CLICK THE VIDEO ABOVE TO SEE THE WEBSITE IN ACTION

This interactive website was inspired by the Studio Ghibli film, Spirited Away as well as by the two years of Japanese I studied during my time in college.

Split into three sections, starting from the left I have 危険 (Kiken) “danger”, represented by the paper antagonists who attacked Haku during the film. As your mouse hovers over it, it begins to shake with malice!

In the center, 精神 (seishin) “spirit” is represented by the character “No Face”, who fades in and out of the screen, uncontrollable by hovering, just as in the film.

On the right side, 魔法 (maho) “magic” is portrayed as the treats fed to the soot spirits in the film, showing a lighter side of the story.

As the movie relies heavily on the idea of losing your name, the Japanese title of the film “千と千尋の神隠し” (Sen to Chihiro No Kamikakushi), is a direct reflection of Chihiro’s name (千尋) changing to Sen (千) as she is “spirited away”. To represent this in the site, I designed the name “Sen” (千) to bleed to red while the old name, Chihiro (千尋) fades away, almost forgotten but never fully disappearing.