The Art of Miyazaki's Spirited Away [Unknown Binding]

Product Details

• Unknown Binding
• Publisher: Viz, San Francisco (January 1, 2002)
• ASIN: B00227ZWR0
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,614,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

73 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Artbook from Wonderland, October 2, 2003

By 

Little Old Me - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Spirited Away (Hardcover)

After watching "Spirited Away", I bought the art book companion as an impulse buy. However, now that I think about it, I find myself constantly turning through its pages, even more so than I watch the movie. Hayao Miyazaki created a masterpiece in "Spirited Away", set in a wonderland-esque realm - a Japanese Bath House for the gods and spirits of Japanese mythology. This guide takes its reader through the Miyazaki's creation with great artistic detail and intriguing notations and comments.

For those who have fallen in love with "Spirited Away", as I have, this book offers insight to the multi-layered plots and characters of the film. Readers are graced with early archetural diagrams and sketches of the film's settings, along with galleries of the breath-taking final products. Also, we are offered conceptual drawlings of the cast of characters, from the early images of Yubaba and her gigantic baby to some of the minor characters and apparitions: the No Face, the bouncing heads, Haku and the silver dragon, etc.
The art and designs are a treat for both young and old, whether you have seen the film or not. As an added bonus, the collection also offers the American screenplay dialogues and detailed descriptions of the Spirit World.

This is a must have for fans of the movie, fans of anime or fans of mythology and Asian folklore. Miyazaki's true gift is creating limitless images that spark the imagination. His work in this book rivals the original fantasies and concepts within Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass". There is nothing disappointing about it.

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book, June 8, 2003

By 

M. Cookson (Colorado Springs) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art of Spirited Away (Hardcover)

Although I do have a few complaints about the book, I really liked it. Most of my complaints involved wanting more - more artist commentary, more concept drawings, that sort of thing. The book has an introduction written by Hayao Miyazaki, a section with concept sketches, a section with concept sketches, backgrounds, and character designs, and a section explaining how computer graphics were used in the movie. This book even has the movie's screenplay. I really enjoyed the concept sketches, which show how original ideas changed to create the final product. For instance, a sketch of Zeniba and Yubaba shows how much Zeniba's design changed - she looks more normally proportioned than her sister. Later in the book, there is an explanation for why the change in Zeniba's design occurred. I also enjoyed the computer graphics section, because I would never have noticed any of the things they pointed out on my own. I foudn it fascinating, they way they blended cel art and digital art so well.

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a Must Read for collectors' of Animation, December 8, 2002

By 

ufobooks (Plano, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Spirited Away (Hardcover)

This is a large book that will take more than one look to completely enjoy the scope of Spirited Away. The book opens up with a introduction by the Master himself, Hayao Miyazaki, a small picture of him, and a large sketch of Chihiro with her parents who were turned into pigs. Mr. Miyazaki strives to make animation accessible to everyone, which he is highly noted for. He tries to bring all viewers, no matter of age or locale into his extraordinary storytelling.

After the introduction is a large chapter on watercolor pencil sketches and concept art, this chapter is full of character, architecture, and design sketches. This chapter will blow you away, if you love concept art.

The next chapter is concept art but it is the actual art used in the movie; backgrounds, characters, and paintings of the scenes used. Also cel art is shown. It also has information on thoughts of the animators. Like one page discusses the "color design based on red", why red was used, what it symbolizes etc. This is a huge chapter, so it is broken down into pieces like the Bathhouse, The Frog Men, Haku etc. Each character or element is discussed.

The last chapter discusses computer generated art, its place in the making of the film, and how they created certain elements in the film. Remember every chapter is full of art and inspiration. The book is so well created, you can cut some of the art out and frame it!

Last but not least is the total script to Spirited Away! So you can follow along while you are watching the film.

Viz did a tremendous job on this book, and it will be a collectors item on your bookshelf!