Spirited Away

“Mom, my flowers are dying.”

When the family begins driving through the forest and unknowingly toward the amusement park, the flowers Chihiro received from her friend as a goodbye gift suddenly begin to wilt. Chihiro panics and shows her mother, who downplays it by blaming Chihiro for holding them too tightly. Chihiro’s mother does not realize that the flowers only began wilting moments before. On the other hand, Chihiro already realizes that something is not quite right.

“It’s fun to move to a new place. It’s an adventure.”

Chihiro is not at all impressed with the idea of moving to a new place. She is leaving behind her best friend and everything she knows, and it is clear that the family is moving to a remote town with few people or things to do. Chihiro’s mother attempts to change her daughter’s attitude toward the move by calling it an adventure. Ironically, the family ends up going on a much more spiritual sort of adventure instead.

“They’re shrines. Some people think little spirits live there.”

Chihiro and her parents drive past a pile of discarded Hokora, or miniature Shinto shrines. Each is built to house a spirit, and they are usually crafted and placed meticulously. In this case, the shrines are thrown in a pile as if they do not matter, indicating humanity’s lack of concern for nature or the spiritual.