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Enter Chihiro, a young girl defined by her fearful attitude and inexperience with hardship. Her parents, in a lapse of judgment, consume food set out for the spirits, transforming them into pigs and leaving Chihiro stranded in the spirit world. To save them, and herself, Chihiro signs her name away to Yubaba, the witch who runs a bathhouse for the spirits. As she begins working for the first time in her life, Chihiro is faced with unexpected obstacles, and in the process, she grows as a person, shedding her selfish ways for a compassion that saves not only herself and her family but also countless others along the way.
Shi has also said that Miyazaki’s desire to create a fully realized young heroine was, well, fully realized. “I identify so much with Chihiro, and her journey—starting off as this bumbling, clumsy, scared little girl, and you see her go through a gauntlet, a magical gauntlet, and just end up wiser, stronger, more confident, more kind,” she explained. “To have this character be this average Japanese girl, who isn’t beautiful, who isn’t perfect, who’s making mistakes, and who feels lost and helpless and alone, but she perseveres—that’s just amazing. That’s such a baller move to make a movie starring this kind of character at the time.”
Similarly, on , Tito enthuses, “Chihiro doesn’t save the world; she finds a job, learns to fend for herself, and ultimately saves her parents through sheer willpower. Miyazaki doesn’t give her anything. And in this impossible world where everything is alive and nothing makes sense, it’s the most realistic thing ever filmed.” Miyazaki’s ability to identify that lack of representation and longing for realistic characters is of note amongst fans of the film, especially today, where there is a noticeable lack of “tween-focused” media compared to the options that defined the watch habits of millennials and zillennials.
