![]() ![]() If she fears that the new witch she’s about to meet might be scarier than her twin, or wonders how she’ll get back to the bathhouse where she works, given that the train only goes in one direction, Chihiro doesn’t show it. ![]() The train is empty except for these two young souls in the spiritual realm, but we see it full of life in the past.Ī spirit-train also plays a significant part in Miyazaki’s Spirited Away when the protagonist, Chihiro, has to go on a spiritual quest to make amends with her boss’ twin sister. The train continues to appear in various portions of the film, each memory a stop marking their inevitable decline. His spirit joins his sister’s, and the two board a ghost-train that leads them into a flashback retelling of their tragic story. The film has perhaps one of the bleakest openings in any Ghibli movie, starting with a scene of a train station in post-war Japan, where a forlorn boy dies in plain sight of passersby. These journeys can also take a spiritual turn, as they do in Takahata’s Grave of the Fireflies. In Isao Takahata’s Only Yesterday, Taoko’s train doesn’t just transport her from Tokyo to the countryside, it also takes her to her childhood memories of first love and growing up, setting her up to re-evaluate what she wants for her future. More often than not, trains in Ghibli movies connect characters with their past or future, giving them a chance to reflect on where their journeys have taken them. Even then, the dramatic event ends up introducing its idealistic plane engineer Jiro to his future wife Naoko. Trains in Ghibli movies tend to be a much calmer form of transportation, unless an accident strikes, as it does in Miyazaki’s biopic The Wind Rises. It’s a strange beast, but an unforgettable way to travel through the worlds of Studio Ghibli - and a reminder that even the spirit world has its fanciful equivalent of the mundane objects we take for granted. The Cat Bus moves like an animal, and runs up trees like an animal, but its design includes windows, seats, and glowing-eyed rats that serve as running lights. The movie perfectly captures the girls’ excited reactions to sitting inside a living, breathing bus with a furry interior. ![]() Later, Totoro summons the Cat Bus so the sisters can go see their mom in the hospital. The many-legged Cat Bus has a Cheshire-sized grin, eyes like headlights illuminating whatever it’s looking at, and a stubbed fluffy tail trailing behind it. Waiting for their father’s bus during a rainstorm, young sisters Satsuki and Mei see the bearish forest spirit Totoro board a different kind of bus than the one they were expecting. Magical transport in Miyazaki movies can also take the form of otherworldly creatures, like when Chihiro of Spirited Away rides a flying dragon, or San of Princess Mononoke uses a giant wolf to defend her forest home.Īnd possibly no form of magical transportation in Ghibli movies is more recognizable than the friendly Cat Bus of My Neighbor Totoro. The movie later uses the image of boats returning to the harbor to show the restoration of balance between man and nature. In his Little Mermaid riff Ponyo, magic turns a child’s toy boat into a full-sized one, fit for a rescue mission. The heroine of his pre-Ghibli movie Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind uses a futuristic wind glider to travel between her lush, green village and the toxic post-apocalyptic world that surrounds them. Hayao Miyazaki’s movies in particular tend to have fantastical modes of transportation. Actually flying a plane isn’t just an act of skill and courage, it can also represent a meditation on the human toll of its use as a weapon, or the opportunity to save the day before it’s too late. Public transportation can give characters a spiritual pause, a chance to reflect on where they’ve been, and where they’re heading next. Ghibli’s movies use planes, trains, buses, boats, and cars to herald the start of an adventure, or serve as a prelude before something extraordinary happens to the heroes. ![]() Throughout the Ghibli catalog, transportation often plays a major role in storylines or character development, so much so that car trips or plane flights almost always carry some extra layer of significance. Studio Ghibli’s movies always look and feel like they’re on the move. To celebrate the arrival of the Japanese animation house’s library on digital and streaming services, we’re surveying the studio’s history, impact, and biggest themes. May 25-30 is Studio Ghibli Week at Polygon. ![]()
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