Spirited Away... Swept Me Away

Spirited Away... Swept Me Away

Animation bit me two years ago. Ever since, I have this addiction to deconstruct animation features that are made by creative animation storytellers.

I came across with Spirited Away when I was researching for my lesson plan as an animation instructor in story construction and screenplay development and management.

I was immediately hooked with the material. The idea was clever as it tries to operationalize a "what if" idea formation. This is the second time I deconstructed a work by Hayao Miyazaki . And it seems he always has this fondness in tackling young and innocent love.

As the material unfolds, referring to the story and character, one could feel a diagonal type of storytelling. Wherein story and characters try to outwit each other in order to tell a compelling story.

In terms of plot pattern, we see " a boy meets girl" scenario. Plot structure is clear, it is a love plot using romance as a genre. To be more specific " Young Love". As the genre paints the tone of the material, I could feel the excitement of young love as it slowly blossoms in the screen.

As for the story, as a subject, True Love is the value discussed. The creator's played with the theme that true love, innocent and pure, overcomes all adversities in both physical and metaphysical world. And as the young lovers struggle to fight their destinies, the conflict is clear. It is fear vs. hope.

I fell in love with the story, it is well constructed and complete. Obstacles and Structural twists were well placed. In terms of characters, they are genuine and plays with a person's sentiments.

Swept Away...