Spirited Away

This is both a movie and a series of "film comics", the film writted and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It concerns a young girl and her family who are in the process of moving. The girl, Chihiro, is quite upset at leaving her friends behind.

The father manages to get lost during their drive and the three end up entering a strange town where her parents are turned into pigs and it is up to Chihiro to find some way to free them and herself from the control of Yubaba, the woman who is in command of the bath house for a wide variety of strange creatures.

Chihiro must fight to free her parents but, at the same time, must avoid falling under the total control of Yubaba who has "stolen" her name. In the process she meets a young boy Haku, who helps her. Other characters include a six-armed man who runs the boiler room, Yubaba's twin sister and a "no-face", a strange being that can produce gold, eat people, and still end up helping Chihiro (after sort of trying to eat her, too).

The "film comics" (I hate the term "comics" in this sense) are scenes from the movie. The volumes also contain a breakdown of the main characters and a guide to sound effects used in the various scenes. The volumes are beautifully done as is the entire movie.

The story is fascinating, quite different from most other anime series I know, and features fascinating characters and beautiful scenery. At the very least you must see the film; the "film comics" are nice but they are end up being sort of pricy for the entire group.

This book is an incredibly beautiful book containing lots of artwork from the movie Spirited Away. This is a hardback book, covering the entire movie and even including a script to the movie. Very, very nice.

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