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Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hey, welcome to Weird House Cinema. This is Rob.

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Speaker 3: Lamb and I am Joe McCormick. And today on Weird

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Speaker 3: House we're going to be talking about the two thousand

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Speaker 3: and one Japanese animated fantasy film Spirited Away, directed by

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Speaker 3: Hayao Miyazaki. This week, I really wanted to talk about

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Speaker 3: a weird movie with a good soul, and I can

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Speaker 3: hardly think of a better example. This is not only

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Speaker 3: one of my favorite films we've covered on Weird House Cinema,

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Speaker 3: this has got to be one of my favorite films

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Speaker 3: of all time. I just came back to it for

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Speaker 3: the first time in many years this week, and I

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Speaker 3: knew I was going to love it on rewatch, but

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Speaker 3: I think I was not prepared still for just how

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Speaker 3: lovely and exciting and wonderful this movie is and basically every.

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Speaker 2: Way absolutely I mean this is this is one of

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Speaker 2: the all time greats. This is a film I've seen

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Speaker 2: multiple times over the years, and yesterday, late in the afternoon,

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Speaker 2: I asked my family's like, Hey, I've got to watch

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Speaker 2: spirit It Away again for work. Who wants to watch

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Speaker 2: it with me, and they were both on board, my

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Speaker 2: wife and my son, so we all just sat in

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Speaker 2: and sat in the living room and watched the film

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Speaker 2: all the way through again. And it's one of those

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Speaker 2: films where every time you watch it, yeah, you make

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Speaker 2: new discoveries. You find yourself re examining the things you

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Speaker 2: love about it and discovering new things to love about

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Speaker 2: it as well. And for a weird House Cinema purposes here,

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Speaker 2: this film is also notable for in a couple of ways.

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Speaker 2: It's our second Miyazaki film, following NAUSICAA, and it's only

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Speaker 2: the fourth film out of Let's see what have we done?

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Speaker 2: We've done I believe one hundred and eighty one pictures

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Speaker 2: on Weird House Cinema, And this is the only fourth

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Speaker 2: time we've looked at a film from the two thousands,

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Speaker 2: the early two thousands, the decade, the others being the

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Speaker 2: year two thousand Psycho Beach part that was one that

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Speaker 2: had Seth as a co host, and then we did

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Speaker 2: two thousand and one's Jason X in two thousand and fours,

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Speaker 2: the Chronicles of Riddick. What a selection, you know, It

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Speaker 2: is interesting how those other films I just mentioned. Those

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Speaker 2: are all very much in each film's own way, an

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Speaker 2: artifact of the time. Spirited Away is a film that

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Speaker 2: stands outside of time, though it does not feel like

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Speaker 2: something that exists just within the year two thousand and one.

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Speaker 2: It exists in all years, you know. It just takes

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Speaker 2: one of those films.

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Speaker 3: Yes, apart from the implied technology that we see on

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Speaker 3: display in some of the animation shots, this could have

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Speaker 3: been made any time in the history of color animated cinema.

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Speaker 3: It could have been from the seventies, it could have

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Speaker 3: been from this year. It really is out of time

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Speaker 3: in that way. Well, I don't know if it could

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Speaker 3: be from the seventies. We see some cars and technology

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Speaker 3: and stuff at the very beginning that, or maybe a

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Speaker 3: little beyond that. But really it is an out of

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Speaker 3: time kind of film. So sometimes on weird house Cinema

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Speaker 3: we like to pull out obscure gems from a dusty,

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Speaker 3: forgotten shelf on the video store. That obviously is not

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Speaker 3: the case here. Many of you probably know of this

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Speaker 3: movie already. Spirited Away was a big hit both in

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Speaker 3: Japan and internationally. You know, it was a box office success.

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Speaker 3: It won an Oscar for Best Animated feature at the

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Speaker 3: seventy fifth Academy Awards. Usually I don't pay a huge

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Speaker 3: amount of attention to award ceremonies, but in this case,

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Speaker 3: I'm glad to see the accolades going to something. I

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Speaker 3: think it is absolutely deserved, both as a story and

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Speaker 3: as an achievement in technical filmmaking. Spirited Away is just perfect.

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Speaker 3: It's the kind of object you just want to take

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Speaker 3: with you everywhere. It feels so weird and so wise

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Speaker 3: and so interesting and has such a good heart.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely yeah, I don't think it's very controversial to say

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Speaker 2: it absolutely deserved. That Oscar over the movie Ice Age.

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Speaker 3: And that's never seen that so I can't compare.

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Speaker 2: But not even any shame, you know, directed at the

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Speaker 2: makers of Ice Age. I'm sure the people who made

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Speaker 2: Ice Age are probably like, yeah, I mean yeah, Spirited

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Speaker 2: Away is a better film. Most most films are not

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Speaker 2: as good as Spirited Away. It's just on its own level.

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Speaker 2: So yeah, this is easily one of my favorite Miyazaki

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Speaker 2: films as well. It really has no faults in my opinion,

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Speaker 2: and to your point, has just such a pure heart.

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Speaker 2: I love all of Miyazaki's films and a number of

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Speaker 2: the films that I've seen in the studio Ghibli family

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Speaker 2: as well that he did not actually helm as a director.

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Speaker 2: But this one's a real gem. I hadn't watched it

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Speaker 2: in a few years. It's been very much on my mind, though,

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Speaker 2: since my family and I visited Ghibli Park in Japan

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Speaker 2: earlier this year, which is a location loaded with recreations

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Speaker 2: and exhibits related to this and other films from the

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Speaker 2: Ghibli canon. I highly recommend that experience for Ghibli fans.

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Speaker 2: If you happen to find yourself in Japan and can

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Speaker 2: set aside a day in Nagoya which will get you

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Speaker 2: close enough to take the train to the park, just

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Speaker 2: give those tickets in advance.

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Speaker 3: Now, there are so many fascinating ways that Spirited Away

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Speaker 3: stands out. I think maybe we'll save a lot of

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Speaker 3: those observations for the later part of the episode, where

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Speaker 3: we're just talking through the plot and we can bring

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Speaker 3: things up as they come up in the story. I

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Speaker 3: will say upfront that, of course, in this episode we

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Speaker 3: are going to talk about the plot from the beginning

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Speaker 3: to the end. And you know, we often give spoiler warnings,

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Speaker 3: especially for films where it feels like the surprises are

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Speaker 3: very exciting to experience firsthand. This case, I would really

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Speaker 3: emphasize if you've never seen Spirited Away and you want to,

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Speaker 3: this is one where I would say, please please watch

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Speaker 3: the movie before you listen to this and hear us

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Speaker 3: explain the whole plot. It is worth it, definitely to

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Speaker 3: just go in knowing nothing and experience it for yourself.

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Speaker 2: And if you have no experience with Miyazaki films, if

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Speaker 2: you have little or no experience with the Japanese animated

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Speaker 2: pictures or TV in general, I still think that Spirited

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Speaker 2: Away is a wonderful starting place for you. You know,

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Speaker 2: you don't You don't need to know anything else before

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Speaker 2: you go into this picture other than you just need

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Speaker 2: to be on board for the journey. All right, Let's

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Speaker 2: go ahead and throw in just a little bit of

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Speaker 2: trailer audio, probably not the whole trailer here, but maybe

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Speaker 2: just a taste so you can get some idea of

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Speaker 2: the audio involved here.

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Speaker 3: Honey, don't take a short cut, you always get us

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Speaker 3: lost from master filmmaker Hyao Miyazaki.

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Speaker 4: What is it?

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Speaker 3: Come on, let's go in. I want to see what's

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Speaker 3: on the other side.

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Speaker 1: Will hey, you.

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Speaker 2: Shouldn't be here, Get out.

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Speaker 3: Of here. Now leave before it gets dark. You've got

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Speaker 3: to get across the river.

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Speaker 1: Go.

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Speaker 3: I'll distract him.

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Speaker 2: Don't be afraid.

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Speaker 3: I'm master Haku.

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Speaker 2: I just want to help you, all right. Well, if

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Speaker 2: you want to go watch Spirited Away again or for

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Speaker 2: the first time before you proceed with this episode, we

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Speaker 2: encourage you to do so. It is available wherever you

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Speaker 2: get your studio Ghibli Films. I own this one on

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Speaker 2: DVD from back in the day, but we ended up

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Speaker 2: watching it on Max Streaming, which as of this recording anyway,

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Speaker 2: streams a number of Ghibli films in the States, maybe

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Speaker 2: all the major ones, but like you know, certainly all

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Speaker 2: the major Minyazaki films are on there. But if you

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Speaker 2: reside or are traveling internationally, you might find them streaming

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Speaker 2: elsewhere like Netflix, you know, crossover international boundary, and then

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Speaker 2: suddenly Netflix may have your studio Ghibli films. Just see

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Speaker 2: what's up when you're there.

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Speaker 3: I guess Google Results falsely told me I could stream

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Speaker 3: them on Netflix. Oh it's not the case.

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Speaker 2: Nope, not unless you I think maybe if you go

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Speaker 2: to Mexico you can, but or at least at one

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Speaker 2: point that was the case. Anyway, the shop Factory, DVD

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Speaker 2: and Blu Ray releases for this film are all pretty excellent,

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Speaker 2: So if you want to go physical media, definitely go

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Speaker 2: that direction. But also Miyazaki films are periodically re released

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Speaker 2: on the big screen pretty much every summer. I see

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Speaker 2: some opportunities to see a Miyazaki film on the big screen,

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Speaker 2: and I haven't done it for one of any of

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Speaker 2: the classic films yet, but I have gotten to see

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Speaker 2: at least two or three of his films when they

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Speaker 2: were initially released in theaters, and it's always a grand time.

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Speaker 2: All right, Let's talk about at least some of the

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Speaker 2: people involved here, As is always the case with any film,

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Speaker 2: but especially the big animated picture like this, So many

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Speaker 2: people's work went into making it. We cannot list everybody.

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Speaker 2: We're gonna list, you know, we're going to talk briefly

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Speaker 2: about the director. You know, we'll hit the music, and

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Speaker 2: we'll hit some of the vocal talent involved here. But yeah,

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Speaker 2: at the top, we have Io Miyazaki, director, writer, story

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Speaker 2: and storyboard artist, born nineteen forty one, the legendary Japanese

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Speaker 2: animator and filmmaker. We previously went into a lot of

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Speaker 2: detail on him in our Nasca episode, and we'll talk

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Speaker 2: a good bit more about him as we proceed here,

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Speaker 2: but I'd largely say, well, you know, for our purposes here,

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Speaker 2: refer back to that previous episode. But suffice to say,

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Speaker 2: towering figure not only in the realm of Japanese animation,

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Speaker 2: but global animation filmmaking. He's one of the great living storytellers,

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Speaker 2: and every single one of his films deserves a look

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Speaker 2: and speaks to a universal audience on themes of childhood, environmentalism,

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Speaker 2: the anti war movement, cross generational conflict, and so many

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Speaker 2: other themes that should resonate with all of us today

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Speaker 2: as much as any other day throughout his decades of filmmaking. Plus,

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Speaker 2: if you like Miyazaki, love fantastic creatures, feelings of wonder

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Speaker 2: and discovery, and of course action packed flight sequences, then

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Speaker 2: his work is absolutely for you.

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Speaker 3: He did love flying. All of his movies I can

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Speaker 3: think of. Is there a single one I've seen that

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Speaker 3: doesn't have a major flight element. I think they all do.

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Speaker 2: If there's not a direct flight element, there is a

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Speaker 2: scene that, like, like, I think captures a feeling of flight.

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Speaker 2: You know, in fact, at Ghiblie Park there, you know,

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Speaker 2: it's a full blown sort of theme park, and it

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Speaker 2: is a theme park. It's not as ride centric as

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Speaker 2: you know, something like six Flags. There's not six Flags

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Speaker 2: over Miyazaki or anything. But it has a number of

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Speaker 2: attractions and there's one little corner that has a scale

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Speaker 2: model shop because Miyazaki, of course famously a fan of

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Speaker 2: scale model building, especially when it comes to airplanes and

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Speaker 2: tanks of the World War II era. And so you

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Speaker 2: go into this little store as tiny and I'm like,

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Speaker 2: one wall it's you know, you know, Japanese made classic,

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Speaker 2: you know, World War two model kits, and then on

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Speaker 2: the other wall it's model kits of various robots, planes

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Speaker 2: and vehicles from Miyazaki movies, and it's it's really really nice.

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Speaker 2: It made me feel really good to go in there.

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Speaker 2: I bought something and then really cracked my head hard

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Speaker 2: as I was coming back out. I like having to

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Speaker 2: stoop through the doorframe because it and and I thought

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Speaker 2: of that as we watched this film, because there are

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Speaker 2: several scenes where our main character cracks her head on

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Speaker 2: something or she's going through a little doorway, and I

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Speaker 2: was like, yep, that's that was for me. The the

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Speaker 2: Ghibli park experience as.

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Speaker 3: Well, correct me if I'm wrong. But you're you're a

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Speaker 3: bit of a model airplane enthusiast yourself, aren't you? Or

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Speaker 3: are you not?

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Speaker 2: My dad was, I'm I've always been. That was his

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Speaker 2: level of scale modeling. He did a lot of planes

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Speaker 2: and tanks of the World War Two era. I'm more

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Speaker 2: of a like maybe a fantasy tank, Like I'll do

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Speaker 2: some Star Wars tanks here and there, or maybe I'll

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Speaker 2: be tempted to pick up a Warhammer tank or something,

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Speaker 2: But mostly it's like fantasy figures, dungeons and dragons and

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Speaker 2: so forth. But yeah, I like painting little dudes.

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Speaker 3: So I was looking a bit into the production process

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Speaker 3: behind Spirited Away, and one thing that really surprised me is,

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Speaker 3: I don't know, the final product of this movie feels

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Speaker 3: incredibly tight and polished and perfected. It is like it's

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Speaker 3: just it feels like somebody's life's work. You know that

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Speaker 3: they thought about this immensely, and immense consideration went into

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Speaker 3: making it a perfect project. But I was reading a

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Speaker 3: bit in a book by a scholar named Susan Napier

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Speaker 3: called Miyazaki World, a Life in Art from Yale University

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Speaker 3: Press twenty eighteen and that actually, behind the scenes there

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Speaker 3: was a good bit of chaos that led to this movie.

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Speaker 3: So before this movie came out, Miyazaki had released the

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Speaker 3: very successful film called Princess Mononoke, which maybe one day

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Speaker 3: we'll talk about on the podcast in its own episode.

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Speaker 3: But after this, Miyazaki apparently quit the studio, quit Studio

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Speaker 3: Ghibli in January of nineteen ninety eight. But then he

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Speaker 3: had a successor, somebody who, in Napier's words, was deemed

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Speaker 3: Miyazaki's heir apparent, named Yoshifumi Kondo, who died suddenly less

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Speaker 3: than a week after Miyazaki left the studio, And so

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Speaker 3: Miyazaki was then brought back in. And so Napier writes,

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Speaker 3: quote Spirited Away was thus born out of some turmoil

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Speaker 3: in the studio, which the movie sometimes chaotic structure seems

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Speaker 3: to reflect. And there are other parts in this book

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Speaker 3: that mention many people involved, saying that the chaotic, kind

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Speaker 3: of frantic running about atmosphere of the Bathhouse is in

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Speaker 3: many ways supposed to reflect the studio in which the

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Speaker 3: movie itself was made.

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Speaker 2: Oh wow, okay, I can imagine that, you know, because

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Speaker 2: the bath house, the onsen here is it is home

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Speaker 2: to a lot of chaos, but there's a lot of

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Speaker 2: very strategically minded management of that chaos. You know, we see,

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Speaker 2: we see a lot of effort going in to figure

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Speaker 2: out what what are we going to do about this

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Speaker 2: sudden change in our circumstances. Yeah, so I can see that.

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Speaker 3: There's another thing that comes up on that same frequency,

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Speaker 3: which is that Miyazaki had some tendency to uh to

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Speaker 3: sort of insert an avatar of himself or some kind

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Speaker 3: of self parody into his films, And so there's question

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Speaker 3: over who he was really thinking of or who should

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Speaker 3: be thought of as the Miyazaki parallel within the Bathhouse

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Speaker 3: of the movie. Is he the witch Hubaba running everything

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Speaker 3: with you know, with the kind of iron fist and

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Speaker 3: with these these chaotic enchantments, or is he Kamaji the

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Speaker 3: boiler man? Or is he you know, is he the

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Speaker 3: stink spirit?

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Speaker 4: You know?

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Speaker 3: Who knows, but they're there. I don't know. I thought

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Speaker 3: this was funny, the question of like, who is Miyazaki

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Speaker 3: in this movie?

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Speaker 2: I feel like he's Kamaji. I've also seen I've seen

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Speaker 2: in reference to interviews where people have asked him, Hey,

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Speaker 2: are you no face in this? And I think when

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Speaker 2: he's been asked about like what no face is or

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Speaker 2: what no face represents, He's always like, no faces.

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Speaker 3: No face.

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Speaker 2: Yes, some people are like no face, but I wasn't

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Speaker 2: thinking of anyone in particular. You mentioned Condo, by the way,

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Speaker 2: he had directed the highly successful nineteen ninety five film

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Speaker 2: Whisper of the Heart that was his first and sadly

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Speaker 2: only feature film as a director. That one is also

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Speaker 2: readily available wherever you get your ghibli films. It's a

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Speaker 2: sweet film with some fantastic elements to it, but it

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Speaker 2: is not in its entirety like an escape into a

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Speaker 2: fantasy realm. It has a great sort of fantasy sequence

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Speaker 2: in it, but it's a sweet film. I recommend it now.

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Speaker 2: When we talked about Nausica previously, that was the case

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Speaker 2: where we had the Japanese vocal talent and then two

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Speaker 2: different waves of English language vocal talent coming along and

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Speaker 2: doing the dub. In this case, we really only have,

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Speaker 2: for you know, the consideration of of English speaking audiences,

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Speaker 2: we really only have the two. We have the original

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Speaker 2: Japanese cast and then we have the Disney produced English

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Speaker 2: language cast. And not going to go through all of

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Speaker 2: these here, but I wanted to touch on some of them.

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Speaker 2: I have never watched a Miyazaki film with its original

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Speaker 2: Japanese language track. I was tempted to do it on

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Speaker 2: this one, and I might have done it if the

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Speaker 2: whole family wasn't coming on the journey with me. And

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Speaker 2: then I was like, well, like, we should just do

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Speaker 2: the dub. We all love the dub, and it's it's

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Speaker 2: it's a really well done English I can't speak to

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Speaker 2: the translation specifically, but it's a really there's some really

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Speaker 2: great vocal performances in it. And for my taste, if

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Speaker 2: I'm watching a Miyazaki film, I want to be able

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Speaker 2: to take in all of the sites and and that

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Speaker 2: works a little better for me. If I'm not reading, you.

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Speaker 3: Don't want your visual attention to vice I did reading

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Speaker 3: the subtitles.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, But I do want to acknowledge that this

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Speaker 2: is an area where Miyazaki fans definitely all have their

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Speaker 2: own preferences, just talking about like English only fans here.

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Speaker 2: I know some prefer the subtitles, some prefer a dub.

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Speaker 2: It's just going to vary depending on what your tastes are.

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Speaker 2: So at some point I really need to dig in,

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Speaker 2: probably with something like Naska and do subtitles, so I

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Speaker 2: can absorb.

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Speaker 3: It that way as well. I also watched this movie

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Speaker 3: with the dub, and I don't know. I see the

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Speaker 3: appeal in general. I see the appeal of both approaches,

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Speaker 3: but in this case, like the experience of watching it

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Speaker 3: with the dub is so nice, I can't really imagine

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Speaker 3: it being improved. But who knows.

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Speaker 2: All right, so we're just going to take it through

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Speaker 2: a few of the main characters here to discuss the

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Speaker 2: vocal talent. First of all, we have our ten year

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Speaker 2: old protagonist. This is Shahiro, who also ends up going

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Speaker 2: by the name of Sin later on in the picture.

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Speaker 2: Voiced in the original Japanese version by Rumihiaji borneteen twenty seven,

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Speaker 2: who also voiced the mom in two thousand and Eight'sponio.

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Speaker 2: In the original Japanese language version. Now in the English

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Speaker 2: dub of Spirited Away, Chihiro is voiced by Devey Chase

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Speaker 2: born nineteen ninety. I don't believe Chase is currently active

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Speaker 2: in show business, but she has some pretty cool credits,

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Speaker 2: both in animation and live action. In addition to voicing Chehiro,

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Speaker 2: she also voiced Lelo in the two thousand and two

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Speaker 2: Disney film Lelo and Stitch. In live action, she played

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Speaker 2: Samantha Darko in both of the Donnie Darko films that's

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Speaker 2: two thousand and one and two thousand and nine, and

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Speaker 2: she played Samara in two thousand and two's The Ring,

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Speaker 2: in addition to being a cast member on HBO's Big Love.

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Speaker 3: That's the American remake of The Ring where.

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Speaker 2: Yes, yes, wow, she's definitely creepy in that quite yes,

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Speaker 2: she actually she does have some lines and they're like

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Speaker 2: watching these.

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Speaker 3: Old videotapes of her where she's like she's like, I

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Speaker 3: won't stop hurting people or something.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, kind of in some ways. Yeah, a very

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Speaker 2: dark reflection of the character we have here, all right.

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Speaker 2: We also have the character Haku. Haku was voiced by me,

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Speaker 2: you know, in the original This actor was born nineteen

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Speaker 2: eighty eight, voiced here by Jason Marsden born nineteen seventy five,

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Speaker 2: who has done a fair amount of live action in

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Speaker 2: vocal performing over the years and produced and directed as well.

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Speaker 2: His TV credits include the likes of Boy Meets World,

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Speaker 2: Tales from the Crypt, and Star Trek The Next Generation.

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Speaker 2: But I also have to mention that he played Tommy

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Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty nine's Robot Jocks hold the first feature

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Speaker 2: film role. Wow, do you remember Tommy? I did not

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Speaker 2: remember Tommy. No idea, no idea who Tommy was. Was

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Speaker 2: there a child in Robot Jocks at all? I guess

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Speaker 2: there apparently was. Apparently was that there was a twelve

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Speaker 2: year old boy in it, and that's Tommy played by

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Speaker 2: Jason Marsden. Here, I'd have to go back and watch

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Speaker 2: it too. No exactly which role this was or Hallie

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Speaker 2: factored into the plot.

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Speaker 3: That is a heck of a one degree connection spirited

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Speaker 3: away to robot Jocks.

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Speaker 2: By the way, speaking of Robot Jocks, I want to

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Speaker 2: take you just a second to include a call out

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Speaker 2: to longtime listener Matt, who designed a mech based combat

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Speaker 2: card game called Iron Future. He sent me a copy

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00:20:20,840 --> 00:20:22,760
Speaker 2: to try out with my son a couple of months back,

377
00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:24,720
Speaker 2: and to be clear, did not ask me to mention

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00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,440
Speaker 2: it on the podcast or anything. But it is a

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Speaker 2: really fun casual combat card game for two players, and

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Speaker 2: I'm happy to mention it here. So if that sounds

381
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Speaker 2: like fun to you as well, go check it out

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00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:40,280
Speaker 2: at ironfuturegame dot com. All right, up next, we have

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Speaker 2: the character Ubaba, voiced in the original by Mari Natsuki

384
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Speaker 2: born nineteen fifty two, a singer, dancer, and actress. In

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Speaker 2: the English dub, she is voiced by Susan Plachett, who

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Speaker 2: lived nineteen thirty seven through two thousand and eight, best

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Speaker 2: known for her role as Emily Hartley on the original

388
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Speaker 2: The Bob Newhart Show. Her other credits include nineteen sixty three,

389
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Speaker 2: He's the Birds in nineteen sixty eight's The Power.

390
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Speaker 3: Plachette is very good. In the English dub.

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Speaker 2: Now we mentioned Kamaji earlier, we'll get into him. He's

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Speaker 2: the boiler Master. That's kind of this. Oh, He's a

393
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Speaker 2: wonderfully strange being in his own right, voiced in the

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Speaker 2: original by Bunta Sugawara, who lived nineteen thirty three through

395
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Speaker 2: twenty fourteen. This actor also appeared in the Battles Without

396
00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:30,960
Speaker 2: Honor and Humanity film series and two thousand and five

397
00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,800
Speaker 2: is the Great Yukai War. I've seen that one, and

398
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:38,200
Speaker 2: in the English dub, David Ogden Stiers does the voice.

399
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Speaker 2: He lived nineteen forty two through twenty eighteen, an actor

400
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Speaker 2: best known for his role as Charles Winchester. I think

401
00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:48,760
Speaker 2: it's major Charles Winchester on TV's Mash, and he also

402
00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:52,400
Speaker 2: did some vocal work on Lelo and Stitch. We also

403
00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:55,240
Speaker 2: have the character Lynn that is pivotal to the plot,

404
00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:59,200
Speaker 2: voiced by Yum Tamai in the original. She was born

405
00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:04,240
Speaker 2: nineteen seventy and then in the English dub, voice by

406
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Speaker 2: Broadway TV and film actress Susan Egan. Her credits include

407
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Speaker 2: Disney's Hercules. I believe she sings one of the key

408
00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:14,440
Speaker 2: songs in that one. She was on Steven Universe. Oh,

409
00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:17,200
Speaker 2: and she also provided some vocal talents for the English

410
00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:18,560
Speaker 2: dub of Porco Roso.

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Speaker 3: Oh nice, that's the one with the pig fighter pilot. Yeah.

412
00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:25,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, lots of flying action in that one. So that's

413
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Speaker 2: essentially it for the actors. But I will note that

414
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Speaker 2: the English dub also features the voices of Paul Iding.

415
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Speaker 2: This is a guy who you may not recognize the name,

416
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Speaker 2: but if you ever played any of those Metal Gear

417
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Speaker 2: Solid games like I did, he was the colonel that

418
00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:42,520
Speaker 2: was talking in your headphone the whole time and sometimes

419
00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:44,840
Speaker 2: saying I don't know, Snake, I think you've been playing

420
00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:46,960
Speaker 2: video games a little too long and you should maybe

421
00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:49,520
Speaker 2: go outside. And run around a bit. I forget which

422
00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:52,520
Speaker 2: one that was. If you played long enough, he would

423
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Speaker 2: give you that life advice, so.

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Speaker 3: You'd be like crawling around at the feet of an

425
00:22:56,440 --> 00:23:02,679
Speaker 3: enemy soldier and he'd suddenly like snake, watch out for yeah.

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Speaker 2: Or indeed he would be like snake, go touch some grass,

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00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:06,960
Speaker 2: which was probably some good advice.

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Speaker 3: I've never finished a Metal Gear Solid game, but I

429
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:14,680
Speaker 3: started playing Metal Gear Solid two years ago, and I

430
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Speaker 3: remember thinking, like, I am getting so many calls on

431
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Speaker 3: this radio. I cannot believe the volume of calls. It

432
00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,119
Speaker 3: was almost like spam at this point.

433
00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:26,800
Speaker 2: It really was. I also don't think I ever finished

434
00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:29,840
Speaker 2: one of them, but I always really enjoyed them before

435
00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:34,080
Speaker 2: it got too hard. Let's see, Oh yeah, Roger Bumpus

436
00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:37,520
Speaker 2: is in this. If you don't recognize his name, he's

437
00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:43,360
Speaker 2: the voice of Squidward SpongeBob SquarePants. Lauren Hawley does one

438
00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:46,760
Speaker 2: of the voices, and Michael Chicklis provides the voice of

439
00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:52,320
Speaker 2: Tahiro's father. So really, performance wise, a great overall English

440
00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:54,879
Speaker 2: language cast here. And of course, once more, we have

441
00:23:54,960 --> 00:24:00,000
Speaker 2: Joe Hasashi providing the music. Born nineteen fifty Japanese composer, musician,

442
00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:03,800
Speaker 2: noted for his work with Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki in particular.

443
00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:06,959
Speaker 2: He has scored I believe, all but one of Miyazaki's films,

444
00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,800
Speaker 2: and that one was nineteen seventy nine's Loop in the Third.

445
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:15,240
Speaker 2: So to just go, he just goes with Miyazaki pictures.

446
00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:17,040
Speaker 2: I mean, it can find no fault there.

447
00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:22,879
Speaker 3: Miyazaki loves themes of wind, not just flying, but of

448
00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:27,800
Speaker 3: like breezes, blowing and wind lifting and moving objects. And

449
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:32,320
Speaker 3: this score sounds like a wind. It's like the exciting parts,

450
00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:35,639
Speaker 3: it sounds like a rushing wind. In the contemplative parts,

451
00:24:35,640 --> 00:24:37,600
Speaker 3: it sounds like a gentle breeze. I don't know how

452
00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,080
Speaker 3: to explain that in sonic terms, but that is what

453
00:24:40,119 --> 00:24:40,960
Speaker 3: it makes me feel.

454
00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:43,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is a film where we definitely have

455
00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,000
Speaker 2: some flying sequences, but we also have some scenes that

456
00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:49,159
Speaker 2: are not quite flying sequences that have the feel of flight,

457
00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:53,600
Speaker 2: the feel of surging through the air or being pulled

458
00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:57,920
Speaker 2: towards the object of your trajectory.

459
00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:00,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's some high speed, lowel to flight.

460
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:08,600
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I'm off and inside.

461
00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:14,679
Speaker 3: All right, are we ready to talk about the plot.

462
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:18,960
Speaker 3: Let's do it. Okay, last warning, once again, this is

463
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:21,520
Speaker 3: one where I really really strongly recommend if you've never

464
00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:24,159
Speaker 3: seen it before, and you do plan on seeing it

465
00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:25,840
Speaker 3: at some point in your life, go ahead and watch

466
00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:28,439
Speaker 3: it before we talk about it. Please. So the story

467
00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:33,120
Speaker 3: begins with a road trip. Our protagonist is the ten

468
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,280
Speaker 3: year old chi Hero, and she and her parents are

469
00:25:36,400 --> 00:25:39,000
Speaker 3: moving to a new house in a town out in

470
00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:43,040
Speaker 3: the country, far away from their old life. And chi

471
00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:46,919
Speaker 3: Hero is sulking because she has had to leave behind

472
00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:49,920
Speaker 3: her school and her friends, but her parents are trying

473
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:52,280
Speaker 3: to They're trying to put on a happy face about it.

474
00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:54,840
Speaker 3: You get the sense that maybe her mother is not

475
00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:58,280
Speaker 3: one hundred percent thrilled about the move, but she's telling her,

476
00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:00,199
Speaker 3: you know, moving somewhere new can be fun and it's

477
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:03,240
Speaker 3: an adventure. So they're trying to help her along with

478
00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:07,240
Speaker 3: her attitude. But che Hero does not believe this. She

479
00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 3: spends her time in the car focused largely on a

480
00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:13,520
Speaker 3: goodbye letter from her best friend at school. So they're

481
00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:16,480
Speaker 3: driving through the country, they're passing by things. That they

482
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:18,480
Speaker 3: pass by a building, they're like, oh, look, that's your

483
00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:23,000
Speaker 3: new school, and she's just like, yak, don't. And so

484
00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:25,440
Speaker 3: they're on their way to the new house to meet

485
00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:27,880
Speaker 3: the movers and get settled in. But on the way,

486
00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:31,160
Speaker 3: che Hero's father takes a wrong turn somewhere and they're

487
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:35,160
Speaker 3: going up these winding mountain roads, and at some point

488
00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:39,200
Speaker 3: they find themselves driving down an unpaved road through a deep,

489
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:43,680
Speaker 3: dark forest, and along the way they see shrines, these

490
00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:47,480
Speaker 3: little tiny box like houses in a sort of piled

491
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,359
Speaker 3: in a jumble, and she heroes like, what are those?

492
00:26:50,480 --> 00:26:53,280
Speaker 3: And her mother tells her some people believe that spirits

493
00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:57,399
Speaker 3: live there, and they also while they're driving through the forest,

494
00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:01,280
Speaker 3: they see these round stone statues of these spirit beings

495
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:03,480
Speaker 3: or comi that seem to be living in the forest.

496
00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:06,400
Speaker 3: She looks out and to be clear, they're not animated

497
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:08,960
Speaker 3: or anything, or they're not alive or anything. At this point,

498
00:27:09,240 --> 00:27:13,520
Speaker 3: it's a totally mundane atmosphere. But as they drive through

499
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:16,959
Speaker 3: the forest, the feeling of something kind of mysterious starts

500
00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:21,520
Speaker 3: to mount and the road ends at a tunnel, just

501
00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:25,359
Speaker 3: a wall and a tunnel, and she Hero's father parks

502
00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:28,000
Speaker 3: the car, gets out and wants to explore to see

503
00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:30,840
Speaker 3: where the tunnel leads. So I would say Chihiro at

504
00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:33,280
Speaker 3: this point is both annoyed and afraid. She doesn't want

505
00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:35,560
Speaker 3: to be here, She doesn't want to be moving. She

506
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:38,760
Speaker 3: is frightened by the idea of going into this tunnel,

507
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:42,240
Speaker 3: like just not interested at any level. But her parents

508
00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:44,439
Speaker 3: walk into the tunnel, and she's also afraid to be

509
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:47,080
Speaker 3: left behind at the car, so she runs after them.

510
00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:51,360
Speaker 2: This is kind of an interesting turnaround if you compare

511
00:27:51,359 --> 00:27:56,000
Speaker 2: it to My neighbor Totoro, in which May and SASKI

512
00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:00,119
Speaker 2: are very adventurous and really want to get in there

513
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:04,600
Speaker 2: and explore the mysteries. You know, to hero is a

514
00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:05,520
Speaker 2: lot more reserved.

515
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:09,159
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, and you know that actually brought up a

516
00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:11,879
Speaker 3: point that I wanted to talk about. In a lot

517
00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:16,959
Speaker 3: of stories, like fantasy stories with child protagonists about children

518
00:28:17,119 --> 00:28:20,680
Speaker 3: escaping to or encountering a world of spirits and the imagination,

519
00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:25,000
Speaker 3: the young protagonist is presented either as somebody with an

520
00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:29,360
Speaker 3: adventurous spirit or like a day dreamer, a creative personality

521
00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:32,399
Speaker 3: who does not fit in with their peers and wants

522
00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:35,119
Speaker 3: to wants to seek refuge in a different world of

523
00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:39,000
Speaker 3: the imagination. Think of time bandits or the never Ending Story,

524
00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:42,920
Speaker 3: et cetera, et cetera very common dynamic. I think this

525
00:28:43,000 --> 00:28:45,640
Speaker 3: seems to me to not be the case at all

526
00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:48,479
Speaker 3: with chi Hero, and I still think she's a wonderful character,

527
00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:51,800
Speaker 3: but a different kind than this other familiar type of

528
00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:56,480
Speaker 3: childhood fantasy protagonist. She is initially not presented as a

529
00:28:56,560 --> 00:28:59,520
Speaker 3: dreamer who wishes to escape from the humdrum life of

530
00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:03,760
Speaker 3: her social environment. She's shown feeling frustration with her parents,

531
00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:07,440
Speaker 3: but she explicitly misses her school and her friends, and

532
00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:10,480
Speaker 3: there's no indication that she's dissatisfied with living in the

533
00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:13,600
Speaker 3: mundane world. So it's a different kind of character and

534
00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:17,360
Speaker 3: a different kind of relationship between that character and the

535
00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:20,840
Speaker 3: fantasy that's about to unfold. Shihiro is not looking for

536
00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:25,080
Speaker 3: a magical adventure. Instead, she is forced to adapt when

537
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:27,640
Speaker 3: the adventure is unavoidable. Yeah.

538
00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:31,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's dealing with more than enough already. She doesn't

539
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:36,280
Speaker 2: really want to take a potentially scary side trip into

540
00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:36,800
Speaker 2: the other.

541
00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:41,200
Speaker 3: World anyway, So she follows her parents into the tunnel,

542
00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:44,280
Speaker 3: and they emerge in what seems like at first the

543
00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:47,560
Speaker 3: waiting area of a long abandoned train station. There are

544
00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:51,160
Speaker 3: these benches and it just seems like disused and nobody's

545
00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:53,640
Speaker 3: around and that's kind of odd, And then they come

546
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:57,680
Speaker 3: out the other side into the open again and find

547
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:02,360
Speaker 3: weird empty buildings in vendor stalls, a courtyard with a

548
00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:06,400
Speaker 3: clock tower, all nestled in a landscape of these gorgeous

549
00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:10,400
Speaker 3: green rolling hills, and the father concludes, I know what

550
00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:13,880
Speaker 3: this is. This is an abandoned amusement park. He says.

551
00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:16,080
Speaker 3: They built places like this. I think, he says, in

552
00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:19,120
Speaker 3: the early nineties, but then there was an economic recession

553
00:30:19,280 --> 00:30:21,720
Speaker 3: and they all went out of business, and they've found

554
00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:24,080
Speaker 3: one that nobody goes to anymore. It's just empty.

555
00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:27,840
Speaker 2: You know, I mentioned cross generational conflict. I think tension

556
00:30:27,880 --> 00:30:30,000
Speaker 2: would have been a better word choice for me, and

557
00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:31,760
Speaker 2: I feel like we get a reference to that here

558
00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:36,880
Speaker 2: a bit. You know, we're mentioning this big economic shift,

559
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:40,960
Speaker 2: real life economic shift in Japan, and here we do

560
00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:44,760
Speaker 2: see very different attitudes between the parents and the child,

561
00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:47,000
Speaker 2: you know, and we'll see some more of this here

562
00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:51,200
Speaker 2: as well, where her dad especially is like, hey, let's

563
00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:54,120
Speaker 2: just check it in. There's no reason not to go

564
00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:55,960
Speaker 2: in and try this out. Let's do it. And she's

565
00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:58,440
Speaker 2: a lot more reserved. She's a good kid, she's a

566
00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,440
Speaker 2: rule follower. She has different and expectations about how things

567
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:02,160
Speaker 2: might turn out.

568
00:31:02,440 --> 00:31:05,960
Speaker 3: That's right. So Chihiro's parents start exploring this other world

569
00:31:06,040 --> 00:31:08,280
Speaker 3: at the opposite end of the tunnel, and che Hero

570
00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:10,920
Speaker 3: has to follow them. And I want to say that

571
00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:17,080
Speaker 3: I think there is an absolutely enchanting feeling of gradually

572
00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:20,320
Speaker 3: moving from the mundane to the strange in the first

573
00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:24,040
Speaker 3: few minutes of the film, passing through a literal tunnel,

574
00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:28,400
Speaker 3: and yet the transition is subtle. There's nothing explicitly magical.

575
00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:32,240
Speaker 3: Yet it's just a strange environment that you wouldn't expect

576
00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:37,120
Speaker 3: to find here. What's going on and the kind of

577
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:41,520
Speaker 3: tension that it creates is so pleasing. I don't know

578
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:43,760
Speaker 3: if I even have the vocabulary for this, but you know,

579
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:47,520
Speaker 3: they're just there are different ways that a situation in

580
00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:51,560
Speaker 3: a movie or in a story generally can be unexplained

581
00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:55,320
Speaker 3: or mysterious, and for some reason, some of those mysteries

582
00:31:55,400 --> 00:31:58,320
Speaker 3: or unexplained situations are more pleasing than others. And this

583
00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:00,920
Speaker 3: is like a ten out of ten. It's just something

584
00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:02,920
Speaker 3: is unusual, I don't know what's going on, and it

585
00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:04,320
Speaker 3: feels the best it can.

586
00:32:04,760 --> 00:32:08,720
Speaker 2: The pacing is also just so terrific. Here. I've seen

587
00:32:08,760 --> 00:32:11,440
Speaker 2: and I imagine we've watched for weird how cinema films

588
00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:16,480
Speaker 2: where the initial real world portion of the film before

589
00:32:16,480 --> 00:32:20,440
Speaker 2: we descend into the other world is either too fast

590
00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:23,880
Speaker 2: or it's too slow. Either the movie just really wants

591
00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:26,520
Speaker 2: to ram you in there, or we're just waiting, We're

592
00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:28,560
Speaker 2: just begging for the movie to get to the fantasy.

593
00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:32,000
Speaker 2: And here I feel like Minazaki manages just the right

594
00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:34,720
Speaker 2: pace where we learn everything we need to know about

595
00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:39,800
Speaker 2: the real world circumstances and where the characters fit in there,

596
00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:45,200
Speaker 2: but really waste no time at all transitioning us into

597
00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:47,440
Speaker 2: that other world at just the right pace.

598
00:32:47,920 --> 00:32:51,320
Speaker 3: Yeah. So the characters are wandering around the streets of

599
00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:55,600
Speaker 3: this seemingly empty village. They're going through these vendor stalls again,

600
00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:59,880
Speaker 3: they're all empty, but Shahiro's father smells something. He smells food,

601
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:03,680
Speaker 3: and everybody's hungry, so they follow the smell and they

602
00:33:03,680 --> 00:33:07,160
Speaker 3: come across a tent full of delicious looking foods in

603
00:33:07,280 --> 00:33:11,040
Speaker 3: hot steamer baskets and serving platters lined up for the taking.

604
00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:14,120
Speaker 3: Once again, they do a great job here of making

605
00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:17,720
Speaker 3: animated food really look delicious. I was watching this and

606
00:33:17,760 --> 00:33:19,240
Speaker 3: I was like, y, give me some of that.

607
00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:23,600
Speaker 2: Yeah. When we went to Ghibli Park, they had a

608
00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:27,960
Speaker 2: whole section built out. It was just devoted to the

609
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:33,280
Speaker 2: presentation of food in Miyazaki films, with examples of just

610
00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:36,040
Speaker 2: how much attention goes into the presentation of the food,

611
00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:38,640
Speaker 2: and also some like I think they had some models

612
00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:41,000
Speaker 2: and some you know, physical representations of what the food

613
00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,120
Speaker 2: would look like in real life. And I was talking

614
00:33:44,120 --> 00:33:45,680
Speaker 2: about this with my wife and she said, oh, yeah,

615
00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:48,200
Speaker 2: there are people on Instagram whose whole thing is just

616
00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:53,120
Speaker 2: cooking up little recipes that look like food from a

617
00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:54,120
Speaker 2: Miyazaki film.

618
00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:58,200
Speaker 3: That's funny, and it's especially funny given what actually happens

619
00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:01,960
Speaker 3: when you eat his food. So Chi hero's father calls

620
00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:05,720
Speaker 3: out to the vendor, but nobody answers the food sitting there.

621
00:34:05,720 --> 00:34:08,480
Speaker 3: It's steaming hot, it looks really good, but there's nobody here.

622
00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:13,000
Speaker 3: Kitchen looks empty. So father and mother are very hungry,

623
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:15,360
Speaker 3: and they just say, you know what, we can just

624
00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:18,280
Speaker 3: dig in because we can pay the person who runs

625
00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:20,200
Speaker 3: the stall whenever they come back. Surely they'll be back

626
00:34:20,239 --> 00:34:20,800
Speaker 3: in a minute.

627
00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:22,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like, Daddy's got a credit card. Don't worry,

628
00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:24,600
Speaker 2: dig in, honey, grab some soup bunts.

629
00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:27,840
Speaker 3: Yes, And so they just start shoveling the food, but

630
00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:31,799
Speaker 3: Chihiro doesn't trust it. Mom and Dad are eating, but

631
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:34,800
Speaker 3: she something feels wrong to her. She's kind of afraid

632
00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:37,839
Speaker 3: and she thinks we're not supposed to do this, so

633
00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:40,560
Speaker 3: she doesn't eat the food and wanders off on her own.

634
00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:44,400
Speaker 3: Now she sees a number of things. She goes up

635
00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:49,399
Speaker 3: this big stone staircase and sees sees some kind of landmarks,

636
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:53,640
Speaker 3: interesting looking buildings, but eventually comes across the bathhouse, the

637
00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:58,200
Speaker 3: central location of the rest of the movie, which is

638
00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:02,360
Speaker 3: an enormous complex, almost like a castle, which will we

639
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:06,160
Speaker 3: will later learn is a hospitality service that is a

640
00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:10,319
Speaker 3: Japanese style bathhouse, but instead of serving human clients, it

641
00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:12,719
Speaker 3: is for kami. It is for the spirits.

642
00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:15,440
Speaker 2: And this is where we really begin to ramp up

643
00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:20,239
Speaker 2: the tension, and the tension does not release for I mean,

644
00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:22,000
Speaker 2: it doesn't let up for a very long.

645
00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:24,200
Speaker 3: Time, that's right. So we don't know yet that it's

646
00:35:24,239 --> 00:35:27,120
Speaker 3: a bathhouse for spirits. It's just this giant building. It's

647
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:29,680
Speaker 3: reached by crossing a bridge over a deep ravine with

648
00:35:29,719 --> 00:35:33,800
Speaker 3: a river below. I think Chihiro, I believe, just wanders

649
00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:37,240
Speaker 3: out onto the bridge, but then suddenly realizes there's somebody

650
00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:40,200
Speaker 3: standing there next to her, and she meets a boy

651
00:35:40,480 --> 00:35:46,280
Speaker 3: named Haku, who appears human, But Haku introduces sudden urgency.

652
00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:49,400
Speaker 3: He's like, che hero, you should not be here. You

653
00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:52,000
Speaker 3: need to leave immediately. The sun is about to set,

654
00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:54,040
Speaker 3: and you've got to get back where you came from

655
00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:58,520
Speaker 3: before dark. So Chihiro runs back to meet her parents

656
00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:02,520
Speaker 3: at the food vendors doll, but discovers in a horrifying

657
00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:05,960
Speaker 3: revelation that they are not her parents anymore. They have

658
00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:11,600
Speaker 3: been magically transformed into pigs, presumably by eating cursed food.

659
00:36:12,440 --> 00:36:15,200
Speaker 3: They no longer seem to recognize her or know who

660
00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:19,000
Speaker 3: they are. They're just hogs at the trough, now disgustingly

661
00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:22,320
Speaker 3: smashing through serving dishes and piles of food and rooting

662
00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:23,320
Speaker 3: around in the mess.

663
00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:25,799
Speaker 2: And then a frog starts slapping them around with a

664
00:36:25,840 --> 00:36:32,440
Speaker 2: fly swatter. Yes, it's legitimately terrifying, to the point that

665
00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:35,520
Speaker 2: we tried to show our son this movie when he

666
00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:39,000
Speaker 2: was a little too young for it. I guess we'd forgotten.

667
00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:40,759
Speaker 2: You know, we've watched it as adults, we had not

668
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:44,960
Speaker 2: really watched it as children. You know, it's in mind.

669
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:47,279
Speaker 2: So when we initially showed it to him. This was

670
00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:49,160
Speaker 2: the point where he just could not take it. He's like,

671
00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:52,080
Speaker 2: I can't watch this, you know, and got upset, and

672
00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:53,680
Speaker 2: we're like, okay, we'll have to come back to this

673
00:36:53,719 --> 00:36:57,280
Speaker 2: one later. So bear that in mind with this picture.

674
00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:01,240
Speaker 2: It's tremendous. It's definitely were kids of a certain age.

675
00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:03,759
Speaker 2: But if your if your kid's you know, super young,

676
00:37:04,000 --> 00:37:06,720
Speaker 2: then you know it's it's more time for my neighbor totoro,

677
00:37:07,000 --> 00:37:10,200
Speaker 2: which is terrific for all ages as well, but definitely

678
00:37:10,280 --> 00:37:11,720
Speaker 2: has a little kids in mind.

679
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:15,600
Speaker 3: Yeah. So Chihiro runs away in terror and tries to

680
00:37:15,719 --> 00:37:18,319
Speaker 3: escape back in the direction she she came from, but

681
00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:22,200
Speaker 3: discovers now that her way home is blocked. A field

682
00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:24,720
Speaker 3: that they had crossed in order to reach the village

683
00:37:24,760 --> 00:37:28,200
Speaker 3: is now flooded with water. It's a river now, and

684
00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:32,080
Speaker 3: she watches as a ferry crosses the water, glowing with lamplight,

685
00:37:32,760 --> 00:37:36,080
Speaker 3: and as the ferry reaches her side of the new river,

686
00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:40,520
Speaker 3: sort of the landing, the disembarking ramp comes down, and

687
00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:45,680
Speaker 3: weird spirit beings begin to unload and file into the village,

688
00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:49,920
Speaker 3: all toward the bathhouse. So we don't see all of

689
00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:52,040
Speaker 3: their forms yet, I think, uh, I think a lot

690
00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:53,880
Speaker 3: of these spirits are at this point sort of covered

691
00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:57,160
Speaker 3: in masks and cloaks, so we don't we don't see

692
00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:01,960
Speaker 3: exactly what they are. But Chihiro is frightened and despairing,

693
00:38:02,160 --> 00:38:05,040
Speaker 3: especially when she discovers that she is beginning to turn

694
00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:08,880
Speaker 3: transparent her she can look through her own hands and arms.

695
00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:14,279
Speaker 3: But she does get some help. Haku reappears and tells her, hey,

696
00:38:14,440 --> 00:38:16,520
Speaker 3: you need to eat this small piece of food. He

697
00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:19,399
Speaker 3: promises it will not turn her into a pig, and

698
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:22,080
Speaker 3: he explains that she's got to eat some food from

699
00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:25,600
Speaker 3: this world or she's going to vanish. So Haku is

700
00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:30,120
Speaker 3: not only helpful to Chehro, but he somehow seems to

701
00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:33,160
Speaker 3: know her. He knows her name without her telling him,

702
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:36,680
Speaker 3: he knows about her parents, and he explains that he

703
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:38,960
Speaker 3: has known her from a long time ago, but we

704
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:42,319
Speaker 3: don't know how, and in fact, it seems maybe he

705
00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:45,440
Speaker 3: doesn't know how he knows her. But there is also

706
00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:48,279
Speaker 3: a form of danger established here, so time is of

707
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:51,720
Speaker 3: the there's no time to really hash everything out. Haku

708
00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:56,640
Speaker 3: hides Chihiro from the gaze of a giant magical bird

709
00:38:56,760 --> 00:39:00,319
Speaker 3: with a human face, which is circling menacingly over the

710
00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:04,280
Speaker 3: head as if looking for her, and Haku tells Chehro

711
00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:07,200
Speaker 3: that she is in danger. If they find her, it's

712
00:39:07,239 --> 00:39:09,319
Speaker 3: not going to be good for her. So the only

713
00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:12,640
Speaker 3: way she can protect herself and save her parents potentially

714
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:17,319
Speaker 3: is to get a job at the bathhouse. They will,

715
00:39:17,320 --> 00:39:19,240
Speaker 3: he says, They're going to try to turn you away,

716
00:39:19,680 --> 00:39:22,239
Speaker 3: but you cannot take no for an answer. You have

717
00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:24,359
Speaker 3: to go ask for a job and don't leave until

718
00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:25,640
Speaker 3: you get one. Yeah.

719
00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:29,440
Speaker 2: Again, the tension is just is just so excellent here

720
00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:34,239
Speaker 2: and already, like the first challenge to hero is one

721
00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:37,080
Speaker 2: of inner strength, like this is. I think it's one

722
00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:38,480
Speaker 2: of the great things about this film. This is not

723
00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:42,680
Speaker 2: a film where our hero engages in physical battles with

724
00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:47,560
Speaker 2: monsters and fantasy creatures. Her challenges are largely one of

725
00:39:47,600 --> 00:39:52,800
Speaker 2: will and inner strength and challenges to her moral compass.

726
00:39:53,360 --> 00:39:55,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, and she is a rock. You know.

727
00:39:55,120 --> 00:39:56,960
Speaker 2: When we first meet her, she seems maybe, you know,

728
00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:00,360
Speaker 2: she's moody and maybe a little self obsessed, you know,

729
00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:02,560
Speaker 2: but not in ways that are inappropriate for a ten

730
00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:05,880
Speaker 2: year old child. But as the movie unrolls here we

731
00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:08,359
Speaker 2: really get to see how strong she really is.

732
00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:11,719
Speaker 3: We discover it as she discovers it about herself.

733
00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:22,320
Speaker 4: Yeah.

734
00:40:22,400 --> 00:40:26,160
Speaker 3: So the place that Haku sendsch Hero to ask for

735
00:40:26,239 --> 00:40:30,640
Speaker 3: a job is the boiler room. Which everything in this

736
00:40:30,760 --> 00:40:32,680
Speaker 3: movie is great, but this is one of my favorite

737
00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:35,680
Speaker 3: parts of the whole film. So he sends her down

738
00:40:35,719 --> 00:40:41,719
Speaker 3: this very dangerous looking staircase along the side of the bathhouse,

739
00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:46,680
Speaker 3: hanging over the ravine. There is some slapstick here as well.

740
00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:49,160
Speaker 2: And it's yeah, and it's so well executed. This is

741
00:40:49,520 --> 00:40:51,759
Speaker 2: one of the things that I really noticed on this

742
00:40:51,840 --> 00:40:55,120
Speaker 2: rewatch is that you have, you know, this great built

743
00:40:55,200 --> 00:40:59,560
Speaker 2: up tension, and that allows some excellent space for humor.

744
00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:02,319
Speaker 2: There are numerous parts in the film that are just

745
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:06,040
Speaker 2: tremendously funny, and this is one of those moments where she's,

746
00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:07,719
Speaker 2: you know, she's trying to be really careful and then

747
00:41:07,719 --> 00:41:11,360
Speaker 2: she gets scared and just runs down the side of

748
00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:14,400
Speaker 2: the building and like smacks into a wall, very slapstick style,

749
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:18,960
Speaker 2: but you know, it's all the more humorous for being

750
00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:21,479
Speaker 2: the punctuation on the end of all of this built

751
00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:22,000
Speaker 2: up tension.

752
00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:25,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. But she finally makes it down to

753
00:41:25,440 --> 00:41:28,520
Speaker 3: the boiler room. So it's a room deep underneath the

754
00:41:28,560 --> 00:41:33,320
Speaker 3: bath house. Where a multi armed monster man named Kamagi

755
00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:38,880
Speaker 3: operates a vast furnace powered by coal to heat water

756
00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:43,400
Speaker 3: for the baths and then mixes potions and herbal infusions

757
00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:47,400
Speaker 3: into the water before it is piped up into you know,

758
00:41:47,480 --> 00:41:49,800
Speaker 3: piped up through a sort of thing inside the wall

759
00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:53,880
Speaker 3: to reach the baths for the guests. Rob, do you

760
00:41:53,920 --> 00:41:57,120
Speaker 3: have any descriptive thoughts Aboutkamaji. He's a wonderful character.

761
00:41:57,239 --> 00:41:58,240
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, he's awesome.

762
00:41:58,280 --> 00:41:58,440
Speaker 4: You know.

763
00:41:58,480 --> 00:42:00,800
Speaker 2: He has this big, bushy what I would think of

764
00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:04,040
Speaker 2: is like an anime style mustache, you know, some of

765
00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:06,040
Speaker 2: this kind of facial hair that you really only see

766
00:42:06,040 --> 00:42:10,120
Speaker 2: in animation. But then you multiple limbs. What they each

767
00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:14,799
Speaker 2: have I think three fingers, you know, and he's just

768
00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:20,760
Speaker 2: constantly when he's working, he's constantly in motion, fetching little tags,

769
00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:25,560
Speaker 2: fetching ingredients for the water, occasionally reaching back and getting

770
00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:28,480
Speaker 2: what I assume is a picture of tea and drinking

771
00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:30,000
Speaker 2: directly from the spout.

772
00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:32,280
Speaker 3: It just puts the spout in his mouth.

773
00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:36,960
Speaker 2: When he has little black sunglasses over his eyes.

774
00:42:37,280 --> 00:42:40,120
Speaker 3: Yeah, he does, you know, except for the sunglasses. In

775
00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:42,520
Speaker 3: a way, he kind of reminds me of Lord Yupa

776
00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:44,480
Speaker 3: with the big bushy mustache.

777
00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:47,680
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, the facial hair for sure, and you know,

778
00:42:47,920 --> 00:42:51,160
Speaker 2: kind of the role here, like he's the you know,

779
00:42:51,239 --> 00:42:53,840
Speaker 2: rough around the edges character that it is going to

780
00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:58,080
Speaker 2: end up being, you know, very very benevolent and very

781
00:42:58,120 --> 00:42:59,400
Speaker 2: helpful to our protagonist.

782
00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:03,440
Speaker 3: But he is not working alone down here, because so

783
00:43:03,480 --> 00:43:06,840
Speaker 3: while he's cranking all the levers and operating the furnace

784
00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:10,520
Speaker 3: and then also grinding up the spices and the herbs

785
00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:15,799
Speaker 3: for the infusions of the bathwater, also down below him

786
00:43:16,320 --> 00:43:20,560
Speaker 3: there are these little black creatures, the soot sprites, that

787
00:43:20,600 --> 00:43:24,600
Speaker 3: are carrying coal and tossing it into the oven. And

788
00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:29,319
Speaker 3: these soot sprites are so cute, and I noticed from

789
00:43:29,320 --> 00:43:32,080
Speaker 3: a there's a note in the Napier book that these

790
00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:36,240
Speaker 3: are actually a recurring character type. They're a little monster

791
00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:39,479
Speaker 3: that was invented for my neighbor Todoro, and they're showing

792
00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:41,200
Speaker 3: up again here, that's right.

793
00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:44,680
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, they're in the house that the family moves

794
00:43:44,719 --> 00:43:46,800
Speaker 2: to in the country in my neighbor Toto.

795
00:43:47,520 --> 00:43:51,720
Speaker 3: But here they have a job, that's right though. It's funny.

796
00:43:52,239 --> 00:43:56,280
Speaker 3: So they're enchanted pieces of soot and it's so wonderfully

797
00:43:56,320 --> 00:44:00,239
Speaker 3: animated the way they approach the sort of the mouth

798
00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:02,480
Speaker 3: of the furnace and they throw the coal in, and

799
00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:05,120
Speaker 3: then these gusts of hot air that come out of

800
00:44:05,160 --> 00:44:07,480
Speaker 3: the mouth of the furnace whenever it opens just sort

801
00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:10,640
Speaker 3: of blow them back off of this ledge to where

802
00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:12,919
Speaker 3: they came from so that they can retrieve another piece

803
00:44:12,960 --> 00:44:16,319
Speaker 3: of coal and walk forward again. But as I said,

804
00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:18,600
Speaker 3: the scene is so cute. One of these little sprites

805
00:44:19,520 --> 00:44:21,440
Speaker 3: picks up a piece of coal that's too heavy and

806
00:44:21,560 --> 00:44:24,680
Speaker 3: drops it on itself, and she hero picks up the

807
00:44:24,719 --> 00:44:27,359
Speaker 3: piece of coal from on top of the sprite and

808
00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:31,920
Speaker 3: she struggles with it at first. It's heavy, but Kamaji

809
00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:34,239
Speaker 3: is like, well, you picked it up, so you know,

810
00:44:35,080 --> 00:44:38,480
Speaker 3: carry on with what you started. So she takes it

811
00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:40,719
Speaker 3: to the mouth of the furnace manages to throw it in,

812
00:44:41,000 --> 00:44:42,839
Speaker 3: and when the soot sprites see her do that, they

813
00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:47,719
Speaker 3: all drop their cold pieces on themselves. It's so good, yeah,

814
00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:51,120
Speaker 3: but they start gathering around her feet like they think

815
00:44:51,160 --> 00:44:54,919
Speaker 3: she's some kind of goddess, you know, they like pile

816
00:44:55,040 --> 00:44:59,960
Speaker 3: up on her shoes and it's it's adorable. But anyway,

817
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:04,040
Speaker 3: a Chehro is persistent about asking for a job, so

818
00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:08,600
Speaker 3: Kamaji is like okay, And so we meet another character

819
00:45:08,719 --> 00:45:12,759
Speaker 3: named Lynn, who is a bathhouse worker who is cynical

820
00:45:12,800 --> 00:45:16,239
Speaker 3: and brusque with Chee Hero at first, but later softens

821
00:45:16,320 --> 00:45:19,480
Speaker 3: and becomes her main mentor and helper within the bathhouse.

822
00:45:20,560 --> 00:45:23,480
Speaker 3: But when Lynn comes in to deliver some food to Kamachi,

823
00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:28,080
Speaker 3: Kamachi is like, Hey, you know this girl here is

824
00:45:28,120 --> 00:45:30,360
Speaker 3: asking for a job. You should take her up to

825
00:45:30,520 --> 00:45:34,719
Speaker 3: you Baba. Now you Baba is the big boss of

826
00:45:34,760 --> 00:45:38,160
Speaker 3: this establishment, the witch who lives at the top floor

827
00:45:38,400 --> 00:45:41,920
Speaker 3: of the bathhouse for spirits, and so Lynn is not

828
00:45:42,040 --> 00:45:44,839
Speaker 3: excited about this mission at first, but she she does

829
00:45:44,880 --> 00:45:46,840
Speaker 3: try to help is she takes che Hero up in

830
00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:51,480
Speaker 3: a series of elevator rides. One great weird encounter is

831
00:45:51,480 --> 00:45:55,279
Speaker 3: with this gigantic thing called the Radish Spirit, which gets

832
00:45:55,320 --> 00:45:57,799
Speaker 3: onto sort of like wanders around after them and gets

833
00:45:57,800 --> 00:46:01,960
Speaker 3: on an elevator with them, and as we go up

834
00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:04,239
Speaker 3: we get to see the different levels of the bathhouse

835
00:46:04,320 --> 00:46:07,640
Speaker 3: with its many strange clients, the spirits and the creatures

836
00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:09,759
Speaker 3: and so forth. But they make their way up to

837
00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:12,840
Speaker 3: the top floor before we get to you Ubaba. Anything

838
00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:14,160
Speaker 3: you want to talk about on the way.

839
00:46:14,040 --> 00:46:17,360
Speaker 2: Rob Oh, I mean the bath House or the Hansen

840
00:46:17,480 --> 00:46:20,920
Speaker 2: Here is such a fabulous world, and perhaps it reads

841
00:46:20,920 --> 00:46:23,680
Speaker 2: as slightly more fabulous if you're not familiar with like

842
00:46:23,800 --> 00:46:28,520
Speaker 2: Japanese bathhouse traditions or various other international bathhouse traditions. But

843
00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:31,520
Speaker 2: even if you are, like, it's just stuffed with such

844
00:46:31,520 --> 00:46:35,799
Speaker 2: a wild crew. I mean, it's staffed in large part

845
00:46:35,920 --> 00:46:39,359
Speaker 2: by magical beings, and then it caters to an even

846
00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:44,160
Speaker 2: wider range of creatures spirits, yo kai and deities. I

847
00:46:44,200 --> 00:46:49,000
Speaker 2: just have so many favorites that keep reappearing. They're the ducklings, spirits,

848
00:46:49,040 --> 00:46:53,040
Speaker 2: the yes Oi sama, and they make me smile every

849
00:46:53,040 --> 00:46:55,440
Speaker 2: time we even just get a quick glimpse of them

850
00:46:55,440 --> 00:46:56,200
Speaker 2: in the background.

851
00:46:56,680 --> 00:47:00,279
Speaker 3: I would almost say that the many different characters needed

852
00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:03,359
Speaker 3: the bath House are like on a sliding scale of

853
00:47:03,480 --> 00:47:07,440
Speaker 3: Uncanny Valley similarity to humans, Like Lynn just looks like

854
00:47:07,440 --> 00:47:10,879
Speaker 3: a human, right, but you have other things that look

855
00:47:11,120 --> 00:47:15,000
Speaker 3: vaguely human but their proportions are weird. And then you

856
00:47:15,080 --> 00:47:17,880
Speaker 3: have other things like the ducks that are like ducks

857
00:47:17,880 --> 00:47:20,000
Speaker 3: but with kind of human faces. And then you've got

858
00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:22,040
Speaker 3: just like you've got the no face and stuff that's

859
00:47:22,120 --> 00:47:25,440
Speaker 3: not very human at all. But I like, oh so

860
00:47:25,480 --> 00:47:28,040
Speaker 3: in the middle, You've got these frog men who are

861
00:47:28,160 --> 00:47:32,320
Speaker 3: sort of all of the administrator roles within the bath house,

862
00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:36,480
Speaker 3: and they are would you say? They are uniformly portrayed

863
00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:39,840
Speaker 3: as kind of kind of mean and greedy, but I

864
00:47:39,840 --> 00:47:41,319
Speaker 3: don't know. In the end, they kind of are won

865
00:47:41,400 --> 00:47:42,800
Speaker 3: over by Chia heroespunk.

866
00:47:43,200 --> 00:47:48,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You mentioned the Radish Spirit already or

867
00:47:48,480 --> 00:47:51,960
Speaker 2: Oshiro Sama. This one is apparently based on a folkloreic

868
00:47:52,040 --> 00:47:55,680
Speaker 2: household spirit and here in the film takes the form

869
00:47:55,719 --> 00:47:58,719
Speaker 2: of a great walrus like Radish man with I believe

870
00:47:58,719 --> 00:48:00,439
Speaker 2: it's supposed to be like a bowl on his head,

871
00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:04,439
Speaker 2: but that's the way I've always read it. But yeah,

872
00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:06,680
Speaker 2: A big fan of this guy. And when my family

873
00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:09,200
Speaker 2: and I visited Ghibli Park, I had to grab a

874
00:48:09,239 --> 00:48:13,879
Speaker 2: photo with this absolute superstar. Included a photograph here for you, Joe,

875
00:48:13,880 --> 00:48:15,400
Speaker 2: if you want to see me standing next to the

876
00:48:15,480 --> 00:48:16,120
Speaker 2: Ratish Spirit.

877
00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:19,800
Speaker 3: Wait, is that a statue or somebody in a costume? Neither?

878
00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:23,640
Speaker 2: It is the real Radish Spirit And I'll put I'll

879
00:48:23,640 --> 00:48:25,239
Speaker 2: make sure I put this one on our Instagram. If

880
00:48:25,239 --> 00:48:26,759
Speaker 2: you want to see this photo, I'll put it up

881
00:48:26,800 --> 00:48:29,759
Speaker 2: at STBYM podcast on Instagram.

882
00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:30,360
Speaker 3: Nice.

883
00:48:31,280 --> 00:48:34,759
Speaker 2: Oh, but let's see. Yeah, I just love all the

884
00:48:34,760 --> 00:48:37,759
Speaker 2: spirits that we see here, but Ratish spirit is my favorite.

885
00:48:38,200 --> 00:48:40,480
Speaker 3: So from here we go on to meet you Baba,

886
00:48:40,560 --> 00:48:45,120
Speaker 3: who is a powerful and frightening witch who runs the establishment.

887
00:48:45,640 --> 00:48:50,400
Speaker 3: She's portrayed as treacherous and envious and greedy. She collects

888
00:48:50,560 --> 00:48:54,480
Speaker 3: jewels and examines her riches with great relish, but she

889
00:48:54,520 --> 00:48:57,120
Speaker 3: also shows flashes of a softer, or at least more

890
00:48:57,160 --> 00:49:01,000
Speaker 3: comical side in the fact that she dotes upon her son,

891
00:49:01,160 --> 00:49:05,000
Speaker 3: who is a giant, destructive baby named bo Oh.

892
00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:07,080
Speaker 2: I love this baby, you know. I was just talking

893
00:49:07,120 --> 00:49:09,000
Speaker 2: to my wife about this is like this week especially,

894
00:49:09,040 --> 00:49:10,800
Speaker 2: I just want to be this character. I want to

895
00:49:10,800 --> 00:49:13,839
Speaker 2: be a giant baby that crawls under a mountain of

896
00:49:13,880 --> 00:49:19,439
Speaker 2: pillows and then you know, refuses to leave. Yeah, but yeah,

897
00:49:19,480 --> 00:49:23,040
Speaker 2: it's just such a weird cruise she's got. Because you

898
00:49:23,120 --> 00:49:26,000
Speaker 2: got the baby, You've got the three heads rolling around.

899
00:49:26,280 --> 00:49:29,680
Speaker 3: What's the deal with the heads? The bouncing green heads

900
00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:32,680
Speaker 3: that look kind of look oh, I don't know, like

901
00:49:32,760 --> 00:49:34,080
Speaker 3: any masks a little bit.

902
00:49:34,600 --> 00:49:37,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, I've digged it, dug into it a little bit,

903
00:49:37,280 --> 00:49:39,560
Speaker 2: and I could not find a clear answer on what

904
00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:42,520
Speaker 2: exactly they are. Other than because I mean, I think

905
00:49:42,560 --> 00:49:45,279
Speaker 2: in this film you do see a mix of Miyazaki

906
00:49:45,400 --> 00:49:51,160
Speaker 2: drawling on Japanese folklore and legend, drawing on international folklore

907
00:49:51,160 --> 00:49:54,200
Speaker 2: and legend, but also just coming up with wild ideas.

908
00:49:54,239 --> 00:49:58,160
Speaker 2: So I'm I'm still unclear exactly where the heads fall

909
00:49:58,280 --> 00:50:01,680
Speaker 2: in here. But then you also have her strange harpie

910
00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:04,920
Speaker 2: like familiar. Who else do we have? We have somebody

911
00:50:04,920 --> 00:50:07,239
Speaker 2: else here in the mix too, right? Oh wait, we

912
00:50:07,320 --> 00:50:08,879
Speaker 2: have another character that's coming in a bed.

913
00:50:09,080 --> 00:50:11,399
Speaker 3: Yes, we'll come back. Are you thinking of the foot lamp?

914
00:50:12,280 --> 00:50:14,320
Speaker 2: Oh, yes, there's a foot lamp too. Yes it is.

915
00:50:15,560 --> 00:50:18,080
Speaker 2: You never know what's gonna show up in this picture.

916
00:50:18,320 --> 00:50:20,440
Speaker 3: But the footlamp doesn't work for you, Baba.

917
00:50:20,719 --> 00:50:24,800
Speaker 2: They show up later independent independent contractor.

918
00:50:24,840 --> 00:50:27,520
Speaker 3: So che Hero's like, hey, I'm here for a job,

919
00:50:27,719 --> 00:50:32,080
Speaker 3: and Ubaba threatens. Chehiro tries to refuse her request, but

920
00:50:32,239 --> 00:50:35,600
Speaker 3: it turns out that this this terrifying witch actually is

921
00:50:35,640 --> 00:50:38,640
Speaker 3: bound by some rules of her own. She is bound

922
00:50:38,680 --> 00:50:41,160
Speaker 3: by a magical oath she took at some point that

923
00:50:41,239 --> 00:50:45,239
Speaker 3: she must give a job to anyone who asks. So uh,

924
00:50:45,480 --> 00:50:49,239
Speaker 3: che Hero, through her persistence, forces her to offer her

925
00:50:49,239 --> 00:50:52,799
Speaker 3: a contract, and che Hero signs the contract to work

926
00:50:52,840 --> 00:50:56,640
Speaker 3: for you Baba. So now che Hero is protected against

927
00:50:56,640 --> 00:51:00,359
Speaker 3: you Baba's whims to an extent, though Ubaba and still

928
00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:03,480
Speaker 3: be a pretty nasty boss to work for. Except it

929
00:51:03,480 --> 00:51:06,640
Speaker 3: gets even worse. Whoops. When she Hero signs her name

930
00:51:06,680 --> 00:51:10,640
Speaker 3: on the page of this magical contract, the witch lifts

931
00:51:10,680 --> 00:51:13,560
Speaker 3: away the writing for most her signatures, so like the

932
00:51:14,239 --> 00:51:18,279
Speaker 3: writing magically comes up off the page, and Ubaba is

933
00:51:18,320 --> 00:51:22,320
Speaker 3: able to steal Chi Hero's name, telling her that now

934
00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:26,200
Speaker 3: she will be known only as Sen And we will

935
00:51:26,280 --> 00:51:29,600
Speaker 3: later learn that Eubaba does this to everyone who works

936
00:51:29,600 --> 00:51:32,520
Speaker 3: for her, she steals their name. So she did the

937
00:51:32,560 --> 00:51:35,680
Speaker 3: same thing to Haku. We don't know what his original

938
00:51:35,800 --> 00:51:39,480
Speaker 3: name was, at least not until later, but now Haku

939
00:51:39,600 --> 00:51:42,560
Speaker 3: serves as Eubaba's second in command and sort of her

940
00:51:42,960 --> 00:51:48,120
Speaker 3: her commando, her like special Missions guy. Haku has forgotten

941
00:51:48,239 --> 00:51:51,600
Speaker 3: what his real name was, and it turns out if

942
00:51:51,640 --> 00:51:55,880
Speaker 3: you forget your original name, you can never escape Eubaba's spell.

943
00:51:56,520 --> 00:51:59,400
Speaker 3: And there is a day I think they're shown the

944
00:51:59,400 --> 00:52:02,960
Speaker 3: next morning going out and Sin is talking to Haku

945
00:52:03,480 --> 00:52:06,400
Speaker 3: and she's forgotten what her name was, but Haku helps

946
00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:08,560
Speaker 3: her he can remind her because he knows her name,

947
00:52:08,880 --> 00:52:11,320
Speaker 3: and also she can keep it in mind because Haku

948
00:52:11,440 --> 00:52:15,000
Speaker 3: returns her belongings to her, which includes the note from

949
00:52:15,040 --> 00:52:17,480
Speaker 3: her friend at school which she was reading in the

950
00:52:17,520 --> 00:52:20,719
Speaker 3: car earlier that says Chihiro w it. So she keeps

951
00:52:20,760 --> 00:52:23,960
Speaker 3: the notes dashed away in secret. And I like something

952
00:52:23,960 --> 00:52:28,040
Speaker 3: about this little detail that's like, you know, part she's

953
00:52:28,080 --> 00:52:31,000
Speaker 3: able to keep something of the place where she came from.

954
00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:34,480
Speaker 3: It's not one of these stories about going to another

955
00:52:34,520 --> 00:52:38,640
Speaker 3: world or a fantasy world that is a rejection of

956
00:52:38,719 --> 00:52:42,040
Speaker 3: the mundane world or the world you came from. An

957
00:52:42,080 --> 00:52:45,879
Speaker 3: important part of her surviving this whole experience is her

958
00:52:45,880 --> 00:52:48,319
Speaker 3: note from her friend that reminds her of her name.

959
00:52:48,800 --> 00:52:51,560
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it's a very sweet, sweet moment. I think

960
00:52:51,560 --> 00:52:53,600
Speaker 2: it's one of the great things about Spirited Away is

961
00:52:53,640 --> 00:52:56,080
Speaker 2: you have these big scenes that definitely stick with you,

962
00:52:56,080 --> 00:53:00,560
Speaker 2: you know, fantastic sequences, and then these very small moments

963
00:53:01,080 --> 00:53:11,200
Speaker 2: that have oversized heart to them.

964
00:53:11,640 --> 00:53:15,880
Speaker 3: So Sen understands that she must now become an ideal

965
00:53:16,080 --> 00:53:19,000
Speaker 3: worker in you Baba's bathhouse or she has no hope

966
00:53:19,000 --> 00:53:23,080
Speaker 3: of ever escaping and rescuing her parents from their magical transformation.

967
00:53:23,760 --> 00:53:26,839
Speaker 3: It's sort of not established exactly how she will save them,

968
00:53:27,200 --> 00:53:29,359
Speaker 3: but in order to have any chance of saving them,

969
00:53:29,360 --> 00:53:31,839
Speaker 3: she's got to do a good job at work. And

970
00:53:31,880 --> 00:53:34,600
Speaker 3: in the background there is this looming threat that they could,

971
00:53:34,760 --> 00:53:37,760
Speaker 3: at some point in pig form, be turned into bacon,

972
00:53:37,920 --> 00:53:42,720
Speaker 3: and eton is mentioned by the frog men sometimes. Now

973
00:53:43,160 --> 00:53:47,560
Speaker 3: Sen has help from Kamaji and especially from Lynn in

974
00:53:47,760 --> 00:53:51,400
Speaker 3: learning how to do everything at the bathhouse, but most

975
00:53:51,440 --> 00:53:54,000
Speaker 3: of the people who work there, again, this odd collection

976
00:53:54,120 --> 00:53:56,879
Speaker 3: of kind of serving ladies and frog like men, are

977
00:53:57,360 --> 00:54:00,440
Speaker 3: mean and unhelpful to her, and they mock her and

978
00:54:00,440 --> 00:54:03,319
Speaker 3: and give her difficult jobs out of spite. Now there

979
00:54:03,360 --> 00:54:05,440
Speaker 3: is a scene I wanted to talk about because it

980
00:54:05,600 --> 00:54:08,160
Speaker 3: establishes an important sort of b plot that runs for

981
00:54:08,160 --> 00:54:11,839
Speaker 3: a while and then becomes an a plot. And it's

982
00:54:11,920 --> 00:54:15,520
Speaker 3: the scene where she first meets No Face. I think

983
00:54:15,560 --> 00:54:18,720
Speaker 3: we've seen No Face already at one point where while

984
00:54:18,760 --> 00:54:22,760
Speaker 3: she was while Haku was sneaking her into the bathhouse earlier,

985
00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:24,480
Speaker 3: like the scene where she has to hold her breath

986
00:54:24,480 --> 00:54:27,279
Speaker 3: and go across the bridge, I believe No Face is

987
00:54:27,360 --> 00:54:29,799
Speaker 3: just standing there, hovering on the bridge and watching her.

988
00:54:30,239 --> 00:54:33,759
Speaker 3: But at some point we have an actual encounter. So

989
00:54:33,920 --> 00:54:37,480
Speaker 3: while Sin is working. She at one point opens a

990
00:54:37,600 --> 00:54:40,560
Speaker 3: kind of sliding door to a garden outside and she

991
00:54:40,640 --> 00:54:44,080
Speaker 3: sees this strange creature unlike any of the others really

992
00:54:44,160 --> 00:54:48,520
Speaker 3: standing outside the bathhouse in the rain. It is shadowy, dark,

993
00:54:48,840 --> 00:54:53,160
Speaker 3: it's a kind of translucent mound with a white mask

994
00:54:53,280 --> 00:54:57,160
Speaker 3: for a face, and Sen being polite, leaves the door

995
00:54:57,200 --> 00:54:59,440
Speaker 3: open and invites the creature to come in out of

996
00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:02,439
Speaker 3: the rain, and it does. More will come of this,

997
00:55:03,160 --> 00:55:05,120
Speaker 3: But then we get to one of the big turning

998
00:55:05,200 --> 00:55:07,560
Speaker 3: points in the movie, which is that Sin is working.

999
00:55:07,640 --> 00:55:10,240
Speaker 3: She's she's trying to help U with all the tasks

1000
00:55:10,280 --> 00:55:13,920
Speaker 3: at the bathhouse, and suddenly the bath house receives an

1001
00:55:13,960 --> 00:55:19,480
Speaker 3: extremely difficult client, which is the Stink Spirit. Rob How

1002
00:55:19,480 --> 00:55:22,080
Speaker 3: would you introduce the Stink Spirit scene?

1003
00:55:22,280 --> 00:55:25,800
Speaker 2: Oh, just you know, they see him and eventually smell

1004
00:55:25,880 --> 00:55:31,040
Speaker 2: him coming from a ways off. Just this this blob,

1005
00:55:31,239 --> 00:55:35,799
Speaker 2: this sludge monster that's I think has some you know,

1006
00:55:35,840 --> 00:55:38,800
Speaker 2: you can compare it to various other sort of pollution

1007
00:55:39,040 --> 00:55:46,080
Speaker 2: based blob creatures from from other cinematic visions, perhaps even

1008
00:55:46,120 --> 00:55:49,960
Speaker 2: to one of Godzilla's adversaries, who is We talked about

1009
00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:51,080
Speaker 2: this one on Weird House.

1010
00:55:51,880 --> 00:55:52,360
Speaker 4: Oh.

1011
00:55:52,400 --> 00:55:55,480
Speaker 3: Hold, on a second oh JJ, just chimed in to

1012
00:55:55,560 --> 00:55:58,000
Speaker 3: remind us that it's hetero. That's the one we watched,

1013
00:55:58,040 --> 00:55:59,680
Speaker 3: isn't it. It's the smog Monster.

1014
00:56:00,120 --> 00:56:03,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, so some hetero vibes here to this again, just

1015
00:56:03,480 --> 00:56:07,560
Speaker 2: this sludgy blob creature that is slowly making its stinky

1016
00:56:07,600 --> 00:56:11,440
Speaker 2: way to the bathhouse, and they're just all like in tear, like, oh,

1017
00:56:11,480 --> 00:56:13,480
Speaker 2: we've got to we've got to get the we've got

1018
00:56:13,520 --> 00:56:15,160
Speaker 2: to get the big tub ready for this.

1019
00:56:15,080 --> 00:56:19,120
Speaker 3: Guy, right uh. And and it's hilarious the way they're

1020
00:56:19,160 --> 00:56:21,680
Speaker 3: all like trying to turn him away as he's like

1021
00:56:21,719 --> 00:56:24,279
Speaker 3: he's coming across the bridge into the bathhouse and all

1022
00:56:24,280 --> 00:56:26,840
Speaker 3: these frogmen are in front of him being like we're closed,

1023
00:56:26,880 --> 00:56:31,600
Speaker 3: and we're closed, yeh. But he just kind of slimes

1024
00:56:31,640 --> 00:56:36,279
Speaker 3: his way in and and they, of course they're trying

1025
00:56:36,320 --> 00:56:39,239
Speaker 3: to give che Hero all of the worst jobs. So yeah,

1026
00:56:39,280 --> 00:56:43,160
Speaker 3: they're like, you've got to wash him. Fortunately, che Hero

1027
00:56:43,280 --> 00:56:46,279
Speaker 3: has a little bit of magical help. So in order

1028
00:56:46,320 --> 00:56:50,320
Speaker 3: to wash this this filthy beast, sin has to get

1029
00:56:50,560 --> 00:56:54,960
Speaker 3: special water with the use of bath tokens, which are

1030
00:56:55,000 --> 00:56:59,440
Speaker 3: normally handed out by the frogman boss of the main staff.

1031
00:56:59,800 --> 00:57:01,719
Speaker 3: And these bath tokens or I guess a kind of

1032
00:57:01,760 --> 00:57:04,359
Speaker 3: like internal currency. You've got to use them and get

1033
00:57:04,360 --> 00:57:06,560
Speaker 3: them with permission, and then use them, send them down

1034
00:57:06,600 --> 00:57:10,160
Speaker 3: to Camachi and he'll send up your powerful herbal infusions

1035
00:57:10,160 --> 00:57:14,000
Speaker 3: of hot bathwater to clean off all the filth. So

1036
00:57:14,480 --> 00:57:18,160
Speaker 3: the foreman, who is holding on to all these tries

1037
00:57:18,200 --> 00:57:20,080
Speaker 3: to refuse to help you hero. He's like, you can't

1038
00:57:20,080 --> 00:57:23,000
Speaker 3: have any bath tokens. But then the no Face creature

1039
00:57:23,240 --> 00:57:27,320
Speaker 3: whom Sin earlier invited into the building, witnesses this interaction,

1040
00:57:28,120 --> 00:57:30,520
Speaker 3: and then he steals a bath token for her, and

1041
00:57:30,560 --> 00:57:33,560
Speaker 3: then later shows up with lots of bath tokens, just

1042
00:57:33,800 --> 00:57:37,040
Speaker 3: tons of them for Sin, more than she needed. And

1043
00:57:37,080 --> 00:57:40,040
Speaker 3: so Sin is able to use these that she got

1044
00:57:40,040 --> 00:57:42,520
Speaker 3: from the no Face to clean up the stink spirit.

1045
00:57:42,560 --> 00:57:45,800
Speaker 3: And while she's cleaning it up and dousing it with

1046
00:57:45,840 --> 00:57:48,919
Speaker 3: all of this urban fuse hot water, she discovers there

1047
00:57:49,000 --> 00:57:52,840
Speaker 3: is quote a thorn in its side, which looks strangely

1048
00:57:53,120 --> 00:57:56,680
Speaker 3: like a man made object, and so she starts pulling

1049
00:57:56,720 --> 00:58:01,120
Speaker 3: on it and realizes that it is not a thorn,

1050
00:58:01,360 --> 00:58:05,560
Speaker 3: It is the handle of a bicycle, handlebar of a bicycle,

1051
00:58:06,000 --> 00:58:08,960
Speaker 3: and so they start pulling on it. Youbaba realizes what's

1052
00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:12,600
Speaker 3: going on, and she organizes all of the people in

1053
00:58:12,640 --> 00:58:16,080
Speaker 3: the bathouse together to like pull on everything together, and

1054
00:58:16,120 --> 00:58:19,120
Speaker 3: it ends up all coming out like a giant hairball

1055
00:58:19,240 --> 00:58:23,680
Speaker 3: clog out of a drain, except it's just trash, revealing

1056
00:58:23,880 --> 00:58:27,240
Speaker 3: that this was not a stink spirit after all, but

1057
00:58:27,760 --> 00:58:31,600
Speaker 3: a river spirit, the dragon shaped spirit of a river

1058
00:58:31,760 --> 00:58:35,640
Speaker 3: that had been choked with pollution and garbage. It's full

1059
00:58:35,680 --> 00:58:42,400
Speaker 3: of old bicycles, tires out takeout containers, toilets, just pieces

1060
00:58:42,400 --> 00:58:47,600
Speaker 3: of machinery, pieces of construction, you know, building stuff, and

1061
00:58:47,680 --> 00:58:51,120
Speaker 3: just household trash, forming a mountain that comes out of

1062
00:58:51,160 --> 00:58:53,840
Speaker 3: the side of it and then leaves behind the clean

1063
00:58:54,000 --> 00:58:55,400
Speaker 3: water spirit in its wake.

1064
00:58:56,040 --> 00:58:59,320
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, And I've read that Niyazaki was inspired in

1065
00:58:59,400 --> 00:59:02,000
Speaker 2: this part based on a river cleanup he was involved

1066
00:59:02,040 --> 00:59:05,120
Speaker 2: in where they found a bicycle and some stuff. But oh,

1067
00:59:05,160 --> 00:59:07,920
Speaker 2: I mean, it's everything about the sequence is tremendous, all

1068
00:59:07,920 --> 00:59:11,160
Speaker 2: of the big fantasy elements like wading through the sludge

1069
00:59:11,160 --> 00:59:13,720
Speaker 2: and all. But I have to say I was really

1070
00:59:13,760 --> 00:59:17,360
Speaker 2: impressed this on this viewing with the sequence where we

1071
00:59:17,400 --> 00:59:23,840
Speaker 2: see Sin's hands underwater trying to tie the knot around

1072
00:59:23,840 --> 00:59:25,880
Speaker 2: the bicycle handle so they can all pull it out

1073
00:59:25,920 --> 00:59:29,760
Speaker 2: and like it slips twice before is it who is

1074
00:59:29,800 --> 00:59:35,160
Speaker 2: it that helps her? Well, they help her, but eventually

1075
00:59:35,200 --> 00:59:39,840
Speaker 2: on the third try, the not is a success. But

1076
00:59:40,240 --> 00:59:43,560
Speaker 2: there's something about the way that they just so realistically

1077
00:59:43,600 --> 00:59:47,280
Speaker 2: animate that rope slipping and not quite nodding. You can

1078
00:59:47,360 --> 00:59:49,840
Speaker 2: just feel it in your bones, like it is one

1079
00:59:49,920 --> 00:59:53,400
Speaker 2: hundred percent real. And I mean those kind of touches

1080
00:59:53,480 --> 00:59:56,640
Speaker 2: are I think essential in live action filmmaking as well,

1081
00:59:56,840 --> 00:59:59,080
Speaker 2: you know, because they allow us to connect with it

1082
00:59:59,120 --> 01:00:01,560
Speaker 2: with what's happening on the screen in a real way.

1083
01:00:01,840 --> 01:00:03,840
Speaker 2: But you know, all the more important in a film

1084
01:00:03,840 --> 01:00:07,080
Speaker 2: of animated fantasy ground us with those little moments that

1085
01:00:07,120 --> 01:00:10,520
Speaker 2: we can feel and then overwhelm us with those visions

1086
01:00:10,520 --> 01:00:11,440
Speaker 2: of the fantastic.

1087
01:00:12,040 --> 01:00:16,800
Speaker 3: It's actually full of excellent little physical tactle details like

1088
01:00:16,840 --> 01:00:21,920
Speaker 3: that zooming in farther than you would expect a movie

1089
01:00:21,960 --> 01:00:25,040
Speaker 3: of this kind, too, to show little ways that you know,

1090
01:00:25,080 --> 01:00:27,520
Speaker 3: maybe your foot doesn't catch on the stair right the

1091
01:00:27,520 --> 01:00:30,720
Speaker 3: first time and you take another step, or yeah, yeah,

1092
01:00:30,760 --> 01:00:33,200
Speaker 3: the hand of trying to grasp something and needing to

1093
01:00:33,240 --> 01:00:35,560
Speaker 3: readjust there's a lot of that in this film.

1094
01:00:36,120 --> 01:00:39,640
Speaker 2: Yeah, one thing you see in a lot of Miyazaki

1095
01:00:39,640 --> 01:00:43,560
Speaker 2: films is a lot of attention paid to how children move,

1096
01:00:43,880 --> 01:00:46,200
Speaker 2: how young people move, and we definitely see that with

1097
01:00:46,280 --> 01:00:48,240
Speaker 2: your hero, like the way that she moves around a

1098
01:00:48,280 --> 01:00:51,240
Speaker 2: little awkwardly at times. She's always bumping her head and

1099
01:00:51,320 --> 01:00:54,720
Speaker 2: falling down and you know, dramatic fashion, and it's just

1100
01:00:54,760 --> 01:00:55,640
Speaker 2: so well executed.

1101
01:00:56,000 --> 01:00:58,800
Speaker 3: So Sen did good here, She did a real good job.

1102
01:00:58,840 --> 01:01:03,680
Speaker 3: She's doing great at work. But next we come to

1103
01:01:04,120 --> 01:01:08,680
Speaker 3: Haku the Dragon and the scene of sin versus Eubaba's creatures.

1104
01:01:08,920 --> 01:01:12,560
Speaker 3: So there's a scene eventually where Sen sees a white

1105
01:01:12,800 --> 01:01:15,760
Speaker 3: dragon flying out over the water as she's looking out

1106
01:01:15,760 --> 01:01:18,560
Speaker 3: the window over the side of the bathhouse, and she

1107
01:01:18,760 --> 01:01:23,440
Speaker 3: realizes that the dragon is Haku. Haku has been a

1108
01:01:23,520 --> 01:01:27,200
Speaker 3: boy before this, but now she sees him in dragon form,

1109
01:01:27,640 --> 01:01:30,000
Speaker 3: and Haku is in trouble. He's being attacked by a

1110
01:01:30,040 --> 01:01:35,360
Speaker 3: swarm of these enchanted paper birds and greatly injured. Hako

1111
01:01:35,800 --> 01:01:38,960
Speaker 3: crashes into Eubaba's residence in the in the upper part

1112
01:01:38,960 --> 01:01:43,240
Speaker 3: of the bathhouse, and Sen rushes to help him. Somewhere

1113
01:01:43,280 --> 01:01:46,760
Speaker 3: Here along the way, I think she eavesdrops and learns

1114
01:01:46,800 --> 01:01:49,680
Speaker 3: that Ubaba sent him out on a special mission, and

1115
01:01:49,760 --> 01:01:53,520
Speaker 3: this mission is how he became injured. Ubaba expects Haku

1116
01:01:53,560 --> 01:01:56,040
Speaker 3: will die, and she doesn't seem all that bothered about it.

1117
01:01:56,480 --> 01:02:00,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's like, I'll hop you that sane happens.

1118
01:02:00,960 --> 01:02:06,000
Speaker 3: So Sin sneaks into Eubaba's apartment to help Haku, but

1119
01:02:06,240 --> 01:02:11,640
Speaker 3: ends up meeting Bo, the Giant Baby, Ebaba's son, and

1120
01:02:12,640 --> 01:02:16,360
Speaker 3: we learn when we actually hear Bo talking and interacting

1121
01:02:16,400 --> 01:02:20,320
Speaker 3: with Chihiro or with Sin. Here there's clearly some kind

1122
01:02:20,360 --> 01:02:26,400
Speaker 3: of unhealthy lock on Bo's maturation, both magical and psychological,

1123
01:02:26,920 --> 01:02:29,800
Speaker 3: Like the way he talks and his body don't really

1124
01:02:29,880 --> 01:02:33,280
Speaker 3: like match upright, and he's kind of paranoid, Like he's

1125
01:02:33,320 --> 01:02:36,640
Speaker 3: a paranoid pathological brat. There's a lot of play with

1126
01:02:36,680 --> 01:02:38,280
Speaker 3: me now where I will crush.

1127
01:02:37,960 --> 01:02:41,320
Speaker 2: You yeah, or I will break your arm. Yeah, that's

1128
01:02:41,360 --> 01:02:43,160
Speaker 2: like the big baby is terrifying here.

1129
01:02:43,440 --> 01:02:47,479
Speaker 3: Yeah. So Sin gets away from Bo temporarily, and while

1130
01:02:47,520 --> 01:02:50,760
Speaker 3: trying to help Haku, Sin meets a witch who looks

1131
01:02:50,800 --> 01:02:53,680
Speaker 3: exactly like you Baba. But here is a big reveal.

1132
01:02:54,360 --> 01:02:58,200
Speaker 3: This is not you Baba, this is you Baba's twin sister, Zeniba,

1133
01:02:58,320 --> 01:03:01,800
Speaker 3: who they're at odds. You know, they don't get along,

1134
01:03:02,560 --> 01:03:05,640
Speaker 3: and it turns out that you Baba sent Haku to

1135
01:03:05,800 --> 01:03:09,600
Speaker 3: steal a special magical item from her sister to steal

1136
01:03:09,680 --> 01:03:13,560
Speaker 3: it from Zeneba. It was a golden seal, and unfortunately

1137
01:03:13,640 --> 01:03:17,160
Speaker 3: for Haku, this magical golden seal was cursed, and she

1138
01:03:17,280 --> 01:03:19,560
Speaker 3: says the fact that Haku stole it is what is

1139
01:03:19,600 --> 01:03:24,120
Speaker 3: now killing him. Now. While in you Baba's house, Zaneba

1140
01:03:24,160 --> 01:03:28,760
Speaker 3: happens to just play some pranks, including transforming e Baba's

1141
01:03:29,000 --> 01:03:33,400
Speaker 3: son Bo the Giant Baby into a mouse, transforming the

1142
01:03:33,480 --> 01:03:36,880
Speaker 3: weird jump the three green jumping heads into a fake

1143
01:03:37,040 --> 01:03:39,640
Speaker 3: version of Bo the baby, so now there's a thing

1144
01:03:39,680 --> 01:03:42,880
Speaker 3: that looks like the baby but is actually these three heads,

1145
01:03:43,320 --> 01:03:46,800
Speaker 3: and transforming you Baba's demon bird Minion into a fly.

1146
01:03:47,440 --> 01:03:47,640
Speaker 2: Yes.

1147
01:03:49,000 --> 01:03:52,040
Speaker 3: Now, At some point here, Zaniba gets gets banished by

1148
01:03:52,120 --> 01:03:57,280
Speaker 3: having her little paper avatar damaged. But they but Sin

1149
01:03:57,520 --> 01:03:59,760
Speaker 3: and Haku end up falling through a pit in the

1150
01:03:59,760 --> 01:04:02,600
Speaker 3: floor or and crashing down into Camaggi's domain in the

1151
01:04:02,640 --> 01:04:06,800
Speaker 3: boiler room, where Sen decides to give Haku half of

1152
01:04:07,040 --> 01:04:09,480
Speaker 3: Oh did did I even mention that the river spirit

1153
01:04:10,000 --> 01:04:14,560
Speaker 3: gave Sen a magic dumpling in reward for helping him?

1154
01:04:14,680 --> 01:04:18,200
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, this becomes important.

1155
01:04:18,520 --> 01:04:21,479
Speaker 3: So she has this important magic dumpling. She gives half

1156
01:04:21,480 --> 01:04:24,240
Speaker 3: of it to Haku and closes his mouth over it

1157
01:04:24,280 --> 01:04:26,880
Speaker 3: forces him to eat it, and this makes Haku vomit

1158
01:04:27,040 --> 01:04:30,280
Speaker 3: up the cursed golden seal, but also this kind of

1159
01:04:30,400 --> 01:04:33,919
Speaker 3: horrible mud slug, the physical embodiment of the curse, which

1160
01:04:33,960 --> 01:04:38,320
Speaker 3: Sin then stomps on. Meanwhile, there's some trouble in the

1161
01:04:38,320 --> 01:04:41,440
Speaker 3: bath house because remember that no face monster. It is

1162
01:04:41,480 --> 01:04:44,640
Speaker 3: getting up to no good. It has It has started

1163
01:04:44,680 --> 01:04:47,840
Speaker 3: going around offering things to people, like it can make

1164
01:04:47,880 --> 01:04:51,600
Speaker 3: stuff appear in its hands that looks like gold, Like

1165
01:04:51,640 --> 01:04:53,880
Speaker 3: it just got a big pile of gold in its hand.

1166
01:04:53,920 --> 01:04:56,920
Speaker 3: It's like, you want some. It actually doesn't talk at

1167
01:04:56,920 --> 01:04:59,800
Speaker 3: first in its natural form. All it really seems to

1168
01:04:59,800 --> 01:05:04,480
Speaker 3: say is like uh uh huh, And it'll offer gold

1169
01:05:04,520 --> 01:05:06,920
Speaker 3: to people and the people are like, yeah, yeah, give

1170
01:05:06,920 --> 01:05:08,640
Speaker 3: me that gold. But then yeah, I don't know.

1171
01:05:08,680 --> 01:05:12,160
Speaker 2: It starts eating people like it eats a frog guy,

1172
01:05:12,520 --> 01:05:16,000
Speaker 2: eats a frog guy, and as and as it's offering

1173
01:05:16,000 --> 01:05:18,480
Speaker 2: gold to the other workers in the bathhouse, they're all

1174
01:05:18,520 --> 01:05:21,080
Speaker 2: frantically saying like, oh yeah, let's feed this guy as

1175
01:05:21,160 --> 01:05:23,520
Speaker 2: much as we can. He's giving us tips. We want tips,

1176
01:05:24,040 --> 01:05:26,640
Speaker 2: so they're all fighting for the tips from the whale,

1177
01:05:26,640 --> 01:05:30,439
Speaker 2: the big customer, and along the way it gets more

1178
01:05:30,480 --> 01:05:33,440
Speaker 2: and more destructive as it gets bigger and bigger and

1179
01:05:33,600 --> 01:05:37,160
Speaker 2: eats some more workers. Yeah, there's some strong horror vibes

1180
01:05:37,200 --> 01:05:38,880
Speaker 2: to a lot of this, because, yeah, we have this

1181
01:05:38,960 --> 01:05:44,240
Speaker 2: shape shifting monster that keeps eating servants and in doing so,

1182
01:05:44,680 --> 01:05:48,800
Speaker 2: like stealing their voice or even aspects of their personality. Yes,

1183
01:05:49,640 --> 01:05:51,920
Speaker 2: because otherwise, Yeah, no Face just makes these little kind

1184
01:05:51,960 --> 01:05:56,320
Speaker 2: of like it kind of sounds. I was no Face

1185
01:05:56,360 --> 01:05:59,000
Speaker 2: for Halloween one year, so I got to like do

1186
01:05:59,160 --> 01:06:02,400
Speaker 2: those noises whilst we were out triggered treating this year,

1187
01:06:02,440 --> 01:06:04,600
Speaker 2: I was, how by the way from how.

1188
01:06:06,000 --> 01:06:08,840
Speaker 3: You know, I was wondering why the no Face seems

1189
01:06:08,840 --> 01:06:13,240
Speaker 3: the most interested in sin, because it's like asking for her,

1190
01:06:13,760 --> 01:06:16,000
Speaker 3: you know, It's like, I don't want any of you want.

1191
01:06:16,040 --> 01:06:18,840
Speaker 3: I want sin brings sin to me. And it seems

1192
01:06:18,920 --> 01:06:21,480
Speaker 3: that maybe it's because she's the one who led it

1193
01:06:21,520 --> 01:06:25,280
Speaker 3: into the bathhouse, but also it seems that she's unique

1194
01:06:25,360 --> 01:06:27,680
Speaker 3: in that she's the only person who's not interested in

1195
01:06:27,720 --> 01:06:30,640
Speaker 3: the gold that it makes. It keeps making the gold

1196
01:06:30,680 --> 01:06:33,120
Speaker 3: and trying to give it to people, and they're all like, gimme, gimme, gimmy,

1197
01:06:33,560 --> 01:06:35,840
Speaker 3: and it wants to give gold to sin, but she's

1198
01:06:35,920 --> 01:06:38,960
Speaker 3: just not interested. She's just like, no, thanks, I thank you,

1199
01:06:39,000 --> 01:06:40,200
Speaker 3: but I don't want any.

1200
01:06:40,240 --> 01:06:44,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's incorruptible when it comes to these temptations. And yeah,

1201
01:06:44,640 --> 01:06:47,480
Speaker 2: No Face is very fascinating because on one hand, you know,

1202
01:06:47,600 --> 01:06:50,280
Speaker 2: very much a hungry ghost sort of a scenario, like

1203
01:06:50,720 --> 01:06:53,560
Speaker 2: it's you know, its natural form is one of kind

1204
01:06:53,600 --> 01:06:57,080
Speaker 2: of hollowness and is very transparent, just has this mask

1205
01:06:58,080 --> 01:07:00,240
Speaker 2: that seems to you know, serve as its face. Then

1206
01:07:00,280 --> 01:07:02,200
Speaker 2: as it eats, we see its mouth more, we see

1207
01:07:02,200 --> 01:07:05,000
Speaker 2: its great lolling tongue. So it's, you know, it's a

1208
01:07:05,000 --> 01:07:08,600
Speaker 2: creature of vast appetite, but it's not just food at once.

1209
01:07:09,040 --> 01:07:12,920
Speaker 2: And I've seen Yazaki discuss this in some translated interviews

1210
01:07:12,920 --> 01:07:16,680
Speaker 2: where he's talking about like it also needs to absorb

1211
01:07:17,520 --> 01:07:20,600
Speaker 2: other people, like certainly in the sense that it's eating people,

1212
01:07:20,640 --> 01:07:23,800
Speaker 2: but also like is in no face, truly has no face,

1213
01:07:23,880 --> 01:07:28,480
Speaker 2: no identity, and it must take identity from others. So

1214
01:07:28,840 --> 01:07:33,880
Speaker 2: it's it's it's it's a weird monster to try and unravel.

1215
01:07:33,640 --> 01:07:36,600
Speaker 3: That's right, And it just keeps becoming more and more threatening.

1216
01:07:36,640 --> 01:07:40,080
Speaker 3: Eventually Sin comes to it to try to fix what's

1217
01:07:40,120 --> 01:07:43,080
Speaker 3: going on, but by this point it's just a rampaging monster.

1218
01:07:43,240 --> 01:07:45,960
Speaker 3: It's trying to it's trying to eat everything. It's threatening

1219
01:07:46,000 --> 01:07:49,600
Speaker 3: her also, and so Sin ends up feeding this monster

1220
01:07:49,800 --> 01:07:53,240
Speaker 3: the other half of the river Spirit's dumpling, causing it

1221
01:07:53,280 --> 01:07:57,720
Speaker 3: to start vomiting up evil black sludge and shrinking in size.

1222
01:07:58,080 --> 01:07:59,760
Speaker 3: Was this part of your costume, Rob.

1223
01:07:59,720 --> 01:08:04,440
Speaker 2: No, luckily not. But it is such a fantastic sequence.

1224
01:08:04,520 --> 01:08:08,200
Speaker 2: There's a lot of rampaging through the onsen here. Love it,

1225
01:08:08,400 --> 01:08:08,640
Speaker 2: love it?

1226
01:08:08,720 --> 01:08:09,320
Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah.

1227
01:08:09,440 --> 01:08:13,080
Speaker 3: So it's running all over the place, chasing Sin, smashing

1228
01:08:13,120 --> 01:08:15,640
Speaker 3: everything everywhere it goes, and it keeps chasing her, but

1229
01:08:15,720 --> 01:08:19,280
Speaker 3: she tries to lead it outside where strangely, I mean,

1230
01:08:19,320 --> 01:08:21,920
Speaker 3: it's losing mass as it goes, because it keeps vomiting,

1231
01:08:21,960 --> 01:08:23,960
Speaker 3: and it does vomit up. Some of the people to it,

1232
01:08:24,040 --> 01:08:25,759
Speaker 3: eight or the frogmen and stuff.

1233
01:08:25,840 --> 01:08:27,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, they're all okay, everybody's fine.

1234
01:08:28,000 --> 01:08:31,479
Speaker 3: But as it gets outside, she leads it outside where

1235
01:08:31,600 --> 01:08:33,920
Speaker 3: for some reason it seems to calm down and kind

1236
01:08:33,920 --> 01:08:37,599
Speaker 3: of lose its violent temper. And we never get a

1237
01:08:37,600 --> 01:08:42,120
Speaker 3: full explanation of this, but sin into its something about it.

1238
01:08:42,160 --> 01:08:45,920
Speaker 3: She's like, it's not bad. The bathhouse makes it crazy,

1239
01:08:46,720 --> 01:08:49,680
Speaker 3: and so it raises the interesting idea that this is

1240
01:08:49,760 --> 01:08:54,080
Speaker 3: not a monster in not a monster in principle. It's

1241
01:08:54,080 --> 01:08:57,520
Speaker 3: not a monster in its own world. It only becomes

1242
01:08:57,560 --> 01:09:00,599
Speaker 3: a monster when it enters a place it does not belong.

1243
01:09:01,200 --> 01:09:03,959
Speaker 2: That's right, Like it's a There are no bad spirits.

1244
01:09:04,000 --> 01:09:06,519
Speaker 2: There are just spirits that are misaligned. There are spirits

1245
01:09:06,520 --> 01:09:10,160
Speaker 2: out of place or that you know, something has happened

1246
01:09:10,240 --> 01:09:13,200
Speaker 2: to set them on the wrong course, such as we

1247
01:09:13,240 --> 01:09:17,840
Speaker 2: saw with the river spirit earlier. So yeah, it's another

1248
01:09:17,920 --> 01:09:21,280
Speaker 2: part of the great heart of this picture. No evil spirits,

1249
01:09:21,400 --> 01:09:23,280
Speaker 2: just misaligned spirits.

1250
01:09:23,760 --> 01:09:26,840
Speaker 3: So we start leading up to the climax where Sen

1251
01:09:27,000 --> 01:09:30,840
Speaker 3: realizes that she needs to she needs to take a

1252
01:09:30,960 --> 01:09:34,760
Speaker 3: train to a place called Swamp Bottom, and there's a

1253
01:09:34,800 --> 01:09:37,599
Speaker 3: reason for this. She thinks that she can help things

1254
01:09:37,640 --> 01:09:40,960
Speaker 3: if she takes the golden seal that Hakousto back to

1255
01:09:41,120 --> 01:09:44,479
Speaker 3: Zeniba and apologize for the theft. If she does that,

1256
01:09:44,840 --> 01:09:48,160
Speaker 3: she thinks things can be patched over, and to do

1257
01:09:48,200 --> 01:09:50,200
Speaker 3: this she's going to have to take a train. We

1258
01:09:50,240 --> 01:09:52,640
Speaker 3: see a train coming and going throughout the world of

1259
01:09:52,760 --> 01:09:56,799
Speaker 3: Spirited Away. It's beautiful and strange in that the place

1260
01:09:56,840 --> 01:09:59,519
Speaker 3: it cuts through is flooded with water, so it's just

1261
01:09:59,560 --> 01:10:03,120
Speaker 3: a train on top of the water. And she's told,

1262
01:10:03,160 --> 01:10:05,080
Speaker 3: I think, by Kamaji that she'll have to go to

1263
01:10:05,120 --> 01:10:09,679
Speaker 3: a place called Swamp Bottom, where Zeniba lives. So after

1264
01:10:09,880 --> 01:10:12,320
Speaker 3: she leads the No Face monster outside, this is the

1265
01:10:12,320 --> 01:10:14,519
Speaker 3: next place she's going to go. She's been given a

1266
01:10:15,040 --> 01:10:18,080
Speaker 3: series of tickets for the train as a gift by Camaji.

1267
01:10:19,320 --> 01:10:21,840
Speaker 3: And it's interesting the way that the train is kind

1268
01:10:21,840 --> 01:10:24,800
Speaker 3: of looked on with envy by the other bathhouse workers,

1269
01:10:24,920 --> 01:10:27,800
Speaker 3: Like there's this idea among many of them that if

1270
01:10:27,840 --> 01:10:30,080
Speaker 3: they had enough money one day, they would buy a

1271
01:10:30,120 --> 01:10:33,160
Speaker 3: ticket on the train and go somewhere far away again

1272
01:10:33,160 --> 01:10:36,799
Speaker 3: a kind of inversion of the escape to a fantasy

1273
01:10:36,840 --> 01:10:40,840
Speaker 3: world plot. The workers here they dream of going elsewhere

1274
01:10:41,720 --> 01:10:44,960
Speaker 3: on the train. Sin Actually she doesn't go by herself.

1275
01:10:45,120 --> 01:10:49,080
Speaker 3: She is followed by a retinue. She's followed by No

1276
01:10:49,240 --> 01:10:54,559
Speaker 3: Face reverted to its original non threatening form, and by

1277
01:10:54,560 --> 01:10:57,840
Speaker 3: the mouse form of Bo the giant baby, remember, was

1278
01:10:57,880 --> 01:11:01,080
Speaker 3: transformed by Zeniba into a little else and the fly

1279
01:11:01,280 --> 01:11:06,280
Speaker 3: form of you Baba's evil bird. So I like that

1280
01:11:06,400 --> 01:11:10,160
Speaker 3: all of her companions on this journey are beings that

1281
01:11:10,320 --> 01:11:15,320
Speaker 3: in some other form were monstrous, dangerous and mint her harm,

1282
01:11:15,760 --> 01:11:18,599
Speaker 3: but now they're informs which are none of those things

1283
01:11:19,200 --> 01:11:23,400
Speaker 3: and seem mainly motivated by curiosity about sin and about

1284
01:11:23,439 --> 01:11:24,400
Speaker 3: what she's going to do.

1285
01:11:25,040 --> 01:11:26,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true.

1286
01:11:26,080 --> 01:11:26,679
Speaker 4: That's true.

1287
01:11:27,560 --> 01:11:29,320
Speaker 2: Oh and by the way, that the train they're on,

1288
01:11:29,360 --> 01:11:31,960
Speaker 2: there was a build out of this at Ghibli Park,

1289
01:11:32,160 --> 01:11:34,479
Speaker 2: And I also have a photo here that I'll show you, Joe,

1290
01:11:35,360 --> 01:11:37,840
Speaker 2: where you can see me and my son sitting on

1291
01:11:37,880 --> 01:11:40,759
Speaker 2: either side of No Face on the train and you

1292
01:11:40,560 --> 01:11:43,120
Speaker 2: can see through the windows there you see the flooded

1293
01:11:43,640 --> 01:11:47,439
Speaker 2: landscape that it's traversing. It's gorgeous and it is just

1294
01:11:47,560 --> 01:11:49,320
Speaker 2: like in the movie where Yeah, she sits on the

1295
01:11:49,320 --> 01:11:51,320
Speaker 2: train and No Face just sits down next to her

1296
01:11:51,360 --> 01:11:54,439
Speaker 2: on the red cushioned bench. Yeah, very you know, meek

1297
01:11:54,560 --> 01:11:56,240
Speaker 2: and peaceful.

1298
01:11:56,840 --> 01:11:59,080
Speaker 3: Now, one thing about this journey that the characters have

1299
01:11:59,200 --> 01:12:02,240
Speaker 3: discussed is that there is no guarantee of return because

1300
01:12:02,280 --> 01:12:06,479
Speaker 3: the ticket gifted by Camaji is to take the train

1301
01:12:06,600 --> 01:12:09,080
Speaker 3: to this place, but it's a one way trip. How

1302
01:12:09,120 --> 01:12:12,800
Speaker 3: will they get back, that's unclear, But they eventually get

1303
01:12:12,840 --> 01:12:15,920
Speaker 3: to swamp bottom and they get off the train under

1304
01:12:15,960 --> 01:12:20,640
Speaker 3: the platform. She's still being followed by her formerly monstrous companions,

1305
01:12:21,240 --> 01:12:24,280
Speaker 3: and there's a wonderful encounter on the way to the

1306
01:12:24,280 --> 01:12:27,559
Speaker 3: witch Zaniba's house, which is the foot lamp. How would

1307
01:12:27,600 --> 01:12:29,000
Speaker 3: you describe this rob.

1308
01:12:29,200 --> 01:12:33,519
Speaker 2: I mean, there's there's strong Yokai sensibilities to this thing's designed.

1309
01:12:33,560 --> 01:12:35,639
Speaker 2: It's kind of hopping along on one leg. It reminds

1310
01:12:35,680 --> 01:12:39,920
Speaker 2: me actually a lot of the lamp from the Pixar logo,

1311
01:12:40,040 --> 01:12:42,400
Speaker 2: you know, the way it's kind of like hopping about

1312
01:12:42,439 --> 01:12:43,320
Speaker 2: as if on one leg.

1313
01:12:44,000 --> 01:12:47,519
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good comparison. But eventually our characters here

1314
01:12:47,560 --> 01:12:51,519
Speaker 3: do make it to Zaniba's house, where there is there

1315
01:12:51,560 --> 01:12:56,040
Speaker 3: is sort of a reconciliation and a discovery of information.

1316
01:12:56,280 --> 01:12:57,799
Speaker 3: So what do we learn in this scene?

1317
01:12:58,600 --> 01:13:00,600
Speaker 2: Let's see, this is the scene where we learn a

1318
01:13:00,600 --> 01:13:03,280
Speaker 2: little bit more about the slug, right, Yeah, in the

1319
01:13:03,280 --> 01:13:06,439
Speaker 2: inner workings of the curses that are in play here. Now.

1320
01:13:06,439 --> 01:13:08,479
Speaker 3: Actually, I'm trying to remember what it is in the scene.

1321
01:13:08,520 --> 01:13:11,280
Speaker 3: Is it the case that we learned that Haku was

1322
01:13:11,360 --> 01:13:16,320
Speaker 3: being controlled by Ubaba through the slug, that she made

1323
01:13:16,400 --> 01:13:19,160
Speaker 3: him barf up by giving him the dumpling and he's

1324
01:13:19,200 --> 01:13:23,000
Speaker 3: now free of that, yes, But also Zeniba has as

1325
01:13:23,040 --> 01:13:26,240
Speaker 3: a magical item for Sin as well. It's a magical

1326
01:13:26,360 --> 01:13:31,719
Speaker 3: hair band, yes, yeah, And so there's that, and then

1327
01:13:32,200 --> 01:13:36,080
Speaker 3: there's a reunion with the restored Haku, who in dragon

1328
01:13:36,160 --> 01:13:39,439
Speaker 3: form is carrying Sin back to the bathhouse. Later, so

1329
01:13:39,560 --> 01:13:42,880
Speaker 3: they've resolved like how she'll get home and hopefully rescue

1330
01:13:42,920 --> 01:13:46,080
Speaker 3: her parents. But on the way there's a big revelation.

1331
01:13:46,400 --> 01:13:49,599
Speaker 3: Remember there's been this mystery the whole time. How did

1332
01:13:49,680 --> 01:13:54,000
Speaker 3: Haku know Chihiro from before? How did he already know

1333
01:13:54,120 --> 01:13:56,679
Speaker 3: her name? And how was he familiar with her before

1334
01:13:56,680 --> 01:14:00,000
Speaker 3: she arrived. She has a memory, and we've seen flats

1335
01:14:00,439 --> 01:14:03,120
Speaker 3: of this memory sort of dotted throughout the story of

1336
01:14:03,160 --> 01:14:07,919
Speaker 3: her falling into the water, being underwater and seeing something,

1337
01:14:08,080 --> 01:14:11,000
Speaker 3: seeing a kind of friendly face. We learned that once

1338
01:14:11,160 --> 01:14:14,479
Speaker 3: as a child she fell into a river. It was

1339
01:14:14,600 --> 01:14:18,040
Speaker 3: the Cohaku River, and I think she said, what was

1340
01:14:18,080 --> 01:14:19,920
Speaker 3: she was trying to do? She was trying to reach

1341
01:14:19,960 --> 01:14:21,439
Speaker 3: in from the bank for something.

1342
01:14:22,200 --> 01:14:24,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I believe so. And then we get these

1343
01:14:24,600 --> 01:14:28,120
Speaker 2: these sequences underwater. They are, in an interesting way, kind

1344
01:14:28,160 --> 01:14:32,240
Speaker 2: of a sign of things to come with Ponyo later on,

1345
01:14:32,280 --> 01:14:34,080
Speaker 2: which is going to be very concerned with a lot

1346
01:14:34,080 --> 01:14:37,400
Speaker 2: of underwater action and surging waters and so forth.

1347
01:14:37,920 --> 01:14:41,200
Speaker 3: So she fell into the water of the Coohaku River

1348
01:14:41,479 --> 01:14:45,040
Speaker 3: and she thought she would drown, but she didn't drown. Instead,

1349
01:14:45,520 --> 01:14:48,799
Speaker 3: she was carried gently to the bank. And it turns

1350
01:14:48,840 --> 01:14:52,879
Speaker 3: out that's where she knows Haku from. Haku was a spirit,

1351
01:14:53,200 --> 01:14:56,720
Speaker 3: was a being in the river that helped her to

1352
01:14:56,920 --> 01:15:01,120
Speaker 3: the bank, And Haku was originally like the stink spirit

1353
01:15:01,160 --> 01:15:05,000
Speaker 3: from earlier, a river spirit, a dragon formed river spirit,

1354
01:15:05,360 --> 01:15:09,360
Speaker 3: and his real name is the Cohaku River. Remembering his

1355
01:15:09,520 --> 01:15:12,680
Speaker 3: real name, Haku can now potentially be free of you

1356
01:15:12,840 --> 01:15:16,680
Speaker 3: Baba's magic. Now when they get back, there's there's sort

1357
01:15:16,680 --> 01:15:19,320
Speaker 3: of an epilogue where Ubaba says that Sin has to

1358
01:15:19,400 --> 01:15:22,680
Speaker 3: pass one final test before she and her parents can

1359
01:15:22,760 --> 01:15:25,280
Speaker 3: go free, and I like that. At this point, Sin

1360
01:15:25,400 --> 01:15:28,160
Speaker 3: has completely won over the people at the bathhouse, like

1361
01:15:28,520 --> 01:15:32,679
Speaker 3: they're all like bad form, bad form. Sin's like, okay,

1362
01:15:32,680 --> 01:15:35,760
Speaker 3: I'll do I'll do the test. And the test is

1363
01:15:36,240 --> 01:15:38,760
Speaker 3: there's a lineup of pigs and she's supposed to from

1364
01:15:38,800 --> 01:15:41,360
Speaker 3: this lineup of pigs pick out, okay, which ones are

1365
01:15:41,400 --> 01:15:45,439
Speaker 3: your parents? And Sin accepts the challenge and correctly guesses

1366
01:15:45,600 --> 01:15:48,120
Speaker 3: that none of them are her parents. It was a trick,

1367
01:15:48,280 --> 01:15:52,400
Speaker 3: trick question, but she she outsmarts it, and thus the

1368
01:15:52,439 --> 01:15:55,920
Speaker 3: magic is broken. Sin is chi hero once again and

1369
01:15:55,960 --> 01:15:57,040
Speaker 3: she can return home.

1370
01:15:57,600 --> 01:16:00,639
Speaker 2: All of her coworkers celebrate. They are all know again

1371
01:16:00,920 --> 01:16:03,080
Speaker 2: she's completely won them over, so they're cheering her on

1372
01:16:03,200 --> 01:16:03,760
Speaker 2: the whole way.

1373
01:16:04,840 --> 01:16:06,000
Speaker 3: Yeah, just a.

1374
01:16:06,000 --> 01:16:09,160
Speaker 2: Sweet ending, though we're not quite to the complete ending yet,

1375
01:16:09,160 --> 01:16:12,479
Speaker 2: but a sweet resolve of what's going on in the

1376
01:16:12,479 --> 01:16:14,200
Speaker 2: fantasy realm here, that's right.

1377
01:16:14,240 --> 01:16:18,360
Speaker 3: So she has her goodbyes with Haku, and she's told

1378
01:16:18,400 --> 01:16:20,559
Speaker 3: that her parents will be restored back at the tunnel

1379
01:16:20,560 --> 01:16:23,120
Speaker 3: where they first entered the spirit world. She goes back

1380
01:16:23,160 --> 01:16:25,599
Speaker 3: to meet them, and indeed they are safe and sound again,

1381
01:16:26,120 --> 01:16:29,080
Speaker 3: and she returns to the mundane world with her parents.

1382
01:16:29,280 --> 01:16:34,280
Speaker 3: And now I think having a more balanced attitude about life.

1383
01:16:34,360 --> 01:16:38,599
Speaker 3: I mean, it's kind of interesting that I don't know

1384
01:16:38,840 --> 01:16:42,040
Speaker 3: unless I'm missing something. It's not a movie where the

1385
01:16:42,160 --> 01:16:47,400
Speaker 3: character learned one specific moral like I thought X, but

1386
01:16:47,479 --> 01:16:52,240
Speaker 3: it's actually the opposite. It's why she's just more mature

1387
01:16:52,360 --> 01:16:54,720
Speaker 3: in many different ways, in ways that are hard to

1388
01:16:54,720 --> 01:16:57,799
Speaker 3: pin down, rather than being like a single semantic lesson

1389
01:16:57,880 --> 01:16:58,519
Speaker 3: of the plot.

1390
01:16:58,720 --> 01:16:58,960
Speaker 4: You know.

1391
01:16:59,520 --> 01:17:04,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like in the real world something clicked, you know,

1392
01:17:04,760 --> 01:17:07,200
Speaker 2: and there was this change in her, and then we

1393
01:17:07,240 --> 01:17:12,000
Speaker 2: see that click expanded out into this fantasy adventure here, like,

1394
01:17:12,320 --> 01:17:14,920
Speaker 2: you know, a change that may have you know, many

1395
01:17:15,000 --> 01:17:17,559
Speaker 2: different working parts, but is kind of hard to really

1396
01:17:17,560 --> 01:17:21,080
Speaker 2: put your finger on. Well that here is is brought

1397
01:17:21,120 --> 01:17:23,719
Speaker 2: to us through the lens of fantasy. Yeah, so she's

1398
01:17:24,120 --> 01:17:27,080
Speaker 2: she's changed, but not in some like simplistic way where

1399
01:17:27,120 --> 01:17:30,599
Speaker 2: it's like, oh, I realized that the magic being wasn't magic,

1400
01:17:30,600 --> 01:17:32,360
Speaker 2: the magic was in me the whole time or anything

1401
01:17:32,400 --> 01:17:34,960
Speaker 2: like that, you know. Yeah, but she is she is

1402
01:17:35,000 --> 01:17:37,640
Speaker 2: different now, she's a little more mature and she she

1403
01:17:37,760 --> 01:17:40,439
Speaker 2: is she's ready for this to go through, with this

1404
01:17:40,520 --> 01:17:42,280
Speaker 2: change that's occurring in her real life.

1405
01:17:42,760 --> 01:17:46,120
Speaker 3: But I also like that the return to the mundane

1406
01:17:46,120 --> 01:17:49,599
Speaker 3: world is not and it was all a dream ending. Yeah,

1407
01:17:49,680 --> 01:17:52,280
Speaker 3: you know, it's not like a reset on. You can

1408
01:17:52,520 --> 01:17:57,360
Speaker 3: view everything that came before as purely metaphorical. There if

1409
01:17:57,400 --> 01:17:59,960
Speaker 3: you do view it as metaphorical, part of the metaphor

1410
01:18:00,120 --> 01:18:03,679
Speaker 3: or is that something of the magic world is real

1411
01:18:03,800 --> 01:18:08,680
Speaker 3: and follows you home. Because when she's changed by her experiences,

1412
01:18:09,040 --> 01:18:11,000
Speaker 3: and she goes back out of the tunnel and she

1413
01:18:11,040 --> 01:18:13,559
Speaker 3: and her parents find the car again, and you might think,

1414
01:18:13,600 --> 01:18:15,080
Speaker 3: if it was the more kind of it was all

1415
01:18:15,120 --> 01:18:18,080
Speaker 3: a dream ending, everything would be just as they left it,

1416
01:18:18,120 --> 01:18:20,479
Speaker 3: and they would just drive home. But instead they get

1417
01:18:20,479 --> 01:18:22,759
Speaker 3: to the car and it's like covered in leaves and brush,

1418
01:18:22,800 --> 01:18:25,240
Speaker 3: and her parents are like, wow, it's all dusty inside.

1419
01:18:25,280 --> 01:18:28,000
Speaker 3: So clearly they've been gone a long time. And not

1420
01:18:28,080 --> 01:18:31,439
Speaker 3: only that, but chi Hero has an artifact from the

1421
01:18:31,479 --> 01:18:34,280
Speaker 3: magic world with her, the hairband that Zeneba gave her.

1422
01:18:34,840 --> 01:18:38,200
Speaker 2: Ah. As we were watching this, my wife did comment,

1423
01:18:38,240 --> 01:18:39,680
Speaker 2: She's like, oh, yeah, there's no way mom and dad

1424
01:18:39,680 --> 01:18:43,559
Speaker 2: aren't fired from their jobs at this point, Like it's

1425
01:18:43,560 --> 01:18:48,080
Speaker 2: then what weeks? Yeah again, through all these changes to

1426
01:18:48,160 --> 01:18:52,400
Speaker 2: Hero perseveres and the ending is super sweet. It's like

1427
01:18:52,479 --> 01:18:56,880
Speaker 2: victory is achieved not through violence but through sheer strength

1428
01:18:56,960 --> 01:19:01,000
Speaker 2: of character, you know. And yeah, it's just a nice ending.

1429
01:19:01,040 --> 01:19:04,479
Speaker 2: It's a film that definitely has its has tension, has

1430
01:19:04,520 --> 01:19:07,720
Speaker 2: a little bit of fear, you know. It's it's it is,

1431
01:19:08,040 --> 01:19:10,679
Speaker 2: in its own way, a roller coaster ride, but such

1432
01:19:10,680 --> 01:19:13,000
Speaker 2: a sweet landing here at the close of the picture.

1433
01:19:13,680 --> 01:19:16,759
Speaker 3: I love the balance found in the narrative of movies

1434
01:19:16,800 --> 01:19:20,360
Speaker 3: like this and like NAUSICAA where like it's a movie

1435
01:19:20,360 --> 01:19:24,519
Speaker 3: that feels very moral but not moralizing, you know. Instead,

1436
01:19:24,640 --> 01:19:27,600
Speaker 3: there like there is a good sense of right and

1437
01:19:27,640 --> 01:19:29,759
Speaker 3: wrong at the heart of it. But it's not preachy

1438
01:19:29,920 --> 01:19:32,640
Speaker 3: or anything. It's it's just it's just kind of like

1439
01:19:32,760 --> 01:19:36,160
Speaker 3: telling a story. In a similar sense there is. I

1440
01:19:36,200 --> 01:19:38,200
Speaker 3: love the way like you say that the characters are

1441
01:19:38,240 --> 01:19:42,639
Speaker 3: able to to find victory without violence, mostly that they're

1442
01:19:42,680 --> 01:19:47,200
Speaker 3: not fighters. They don't they don't use violence even really

1443
01:19:47,240 --> 01:19:52,520
Speaker 3: in defense much. They instead they try to find compromises

1444
01:19:52,560 --> 01:19:56,320
Speaker 3: and solutions mentally and and and uh, you know, find

1445
01:19:56,320 --> 01:19:58,920
Speaker 3: their way around problems. And yet at the same time

1446
01:19:58,960 --> 01:20:03,000
Speaker 3: it doesn't feel un realistic about like ignoring the reality

1447
01:20:03,000 --> 01:20:07,040
Speaker 3: of threats. It's just such a great storytelling sensibility and

1448
01:20:07,800 --> 01:20:09,200
Speaker 3: the perfect art to match it.

1449
01:20:09,880 --> 01:20:12,320
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, in a way, it's a Miyazaki film

1450
01:20:12,360 --> 01:20:14,280
Speaker 2: like this is it's like a it's like looking at

1451
01:20:14,280 --> 01:20:17,040
Speaker 2: a zen garden or something. You know, it's like, just

1452
01:20:17,200 --> 01:20:19,920
Speaker 2: like what is it telling you? What is the vibe

1453
01:20:20,080 --> 01:20:22,559
Speaker 2: that it is delivering? What is the message? Well, like

1454
01:20:22,600 --> 01:20:24,639
Speaker 2: the message is in the structure, you know, you kind

1455
01:20:24,680 --> 01:20:28,559
Speaker 2: of look at it, contemplate it and absorb it. You know,

1456
01:20:29,680 --> 01:20:34,200
Speaker 2: it's just yeah, so well executed, entertaining. But indeed it

1457
01:20:34,280 --> 01:20:36,599
Speaker 2: does give you a lot to think about afterwards, if

1458
01:20:36,600 --> 01:20:37,960
Speaker 2: you want to go there, if you want to just

1459
01:20:38,080 --> 01:20:40,519
Speaker 2: enjoy it as a ride, it delivers that as well.

1460
01:20:40,560 --> 01:20:42,360
Speaker 2: And I think that's one of the reasons that a

1461
01:20:42,360 --> 01:20:47,720
Speaker 2: film like this it achieves a real lasting place in

1462
01:20:47,880 --> 01:20:52,080
Speaker 2: your heart, because, like a lot of great films, every

1463
01:20:52,120 --> 01:20:54,560
Speaker 2: time you see it it says something to you a

1464
01:20:54,600 --> 01:20:57,559
Speaker 2: little differently, like it speaks to you at different ages

1465
01:20:58,439 --> 01:21:03,559
Speaker 2: and during different challengees and in different celebrations as well. Yeah,

1466
01:21:03,600 --> 01:21:05,200
Speaker 2: just a great picture overall.

1467
01:21:05,800 --> 01:21:06,360
Speaker 3: Well said.

1468
01:21:06,760 --> 01:21:09,000
Speaker 2: So that's what we have to say about Spirited Away,

1469
01:21:09,040 --> 01:21:11,200
Speaker 2: But we'd love to hear what you have to say

1470
01:21:11,200 --> 01:21:14,920
Speaker 2: about Spirited Away or other Miyazaki films. You can write

1471
01:21:14,920 --> 01:21:17,240
Speaker 2: into us. We'd love to hear from you about this

1472
01:21:18,200 --> 01:21:20,240
Speaker 2: as well as any other film we've talked about on

1473
01:21:20,280 --> 01:21:22,639
Speaker 2: the show, or if you have recommendations for the future.

1474
01:21:23,479 --> 01:21:24,960
Speaker 2: If you want to see a complete list of all

1475
01:21:25,000 --> 01:21:27,400
Speaker 2: the films we've covered over the years, we have a

1476
01:21:27,400 --> 01:21:29,599
Speaker 2: great list going over at letterbox dot com.

1477
01:21:29,600 --> 01:21:30,240
Speaker 3: This L E. T.

1478
01:21:30,240 --> 01:21:32,360
Speaker 2: T E R. B o x D dot com. I

1479
01:21:32,360 --> 01:21:34,720
Speaker 2: feel like most film fans know about this website at

1480
01:21:34,720 --> 01:21:38,360
Speaker 2: this point. I think I saw John Carpenter on Instagram

1481
01:21:39,000 --> 01:21:41,320
Speaker 2: recently say what is a letterbox? So, like, you know,

1482
01:21:41,320 --> 01:21:44,559
Speaker 2: it's like everybody is on some level aware of it

1483
01:21:44,600 --> 01:21:47,439
Speaker 2: now and getting in on how fun it can be

1484
01:21:47,560 --> 01:21:51,679
Speaker 2: a great way to organize your your two C lists

1485
01:21:51,720 --> 01:21:54,760
Speaker 2: as well as lists of favorite films. Yeah, anyway, we're

1486
01:21:54,760 --> 01:21:57,480
Speaker 2: on there as weird House Again. If you're on Instagram,

1487
01:21:57,520 --> 01:22:00,680
Speaker 2: look us up at st b ym podcast. We'll keep

1488
01:22:00,720 --> 01:22:02,759
Speaker 2: you abreast of what's going on with Weird House Cinema

1489
01:22:02,800 --> 01:22:03,559
Speaker 2: there as well.

1490
01:22:03,960 --> 01:22:06,440
Speaker 3: Also a great place to find funny reviews.

1491
01:22:07,040 --> 01:22:10,800
Speaker 2: Funny, some funny, some not funny, but there are some.

1492
01:22:10,960 --> 01:22:13,479
Speaker 2: There are some real hands on there and also some

1493
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Speaker 2: real insightful reviews. You'll also find, i think some unofficial

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Speaker 2: uploads of like famous film reviews. I'm not going to

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Speaker 2: name any names but because I don't want them taken

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Speaker 2: down because I really like reading them there. But you'll

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Speaker 2: find some some of those reviews there as well.

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Speaker 3: Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer JJ Posway.

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Speaker 3: If you would like to get in touch with us

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Speaker 3: with feedback on this episode or any other. To suggest

1501
01:22:37,200 --> 01:22:39,280
Speaker 3: a topic for the future, or just to say hello,

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01:22:39,400 --> 01:22:41,960
Speaker 3: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow

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Speaker 3: your Mind dot com.

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Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

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01:22:52,479 --> 01:22:55,240
Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.