There are few directors of animated films who have managed to become as well-known asHayao Miyazaki.Among the contendersfor his greatest filmisSpirited Away, released in 2001. It is set in a bathhouse for spirits and follows a young girl named Chihiro (Rumi Hiiragi/Daveigh Chase), who accidentally becomes trapped there. The film captivated audiences and critics, and it frequently appeared on lists of thegreatest animated movies ever made.
Spirited Away’ssuccess comes from numerous elements, but one of the biggest is its characters. As befitting a Studio Ghibli film, the characters are all well-defined and fleshed out, making them complex in their interactions with one another and memorable to the audience. Finally, in Japanese or English, the stellar voice cast fills them with personality and life.
Spirited Away
During her family’s move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, a world where humans are changed into beasts.
Voiced by Tara Strong (English Dub)
As the only child of the witch Yubaba (Mari Natsuki/Suzanne Pleshette), Boh (Ryunosuke Kamiki/Tara Strong) is spoiled rotten by his mother and refuses to leave his room out of fear of getting sick. He’s so used to getting whatever he wants that, if people don’t play with him, he threatens to break their arms or get his mother to place a curse on them. This changes when he meets Chihiro, who ends up forcing him outside for the first time for a new perspective.
Boh serves as a good example of how Studio Ghibli films excel at giving even their minor characters satisfactory character arcs. He displays some of the most overt changes from beginning to end, shown visually by him standing upright at the end instead of crawling, and by actively defending Chihiro when he can. Tara Strong is one of the best voice-actors around, and her work as Boh, while not as iconicas her other roles, is still good thanks to how she conveys both his childish and cruel tendencies.
Voiced by Suzanne Pleshette (English Dub)
Just like her twin sister, Zeniba (Mari Natsuki/Suzanne Pleshette) isa powerful witch with various spells at her disposal. While her sister is greedy and uses her powers to control others, Zeniba is more compassionate and lives in a cozy homestead. Sometimes Yubaba sends her minions to steal from her twin, which is when Zeniba reveals how dangerous her wrath can be.
Zeniba isn’t introduced until the latter half of the film, but she still proves to be a memorable character. She and her sister both fulfill different interpretations of the fairy tale witch and the fact that she is kind while looking as grotesque as Yubaba shows that appearances can be deceiving. After the sheer amount of stress the characters have gone through, her warm smile and considerate attitude are the perfect respite and help Chihiro prepare for her final test.
Voiced by Susan Egan (Egnlish Dub)
One of the few spirits who looks human, Lin (Yumi Tamai/Susan Egan) becomes Chihiro’s mentor when she gets a job at the bathhouse. Like most spirits, she has a low opinion of humans and isn’t able to comprehend love. Lin’s goal is to save up as much money as she can until she can escape Yubaba’s service and purchase some train tickets to get away.
Lin’s time with Chihiro sees her go through massive character development. She becomes like an older sister to the girl, teaching her what she needs to know to survive working at the bathhouse and even protecting her from other spirits much stronger than herself. Her personality is also a lot of fun: she’s sarcastic, playful, and approaches most everything with a dry sense of humor.
Voiced by David Ogden Stiers (English Dub)
Beneath Yubaba’s bathhouse dwells the spider spirit, Kamaji (Bunta Sugawara/David Ogden Stiers). Utilizing his multiple extendable arms and enchanted soot creatures, he operates the boiler room and can come across as a bit sour and crotchety upon first meeting. However, he is one of the nicest spirits to work for Yubaba, and provides plenty of advice and assistance to Chihiro for no reason other than she needs it.
Kamaji is another case of how complicated people can be, and that first impressions don’t always give you the full picture. He’s very committed to his work and can appear harsh to his soot creatures, but that’s because if they stop working, his magic wears off, and his job is vital to the bathhouse’s operation. His relationship with Chihiro can be compared to that of a hardworking grandfather, and Stiers' performance helps to capture that through sharp commands while working and tenderness while giving advice and comfort.
Voiced by Bob Bergen (English Dub)
During a rainy day,a mysterious spirit called No Face(Akio Nakamura/Bob Bergen) arrives at the bathhouse. Chihiro decides to show him kindness by letting him in, and he begins to follow her around, trying to repay her where he can. Unfortunately, the greed and gluttony presented in the bathhouse infect him, causing him to transform into a ravenous and terrifying blob-like monster.
No Face became one of Studio Ghibli’s biggest breakout characters thanks to his simple design and his engaging role in the story. He is a lonely character who latches onto the first person who shows him kindness. Unfortunately, his poor social skills mean that he takes things too far, believing that the only way to make friends is to shower them with gifts, and when that doesn’t work, eat them. He’s a fascinating character that helps to reinforce the complexities of human emotions.
The operator of the bathhouse, Yubaba cares about only one thing: making as much money as possible as quickly as possible. To that end, she has no qualms about abusing and mistreating her employees, whom she keeps in service through magic contracts that steal their true names. Most humans who enter her domain find themselves transformed into pigs and served as food to her guests. The only reason Chihiro escaped this fate was because Yubaba once swore an oath to accept the service of anyone who asked her for a job.
Yubaba is easily one of thebest villains in any Studio Ghibli filmand potentially all animated films. She has everything you could want from an evil witch: a grotesque and perverse design, creative magic powers, and a love for Faustian deals. Her defining characteristic of greed also lends to her success thanks to it being a universal human experience. Yet even with all these negative traits, she’s not fully irredeemable: she’s willing to place herself in harm’s way to protect her establishment and genuinely loves her son.
Voiced by Jason Marsden (English Dub)
As Yubaba’s right-hand man, Haku (Miyu Irino/Jason Marsden) is tasked with maintaining order among the bathhouse staff and performing whatever errand Yubaba demands. He does this thanks to his ability to transform into a dragon, although he is not too pleased with the arrangement. He is the first spirit to befriend Chihiro and does what he can to help her reclaim her name, while also trying to uncover the mysteries about his past.
Haku is easily the film’s most complex and multifaceted character. There’s a sense of uncertainty with him in the first half, as Chihiro and the audience are both trying to figure out if he’s truly committed to helping her or just lulling her into a false sense of security.Marsden’s voicework is a highlight of his career, especially when he switches from supportive and dismissive between scenes.
1Chihiro Ogino
Voiced by Daveigh Chase (English Dub)
While moving to a new house, Chihiro and her parents arrive at an abandoned amusement park. Against her warning, her parents indulge in some of the food they find, which transforms them into pigs once the sun sets. Now trapped in the spirit world, Chihiro gets a job from Yubaba, who takes her name and renames her Sen. Now she has to work at the bathhouse until she can find a way to free her parents and get back to the human world.
One of the strengths of Myazaki’s films is how they depict female characters, and Chihiro stands as one of his best examples. She reacts exactly how a young child thrust into such an impossible situation would, yet always finds the strength to keep going and avoid giving into despair. She also represents kindness and innocence. No matter how bad things get, she never succumbs to bitterness and always treats others with respect and sincerity. This serves as abeautiful representation of the movie’s themesof identity and staying true to one’s self.
