Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi

Plot summary

Chihiro and her family are on their way to their new house in the suburbs when her father decides to take a shortcut along a lonely-looking dirt road. After getting out of the car and walking along a path for a while, they discover an open-air restaurant filled with food but with no workers or customers present. Mom and Dad don't hesitate to sit down and dig in, but Chihiro senses danger and refuses. As night falls, she is terrified to see the area fill with faceless spirits, but when she runs to find her parents, she discovers that they have been turned into pigs. She is found by a mysterious boy named Haku, who promises to help her. He gets her a job working in a nearby building, which turns out to be a bathhouse for the thousands of Japan's gods and spirits. Though the work is hard and the people strange, she does as well as she can. Her parents, however, are still waiting in the hotel's stockyard, and Chihiro must find a way to break the spell on them before they end up as the main course of some guest's dinner. Written by Jean-Marc Rocher {rocher@fiberbit.net}

While moving to a new home in Japan, Chihiro and her parents take a wrong turn down a mysterious wooded path. They come across an ominous-looking tunnel of which only Chihiro is scared. Going through the tunnel, they are lead them to a mysterious town filled with restaurants that have all kinds of delicious food on display. Chihiro's parents quickly sit down and start gorging themselves, assuming they will pay the restaurant upon their return. Chihiro's doubt of this strange town leads her to wander off, and she comes across a building of titanic size, where a young boy warns her to leave before nightfall. However, as the sun sets, the town begins to fill up with the gods of Japan's mythology, and Chihiro returns to find her parents mysteriously turned into pigs. The young boy, Haku, works in the building, which is a bathhouse for 8 Million gods. He helps Chihiro find work in this new world, find a way to save her parents from a dinner platter, and find her way home. Written by Jason Krischke

(Cast overview, first billed only)

	Rumi Hîragi	...	Chihiro/Sen (voice)
	Miyu Irino	...	Haku (voice)
	Mari Natsuki	...	Yubaba/Zeniba (voice)
	Takashi Naitô	...	Chihiro's Father (voice)
	Yasuko Sawaguchi	...	Chihiro's Mother (voice)
	Tatsuya Gashuin	...	Aogaeru, Assistant Manager (voice)
	Ryunosuke Kamiki	...	Bôh (voice)
	Yumi Tamai	...	Lin (voice)
	Yo Oizumi	...	Bandai-gaeru (voice)
	Koba Hayashi	...	Kawa no Kami (voice)
	Tsunehiko Kamijô	...	Chichiyaku (voice)
	Takehiko Ono	...	Aniyaku (voice)
	Bunta Sugawara	...	Kamajii (voice)
	Noriko Kitou	...	Additional Voices (voice)
	Shiro Saito	...	Additional Voices (voice)