Spirited Away

What if, at 10 years old, you exited the human world and entered the spirit realm where you are then separated from your parents by a flooded river where your parents turn into pigs and you are forced to work in a bathhouse run by a granny overlord only to be faced with a myriad of challenges that could risk the future of you, your pig parents, and the harmony between worlds? Dragons, magic dumplings, and No-Face are featured in the beloved award-winning Japanese animated film Spirited Away, which is still far and away one of the most magical pieces of cinema and was, in 2017, deemed by the New York Times as the second best film of the 21st Century “so far.” The 2001 addition to the incredibly imaginative Hayao Miyazaki universe, Spirited Away reset the bar not only for animated features, but also for sensitive, deeply emotive coming-of-age storytelling.