Dark Studio Ghibli Urban Legend's, Part 1

( Spoilers! If you haven't seen a movie in this article feel free to skip over it or go watch it. Highly recommended to watch any of these! Seriously. They are amazing. )

Spirited Away

Spirited Away was absolutely an all-time favorite for many Studio Ghibli fans. In this film, it follows a particularly whiny ten-year-old Chihiro, and her parents. They are moving to a new home and on the way, discover an abandoned amusement park. Chihiro is very uneasy about the amusement park. She doesn't want anything to do with it! It gives her the creeps and... reasonably so. Because outside of the tunnel leading to the amusement park and well down the path they drove up on the way, are Spirit Statues. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with what a Spirit Statue is- they are designed to ward off evil spirits. You can take that as you will; they may be there, to protect the rest of the world from the spirits in the amusement park and simultaneously keep those spirits inside or if you continue to watch the movie you will see that the spirits are not evil and Yubaba is a witch. So maybe she put those there to protect her bathhouse from evil spirits- since as we have seen, there are massive boats that bring in traveling spirits, as well as a train.

Anyways, unshaken by Chihiro's protests, her parents decide to venture in any way and that’s when we see Chihiro standing next to a Dōsojin Statue. Also known as Dōsoshin Statue's. When Chihiro refused to go into the entrance, the statue's eerie appearance scared her into going inside anyways. The statue is shown as a woman with two faces. The smile we see as Chihiro decides to go in implies that she wishes Chihiro good luck for her journey into the Spirit Realm. According to several Ghibli fan sites, the Dōsoshin statue is probably over 140 years old, based on her design.

After entering, her parents smell the food of the spirits and immediately take off to eat it, showing no respect for the afterlife, no courtesy to wait for someone, etc... In a somewhat sick and twisted way, Yubaba saw how Chihiro's parents hogged down the food, and in a rage, Yubaba turned them into pigs, fitting to their behavior, and they were moved to a slaughterhouse. Meanwhile, Chihiro starts working in the Spirit Realm and grows considerable lengths in personality and will-power in order to save her parent's lives. This stood as a good example to many children in bettering their own behavior and remains to be an outstanding movie full of life lessons, even adults are happy to reflect on. Fun facts aside and that all being said, here are two things you may not have known about Spirited Away!

NoFace is/was Human

In this particular Studio Ghibli realm, humans cannot be in the Spirit Realm for too long or their skin begins to turn transparent. We never got to see what would have become of Chihiro if this continued to happen to her because Haku came in and saved her with berries that made her skin solid again. But we do see NoFace who is also transparent and he seems to take a special liking to Chihiro. Fan theories say this is because he is human. The theory does make sense if you think about it. He is transparent like humans become when they go into the Spirit Realm and when his mouth opens in his neck, it has human teeth. Not to mention as he eats people and gets larger, he starts getting more defined human features. Human legs, human arms, human hair, it makes sense, right?

To make this theory better, you see humans on the train that Chihiro takes to Yubaba's sister. NoFace chooses to go along with Chihiro and feels remorse for what he did. But the spirits on that train seem to be shadows of their previous human souls. They are workers off to a job and that's all they seem to do. They display no sense of hunger or anger as NoFace had.

My theory is, Chihiro's parents were not the only ones to take interest in that amusement park. That's why there were so many pigs. I bet, NoFace was human, and his parents also ate the food rather rudely. Yubaba probably cursed them as well, since Yubaba seemed so confident in her ability to disguise humans as pigs as shown when she gave Chihiro her final "Test". That makes you wonder though, in the beginning, Chihiro's parents gawked and dug into a really large, cooked, pig. Could that pig have been another cursed human? The alternative would be that for some strange reason the Spirit world has a constant supply of pigs. One seems just as unlikely as the other seems likely- not to mention, both prospects are rather disturbing.

But anyways, NoFace likely searched for his parents and then hid when the spirits began to appear. However, unlike Chihiro, he did not have a friend come along and give him a cure for his fading body. Surviving the night, he would have fully transformed and in pain from the fact that he lost his parents to the food in that world, he probably eats endlessly wishing he could join his parents. He probably doesn't know that Yubaba is why his parents turned to pigs, not because of what they ate.

When he first saw Chihiro, she was in the bathhouse and he was not fooled. I believe NoFace knew from the very beginning that Chihiro was a human girl. But he respected her then, likely because she was standing with the spirits as a human. Unlike himself, who hid and turned into a spirit. His sudden hatred of her no doubt came from the pain of the fact that she lived when he didn't and his parents were gone because of the food. From his perspective, the only big difference between them was all of the spirits were quickly aware of Chihiro's appearance. So his reaction was to eat everything he could and make every spirit undoubtedly aware of his presence, while he demanded to have Chihiro. To eat her, yes, but to kill her- so she would know his pain. Then she gave him the rock from the water spirit and he was in a rage- he had to get her while he was still so sick and so hurt. But the rock seemed to make him puke up not only the people but also a black gluttonous slime that is normally associated with "Restless Spirits". He still tried, through puking to reach her though, because if he didn't, his humanity would come back. Because he was human and his previous actions would bring him more guilt and shame.

The other huge thing is Yubaba can't stand humans, but her sister loves them and the only person she seemed to love more than Chihiro, even over her own nephew, was NoFace. Chihiro had to have been the most aggravating and inspiring being in NoFaces life, because somehow, she lived. Somehow, she didn't fade, and somehow, she wasn't afraid of him. Even when, given this theory, he was probably afraid of himself. Not only was he trying to kill Chihiro he was also trying to kill himself in a way, he was trying to turn into a pig. He ate everything they had to give, so he could be a pig. He had nothing to lose, he was already dead. All he wanted was his parents. When Chihiro literally ran his anger off, he seemed to not only show remorse for his actions but respect for her again. At that moment he seemed to decide that even though he may never get his parents back, he could help her get hers back.

Yubaba's Bathhouse is also a brothel

Chihiro is hired as a “yuna” (Bath Girl), in Spirited Away. In Japanese, this word is typically only used for a woman who works in a bathhouse to bathe and massage clients, this includes sexual services. Which in many cultures was very common especially in a hospitality setting, consider the “Happy Ending Massage” as an example. So, a yuna in the past (Which would be the case for Spirited Away since they are all dead) would often become a bathhouse prostitute. You might also notice that all the gods that visit are “Ogami”, or male gods, further suggesting the sexual side of this theory.

We also see the head of the Bathhouse, Yubaba, dressed in a western style. There is no doubt she is dressed far more extravagantly than anyone else in the bathhouse. This is expected and an indicator that she is taking far more money out of this business than she should. Its common practice, as sad as it is, for establishments such as this to take more money than they should in order to keep their workers working. It makes them dependent on the establishment for a living. Furthermore, on a road down memory lane- In Japan, many prostitutes of “high caliber” were adorned in fancy western clothing that was typically gifted to them by American Soldiers, sometimes even as payment for their services. If that doesn't sell it for you, the name of women who ran these bathhouses was Yubaba. That's right, Yubaba is a title.

Furthermore, when Yubaba takes Chihiro in, she claims Chihiro as hers, as she seizes the name. Implying Chihiro to be property, which is exactly how prostitutes were seen in those establishments. They were treated as the property of the establishment. To make things worse… Chihiro’s name was not a name. It was a number. Again, common practice, in Japan, prostitutes often changed their name, of choice, and other times of requirement. This name change was normally of a nickname. In Japan they call it a genjina, in America, we ignorantly and jokingly call it your porn star name. What Yubaba changed Chihiro’s name to, is 千 in Kanji, as shown in the movie. That Kanji, Sen, is a number. Its 1000. Like, 1000 euros or gold. Considering their currency was gold, I'd say it was either gold nuggets or pounds. Which was her value.

Historically, Bathhouses have always had prostitutes. It was always a part of their service. At least, until Edo Police, now known as Tokyo Police banned prostitution. Now, if gold was their currency... I would not be surprised if the Spirit Realm Chihiro found herself in was old enough to have been around the times Tokyo was Edo.

My Neighbor Totoro

My Neighbor Totoro is another childhood favorite that many people loved. It follows a young girl named Mei, her older sister Satsuki, and their father as they move into a new home. After they get settled and have household chores they become happy with the idea that their house is haunted and filled with soot sprites. About a quarter way through the movie, the little girl, Mei runs off and scares her older sister and father into thinking she is missing. But the innocent little girl is found sleeping inside the hedge in their yard, she swears that she met a forest spirit and runs through the tunnels eager to show her father and sister the massive cuddly beast she had met. Only to find dead ends and be called a liar by her sister.

Both girls express a lot of emotional destress throughout the film due to their mother's illness and the fear that she may not ever come back. It over all seems to be a cute story that follows two girls learning and growing past their family's misfortune, with the help of the forest spirits and their guidance.

Now comes the theory and urban legend. Way back in Japan, back in 1963, there was an incident referred to as the "The Sayama Incident." For those of you who don't know, The Sayama Incident was a murder case. One of a 16-year old girl who was kidnapped on her way home from school, raped and murdered. The attack took place May 1st, 1963, the girls name was Yoshie Nakata, and her birthday was May 1, 1947. It was her birthday, she JUST turned 16. Later that night a ransom note was delivered to her house demanding that someone deliver 200,000 yen, to a place close to her house at midnight of May 2nd. Her sister, who later committed suicide, took fake money to the designated place with many policemen surrounding the area. Although the man came to her and exchanged words, he became suspicious and managed to escape that night.

On May 4th, they found her body buried in the alley of a farm. Police determined she was raped and then murdered. The media criticized the police for failing to catch the possible suspect again, as something similar happened only a month prior. As of May 6th, 1947, a man nearby committed suicide the day before his wedding. Many people claimed he was the true suspect. But the police arrested someone else and claimed the man who committed suicide could not have been a rapist because he had erectile dysfunction.

Here is where the theory comes in, many people speculate that Totoro is a God of Death and that My Neighbor Totoro is based off of The Sayama Incident. This fan theory is very famous, and the Studio released a statement denying its connection to the incident back in 2007, however, people find the connections hard to shake.

As seen in the image, the crate behind Granny, translates to Sayama tea. It's called the Sayama Incident because it took place in Sayama. You could think the crate was shipped there, but then the hospital that their mom stays in, translates to the almost exact name of Sayama's major hospital. Hachikokuyama Hospital vs Shichikokuyama Hospital or 新山手病院 vs 七国山病院.

Both sisters names mean May. Satsuki (五月) translates to May, in Japanese. While Mei (メイ) is how you pronounce May in Japanese. The sisters literally have the same name and that name just happens to be the month of the most famous incident of the town they live in, Sayama.

Soot sprites are adorable, of course, but did you know that soot sprites are apart of ancient Japanese folklore? They are creatures you see just before death. Which makes sense, since the only other person who had seen them before was that old woman, Granny.

Furthermore, the Cat bus when it arrives has Kanji on it that literally translates to "The Path to The Grave" meaning, it’s a bus from the human world to the Spirit Realm.

When Mei goes missing, the villagers rally together to find Mei and instead find a sandal that looks exactly like Mei's. When shown, Satsuki can’t face that it’s her sisters’ sandal. Showing that Mei drowned. This is where, in real life, she was said to have gone crazy. In the story, Satsuki lies saying that it isn’t Mei's and runs to Totoro to help find her sister. Totoro calls the Cat bus that takes Satsuki to a graveyard to see her sister. Implying they both died. Then together, they go off to see their mom at the hospital. This is expressed further when their mom, who is on the edge of death the whole movie is the only one who could see Satsuki and Mei in the tree. They were able to deliver their corn but disappear when the parents look up in the tree directly. Because at that point, they were spirits too. Then the bus takes them "home" but for many spirits, in many cultures, including the Japanese culture, you go where you believe you need to be after death. That will remain their reality until they can accept that they are dead.

As rumors have it, in real life, the big sister saw her little sister’s corpse in The Sayama Incident. When she saw her sister’s body, she went crazy and into shock at the same time. Later, many said they were trying to help care for her and she kept mumbling things like; “I saw a ghost... but it was this... monster cat” = the cat bus and “I met a big raccoon spirit” = Totoro, before committing suicide. She claimed he was the only way she could see her sister. Which is strange since Totoro is the only way Satsuke could use the cat bus or find her sister.

Authors Note: So there you have it. Studio Ghibli Urban Legends from two beautiful movies! For starters, I have loved Studio Ghibli, honestly, my whole life, and my Spotify has more playlists dedicated to these fun-loving movies than... Any other genre, if I am being completely honest. But! Something I love more than- No, no... Something I love as well! Is the theories and urban legends of Studio Ghibli. So there are a few crazy and little concerning theories to share. On a side note, if you are interested, I do have a Facebook page for feedback (And promotion of your own articles if you ask) Click Here! If you liked this and are interested in more, go ahead and subscribe and hit that like button! Thank you all so much, stay safe and make healthy choices! 🖤