Talk:Spirited Away

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[edit] Differences between the Japanese and English versions

The section on "Differences between the Japanese and English versions" really needs to have an overview (or even a list) of the actual differences (or a link to a site providing them). At the moment, it only really says that are differences (and that people argue about them). [ 60.240.249.149 01:24, 7 September 2005 ]

I second that. Very curious. Druff 04:46, 13 November 2005 (UTC)
Thirded. In fact, I came over to this Discussion page to make exactly this point. Only one example is mentioned, and this is in passing just to illustrate the point that there's a controversy. It really should be the other way round. CFLeon 03:14, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
There's another example in the plot summary: (The plots of the Japanese- and English-language versions differ slightly here:
The main driver for the differences was the desire to make the English dialogue consistent with the mouth movements of the characters. If the character's mouth is visible, s/he has to speak from frame X to frame Y, and the vowels and consonants have to be not-glaringly-different from the original -- though I suppose lip-readers crack up watching & listening.
—wwoods 06:55, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

Several of the accusations seem spurious, particularly the "romantic moments" bit. A specific part of the Disney-Tokuma deal explicitly forbids excising any material. The worst Disney has done in any of the Ghibli films' dubs is some questionable additional lines. They are legally obligated noy to make cuts. I am removing some of the statements under the differences section that are incorrect.Finite 19:23, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Unless my hearing has betrayed me, there was at least one line that was omitted in the English version. As Chihiro is running from the bath house, finally free to return home, Boh actually says something like "Come and see us" when she turns back to wave at all the attendants. This seems to be absent in the English dub. Songofthehawk 09:02, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

:I've compiled a list of the differences between quite a few lines, especially those concerning Haku and Chihiro. There ARE some major differences, and while the "romantic moments" weren't exactly cut, I believe the changes that Disney did for the lines in the English dub may significantly change some viewers' opinions of both the relationship between Chihiro and Haku, and the personalities of the two. However, I have not singled out every single difference there is just yet. I'm also wondering if a certain format for comparing these differences would be preferred as my current list is rather informal. Let me know if you want me to upload it somewhere and place a link to it, or if you'd like it here. Songofthehawk 10:14, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Alright. Until then, I have decided to add another point to the list of "Changes include" which will state that some lines from the Japanese version were also omitted or edited. Songofthehawk 04:49, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
wwoods has made a very good point there; in fact, it's quite undeniable. However, I'd have to say that some of the changes still seem to deviate too much from the original - i.e. where it is possible to just rephrase a line, they are instead changed completely. For instance - why does Chihiro need to assert "I knew you were good!" when her original line is actually just "I'm so grateful"? Why does Zeniba say that she is still quite angry with Haku when Chihiro gives her back the seal, when this never happens in the Japanese version? The point I'm trying to make remains the same - some of these changes actually have the potential to change perspectives on certain characters.
As such, I am going to revise my proposal - while this is the English section of wikipedia, I'm of the opinion that this article still ought to contain information on its original Japanese version (why concentrate it on the English version if it is just a dub?) The plot summary and other notes based on the changes made in the English version should be edited out and replaced with information pertaining to the original one. If no one objects, I will eventually take some time off to do so, and will instead populate a list of the lines which the English version made more significant changes to for the "Differences between the Japanese and English versions" section.
I'm perfectly fine with objections to this; though I will also be interested in hearing your reasons for doing so. Songofthehawk 09:02, 15 September 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Kohaku

Chihiro recalls falling into the Kohaku (コハク) river

Note that Kohaku ( 琥珀 / コハク ), while containing the word 白 / haku ("white"), means "amber". --Picapica 18:56, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

so what is the correct way to represent "kohaku"? 琥珀 or コハク? - Phorque 09:23, 23 January 2006 (UTC)
My note was just as a point of interest. In the Japanese film script Haku and (his real full name) Nigihayami Kohakunushi are both written in katakana, i.e. ハク and ニギハヤミコハクヌシ . There are, in characteristic Japanese style, several different possible interpretations! For more on this, see [1]. --Picapica 12:21, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

PS: If you enter the kanji version 琥珀 into the Japanese Wikipedia, it redirects to コハク. --Picapica 12:34, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

Another possible (perhaps even a little more suitable, depending on your viewpoint) interpretation: if you literally translate コハク, it means 'small' (コ) and 'white' (ハク). The Chinese version of 'Spirited Away', however, has chosen to take the '琥珀' interpretation of the name.
His full name, ニギハヤミコハクヌシ (Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi), can therefore mean "The Lord of the harmonious and swift-flowing waters of the Kohaku (small and white, or amber) River". 'Nigi' means 'harmonious' or 'peaceful', 'haya' means 'rapid' or 'fast', 'mi' refers to water, and 'nushi' means 'lord', 'god' or 'master' (it is, I think, a regular title for Japanese deities). Songofthehawk 02:44, 24 September 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Vandalism Clean-up

There is some obscene and unrelated writing on the article, most notably at the end of nearly every section after "Credits." Obviously, this should be cleaned-up, and the article should be thoroughly inspected for any other vandalism.

The caption under the picture says "Spirited A gay film poster". It should probably be changed to "away". --151.197.186.226 15:24, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] On the Zeniba section

[I]n the Japanese version she states that she no longer blames him, prompting some fans to speculate that when Chihiro told her about the control-slug that Yubaba put in him that she realized that Yubaba was more guilty than Haku ever was[.]

My head hurts terribly when I try to read this sentence. I can't even rewrite it myself as I don't know what it means. Should one perhaps remove the last 'that'? Would that still (or rather, make it) convey the intended meaning? 213.112.137.177 20:23, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I think so. But I would hardly call that speculation. The sentece could also use some commas. Shinobu 01:38, 8 October 2006 (UTC)


I just changed it, I think it reads a bit better now:
[I]n the Japanese version she states that she no longer blames him, prompting some fans to speculate that when Chihiro told her about the control-slug that Yubaba put in him, she realized that Yubaba was more guilty than Haku ever was[.]
davekeeling 20:18, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Computer assisted?

Anyone know the exact sort of animation used in this? I suppose it could be hand cel, but I'd guess computers were used to greater or lesser extent. The answer should go in the article. JDG 18:46, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Miramax

The article currently states:

This was the first Disney-distributed animated film Miramax Films did not release. All three previous Disney-distributed animated films Tom and Jerry: The Movie, The Thief and the Cobbler, and Princess Mononoke, were released by Miramax Films.

What was this intended to mean? Disney distributed animated films for years before Miramax even existed. --Metropolitan90 00:05, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

  • I have removed the item since no explanation was forthcoming. --Metropolitan90 19:10, 29 October 2006 (UTC)
    • No! When I say "Disney-distributed animated films", I mean "animated films distributed but not produced by Disney", do you understand?
      • I thought you might be referring to something like that. However, first, Tom and Jerry: The Movie was released by Miramax in 1992, before Disney bought Miramax. So it had nothing to do with Disney, at least not on its original release. Second, Miramax is and was a distributor, so it distributed Arabian Knight and Princess Mononoke itself notwithstanding the fact that it was owned by Disney when it did so. Third, what about the Pixar films such as Toy Story? Those were distributed by Disney, but not produced by Disney, also. --Metropolitan90 19:21, 5 November 2006 (UTC) Reference to Tom and Jerry was later found to be inaccurate. --Metropolitan90 04:11, 8 November 2006 (UTC)
        • When I put it there, I would've meant traditionally-animated films because the previous ones released by Miramax were traditionally-animated and so was this film, right?
          • First of all, do not change other people's comments on talk pages. That can be considered vandalism. I have since learned that you are correct to say that Tom and Jerry: The Movie was released by Miramax in 1993, after Disney bought Miramax, but you should have just stated that in your own comment rather than changing the point I was trying to make. (I reverted my comment but struck the inaccurate part above.) Second, it sounds like you are trying to say something like: "Spirited Away was the first animated film released by Disney that was not produced in-house by a Disney animation studio, not counting the Pixar films or films distributed by Miramax." I believe that would be a true statement, per List of Disney animated features, but I would prefer to hear from others as to whether that is important enough to mention in the article. --Metropolitan90 04:11, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Definite ending?

I restored the Story section just now but I was wondering about the dispute earlier over the ending. Is it possible for there to be a "correct" ending? I thought Chihiro did remember the "spiriting away". Is there evidence in the movie that she didn't remember? If anything, the ending seemed rather ambiguous and left a lot open to the viewer.

-70.176.93.225 03:00, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia

Someone vandalized this page by adding that there will be a "Spirited Away world" in Kingdom Hearts III. Since the game is not yet in development, and Disney does not own the rights to these characters, it's obviously very false so I'm going to remove it.

-- 67.183.151.13 02:35, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mistakes

On the mistakes section it says the radish spirit continues to go up in the elevator, but that is not neccesarily true. The doors merely closes - there is no intention that he continues to go up - elevators go 2 directions. I propose this mistake be taken out of the article. ShadowedBlade 00:52, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Doesn't Chihiro get out of the elevator at the top floor, where Yubabba is? If this is the case, then the elevator has nowhere to go but down from there. The radish spirit simply helped her out by accompanying her to the top floor, and then he obviously has to go back down after she gets out.

[edit] Names

The article states that loosing one's name is from the Neverending Story. The idea that a name holds power over a person comes from traditions a lot older than the Neverending Story. I forget specificly which religion it is or was though, but I think there are a few.

[edit] Order of Characters

Just a small thing, but the order that the characters are in on the page seems a bit odd. Is there a reason for this? For example, it seems odd that Kashira comes before No-Face, even though No-Face is a much more central character. It doesn't seem to be in alphabetical order either. davekeeling 20:22, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

May be Order of Appearance. Didn't check. --Safe-Keeper 07:42, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Plot summary too long

As seems to be common in Wikipedia articles about popular films, the plot summary in this article is unbearably long. It's 1600 words, which is well past the length of summarization. I plan to edit it to a proper synopsis length soon. Comme le Lapin 06:59, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Merge from Chihiro Ogino

Please merge relevant content, if any, from Chihiro Ogino per Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Chihiro Ogino. (If there is nothing to merge, just leave it as a redirect.) Thanks. —Quarl (talk) 2007-03-17 09:16Z

[edit] Spoilers?

Shouldn't there be a spoilers heading under synopsis?

There was a big debate and changes to Wikipedia:Spoiler. Spoiler tags do not belong in plot synopsis or summaries because it's obvious that they contain a full account of the story, hence spoilers are inevitable. –Pomte 06:16, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Eggman VS Kamajii

This s just me being a big videogame nerd, but doesn't Kamajii (the boiler man) resemble Dr. Eggman? They have similar voices, both have the same egg-like shapes bodies with skinny limbs and very similar moustache/sunglasses combinations. http://powersonic.com.br/games/personagens/media/eggman.gif http://www.oomu.org/images/miyazaki/magritte/chihiro_kamaji.jpg Shouldn't this be mentioned in the article or something? 84.13.121.92 16:52, 14 June 2007 (UTC) Mojanboss

[edit] Romanisation of song titles

I'm no expert on Japanese but in "11. 仕事はつらいぜ [Shigoto ha Tsuraize / It's Hard Work] (久石譲 Joe Hisaishi)" (here) I would have thought that は would be Romanised as "wa" than "ha". I didn't change it myself because I would rather have someone with a better grasp of the language verify it. Thanks. D4g0thur 12:07, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Since no-one else has said anything suggesting otherwise and I'm pretty sure it should be "wa", I've gone ahead and changed it. D4g0thur 09:14, 23 June 2007 (UTC)
That depends on if you want the romaji to follow either the pronounciation or rather the japanese spelling. は is the 'ha' syllable, but here it is used as a particle, changing the sound to 'wa'. Personally, I would leave the character as 'ha' in the romanization, as the romaji, not being a phonetical transcript, should follow the original writing rather than how it is pronounced. Aren't there official guidelines on this?--210.225.86.130 (talk) 02:08, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] History of the Script/Story?

It is my understanding that the story is an adaptation of a novel (by the same author who wrote the story from which Howl's Moving Castle was based). I don't know the details but it seems like this info should be added to the article. right? Tajoman 13:52, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Not until you can explain it a bit better.
Howl's Moving Castle was written by Diana Wynne Jones. While the film version of that was extremely modified from the original story, I really can't imagine being able to edit a story by a British author and get anything resembling Spirited Away, which is heavily grounded in Japanese culture. So it seems more than unlikely. Leushenko 21:42, 11 September 2007 (UTC)
No, Spirited Away is an original story. Songofthehawk 07:09, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Plot Summary based on English version

It is quite clear that some parts of the sypnosis have come from the English version instead of the Japanese. Should this be so, especially since the Japanese is the original version of the show? I am not editing the summary right now; however, I am going to add a note there that states it is based on the English dub of the show, which contains a few differences from the Japanese version. Songofthehawk 10:36, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

And whoa, hang on a second. Zeniba explains that Yubaba put the slug in Haku to control him, and that Sen has already healed Haku with her love. As far as I remember, in the English version, it is Kamaji who muses that Sen must have healed Haku with her love - not Zeniba. I'm editing the line - and if there are no objections, I also hope to rectify the plot summary to fit its original Japanese version soon enough, and make it shorter, too. Songofthehawk 07:09, 13 September 2007 (UTC) Mm, my mistake. I went back to check and realized that she did mention it after all. I have left the line alone. Songofthehawk 08:00, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

I have reiterated this point under the discussion for the Differences between the Japanese and English versions, where I've also proposed that a few changes be made to the current article. Songofthehawk 09:10, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Japanese cultural differences (Granny)

In the section on Zeniba, it is remarked that Zeniba requests that Chihiro call her Granny, as though this was to emphasise her character as a grandmotherly figure. It is my understanding that this is in fact another example of alterations to the script for the benefit of a Western audience. I believe I am correct that in Japanese/Asian culture the word for Grandmother can be used as a general term of respect for an elderly woman (certainly this is true in Korea and China, and I believe it also applies in Japan). However, this is not widely known in the West, so the line "call me Granny" may have been added to explain Chihiro's otherwise spontaneous use of the term. Can anyone with a little more knowledge in the subject clarify this matter? 86.154.197.10 (talk) 01:15, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Regarding "Japanese culture in the film"

According to the section, it says ----In the scene during which Chihiro squashes with her foot the small black slug that inhabited Haku (a spell laid by Yubaba), Kamajii tells Chihiro to "Cut the line!" "Cutting the line" is a Japanese good-luck charm performed by making a chopping gesture through another person's connected index fingers.---- However, I wonder whether "good-luck charm" is a negative mean in English. This is because the original, Japanese, word is "en-gacho" which can be directly translated to "I cut our friendship with you", means "I don't want to talk to you anymore" or "Don't come any closer". Although this is a relatively old-fashioned expression, it is usually used to make fun of a friend who accidentally involved some dirty trouble. I don't think "good-luck" is an appropriate translation. I recommend the editors to change it to a better expression. --- 12:23 (UTC) December 27 2007 isida1028

[edit] Searching for Spirited Away

If you search Wikipedia for "Spirited Away" (capitalising both words), you find this article on the film. But search for "spirited away" (lower case) or "SPIRITED AWAY" & all you get is a stub article for Kamikakushi, which only says this about the film:

Spirited away is an anime by Miyazaki, based loosely on this word. The protagonist, Chihiro is "spirited away" of her name, which is replaced by a name given by Yubaba to take control of her - Sen.

It does link to the main article, but only via the names Chihiro or Yubaba. There is no disambiguation link. Shouldn't this be corrected to avoid peole thinking this is the only info about this film? I think most Wikipedia users would assume that they could search for a film title in lower case & still find it. Best solution would be to merge the text from the Kamikushi article/stub into the Spirited Away entry, & redirect searches for Kamikushi, as well as lower case forms of Spirited Away, to this page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.203.239.124 (talk) 22:45, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Plot summary

At more than 1100 words, the plot summary was too long and difficult to follow, and had been marked as such. I've replaced it with a briefer summary from an older revision [2]. --Tony Sidaway 17:18, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] bad reviews

were there any bad reviews? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.153.217.21 (talk) 18:46, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia Diff Bug

I've undid a vandalism to the article right now, but it seems the Wikipedia history/diff feature is bugged, as the comparison between my undo and the vandal edit makes it seems like it's me who vandalized the article by changing a section entry in line 1 (which obviously isn't there) by a single word (which isn't there either). Pretty strange. Anyway, if you compare my undo and the version before that of the (actual) vandal, you'll see they're exactly equal. I hope this doesn't cause problems for me... :'-( -- alexgieg (talk) 02:28, 25 April 2008 (UTC)