Spirited Away, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Hayao Miyazaki (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Spirited Away

Ten-year-old Chihiro and her family are on their way to their new home. Dad takes a wrong turn, though, and they become lost in a forest. Eventually they find their way to a strange abandoned amusement park. Chihiro wanders off. As night falls, Chihiro finds out she's in a world of ghosts, demons, and strange gods. A mysterious boy, Haku, tells her that to survive Chihiro must find work. She must go down to the boiler room and seek out an old man named Kamaji...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This full-color manga adaptation of Miyasaki's Academy Award-winning animated film stands on its own as an exceptional work of comics art. Chihiro, a 10-year-old-girl, is being taken by her parents to their new suburban neighborhood. They take a wrong turn off the highway, discover what looks to be an abandoned theme park and decide to explore it. Her parents smell food cooking and take off looking for something to eat, and that's where their troubles begin. Chihiro finds them gobbling up food in an deserted restaurant, turned into pigs, and she realizes they are trapped in a magical place of ghosts, spirits and demons. Chihiro is discovered by Haku, a boy with magical powers, who promises to help rescue her parents and find a way back to the real world. But first, he sends Chihiro to get a job at Abura-ya, a mystical bathhouse for the spirits run by a witch. At Abura-ya, readers meet a strange crew of workers and the colorful spirit forms who come there to rest. The classic tale also introduces a six-armed man who runs the boiler room; a woman laborer who befriends Chihiro; and many fantastic creatures. This five-volume "film comic" was meticulously created by scanning 35mm prints of the animated film and then ingeniously recomposing them into comics panels. The book's luxuriant illustrations seem even more saturated with color, detail and atmosphere than the film. It's a beautiful and engaging fantasy aimed at kids but likely to charm readers of any age.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan's most beloved animation directors. In 2005 he was awarded the Venice International Film Festival's Golden Lion Award for Lifetime Achievement, and his Studio Ghibli received the festival's Osella Award for overall achievement in 2004. Miyazaki's films include Spirited Away, winner of the 2002 Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature Film, as well as Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, and Ponyo, all of which have received great acclaim in the U.S. Miyazaki's other achievements include the highly regarded manga series Nausica? of the Valley of the Wind and Starting Point: 1979-1996, a collection of essays, interviews, and memoirs that chronicle his early career and the development of his theories of animation. Both are published in English by VIZ Media.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: VIZ Media LLC; Original edition (August 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569317917
• ISBN-13: 978-1569317914
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #674,337 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #20 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Comics & Graphic Novels > Manga > By Creator > Hayao, Miyazaki

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is the english translation of the Japanese film-comic, December 14, 2002

By 

Warren J. Savage (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spirited Away, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

In Japan, comic books ('manga') are a huge industry. Often, animated films are turned into full-color graphic novels. In fact, almost every film Studio Ghibli has produced has been released as a 'film comic.'

This version by Viz Communications preserves the original Jappanese right-to-left reading format (you begin reading at the 'last page', and work your way to what we consider the 'front' of a book.) Don't worry, you'll get used to reading a book "the wrong way 'round."

Why would you want this book?

1. To read the story of the movie Spirited Away. The USA (English) DVD version won't be available for quite a while, and this book contains English dialog.

2. To look at the pictures and study the artwork. Even in a small book like this, with multiple panels per page, the pictures show more detail of the artwork than you'll see from the DVD version. Although Studio Ghibli used computers extensively to assemble the film, animators still drew character cels and background artists still painted the backgrounds by hand. Cels and backgrounds were then scanned into computers at high resolution for final composition. Also, on some of the pan or tilt shots in the film, the book layout artists assembled selected frames of the shot into a larger picture. An example of this is -- in the film there is a shot that starts on the roof line above an alley. The 'camera' tilts down to show more of the alley, and finally reveals two of the films' characters running through the alley. In the book, the top, middle and bottom of the tilt shot are assembled into one full-page, highly detailed spread.

NOTE: I have the Japanese version of this book. The text is essentially the script of the film. I'm using it and the DVD of the movie to help my study of the Japanese language.

There -- I hope that gives you enough information...

25 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I Don't Know How To Rate This One, But..., October 8, 2002

By 

Alex Owens (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spirited Away, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Basically, the movie Spirited Away was another masterpiece, just as expected from master animator Hayao Miyazaki. To hear more about the movie, you can see the reviews of others and myself about the movie. But judging the comic is a hard decision.

Basically, the movie was good. And that's the problem, because the comic is based entirely on the movie. All the pictures are taken from the frames of the film, and the quotes match those of the theater version of the film. Basically, it is better off watching the movie than the comic, because there is hardly any difference, except for the fact that one is a film and one is a book.

It is based on a good movie, but I just simply feel there is no true need of reading the comic. Again, don't mistaken me; I have nothing against the comic, but it is far better off watching the movie.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ok, here goes:, April 9, 2003

By 

A. Burbach "Michael B." (Iowa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spirited Away, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

I'm writing this review because I know how incredibly frustrating it is to want to buy a book, and not know if it's worth it. I'll admit it. I'm no manga fan. But this book is truly a masterpiece. It has a nice shiny cover. It's not hardcover, but it has a nice jacket all the same. I found this very interesting because you read this but the way one in Asia would read it: backwards. It's a very strange experiance, yet quite fun. Now that I've described the apperance of the book, I'll try to tell you the truly wonderful plot of this book without spoiling it. I've have decide that all Miyazaki books and films are the only good manga out there. It amazed me! I never once gave manga a chance until I heard the halarious sounding plot of Spirited Away: It starts with the story of a small girl, named Chihiro, and her family, who are moving away to a new town. They of course, take a wrong turn, as so many of us do while moving to a new house.... wait... I'm only 13, so I wouldn't know. Let's pretend I do.... well, anyway, beside the point. They find an old ghost town and Chihiro wanders off. When she returns, she finds that her parents are pigs... literally. She now has to work there, in order to return her parents. It's SUCH a great story with GORGEOUS art. Buy, it, even if you're NOT a manga fan. I mean, look at me!