Spirited Away, and to some degree all Ghibli stuff leans very heavily on a shared cultural Mythos. It doesn't do exposition in the same way that zombies or angels aren't explained; everyone knows that stuff because we all grew up with a million references.

how dare you

Upvote

Why?

I gave up on spirited away half way through it.

Ghibli it's very hit and miss for me, it's either really amazing or really tedious and boring.

i agree with you, and i pretty much felt the same the first time i watched it. plus, Chihiro feels like a very reactive character, driven from one errand to the next, and nothing feels really earned.

however, my opinion changed a little bit, because i got to see its theatre adaptation on stage. this is more or less my first time seeing a stage play, so it was a very new, and different experience for me. basically it is a big make believe, because unlike film or animation, what you can do with props on stage is very limited. i had to try very hard to turn the analytical part of my brain off, otherwise the whole thing will just be ridiculous. and that somehow made it a lot more enjoyable.

so i guess what i am trying to say is, don't think too hard about it? 🤷

It's weird, because I loved Spirited Away upon first watching it. But I can't do it anymore. It's like you say, a dream with no consistency. I let it fool me once, but now I'm lucid and see through the facade.

That's not to say I think it's bad, per se. It's still beautiful, and fascinating, and has a great score... But for me personally it has no re-watchability for precisely the reasons you mention.

HOT TAKE

hella disagree upvote