…or rather, who?

Inside Chihiro’s head???

She stops, closes her eyes, and takes a moment to gather her thoughts and think about what’s going on.

Even so, without understanding what was going on, she suddenly ordered Haku to run, and her parting remark was, “What’s wrong with him?” I think she wanted to say after that, “Please explain why I have to run.”

With that, Chihiro starts running again. If it had been just Chihiro, she would have been able to return home thanks to Haku, but her parents…

Chihiro searches for her mother and father.

Dad was there. His silhouette looks a little different though.

Dad turned around. His hairstyle and clothes were the same, but…

Chihiro…speechless

The owner hits the father with a flyswatter as he continues to eat!

Dad collapses, screaming

No way!! Chihiro runs away from the scene.

Chihiro continues calling out to her mom and dad. She still can’t believe she’s turned into a pig.

Wandering around, calling out “Mom and Dad”

Just run

Chihiro has no choice but to go back the way she came.

On the way there, it was a stream but it had turned into the sea… splash in!!

Across the water, what was once a grassland during the day has completely changed.

I can’t go home, what should I do…?

Then the ship comes towards us

To escape reality, I close my eyes and mutter, “Go away, go away.”

It wasn’t the visible reality that disappeared, it was myself.

The ship has docked and there is a lift gate.

From the ship, people with unfamiliar faces emerge.

A horde of people descends, startling Chihiro and causing her to run away.

Haku, who was searching for Chihiro, spots her and approaches her.

Chihiro’s body is already disappearing.

Chihiro hasn’t done anything wrong or bad up to this point.

But it’s so sad.

We are told to eat this fruit, but not many people would eat it if a stranger told them to.

I push him away saying “no” but…

Huh? Something’s wrong!!

Chihiro’s hand is passing over Haku

Chihiro swallows.

You can touch it!! Eat the fruit and your body will return to normal.

Part 1 finished