Studio Food Entry #2: Spirited Away Review, Summary, Food Analysis

Studio Food Entry #2: Spirited Away Review, Summary, Food Analysis

Disclaimer: Spoilers Included

This movie was one of the very first Studio Ghibli movies that I watched since I was a little and I fell in love with the art and the emotion of the story. Even now as I re-watch the movie, I can relate to Chihiro as she is not so enthusiastic of having to move to a new town, leaving her school friends behind. Skeptical, nervous, and maybe even a little annoyed by her parent’s decisions, her facial expressions convey she feels empty and alone. Her mother’s advice to “think of it like an adventure”, foreshadows the fantastical journey she is about to set forth.

Like Chihiro, I was interested in the stone houses featured in the first few scenes. Her mother then explains that “some people think spirits live there”. After doing a bit of research, the shrines were inspired by Shintoism.

When the dad drives hectically through the forest, I questioned his “four wheel drive”.

The family finds a mysterious entrance way. They enter the cave like structure which they conclude it to be an old train station. As they continue to walk through towards the opposite opening, they come upon an abandoned theme park that was created in the 90’s.

The family finds a street with empty restaurants when Chihiro’s father encounters steamy, prepared food. In the scene of the discovery, I can see what appears to be red roasted duck or chicken on the left, dumplings, corn, and other unidentified morsels.

As the parents start to consume the unoccupied dishes, Chihiro remains suspecting and cautious. They continue to eat what looks like fish cakes as well. We soon discover the abandoned town becomes alive at night where spirits dwell.

Chihiro finds her parents turned into pigs and the path she arrived from is separated by a river. I have to admit that I was terrified of this scene shown below when I was younger.

A boy named Haku who works for Yubaba, the owner of the bathhouse, finds Chihiro when she is about to disappear. Haku gives her what looks like a piece of candy to stop her from vanishing, revealing that eating food from the spirit world will reverse the effects.

As the story progresses, Chihiro must find a job from Kamaji, the boiler man of the bathhouse, or else she is going to be turned into an animal by Yubaba. Bravery, perseverance, friendship, hearth, kindness, greed, and identity are all themes present in the film. The rest of the story continues as Chihiro must rescue her parents while working at the bathhouse.

Above: The soot and Chihiro hard at work. Below: The part when the soot want her help.

Food #1: Candy stars also called konpeito is a type of sugar candy. These candies were introduced to Japan by the Portuguese in 1569 by Christian missionary, Luis Frois, as gifts to the Japanese government official, Oda Nobunaga. To make the candy, it takes approximately about one to two weeks, where it starts off with a sugar core. Sugar syrup is added and rotated which gives it its unique, bumpy shape. Its primary ingredients are coloring, sugar, and water; nothing fancy but sweet and melt in your mouth goodness.

Shown Above: Kamaji was given what looks like pickled radish (yellow), fried bread crumb covered shrimp (in his chopsticks), and a bowl of white short grained rice.

Food #2: Rice balls, Ju Mok Bap (Korean name), or Onigiri (Japanese name)

As Haku gives Chihiro rice balls after showing her transformed parents, Chihiro was touched by his kindness and relieved that Haku was not the cold hearted person he acted like in front of the other bathhouse workers.

The taste of the rice ball often reminds me of home, either from my mom’s homemade jumok bap, or as a quick dinner solution since these are fairly easy to make.

The scene shown above shows how food can invoke emotions and memories from the past; rice being an ideal comfort food that is simple yet healing. The rice ball in the movie is wrapped in bamboo and tied with string; this method was used by samurai to preserve its freshness on long missions. More information about rice balls and how to make one will be discussed in more depth in another post.

In the scene above, Chihiro is hard at work where she struggles. Lin even asks her if she ever worked a day in her life after seeing her clean the floors. This is also when she tells No Face to come inside to take shelter from the rain.

Food #3: Red Bean Paste Buns

In this scene, Chihiro and Lin enjoy what they called as “dumplings” in the movie. I have heard people call them meat buns but I believe they are actually filled with red bean paste, similar to the Korean food call hobbang. The red bean paste bun is so big, it is the size of Chihiro’s face! I will make a post on my interpretation and recreation of the recipe in the future as well.

Above: Here I find pre-packaged red bean paste buns at my local Asian supermarket

Scenes Above: Cooking for the hungry No Face

In the scenes provided, I could see various types of sushi, fish, meats, vegetables, and dumpling which are all inspired by different Asian styled cuisines.

Below: Chihiro, No Face, and Zeniba enjoy tea, cakes, and cookies.

Another theme in this movie that I forgot to mention was pollution as represented by the “stink spirit”. It was said that Hayao Miyazaki cleaned a river and was surprised by how dirty and contaminated it was with trash. Like in the movie where Chihiro pulls out the stuck bicycle from the river spirit, Miyzaki found a bicycle in the river as well. 

Additionally, the theme of independence is prevalent as Chihiro starts to learn how to “survive” on her own. Yubaba’s son also learns the meaning of independence as he sees the “real world” that Yubaba sheltered him from. At the last scenes of the movie, the baby defies his mother’s wishes since he realizes there is so much more than to receiving special treatment.  

For character development, we can see Chihiro becoming stronger and less afraid as she fights to help and return the kindness Haku gave her in the beginning of the film. In conclusion, overall final thoughts of the film were positive and I thoroughly enjoyed the concept of the plot, character design/development, and themes. This is a must watch if you haven’t seen it yet as it takes the viewer on a magical journey into the spirit realm; the instrumental is wonderfully composed by Joe Hisaishi, leaving you relaxed and nostalgic from the beginning until the finale.

Works Cited:

Month, By. "Konpeito: The Emperor's Gift of Candy." Japan Talk. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.

Spirited Away. By Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli, 2001. DVD.