In this blog post, I’ll examine the role of sidekicks in the adventure fantasy genre through the lens of ‘Spirited Away’.
Why Do I Love the “Fantasy” Genre?
From a structural perspective, “drama” is the “art of temporal arrangement.” The writer dramatically portrays a meaningful life within the limited time the audience spends watching the screen. This allotted time does not merely reveal a fragment of life; the characters’ specific actions are staged as if they encompass the entirety of their lives.
“Drama” is also the art of the “thriller” in terms of information placement. The relationship between the audience and the screen begins with their reaction to information. Through the dramatic information the writer presents, the audience learns who the characters are; in the process, they empathize with them and sometimes fall into the traps set by that information. The writer employs thriller-like elements in the placement of information to prevent the audience from predicting the ending in advance.
“Drama” is the art of “life itself” in the arrangement of events. When faced with certain events in our lives, we make choices; those choices are reactions to our actions and serve as both the starting point for another catastrophe and a turning point in life. Drama portrays the process by which the protagonist faces these turning points and makes choices through a suspenseful narrative structure.
Every element of “drama” is premised on causality. Human life flows according to causality, and causality is also the process of making the unfamiliar familiar. Therefore, everything we consider familiar can be seen as grounded in causality. For example, because autumn always follows summer, we prepare for autumn. Conversely, if a world where only winter repeats itself were to arrive, people would grow accustomed to that winter.
Among all genres, I believe “fantasy” is the one that truly shines when causality is fully understood. Fantasy is grounded in reality but reveals realms that are stranger than reality itself. The writer constructs causality to make the audience realistically experience the unfamiliar fantasy world within the given timeframe. The moment the author’s creative world is brought to life through causality, the audience comes to accept the invasion of Earth by aliens as if it were reality, or naturally embraces the image of a girl adventuring through the gods’ bathhouse.
The reason I enjoy dramas is that I find the very act of arranging the elements of life and unfolding a story fascinating. In particular, the reason I love fantasy is that I am drawn to the causality that creates another world beyond reality.
Why I Chose “Spirited Away”
The premise—that nature spirits, defiled by civilization, gather at a hot spring resort to bathe—is captivating. While Chihiro’s motivation for stepping into this unfamiliar world relies on chance, the premise that humans who enter the spirit world either vanish or must embrace the spirits’ way of life—and thus can never return to the human world—lends the story a strong sense of realism.
Although it seems as though Chihiro will never be able to leave, the contract she makes with Yubaba—the central figure and ruler of the hot spring resort—and the plot development that reveals Yubaba is not an all-powerful being create hope for escape and rescue.
The conflict between Yubaba, Haku, and Zeniba is revealed exclusively from Chihiro’s perspective. Rather than having their backstory explained separately from the outside, all the emotional behaviors visible through Chihiro’s eyes are conveyed in harmony with the background music. Consequently, the overall tone of the film takes on a strong sense of mystery. The sense of wonder that Chihiro experiences as she observes and feels her way through the hot spring resort is directly reflected on the screen.
This is a drama brimming with the director’s attention to detail. It’s not just about the scenes being shown; the emotional rhythm—including Chihiro’s perspective, feelings, and transformation—is meticulously orchestrated.
Key Genre-Related Discussion Points
Why does the “adventure fantasy” genre always feature a “helper” who acts as a guide to assist the protagonist? Let’s examine the role of the helper through ‘Spirited Away’.
Plot Summary by Sequence
While moving from the city to the countryside, Chihiro’s family accidentally visits a hot spring theme park run by the fearsome witch Yubaba. Chihiro’s parents, who had been devouring a sumptuous feast intended for the gods, suddenly turn into pigs. As Chihiro stands terrified, watching her oinking parents, a strange boy named Haku appears and shouts at her to leave the place immediately.
Believing she must stay with her parents, Chihiro misses her chance to escape the theme park. Haku explains that in the spirit world, Yubaba turns people into pigs if they don’t work, and takes Chihiro to Kamaji. The Old Man of the Cauldron is a spirit who creates the hot water for the bathhouse. With his help, Chihiro is able to meet Yubaba.
Overcome with fear, Chihiro abruptly demands that Yubaba let her work. When Yubaba’s baby, awakened by Chihiro’s outburst, starts making a fuss, a flustered Yubaba forces Chihiro to sign a contract agreeing to work as an employee.
Chihiro works as an employee at the hot spring resort, where spirits polluted by human civilization come to cleanse themselves. As she is given a new name, “Sen,” she gradually begins to forget her real name, but Haku warns her that if she forgets it, she will fall under Yubaba’s control. Haku also says that he cannot remember his own name.
Chihiro overcomes adversity as she befriends the spirits of the hot springs, including a faceless yokai. She gradually matures, shedding her image as a clumsy girl. In exchange for washing the Filth Spirit, she receives a mysterious dumpling.
One day, Haku is struck by a death curse after stealing a precious item from Yubaba’s twin sister, Zeniba, and fleeing. Chihiro tries to save Haku by feeding him the rice ball she received from the River Spirit—a rice ball that might hold the power to turn her parents back into humans. After eating the rice ball, Haku vomits up the item he stole from Zeniba along with a magical earthworm. Chihiro steps on the escaping worm.
Chihiro wants to return the item Haku stole to Zeniba. The Old Man in the Palanquin gives Chihiro a ticket for the Sea Train that will take her to the island where Zeniba lives. Chihiro leaves the hot spring resort, accompanied by Yubaba’s baby—who has turned into a mouse—a spirit who has turned into a mosquito, and a faceless spirit. Grandpa Kama warns her that once she boards the train, she may never be able to return.
Meanwhile, Yubaba suffers heavy losses due to the mischief caused by the faceless spirit Chihiro secretly brought along. Haku, who has recovered in the form of a dumpling, appears before the furious Yubaba and tells her that Zeniba has taken her baby. To Yubaba, who is distraught over losing her baby, Haku proposes that instead of bringing the baby back, she send Chihiro and her parents back to the human world.
Chihiro and her companions board the Sea Train. Yubaba’s mischievous baby also gradually begins to warm up to Chihiro. Upon arriving at the island where Zeniba lives, an enchanted lantern guides the group to Zeniba’s house.
When Chihiro visits Jeniba’s house, she finds that, contrary to her expectations, Jeniba is a kind witch. Chihiro returns the items Haku had stolen and apologizes for stepping on the earthworm. Jeniba welcomes Chihiro with a smile. The earthworm was a magical creature Yubaba had placed there to control Haku, and Jeniba also takes in the faceless spirit, who becomes a troublemaker when left alone.
Haku flies to Jeniba’s house to pick up Chihiro. Jeniba makes a hair ribbon herself and gives it to Chihiro as a gift. While flying through the sky with Haku on her back, Chihiro suddenly remembers Haku’s real name.
Chihiro explains that when she was a child, she nearly drowned in a lake, but the lake pushed her toward the shallows as if trying to save her. Although an apartment complex now stands where the lake once was, Chihiro knows the lake’s name and realizes that Haku was actually the spirit of that lake. After hearing Chihiro’s real name, Haku breaks completely free from Yubaba’s control.
Chihiro and Haku return to the hot spring resort. Yubaba tells them that if Chihiro can identify her parents among the countless pigs, she can break the contract and return to the human world. Though all the spirits at the resort worry for Chihiro and protest the rule, she confidently recognizes her parents.
A vast meadow marks the boundary between the spirit world and the human world. Haku tells Chihiro that they will meet again and urges her to leave without looking back. Chihiro’s parents have no memory of their time as pigs. However, the dust accumulated on the car parked in front of the theme park reveals the passage of time. Wearing the hair ribbon she received from Zeniba, Chihiro returns home with her parents.
The Grammar of Genre Films, Proving the Thesis
The two major plot frameworks that make up ‘Spirited Away’ are “adventure” and “rescue.” In an adventure plot, the protagonists are usually strongly motivated to embark on a journey. In Chihiro’s case, because her parents ate the gods’ food and were turned into pigs, she finds herself in a situation where she has no choice but to venture into the world of the gods to rescue them—a situation from which there is no easy return.
The more detailed the depiction, the more it brings an adventure plot to life. In adventure fantasy animation, the key to detailed depiction lies in how well the work’s worldview is expressed. ‘Spirited Away’ makes the most of its premise—a hot spring where gods, tainted by civilization, stop to bathe. The depiction of this hot spring goes beyond objective narration and is presented through Chihiro’s childlike perspective. The unfamiliar hot spring resort where Chihiro embarks on her adventure is portrayed as a place filled with curiosity and mystery, generating sufficient interest in the world itself.
In an adventure plot, an ally always appears to assist the protagonist on their journey. This ally points the protagonist in the right direction when they lose their way. While the protagonist’s goal is clear, the path toward that goal is filled with countless moments of choice. Allies help ensure the protagonist does not lose their way during these moments of decision.
Most characters encountered in an adventure plot remain in the role of allies, making it difficult to form deeper relationships beyond that. This is due to the nature of the adventure genre. If the protagonist were to experience deep, internal conflict with a character during the adventure, the work would struggle to maintain a pure adventure plot. This is because the purpose of the adventure is focused on how the protagonist navigates the journey and what achievements they attain.
For example, in ‘Spirited Away’, the first character Chihiro meets in the spirit world is Haku. Although Haku is Yubaba’s subordinate, he helps Chihiro. However, because his character and his conflict with Yubaba are revealed solely through Chihiro’s perspective, he is not portrayed in great depth. While Haku hints at the possibility of a romantic relationship with Chihiro, his conflict does not deeply interfere with Chihiro’s objectives, so he essentially remains in the role of an ally.
There are many allies in ‘Spirited Away’. Various characters appear, including Haku, the Bathhouse Old Man, Lin, the Faceless Spirit, and Zeniba. Chihiro continues her adventure with the help of these allies. In adventure plots, the number of allies tends to be determined by the protagonist’s “strength”: the number of allies varies depending on how independent the protagonist is and how capable they are of achieving their goals on their own.
In Chihiro’s case, she finds herself in a desperate situation where she must rescue her parents from an unfamiliar world. In that world inhabited solely by spirits, it would be difficult for Chihiro to move toward her goal alone. Therefore, many allies appear to help her.
On the other hand, in works where the protagonist is self-reliant and physically powerful, the number of allies is smaller, or their roles differ. For example, in ‘Shrek’, the characters who help Shrek are more like companions than allies. Since Shrek is already a powerful protagonist who acts and fights according to his own will, he does not need a large number of allies.
So, in an adventure plot, are “allies” simply plot devices inserted by the author to guide the protagonist’s path? No, they are not. The essence of adventure lies in continually encountering new and intriguing situations and characters. Sidekicks serve as guides who hand the protagonist their “adventure ticket” at the very first gateway to an unfamiliar world, and they also hint at the kind of adventures that lie ahead. That is why sidekicks are often portrayed as mysterious and captivating characters.
