The following essay excellently points out the important changes : I think the problem was that they tried to turn this into a kid's movie, and that the West in general has very high censorship when it comes to those.

'No cuts,' Hayao Miyazaki’s producer at Studio Ghibli famously told Disney’s Harvey Weinstein using a note attached to an authentic Japanese katana he did this when Disney attained the distribution rights for Miyazaki’s earlier film Princess Mononoke, and Weinstein demanded to make several edits to no avail. By the time Studio Ghibli’s 2001 film Spirited Away came into Disney’s proverbial hands, everyone knew the rules.įittingly enough, for a film as focused on identity as Spirited Away is, a great deal of the identity and characterisation of the film changes from the original Japanese audio track to the later recorded English dub. Whether in names, subtleties of language, or major differences of motivation – especially in the case of the titular Chihiro herself – the different language tracks end up showing just how open Miyazaki’s visuals really are to interpretation, and how audiences might wish to learn to appreciate that versatility by looking at all sides of these interpretations.

Most obviously out of all the changes, the North American release’s title, Spirited Away, shortens the longer and perhaps slightly more unwieldy Japanese title of Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi. Along with being more specific to the plot of the film by adding character names, the word 'kamikakushi' means 'being hidden away by the gods'. (IMO, I prefer 'Spirited Away' to the long Japanese title).

Spirited away english audio track movie#.