Spirited Away Manga

Volume 1

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.

Volume 2

Chihiro mets Kamaji, the being that runs the boilers for the bath house. There she encounters animated balls of soot and learns how that part of the bath house works. Then Lin, a woman that works there (not a human; no humans work there) and tells Chihiro to ask Yubaba, the woman in charge of the bath house, for a job.

So Chihiro goest to meet here and has to ask over and over for a job and finally is given one. She ends up as Lin's assistant. Yubaba is able to change into a bird. Haku says he'll take Chihiro to see her parents who are now pigs.

Volume 3

Haku takes Chihiro to see her pig parents. He can't remember his real name. Chihiro learns Haku is a dragon.

The bath house opens at night. Chihiro encounters the masked man and is nice to him. She and Len are given a job of cleaning a huge, very dirty bathtub. Something filthy is moving in the rain and it smells horrible.

He's going to take a bath, and Sen/Chihiro has to get a bath token to help clean the tub and the masked man helps her get one and later gives her a bunch more.

t's up to Sen to wash the dirty spirit and as she does she finds there's something stuck in his body. Yubaba has everyone help pull the object out and soon the room's filled with things. It turns out the being was a river spirit and he gives Sen a gift before leaving.

Later the masked man gives gold to a frog and then swallows it.

Volume 4

The masked man has been giving people gold and has been eating an enormous amount of food. Meanwhile Sen sees Haku in his dragon form. Paper birds are chasing him and he's badly injured.

Sen meets the masked man and he offers her gold but she says she's interested in it and goes to find where Haku is. The masked man then eats two people and sends the place into chaos.

Sen meets the baby who is huge. Another bird woman arrives and it's Yubaba's twin, Zeniba. She changes the baby into a rat and the three heads into the baby.

Sen stays with Haku and gives him the medicine from the river spirit. Haku had stolen Zeniba's magic seal and he regurgitates it. Sen destroys the evil spirit in it and she decides to take it back to Zeniba and ask her to forgive Haku.