Spirited Away, Vol. 3

Rating:
Summary: "If you forget it, you'll never find your way home"
Review: Imagine being a typical, slightly self-centered 10-year-old girl, and suddenly finding yourself the only human employee at the Abura Ya, a bathhouse for the spirits. Your parents have turned into pigs, and if you cannot find a way, they will eventually become snacks for customers of the resort. Your employer is a giant old woman named Yubaba, who drives a hard bargain and intends to make you work every moment.

This is Chihiro Ogino's lot in the manga version of Hayao Miyazaki's 'Spirited Away.' Certainly a tough role for an adult to deal with, one cannot help but admire Chihiro (now called Sen) for her fierce determination. In the world of Abura Ya she manages to find friends like Haku, a teenage boy with magical powers, and Lin, the co-worker who looks after Chihiro and helps her snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

In this third volume Chihiro starts her job as a bath attendant, performing the backbreaking labor of scrubbing floors and baths and waiting on customers. When an awesome stink spirit shows up for a wash, no one wants to go near it. Naturally, Chihiro gets stuck with the job. What ensues is a surprise for all as Chihiro discovers that she has strange friends in even stranger places.

Some notes. These beautifully colored manga are done in Japanese order [right to left, top to bottom]. At first, this is a bit confusing, but after a while, it gets to be fun. In addition, it preserves the effect of the original manga page layouts, which really is the best way to present them. Japanese sound effects are left as is, but a translation guide is included.

Rating:
Summary: "If you forget it, you'll never find your way home"
Review: Imagine being a typical, slightly self-centered 10-year-old girl, and suddenly finding yourself the only human employee at the Abura Ya, a bathhouse for the spirits. Your parents have turned into pigs, and if you cannot find a way, they will eventually become snacks for customers of the resort. Your employer is a giant old woman named Yubaba, who drives a hard bargain and intends to make you work every moment.

This is Chihiro Ogino's lot in the manga version of Hayao Miyazaki's 'Spirited Away.' Certainly a tough role for an adult to deal with, one cannot help but admire Chihiro (now called Sen) for her fierce determination. In the world of Abura Ya she manages to find friends like Haku, a teenage boy with magical powers, and Lin, the co-worker who looks after Chihiro and helps her snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

In this third volume Chihiro starts her job as a bath attendant, performing the backbreaking labor of scrubbing floors and baths and waiting on customers. When an awesome stink spirit shows up for a wash, no one wants to go near it. Naturally, Chihiro gets stuck with the job. What ensues is a surprise for all as Chihiro discovers that she has strange friends in even stranger places.

Some notes. These beautifully colored manga are done in Japanese order [right to left, top to bottom]. At first, this is a bit confusing, but after a while, it gets to be fun. In addition, it preserves the effect of the original manga page layouts, which really is the best way to present them. Japanese sound effects are left as is, but a translation guide is included.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful!
Review: This is another GREAT book of Miyazaki's. The pictures are beautiful... the story is cute... what more can I say?