Summary

• Spirited Away is a fantastical tale with a triumphant and melancholy ending, featuring a relatable and self-possessed protagonist, Chihiro.
• Chihiro's journey through the spirit world is filled with anxiety and fear, but also triumph and bravery, as she learns lessons from the characters she encounters.
• The ending of Spirited Away sees Chihiro ing a final test, choosing her real parents among the pigs, and ultimately gaining the power of self-actualization to escape the spirit world.

Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away is a fantastical tale with an ending that’s triumphant and melancholy. Miyazaki’s eighth directed film, Spirited Away is the story of a young girl, Chihiro, who stumbles across the spirit world and must find her way back to her parents. Chihiro's parents are transformed into pigs and Chihiro becomes lost in the Kami spirit world from Japanese folklore. Chihiro ends up taking a job at a bathhouse for spirits, working with her only friend, Haku, to find a way to escape the clutches of the bathhouse's overseer — the nefarious witch Yubaba — and free her parents.

2001's Spirited Away is not only one of Hayao Miyazaki’s best movies, but it also won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Chihiro is a relatable and self-possessed protagonist and her journey through the spirit world is filled with anxiety and fear but even more with triumph and bravery. The characters she meets are imaginatively designed and voiced and each offers Chihiro a different lesson that builds on the themes of the film. Spirited Away explained that Chihiro’s growth feels real and her escape from the spirit world feels earned.

What Happens In Spirited Away’s Ending

How Chihiro Rescues Her Parents From Yubaba

The buildup to the Spirited Away ending sees Chihiro and the spirit friends she made leave the bathhouse and visit Zeniba, Yubaba’s kind twin sister. In the house at Swamp Bottom, Chihiro is treated kindly, but she is upset at the fact she is no closer to escaping with her parents. Zeniba cheers her up with a gift she and her new friends made. At that moment, Haku retrieves her. They reunite happily and the two of them, along with Boh and the Yubaba-bird, say goodbye to Zeniba and No-Face as they head back to the bathhouse.

When Chihiro returns, Yubaba and all the Spirited Away are waiting for her. Yubaba gives Chihiro a final test; if she es, she and her parents may leave. The test forces her to choose which pigs are her parents. Chihiro es the test and leaves the spirit world. When she returns to the fair, she sees no time has ed and her parents don’t anything of their experience. Chihiro and her parents get in the car, and she gives one final look at the fairground before driving off.

How Did Chihiro And Her Family Escape From The Spirit World In Spirited Away?

Chihiro Gained The Power Of Self-Actualization

When Chihiro begins working in Yubaba’s bathhouse, the witch takes her name and dubs her “Sen” as a condition of her employment. To return to the human world, Sen cannot forget her real name. That is why Haku is still in Yubaba’s employ after many years. Names and identities are extremely important in Spirited Away. Each spirit has a distinct identity and to remove someone’s name traps them. This idea of identity extends to how Yubaba tests Chihiro before agreeing to let her out at the end of Spirited Away — Chihiro must successfully name the pigs that are her parents.

Yubaba may not have even given Chihiro the chance to leave if not for her son. The witch’s baby was originally a spoiled child, but after being transformed into a mouse and forced to stay with Chihiro, he learns a lesson about kindness and speaks up for her. Chihiro looks at the pigs and realizes none of them are her parents.

How she knows this isn't important to the Spirited Away ending, it's the fact she knows it at all that's important. Chihiro knows who she is and who her parents are even she's going by the name of Sen and her mother and father are nameless pigs. Self-actualization allows her to return home.

No-Face’s Ending Mirrors Chihiro’s

The Iconic Spirit Shares Many Similarities With Spirited Away's Hero

No-Face is a shadowy spirit with a white mask that Chihiro invites into the bathhouse. Chihiro treats the spirit kindly, and it takes a liking to the girl. No-Face is a strange character in Spirited Away, and his personality and arc touch on important themes of the film and mirror Chihiro’s journey. When No-Face is first introduced, he is alone and without an identity. It isn’t until Chihiro invites him in that he begins offering gold and using the luxuries of the bathhouse. Just like Chihiro, No-Face is a stranger to the bathhouse.

However, No-Face doesn’t belong, as spending any time in the bathhouse transforms it into a monster. Like Chihiro after forfeiting her name to merely be Sen, No-Face does not have an identity either. No-Face represents Chihiro’s loneliness and the beautiful moment in Spirited Away of them sitting together on the train shows how similar the characters are. Chihiro’s journey forces her to confront her loneliness and sense of self and No-Face is a representation of what can happen if she loses those things.

How Did Chihiro Help Haku At The End Of Spirited Away?

Chihiro Learns Haku's Real Name

One of the few friends Chihiro has is Haku, one of Yubaba’s employees at the bathhouse. Yubaba took Haku’s name long ago, and he can’t it to escape. When Haku picks up Chihiro from Zeniba’s house, Chihiro re something as she rides on Haku in his dragon form. Chihiro recalls a time she was caught in a river and something saved her. It turns out that the name of that river, the Kohaku River, is Haku’s real name, which then frees him from his contract.

It was Haku who told Chihiro to her real name when Yubaba changed it to Sen, and Chihiro repays that debt by giving Haku back his name. For most of her time in the spirit world, Chihiro is the victim, but she gains confidence and strength as she helps the bathhouse, becomes a useful employee, and makes friends. Her gift to Haku is the final step in her growth and brings her relationship with the spirit full circle. He saves her at the beginning of Spirited Away and Chihiro repays the favor in the only way she can.

Did The Events Of Spirited Away Actually Happen Or Were They In Chihiro’s Head?

There Are Clues Chihiro's Time In Yubaba's Bathhouse Wasn't A Dream

When Chihiro crosses the dried riverbed, she turns back to see that the bathhouse and the surrounding spirit world have been replaced by the wide open field from the film's beginning. Chihiro finds her parents, and they have no recollection of being transformed into pigs. It appears that no time has ed. The scene of the family walking back towards their car is the exact shot of them walking towards the fair from the beginning. It could be assumed that the events of Spirited Away didn’t happen at all.

However, there are two signs that the events of Spirited Away did happen and the magic that transported Chihiro to the spirit world erased her parents' memories of the event. For one, Chihiro still has the bracelet Zeniba gave her in Swamp Bottom at the end of Spirited Away. The second clue is that when the family gets to their car, they see it covered in branches, leaves, and dust. Something happened there and somehow time ed strangely. Even if her parents aren’t aware of it, Chihiro knows that what they experienced was real.

The Real Meaning Of Spirited Away’s Ending

Chihiro's Adventure Is About Moving Forward And Letting Go

Spirited Away’s emotional ending is a standard for Studio Ghibli and resolves Chihiro's arc by transforming how she sees the world and herself. Chihiro starts the film annoyed at her parents for moving and is sad to say goodbye to her friends. She is a stereotypical, gloomy child. Not only does she not want to move, but she’s taken to an abandoned fair that she wants no part of, and as a consequence, Chihiro is transported to the spirit world. However, Spirited Away explained that Chihiro grew up after resisting it for so long.

By the end of Spirited Away, Chihiro is a self-possessed, confident, and kinder young woman. Her very last task is to cross the river bed and not look back, just like she needed to do for her family’s move. It’s a hopeful but also sad ending message for Spirited Away. Chihiro eventually looks back at her old life, but first, she needs to go forward. When her mother asks Chihiro if she’s nervous, Chihiro’s answer, “I think I can handle it” points to how the events of Spirited Away have readied her for the next stage of life.