Spirited away (2001)

Spirited away is about 10 year old Chihiro and her parents stumbling upon an ‘abandoned’ amusement park. While looking around, her parent are turned into giant pigs. Chihiro meets Haku who explains that the park is for supernatural beings taking a break in the earthly realm. He tells her that in order for her parents to be freed, she needs to work there.

Yubaba

Yubaba is the main antagonist of this film. She is a greedy witch who is known to steal names and harass her workers. She has multiple powers such as: flight, mind domination, curses and many more.

Her appearance is rather shocking. She has an inhumanly large figure with a large lump of discoloured hair sitting on her head. She also has a crooked nose with a large mole sitting atop it. There’s no doubt that she looks like what she is: The witch who rules the bath-house .

No-Face

No face is the secondary antagonist in this film. He has the ability to ingest individuals in order to gain their personality and physical traits.

No face is one of the most notorious anime characters; even if you haven’t watched spirited away, you most likely still know who no face is. His appearance is similiar to that of a long black tube. He is constantly shown in a semi-transparent state in which he can shift his visability. His organs are visible and he has the ability to develop arms and legs. His ‘head’ is covered by an expressionless mask with violet highlights painted atop it. The mouth painted on top of this mask is actually smaller than his hidden mouth.

I really like this character design; its simple yet effective. The black ‘cloak’ really feeds into the ominous/mysterious feel he has. Also his ability to gain peoples personality and physical traits really work well with his hidden attire; he isn’t one person but a collection of different people.

In relation to the rest of the movie, I found some moments I though worked well with my chosen theme.