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*May contain a few spoilers *
I am writing this review after I’ve watched Spirited Away for the second time and now I am deeply regretting that I hadn’t watched it earlier, but at the same time, I understand past me. I understand why I found this movie just “fine” and not amazing.

If you don’t watch it carefully, Spirited Away may seem simple to you, but you should definitely look for some deeper meanings behind every character and every place.

First of all, I should say this a perfect Hayazaki movie and it has everything a Hayazaki movie should have and maybe more, if you ... compare it to the older works of him. We have infinite imagination, interesting characters and a good romance between two main characters, but if the thing that binds all these together would be bad, which is the plot, then this wouldn’t be such a good movie and I am really amazed how he was able to bind all of these elements together and it’s perfectly done. You can’t see how the story goes and I like this is how it is. It is like a stand-up show in a more fantastic and somehow realistic way. Ofcourse there is a certain chain of events, but there are also some side-stories that doesn’t really effect the actual story and normally it is really diffucult to blend those side stories to the plot, since I know many movies, books and animes that I had got bored because of those side stories.

Lastly, the art is wonderful. The sceneries and places are simple, but they are suitable for the story. The most beautiful artwork was the movements of the characters. They were really natural and realistic. I guess this was what makes a fantastic movie realistic most of all, not that it’s a necessary factor, but it’s good to see the effort and the results of this effort.

So, in conclusion, since I don’t have nothing to say now, I’ll just say I LOVE this movie and also No Face or Kaonashi is the best character of all times. Yes, I’m weird.

My Neighbor Totoro, I really don’t know where to begin to tell you about this fantastic anime. It’s been one of my favourites since I watched it for the first time and now I guess I should tell you about my reasons.

First of all, the one things that impresses me most was, like in most of Miyazaki’s animes, I could feel imagination pouring out of the movie. It was floating so freely that my mind just relaxed and felt at ease for the first time in a long time. I felt like the movie was breaking the walls of my mind and by that ... way, it was setting ME free and this wasn’t the first time that I’ve lived this experince, it happened with a few of the books that I’ve read or movies that I’ve watched, but it happened every time when I’ve watched one of Mayazaki’s works.

Okay, now let’s try to find the reasons of this freedom.

The movie is through the eyes of two little girls; one is the big sister and the other is the little sister, so it’s their imagination that we are seeing, but you don’t really question if it’s real or not, what they are experiencing and the one point that I’ve really liked is, it is actually quite real, because the adults, which are the people that have lost their imaginations, can also see the proofs of the girls’ magical world and this made me very happy, because I want to believe that something magical is happening in the world and there should be, otherwise it would be plain world and where is the fun in that?

Other thing that I’ve really liked was the purity and innocence of the characters. Maybe some of the people that have watched this could think, “This isn’t real, this isn’t how people are acting in the real world.” Well, genius, that’s the my main point. Ofcourse they aren’t acting like your usual jerk that lives around you or upside you or below you. This is the perfect world where forest is happy and people are innocent and good. That’s why I feel happy when I watch this. I don’t want to see everyday people when I watch an anime from Hayazaki anyway. I know they are good and I’m perfectly happy about it.

Also, ofcourse, another thing that makes this movie so perfect is the animation and how well it can reflect the great story to us. The movements of the characters and the views of the forest, everything is just excellent.

By this point, I’m sure you think that I’ve liked everything about My Neighbor Totoro. Actually, no. The one thing I didn’t like was the song at the end, it was really simple and easy to compose, but even that can’t change my overall point, which is the perfect score, because it’s main target is children and children like songs like this, therefore, even though I didn’t like that song, it’s understandable why they chose it. I guess you were right about when you’ve thought that I like this movie and everything about it then, becuase I even adore its flaws.

So, if you are going to watch this anime and I think you should definitely watch it, this is a perfect Hayao Miyazaki movie; nothing more, nothing less and if you don’t feel happy after you’ve finished watching it and don’t want to movie to never end, then maybe you should arrange your “human settings” to factory defaults, because obviously you have lost something on the way here. Have fun.