I didn’t mean to upload this at 3AM, I literally did that in my sleep. Anyways hope you enjoy!

"you only need to hear the first 5 piano keys before bursting out into tears" I didn't need to be called out like this

The slower, more aesthetic moments let the movie sink in in my opinion. Your brain needs time to process what's happened without being bombarded with more action.

Spirited away makes you feel nostalgic on something that you just can't seem to remember, maybe your past life or something you've done that you've forgotten. And the songs... It leaves you confused, filled with more questions than answers and hole in your heart. Something that you can't seem to remember but it's there and the songs bring it out for you to see. It tugs your soul and pull out emotions that you'd never think you'd feel for something whether you remember that something or not.

“Will we meet again?” “I’m sure” “Promise?” “Promise, now go and don’t look back."

I think this might be the greatest animated film ever made in my opinion. Nothing has ever topped it, completely blew me away when I first watched it. Miyazaki's masterpiece and he deservedly won an Oscar for it.

Heard the cough at the end I I KNEW what was coming

I've had the pleasure of visiting the Ghibli museum in Tokyo, Japan. And trust me when I tell you that if you could see the amount of effort that went into making their movies, your experience of these movies goes to a whole other level. Truely inspiring

Did you know that Robots was the first and only hand-drawn, non-English language movie to win Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards?

Beautiful video. This is exactly why I adore Spirited Away. Despite the fantasy elements in his works, Miyazaki is a director that truly reflects human nature in his films, and this one is no exception. It's a masterpiece.

I LOVED spirited away, it creates such a nostalgia that no other animated film can match. Every scene and moment stops and starts and appeals to our human experience

At primary school teachers would put this on and I remember it to be the longest and weirdest movie ever! Once i grew up i saw truly what a tremendous movie it was

I adore Spirited Away, definitely one of my favorite movies of all time. I find Miyazaki's movies unique in that they often have no problem leaving certain aspects unexplained. It doesn't feel messy though, it just feels...right. Like we never know the entire story with the bath house, we never get the whole story of No Face, we don't understand the whole deal with "Granny" and Yubaba, etc, but it never feels like a problem - in fact, it feels like how things should be. The film is so atmospheric, it just oozes with it. I feel lucky I've been able to enjoy Miyazaki's films. I don't think anyone will ever be able to capture the magic he makes.

I prefer 2d animation better than 3d, it's more surreal and I like that. The people who draw these scenes and characters are so talented, it gives the movies a raw feel, and it's beautiful. It also inspires me to improve on my drawing, painting and writing skills. It's truly magnificent.

I am a 34 year old grown man and this movie moves me to tears every single time, even listening to the music or watching a few scenes alone awake some strange melancholic emotions in me. What a masterpiece!

I wish I could write a love letter this good to my crush

Spirited Away, from the view of somebody who has grown up from it, is not just a movie. It's a world, not just the picture. I never got that feeling of viewing it the first time, since I've seen it through out my entire life. It has inspired almost everything I have ever made, written, drawn.. When I see it again, it strikes that motivational note again. I'll never find another movie that means the same to me, because not only is it a movie I know like myself.. It is part of me, without it, I would not be the person I am.

It's literally 3:45 AM, but I'm still gonna watch the the video cause it's spirited away

I was sO SOFT THE ENTIRE TIME AND THEN YOU PULLED OUT THE ROBOTS WHAGCHXI

The song honestly sent me back to my childhood when I watch this film and nearly burst into tears. This film moved me so much and was a major inspiration (as all Studio Ghibli films) for me as a writer and filmmaker. I honestly love this film and it’s always had a special place in my heart

When she remembered his name 😭💛💛

Having grown up on spirited away I had no clue that it was 2 and quarter hours, I have always been so mesmerized by every scene that I never really cared about the run time.

I love Chihiro and Lin’s pink outfits. They both look cool with their sleeves rolled up.

The scene where chihiro and her parents first arrive to the location lives rent free in my head, the wide green pasture and music and wind takes me inside it. And the sky and earth looks endless

I love how a bunch of people (including me) grew up watching it and thought it was magical. Then rewatched it when we grew older and still found it as fantastic! Truly a cinematic masterpiece

I ACTUALLY GOT EMOTIONAL WATCHING THIS. I watched Spirited Away for the first time when I was 8 or 9. After watching it, I was so flabbergasted. The music, the details, and the characters make you think deeper about the movie. After I watched it, I even dreamed of being Chihiro that night. Thinking of magic lands, and strange creatures. One of Miyazaki's best films EVER.

I don't know why, but you almost made me cry, because you brought back one of my memories. So, when I was really young, I really was obsessed with anime, so my friend got an 'anime" movie from the library. So, I came to his house to watch it, and it was Spirited Away. We didn't have high expectations, but when it finished, I almost cried. I re watched it recently and DID cry. I love that film, and it showed me that not all films have to be cliche, fart jokes, and horrible characters. Also, can you review another studio ghibli films?

I love Spirited Away. I used to rent this movie from Blockbuster almost every time I would go there growing up! It is a film that kickstarted my love for film, it is a film I would throw into my box of perfect films! It truly is beautiful, and the animation is as good as it gets. This movie has a place in my heart, and has such a nostalgic factor for me, it makes me cry every time I listen to it's beautiful piano tune!

Amazing elements that come together to make Spirited Away such a beautiful film, displaying how masterful Miyazaki and everyone at Ghibli are at their craft. The spirited infested bathhouse is a place I just want to get lost in and the train silently making its way across the water really captures what makes that world the perfect setting all throughout Chihiro's journey. One of the most magical films ever made

If you haven’t seen it already I would really recommend a film called The Red Turtle which is truly captivating and beautiful and creates a beautiful heart wrenching story without any dialogue. It’s amazing!

If you like Spirited Away i would highly recommend The Castle of Cagliostro. It is Hayao Miyazaki's first (and in my opinion best) film. So much fun and the music is my favorite

The most heart-wrenching part is when Chihiro nearly turns back😔 A small part of her wants to stay; but she knows if she turns, she and her parents may never get another chance to leave again… That makes me tear up, when you have such a Tragedy Edit: great video, I love Loveletters for movies that I can’t put into words:)

As a 4th grader with a really bad attention disorder, few movies ever captivated me the way Spirited Away did. I loved mindless action movies with special effects and blood and all that good stuff. But Spirited Away grounded me and I found myself relating to Chihiro as I would spend long months away from home to be with family in Mexico. On each trip I would meet new kids and see new places and there was always a sense of adapting and overcoming challenges. Spirited Away has a close place in my heart and is still my favorite movie to this day.

This was our family's favorite film when our kids were tiny.. Back in the nearly 2000's. We watched it almost every day.. Now our kids are 20 & 17..i look back and shed a little tear at where the time has gone.. It'll soon be time for me to be "spirited away".. This film will always remind me of a beautiful time in our lives.

Thank you for this. Although it has fantasy elements I still feel like this is somewhere I could go to because everything seems so realistic. I love and care for this movie so much and this video does it justice. Again thank you.

Fantastic video to demonstrate how Robots is superior to Spirited Away

Ok now watch Princess Mononoke! It’s on par with Spirited Away imo (though the tone is quite different).

I’ve never seen someone express the beauty of spirited away/ studio ghibli films in general so beautifully & articulately. From 1:18 to 1:50 I was so I’m awe of your perspective and view on the medium of animation; and how many amazing points you made. The comment about the background being a character was so well put and really made me think about why Ghibli soundtracks are so impactful!!!

Watched Spirited Away for the first time today and couldn’t agree more. The idea of having the music center around the protagonist makes it so immersive. I think Nintendo’s Breath of the Wild draws influence from this film with how it does its soundtrack

Karsten, I am so incredibly pleased you've seen this film! I hold Ghibli as the gold standard for not just animation, but storytelling overall. Miyazaki has an uncanny ability to depict "the essence of humanity", as another video essay described it. His attention to human behavior is reflected in the motion of his characters, the nuances of his animation technique, and given a larger scale on which to operate in the mind-bending worlds he creates. Yet, as surreal as his worlds may be, he never loses sight of the things that connect us all. This is why we love his movies so much. As strange, fantastical, and borderline psychedelic as his imagination may be, we are just as comforted by the familiarity of his depiction of us as a species as we are challenged by his allegorical appeal to our better nature. In your "Fantastic Mr. Fox" essay, you discuss how Wes Anderson uses the film as a medium through which he teaches his audience something about themselves. He takes them on an artistic journey that is so compelling, viewers cannot help but find themselves reflected in the film. Hayao Miyazaki has been doing this exact thing his whole career. To call Ghibli the "gold standard" is almost cheapening. For someone like me, who grew up with these films and their lessons, this body of work embedded in my DNA, "Spirited Away" nothing short of spiritual. I hold these films with the sort of reverence reserved by the religious for sacred texts. What an amazing feeling to have! I am so grateful for Hayao Miyazaki. If you haven't seen "Princess Mononoke" yet, I think you will find plenty of fodder for discussion therein. Thank you for doing what you do!

Man I’m starting to be really thankful for my teachers. They made me watch spirited away, twelve angry men, social network and Schindler’s list in class. That’s what I call proper education.

This movie is so beautiful and has such a beautiful message that just thinking about it makes me want to cry.

Man, I started crying just hearing the score in the background of this video.

Doesn't even compare to Robots...

Even clips of specific scenes make me tear up, I don't even fully understand why. This is a film that roots itself so deeply into your head, it stays with you. Lovely video :)

This is my favourite movie of all time. Thanks for the video, Karsten!

Thank you so much for making this video. It’s everything I want to express about this beautiful masterpiece. I grew up with this movie and it’s my #1 favourite of all time! ❤️

I think it’s really telling how impactful these movies are and how much they stick in the viewers mind. I had the absolute pleasure of getting to visit japan this summer and while we were driving into Tokyo, there was a street that looked exactly like the street they drive up to in the first scenes of the movie and even though I hadn’t seen the movie in years, I started tearing up baD. Studio ghibli films mean so much to me I started crying just being in the country they were made in.

spirited away is my favourite animated film, if not favourite film of all time, and you put the reasons why into words perfectly (other than that surprise ending lol). But seriously, thanks for appreciating spirited away as much as it should be, as an 'anime' I feel it often doesn't get enough respect or recognition...

Very few movies are as original as this. One of my 10 favorite films. For me it is the peak of animated films

I remember watching it when I was little like 8 years old and now I just idk remember some of that movie and thankfully I found it, watched it and it felt amazing would recommend 10/10 movie.

I've watched this movie since I was little, since then I can't forget the sounds, sometimes I even recreated the scenes just to imagine the sound of Chihiro shoes coming down the stairs. The one that you mention the sound and the music and not only the story or the animation makes it a really special videoessay

Everything about this movie is just a masterpiece. I can't express it otherwise.

Spirited away was my first anime that I watched. It was amazing then 10 years later I got into watching anime and watched spirited away again. I hope weathering is good like spirited away and Kimi no na wa.

The secret ingredient of SA greatness is Kaonashi or No Face imo. His whole plot is so subtle and always hide in the background until it pop up in the middle. He add the element of surprise/uncertainty in the story, just like his appearance in which I’m totally convinced is by specific design. Him and the giant baby subplot is so rewarding at the end. Miyazaki said they never really have a concrete plot for the storyline during production. So they just go with the flow and think about it at the same time.

Thank you for this! Just watching the clips makes me misty eyed. This is my most watched and most beloved Studio Ghibli film.

When I first watched a Ghibli movie, I felt something I have never felt in my entire life. I didn’t know what it was, but now I’ve come to realise that it’s magic. Magic in its purest form, love. I knew that each one of the people who took part in making these movies made it with their heart, and I felt it to the core. I can’t specifically say what it was, but I was brought into tears when I finished my first Ghibli movie. It’s like I’ve just seen my whole life flashing through my eyes, but in a good way. Can’t say that it was sadness, or happiness, or nostalgia, I had no clue what it was but I was completely overwhelmed. Like I was gently put into sleep by a gust of wind, like breathing air for the first time, like being sheltered in a storm while hearing thunder grumble in the background, like being made breakfast you planned on making yesterday, like feeling sleepy under the sun after a day in the pool, like seeing the blue sky… so blue. Things so mundane you don’t get a chance to notice and appreciate them, but they’re actually what makes life so beautiful. It filled my heart with gratefulness and love to the brim. Thanks to these movies, I’ve been blessed to have dreams of my own, to become a writer. I want to make people feel how I felt while watching these movies. Thank you Ghibli studio.

spirited away is probably my favorite movie of all time. i just love everything about it, visuals, story, and everything else. it felt like a breath of fresh air when it comes to animation, and for story as well. ghibli put so much effort into this movie and i’m glad that it is 2 hours long. it’s just perfect.

I remember hopping off of Super Mario Galaxy back in Winter of 2009/2010 to watch this movie with my folks. I remembered the dynamics of Chihiro and Yubaba & Zeniba - and the premise that the young girl’s parents were taken away from her as some sort of test. But neither my folks or I couldn’t remember the title of this movie for the past 15 years!!! Thought I suffered from a Mandela Effect of some sort, or that it was just all a dream. But a good friend of mine pointed me in the direction. And then when I saw the scene of Zeniba and Co. knitting, my memories came back full circle. Just like the tie Chihiro used to tie her hair. And Kohaku? The way he remembered his true identity helped remind me of the person I was in that moment too. 14-15 years later, everything came full circle… One cannot dwell in the past or dread for the future, they must live for the present - see the lessons it presents as gifts. Cherish the smooth tides, pray for the strength to preserve through the rough tides - and never forget who you are.

I swear watching spirited away, howls moving castle, and princess mononoke give me whole new emotions. and I can hear any song from any ghibli movie and almost burst into tears. The emotion is like a mix of my happiest memories, sadness, pure nostalgia, and honestly, the feeling of being so incredibly passionate about something. Haiyo Miyazaki’s films remind me of my passion and love for storytelling and art and animation in the best way possible.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one that only saw this movie recently! Absolutely need to see it again! Wonderful analysis!

This...is perfect. Spirited Away is my favorite movie, so thank you. 💗 I'm so glad I grew up with this movie.

i also saw this movie the other day and completely fell in love with it ❤️🥺 and yes, that song makes me cry everytime... HOWW 😭

This has been my favourite film since I was 6 years old. It is absolutely gorgeous in every single sense of the world. Such an imaginative wonderful tale realised in the best possible way

This is the most relatable video on the internet, I agree with everything you said! Spirited away is not only Miyazaki's best movie but the best movie ever!

Loved the ending. Really appreciate that you mentioned robots, one of the most influential animation of our time. Thank you

Thank you for putting what’s in my heart into words. both about Animation and spirited away

a true masterpiece, one of the best piece of anime I ever seen with its mysterious plot, fantastic characters, ground breaking animation even for today, touching music, overall an unique experience

Yess this! Also, I personally find watching films so hard and concentrating on it but this was so immersive and I felt so present the whole time wow it was beautiful

This movie shaped my childhood, I'm glad you got to watch it. Very well done analysis .

I hadn't watched this film since I was about 5 in 2004, I just rewatched it a few days ago and it made me emotional by all the parts I remember as a kid and how they all pieced together, the ending was perfect and made me fucking cry like a baby as soon as the credits started rolling, an absolute masterpiece

Almost 20 years old and still magical. It is truly a classic

spirited away is the most magical movie ever you feel safe when watching it. its as if your'e a kid again and you just want to be there making it a pretty exprince

idk why, but i had to stop myself from shedding tears during this video... super well done man. ill always have a place in my heart for studio ghibli films :,)

I love movies where a completely new world/society is explored. The shroud of mystery over it all. How it slowly unravels as you learn more and more of how it operates.

Thank you for the video essay, I'd rather it be these than the reviews. I've only seem spirited away twice, it scared me when I was younger but at the same time kinda matched the wacky and zany imagination I had and moved me. I think the subconscious connection from spirited away to anime is what got me into anime in the first place

the animation just feels so comfortable. I dont know if anyone could agree with me here but i feel like throughout that little wooden crack on the floor or the wall or a bowel i could find a good nights relaxing sleep in

I recently explored Studio Ghibli films by starting with Howl's Moving Castle and I will definitely explore other films. This was a great review of all my favorite aspects of these films. Always love your stuff!!

I just watched this now. I loved it. First animated movie where I felt connected to the characters and felt truly intrigued in the story. Nearly cried at the end. I'd do anything to experience it for the first time again...

so happy you've done this!!!!

I love the way you explain you’re self

Couldn't have said it any better myself. Spirited Away is, without a doubt, my favorite animated film of all-time AND my second favorite film of all-time. I'm in awe every time I watch it.

I really love your videos you have such a cool perspective on films x

Hey man, thanks for posting this video - never got to see this film, now i certainly will!

This is my most most fav..movie ever in the intire world.... This movie is stuck in my head...

What a movie it was wow, absolutely breathtaking

i just watched this and this came out now that’s MAGIC

I've learned about this movie like... 10 minutes ago lol and it feels beautifully nostalgic already, I have no idea how) even tho I only watched a bit more than half of the video at the time of writing this. Im now really excited to watch it, also I hope Im not gonna feel bad after it ended because that usually comes with these types of high quality animated films. btw this is how I came across this: I got a video that has the a merry go round of life song played on a piano (with a cat in it) in my recommendations it sounded great, I searched it up and one thing lead to another, so it was really not that difficult to find this movie. which is why I don't understand how I only came across it now. Im making a whole novel rn so sry about that, but I guess thats how amazing this movie is... (pretty impressive considering I haven't seen it yet) but I hope it will be

i love this movie so much, the more i watch it, the more i love it and feel like i have to watch is again, it's truly magical in a way. i just watched princess mononoke for the first time and i was so shocked when i literally smelled!! a certain scene. that says a lot really. i have more ghibli movies to watch but i'm just procastinating seeing them because i know i can't watch them for the first time again after it

I've been meaning to watch it too, I think this video has made me finally do it

Honestly it’s the song that has me grabbed

This movie means the world to me. *It makes you remember what it's like to wonder.*

i only watched spirited away for the first time like 2 years ago (bc my parents were never big on cartoons but that's beside the point) and everytime i watch it i feel nostalgic for a time and places and events that i was never around to witness but it reminds me of all the times in the summer when i was about 6-8 and just lost in my imagination lmao i don't know where i'm going with this

Amazing analysis Karsten. I really like Japanese animation because of how unconventional it is. I would highly recommend you check out 'Koe No Katachi', it's English name is 'A Silent Voice'. It's one of my favourite films ever, because it delves into human emotion unlike any other movie. If you have more films to see, you could also see 'Kimi No Na Wa', the English name is 'Your Name'. And finally I would recommend 'Howl No Ugoku Shiro', the English name is 'Howls Moving Castle'. One of the characters in this movie was dubbed in English by Christian Bale. Thanks for the fantastic content again, keep up the great work.

I remember I showed my friend the most well known song from spirited away. I remember she looked away from me for most of the song, but as it ended she looked me dead in the eyes. She started crying and when I asked her she didn’t know why- and then I started crying too and we got all saPPY BUt the fact that a simple song alone can convey so much emotion is what made me fall in love with studio ghibli.

How can i watch this againn you cannot fell my nostalgia right now on god

Im more Amazed of How i havent found This channel earlier than i am with the movie

I remember my first time watching this when I was around 10 I think, it was one of those films that came at at 2pm when you are off school sick , and I didn’t find out what it was called for like 10 years haha I just always had it on my mind every now and then , all time favourite

I wrote an entire research essay on spirited away. Genuinely one of the best films I’ve ever seen. It’s not even my favorite ghibli(that’s Kiki’s) but it’s the best film ghibli has ever made.

I just watched the film last night. And i already feel it's the greatest animated movie of all time. Like how I felt for the last few scenes in toy story 3, i felt this for almost all of the film. It's the one that makes u feel like a kid. I'll surely re-watch it very soon