Well, …I sat through Spirited Away last night.  The genre just doesn’t grab me, that’s my honest response.  & yet:  The detail was brilliant; the story was cool; I was well on my way to losing interest as the parents started in with their exaggerated gluttony @ the unattended buffet line, just felt…false, but stuck it out…& glad I did. That’s when the story took its mystical-magical-opium-trip turn for the better.  I really dug the artwork (animation)…& the score…well, all of the imagery really.  That whole stink spirit in the bathhouse bit was gruesome; must have collaborated with Kevin Smith or Danny Boyle on those frames.  & the theatre-mask-froggy-turd-specter-cricket-thingy-corruptor-guy with the whole twisted gift giving bit was a kick…& the juggle-heads…oi-oi-boing..oi-oi-boing.  A completely unique viewing experience…& yet, as with every other anime, my eyelids kept fighting me for control of complete consciousness.  Had to run it through one more time in the background later while doing something else just to listen to the dialogue I missed. 

One more time:  Great superb splendid detail.  No doubt some of the story went over

my head.  Miyazaki is probably a genius in his field.  It’s as if Jim Henson died while remixing Labyrinth … & went to the seventh level of Japanese hell for some obscure reason … & got lost in an opium den while whacked on the miserable sweet sky-blue haze … &, while haunting David Lynch in his worst nightmares, tried to create a tender tale of coming-of-age ala The Never Ending Story … but found he had to purge his every demon along the way … while paying homage to mother earth.  A film for the whole… family.  Long live Chihiro & the Spirit of Kohaku River….  Maybe the most imaginative thing I’ve ever seen…& yet I’ll likely never revisit it.

…But thanks for the push, Andrea & SRB.

I’ll look for Princess Mononoke & give it a spin too. 

Then I’ll probably need a long break from Anime.