60 Fun Facts About Spirited Away

In what year was Spirited Away released in Japanese cinemas?

It opened on 20 July 2001 and stayed at number one at the Japanese box office for eleven weeks.

Who wrote and directed Spirited Away?

He also directed My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service before it, and later received an honorary Academy Award in 2014.

Chihiro's parents are transformed into which animals after eating the spirit world's food?

Miyazaki said the transformation symbolizes how some people become greedy, a nod to Japan's 1980s bubble economy.

What name does Yubaba give Chihiro after taking part of her real one?

Yubaba removes the second kanji from Chihiro's name and controls people by taking their names.

What is the name of Yubaba's twin sister?

The twin lives at Swamp Bottom, and No-Face chooses to stay with her at the end of the film.

Haku is eventually revealed to be the spirit of what?

Chihiro once fell into that river as a small child and was washed safely ashore; it was later filled in for apartments.

Who composed and conducted the film's score?

The score was performed by the New Japan Philharmonic and won the Annie Award for Music in a Feature Production.

Which company handled the film's North American distribution?

The studio's 10% investment in the film gave it right of first refusal, and its home entertainment arm released the DVD in April 2003.

The Golden Bear that Spirited Away shared in 2002 is the top prize of which film festival?

The award was shared with a live-action drama that year, a rare joint honour for the festival.

With which film did Spirited Away share its 2002 Golden Bear?

Paul Greengrass's drama about the 1972 Derry shootings took the joint honour, an unusual pairing with a Japanese fantasy.

Spirited Away won Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards over which of these nominees?

The other losing nominees that night were Lilo & Stitch, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Treasure Planet.

What distinction did Spirited Away earn at the Academy Awards?

The category was only two years old at the time; the inaugural winner in 2002 had been Shrek.

Who hosted the 75th Academy Awards ceremony at which the film won its Oscar?

The ceremony took place days after the Iraq War began, and several presenters withdrew citing safety concerns.

Which film ended Spirited Away's 19-year run as the highest-grossing film ever in Japan?

The record fell in 2020, after 73 days on release for the challenger, at a gross of ¥32.48 billion.

Roughly how much did Spirited Away gross in Japan during its record-setting run?

It took a record ¥1.6 billion in its first three days alone.

Approximately what did Spirited Away gross worldwide?

A 2019 theatrical release in China added around $70 million to that total nearly two decades after the film first opened.

What was Spirited Away's production budget in US dollars?

Production began in 2000 on a budget of ¥1.9 billion, a fraction of what a Hollywood animated feature cost at the time.

In how many theatres did Spirited Away open on its first weekend in North America in 2002?

It earned $450,000 that weekend and only expanded to 714 theatres after its Oscar win the following spring.

For how many consecutive weeks was Spirited Away number one at the Japanese box office?

The run cemented it as the biggest film in Japanese history, a title it kept until 2020.

Who directed the English-language adaptation of Spirited Away?

Cindy Davis Hewitt and Donald H. Hewitt wrote the English dialogue to match the characters' original Japanese lip movements.

Which Pixar figure persuaded Disney to buy the film's North American rights?

A friend and fan of Miyazaki, he would sit with his staff and watch Miyazaki's films when they hit story problems.

Who voices Chihiro in the English dub?

The same year she also voiced Lilo in Lilo & Stitch and played Samara in The Ring.

Which actress voices Yubaba in the English dub, in what turned out to be her final film role?

Best known as Emily on The Bob Newhart Show, she died in January 2008.

David Ogden Stiers voices which character in the English dub?

Stiers, of M*A*S*H fame, was a Disney dub regular, having voiced Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast.

Which prolific voice actress plays Yubaba's giant baby Boh in the English dub?

In the Japanese version the baby was voiced by Ryunosuke Kamiki, who was 8 at the time and later starred in Your Name.

Who voices Chihiro in the original Japanese version?

Miyu Irino voiced Haku opposite her; both were child actors when the film was recorded.

Which actress voices Yubaba in Japanese and later played both witches in the stage adaptation?

She reprised the twin roles when the stage version premiered in Tokyo in 2022.

The Radish Spirit who rides the elevator with Chihiro is known in Japanese by what name?

He is voiced by Ken Yasuda in Japanese and by Jack Angel in the English dub.

The soot sprites that the boiler-man commands are known by what Japanese name?

The same creatures appear in My Neighbor Totoro, where they are called soot gremlins in the English dub.

What is the English title of the film's closing song?

Its Japanese title, Itsumo Nando Demo, literally means "Always, No Matter How Many Times".

Who wrote and performed the film's closing song?

Miyazaki said in the Japanese DVD extras that the song actually inspired him to make the film.

The closing song was originally intended for which unproduced Miyazaki project?

The lyrics were written by Wakako Kaku, and the song went on to win the Japan Academy Film Prize for Best Song.

Miyazaki based Chihiro on the ten-year-old daughter of which friend?

Miyazaki felt shōjo manga only offered girls stories about crushes and romance, and wanted a heroine they could recognise.

Which real Japanese hot spring bathhouse is cited as an inspiration for Yubaba's bathhouse?

The bathhouse in Matsuyama is one of Japan's oldest, and the Notoya Ryokan inn in Yamagata was another model.

Which town, often claimed as the film's inspiration, has Miyazaki explicitly denied was a model?

The old gold-mining town's lantern-lit teahouses still draw tourists who insist on the connection.

During production Miyazaki regularly visited which Koganei institution for building references?

He based some spirit-world buildings on the pseudo-Western structures from the Meiji period preserved there.

The word kamikakushi in the Japanese title literally means what?

The full title is Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, and the folklore idea of spiriting away by the gods frames the whole story.

The kanji 千 that becomes Chihiro's new name is an alternate reading meaning what?

The reduction of a girl to a number has been read as a comment on capitalism's single-minded concern with value.

How old is Chihiro at the start of the film?

The family is driving to their new home when her father takes the wrong turn to the tunnel.

What protective gift does Yubaba's twin make for Chihiro?

Chihiro is still wearing it in the final shot as she looks back at the tunnel.

What has Haku stolen from Yubaba's twin that carries a deadly curse?

The item is coughed up in the boiler room, along with the black slug Yubaba used to control him.

Yubaba's baby Boh is turned into which small animal for most of the second half of the film?

A false copy is left in the nursery, and Yubaba's harpy-like bird is shrunk into a tiny fly to carry him.

What token of gratitude does the cleansed river spirit give Sen?

She later splits it between Haku and No-Face, curing them both.

What does No-Face hand out to bathhouse workers in exchange for food?

The riches are copied from what the river spirit left behind, and vanish once his rampage ends.

Which veteran voice actor voices No-Face in the English dub?

The same performer has been the voice of Porky Pig for Warner Bros. since 1990.

What is Spirited Away's running time?

Miyazaki realised his original plot would have run over three hours, and cut it back sharply.

Who wrote and directed the stage adaptation that premiered in Tokyo in 2022?

The role of Chihiro was double-cast between Kanna Hashimoto and Mone Kamishiraishi.

The stage version made its European premiere in 2024 at which venue?

The run was announced in August 2023, two years after the show's Tokyo debut.

Which pop star released a 2024 song titled Chihiro, inspired by the film?

The track appears on her third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft.

Where did Spirited Away place in the BBC's 2016 poll of the greatest films of the 21st century?

In 2022 it also entered Sight & Sound's greatest films list at number 75, alongside My Neighbor Totoro.

Where in Tokyo did the Ghibli Museum open in October 2001, three months after the film's release?

The studio itself was founded in 1985 by Miyazaki and Isao Takahata with support from producer Toshio Suzuki.

In 2020 Netflix acquired streaming rights to the Ghibli catalogue in every region except which country?

HBO Max carried the films in that country instead, after Ghibli spent years refusing streaming deals altogether.

Which company distributed Spirited Away in Japanese cinemas?

The same distributor also handled Godzilla and most other Ghibli releases.

Which 3D software did Ghibli staff experiment with while making the film?

The team deliberately kept the computer work restrained so it enhanced rather than replaced the hand-drawn look.

In which year did Spirited Away finally receive a theatrical release in mainland China?

It made $54.8 million there in two weekends, eighteen years after its Japanese debut.

What approval rating did Spirited Away hold on Rotten Tomatoes as of 2025?

As of 2025 its consensus called it "a dazzling, enchanting, and gorgeously drawn fairy tale" from 221 reviews.

What are the names of Chihiro's parents?

They are voiced by Michael Chiklis and Lauren Holly in the English dub.

Sen, No-Face and Boh travel to Swamp Bottom by what means?

The tickets come from the boiler-man, who had saved them for forty years.

Which two shōjo manga magazines did Miyazaki read for inspiration while planning a film for ten-year-old girls?

He found they only offered crushes and romance, so he drew instead on summer holidays at a mountain cabin with five girls who were family friends.

Which husband-and-wife screenwriters wrote the English dialogue to match the Japanese lip movements?

Donald W. Ernst, co-producer of Aladdin, produced the English adaptation under executive producer John Lasseter.