Synopsis by ajnrules@kcroyalsfan.com ------------------------------------ Okay...the movie starts out with a shot of a family inside the car. A girl, Chihiro (it's not hard to know her name when it's the first word spoken) holds a bouquet of flowers with a goodbye card, so we infer that this family is moving. Her dad calls her name and tells her they're almost there, so she looks up from the bouquet. The parents comment about how rural this place it. They see the school and talk about how good it looks. Chihiro replies by sticking her tongue out at the school, and says her old school was better before lying back down. Suddenly she sits up. She is worried her flowers are dying. The mom comments that Chihiro has been grasping on to them too tightly. Chihiro becomes downtrodden and complains (hey, she's ten years old) about how her first bouquet is a farewell one. The mom wonders about the rose Chihiro got for her birthday, but Chihiro says how one flower doesn't count as a bouquet. The mom tells her daughter to settle down, for they've got a lot of work to do. She gives Chihiro her card back and opens the window. The car makes a right turn and the title card appears. The car drives to a place with no road, and the dad says they must have made a wrong turn somewhere. They look around and they see their new, blue house. The dad suggests they keep on going at that path, for it just might bring them to their new home. They continue to drive. Chihiro looks out and sees a bunch of small houses scattered around. She asks her mom what it is, and her mom answers that those are shrines and that people pray to them. (Chihiro's family drives an Audi!) Chihiro leans forward and asks her father if it's okay, and the dad tells her not to worry. His car is 4-wheel drive. He uses this as an excuse to drive as a maniac and Chihiro is sent back to her seat. She looks and sees this weird statue pass by. The mom tells the dad to slow down, when they realize that the road doesn't lead them to their new home...it leads them to...A TUNNEL WITH A STATUE BLOCKING IT! The dad gets out and walks to the mouth of the tunnel. Chihiro follows. The dad says the structure is made of plaster. A gust of wind blows and Chihiro says it feels like some force is sucking the air in. The mom gets out and the dad tells her they ought to go exploring. Chihiro refuses to go and rushes out to the statue. The dad calls her over but Chihiro is defiant. She realizes how creepy the thing she's standing next to is, and how her parents really are walking away without her. She does a little boogie and chases after them. They walk along a tunnel and soon reaches a place with a dripping fountain and a bunch of church pews or something like that. They stand there looking before the mom hears a train. This must be near the train station, they infer, and walk on. Outside, they see this big open field with a bunch of seemingly abandoned buildings and randomly placed statues. The dad says this must be one of the amusement parks that was so common in the 1990s but went out of business. They move on, much to Chihiro's dismay, but another gust of wind sends Chihiro racing after her parents. They cross a creek ("they must be planning a river" says the dad) before the dad smells something. He races off, while his family follows. Following his nose (Toucan Sam would be proud), he soon finds a counter full of food. It is an empty restaurant. The dad calls for people, but finds none. They don't mind and begin taking food from the counter. Chihiro asks if it's all right and the dad says "Daijoubu" and adds that he's got cash and credit card. They keep on eating despite the fruitless calls of their daughter. Not entirely happy, Chihiro wanders off and sees a giant building. She gapes at it in wonder, and hears a noise. She rushes to the edge of the bridge in front of the building and sees...A TRAIN! Turning around, she sees somebody is watching her. That person suddenly comes yelling at her to get the heck out before it's too late! The lights start turning on, and the guy tells her to get a move on and he'll distract them. He blows some things off his hand. Chihiro runs down the steps, wondering who that guy was. She goes back to her parents, still gobbling up food. She shakes her father's shoulder, only to see...A PIG! She gasps in horror, and a shadowy figure slaps the pig with a fly slapper. Chihiro runs away while the pig squeals in the back. She rushes, scared, calling for her parents, while shadowy figures move around her. She rushes back to the field, only to see that it's filled with water! She begins to whisper to herself that it's all a dream (and whacking her head while she's at it) and that it should disappear. She notices a boat approaching and notices that she's disappearing! The boat docks and beings to unload. A bunch of invisible things, chickies, and other things walk out. Chihiro looks at them with fear before rushing away. The guy comes walking down and sees Chihiro hiding in a corner. Chihiro tells him to go away and throw her hands out at him, but it doesn't stop. Her hands go through this mysterious person. The guy tells her to calm down and eat this pill or berry or something that he has with her. She puts it in her mouth and she swallows it. She's back to regular flesh and blood. Suddenly, he tells her to get down. A weird bird flies overhead. When it goes away, he tells her to get up, but she can't. He runs his hand over her leg telling the spirits inside her to release her. She gets up and they start running. They go inside this shed and she sees a bunch of pigs and ship-sized fishes among other things. They end up at the opening of the large building. The person tells Chihiro to hold her breath until they get across the bridge. As they got on the bridge, she takes a big breath. They walk amid walking tables and chickies and a weird black thing. She successfully gets across 3/4 of the bridge, but a frog comes jumping up at them saying how much he missed "Hak-sama!" Surprised, Chihiro gasps, immediately making her presence known to the frog. The guy the frog called Hak-sama encases the frog in a black sphere leaving him floating in the air while he takes Chihiro and flies toward this small door. The sphere disappears and the frog falls onto the bridge and looks around him. Meanwhile, Chihiro and the person the frog called Hak-sama find themselves in a garden while chaos ensues inside. Hak-sama says that they know she's there and she must go on alone, much to the dismay of Chihiro, who tells him to stay. The person says that he can't, but puts his hand on Chihiro's forehead, showing her what she should do. He says after things die down a little, she should go through this little door, down the steps, and through this door to meet this person named Kamaji. (Chihiro: Kamaji?) Afterwards, she must tell him she wants to work. He'll refuse, but she should stick around, for Yubaba kills anybody that doesn't work. As he gets up to leave, Chihiro asks him why he knows her name. The guy says he doesn't know where, but he's sure he saw her sometime before. He adds his name is Haku (it certainly is less awkward than "The Guy" or "The person the frog called Hak-sama") before going in. Chihiro looks a little bit longer before crawling though the door. She walks to the staircase and feels quite intimidated. Slowly she makes her way down the first few steps. As she gets ready to go down like the seventh one, it breaks on her and she must race down the steps in order to keep from falling head over heels. Her momentum is stopped by running into a wall (which surely would have broken her nose if it wasn't as small as it is.) She stands there breathing hard before a window above opened. A humanoid frog looks out and smokes a cigarette. Slowly she inches away and goes down the rest of the stairs to the door. She looks inside and sees this spider-like man with six long arms and short legs. He's grinding some medicinal plants he occasionally places into the grinder while little fuzzies carry coal to throw into the furnace. She's a little bit freaked out by the sight and inches away, burning her shoulder on the hot machinery. The spider-man bangs a little hammer on this wheel he spins occasionally (dropping a chopstick) and the little fuzzies go into these holes along the wall. Chihiro timidly steps forward and tries to get the spider-man's attention. The spider-man leans forward to look at her (going "Hmm?") before she asks him to give her a job. A bunch of things fall from overhead. The spider-man groans why there are so much at once before introducing himself. He's Kamaji and his job is to heat water for the baths, and adds he doesn't need an extra hand for he has all those little fuzzies working for him. As if on cue, the little fuzzies begin to come out carrying their precious coal. They go bumping into each other at the corner Chihiro is standing at, so Chihiro goes back, getting out of their way. Kamaji reaches back, sees Chihiro standing in front of the drawer he wants to access, and tells her to get out of the way. He opens that drawer and takes out some plants and goes to one way up high and does the same. Chihiro looks down, disappointed. A fuzzy comes carrying a piece of coal a little bit too heavy and is smashes below the mass of pure carbon. Chihiro picks it up and he fuzzy comes up from the ground and rushes back into the hole. Chihiro asks what she should do with it and suggests putting it on the ground when Kamaji reprimands her, telling her she should finish what she started. So Chihiro does, carrying the piece of coal all the way to the furnace and tosses it in, sweating at the heat. Seeing this, one fuzzy drops the coal on himself and the others follow suit. Kamaji, obviously unhappy at this rebellion, bangs his hammer on the wheel and tells them to get back to work. He tells Chihiro that she should steal other people's jobs, for if they (the fuzzies) don't work, their magic would disappear. He her he's got nothing for her there, so she should try somewhere else. The furious fuzzies clamor and surround Chihiro. Kamaji tells them a revolution is useless and that they should get to work! A door opens at the other end of the room and a person comes in carrying food and a basket, saying it's break time. She comments on the argument she probably could have heard on the other side of the wall and asks for the old dishes before giving Kamaji his food. Kamaji takes the food and yells that it's break time (while sending the signs that fell earlier up). The fuzzies immediately forgot about the incident and rushes away, leaving a large pile of coal at Chihiro's feet. The person comes and throws a bunch of star-shaped candy at the fuzzies. She looks up and sees Chihiro and gasps, for she is a human! Kamaji tells her that Chihiro's his granddaughter, which the other person couldn't believe. Kamaji tells her she had wanted to work, but as there are no vacancies, she should try another place and asked the other person to take her to Yubaba, which she initially refuses, saying she would be killed. Kamaji offers her a top-quality fried newt and tells Chihiro would have seen Yubaba anyways. The other person takes the newt, pours out the rest of the candy and tells Chihiro to follow her. As Chihiro gets up onto the matted area, she is told to take her shoes off...and socks. As she carries the footwear with her, she is reprimanded and told to put them down. As she does, the fuzzies surround it. As Chihiro is ready to follow the other person, she is asked why hasn't she thanked Kamaji. She bangs her head and thanks him, getting "Gooda lucku!" as a reply. As the person and Chihiro walk to the elevator, the person tells Chihiro this is a bathhouse for the spirits. When Chihiro stops to gape at the machinery, the person gets impatient and tells her to hurry up. She rushes into the elevator. On the elevator, Chihiro curiously look at the wall speeding down. When the person warns her of potential damage to her nose, Chihiro scoots back. The elevator continues to go up with a tilt shot featuring two humanoid frogs carrying food. At the first stop, the person sneaks Chihiro past frogs preparing food and they hurry into the next available elevator. The person tells Chihiro that they have one more elevator to go. At the next stop, they are greeted by a giant thing that squeaks as he moves. He motions that he wants to go up, and the person replies that the particular elevator he's standing at only goes down, so he follows the person and Chihiro as they make their way to the next elevator. On that level, Chihiro finally gets a good look at all the spirits taking baths, including chickies. She feels creeped out by the thing following them, but the person tells Chihiro not to gape. At the elevator, a humanoid frog lets a couple of spirits off before turning around and finally revealing the name of the person: Lin (spelled Rin in the Japanese versions.) As Lin replies, she pushes Chihiro into the elevator. The thing follows. The frog comes and tells Lin he smells something different...something good. As he tries to elicit Chihiro, Lin pulls out the newt. Slobbering, the frog grabs for it but Lin pulls it away. The frog pleads for it, but he is too short to reach the delicacy. Enjoying her power, Lin tells the person going up to shut the elevator door. Chihiro struggles from behind the thing and pulls the switch that closes the door. Seeing Chihiro escape from this potentially dangerous humanoid frog, Lin shoves the newt into her mouth, much to the frog's dismay. Chihiro is now in a tiny elevator with a giant spirit. At the first stop, the thing shuts the door again even though it might have been his stop. As the elevator continues to go up, she ventures a look at the thing, and the thing looks at her. She quickly averts her eyes. The second stop is the top floor. The thing gets out, looks around, allowing Chihiro to get out, and steps back in. Chihiro looks nervously at the large door. She slowly walks up to it and grabs at the door handle thingies. Suddenly, the knocker speaks up, commenting on Chihiro's audacity, for she doesn't even knock. The door and all doors after it opens, and a large mouth orders Chihiro to come closer. When Chihiro doesn't move, a flick of the finger sends Chihiro flying down the hall, left into a corner, and falling head over heels in the main office. A trio of bouncing heads greets her with grunts and the giant witch tells them to shut up. Chihiro speaks, saying she wants to work, but the witch interrupts her by shutting off her mouth. Chihiro struggles to get it opened, but gives up and watches the witch tally up her money. The witch (definitely Yubaba) talks about Chihiro being unable to do anything, then how this alternate universe is not meant for humans, and about the audacity of the parents. She lights a cigarette, using her finger as a lighter. She taunts Chihiro, saying she would make a good piglet or piece of coal before taking a big inhalation on the cigarette. She cackles before noting the fact that Chihiro is shivering. She gives credit for Chihiro for making it that far, and asks who was it that helped before giving Chihiro the freedom to talk again. With the newfound independence, Chihiro asks for work again. Yubaba slams her hand against the desk with anger. With another seditious response from Chihiro, Yubaba tells her to STFU (not literally) and flies in front of Chihiro, asking what the heck somebody so spoiled and weak could do while jamming her finger into Chihiro's belly. As she walks behind Chihiro, she suggests perhaps should could give her the hardest job she has and work Chihiro to the death as she works her finger up Chihiro's shoulder and runs her finger vertically across Chihiro's neck at the last comment. A cry from a baby and a kick through the door interrupts this encounter. Yubaba rushes to the door, trying to comfort the baby and tells Chihiro to get out and shut up. Chihiro persists, getting another negative feedback from Yubaba, who gets kicked by the gigantic foot. Another plead from Chihiro gets Yubaba to comply, as long as she keeps it quiet. Yubaba then rushes into the room, going "Yoshii Yoshii!" The room is silent as one head look up at Chihiro. Suddenly, a pen and a piece of paper float over to Chihiro and the head start jumping again. Yubaba walks out pulling wood chips from her hair and begins to clean up the room. As Chihiro signs, Yubaba complains about the law she set, giving work to anybody that asks. When Chihiro finishes, Yubaba takes the paper and look at the name: Chihiro Ogino. She says it's too extravagant, and pulls off three characters, leaving Sen on the paper. She tells Chihiro her new name is Sen (which is easier to type than Chihiro.) Yubaba tests the new name out, calling for Chihiro, er, Sen to answer, which she does. Haku comes in. Yubaba tells him Sen is under his control now. So Haku and Sen walk to this elevator. Sen looked up at Haku and said his name, only to be told to be quiet and to call him "Hak-sama" from now on. Sen realizes that how different Haku is and looks down with disappointment. Haku takes Sen down, where the managers (Chikiyaku and Aeogeru) say that using a human worker is too much. Haku tells them tough luck; her contract's been signed, which elicited gasps from the crowd. As Sen bows and apologizes for the inconvenience, two female workers (they're supposed to be humanoid snails) comment on how stinky humans are. Haku calls for anybody to take Sen. He adds that if they don't like her, they can do anything they want with her. When nobody answers, he tells them to get out, and calls for Lin. Lin was all "Why do I have to take her?" only to be told she always wanted an assistant. Lin walks away grumbling while Sen stays and bows. Lin sticks her head back in the room and calls for Sen, who follows. After walking a little bit, Lin turns around all excited-like. She comments on how she was getting worried about Sen, considering how dense she is, and adds that if she has any questions, she shouldn't hesitate to ask. And then Lin noticed something wrong with Sen (who was still recovering over her treatment by Haku) and asks why, only to be told that she (Sen) felt dizzy. At their room, Lin tells Sen that as long as you get a good night's sleep and a good day's eat, then they'll be fine. She opens up a closet and gives Sen her uniform, before noticing that there's not shirt small enough for her. As she flips through the closet (in a scene reminiscent from Laupta), Sen takes hold of her last hope and asks if there are two Hakus. Lin, pulling out a few more clothes, exclaims that it would be terrible if there were two Hakus. She informs Sen that Haku is only a thief for Yubaba. Devastated, Sen beings to cry, just as Lin triumphantly pulls out a shirt Sen's size. However, she quickly notices Sen curling up into a ball, so she asks what's wrong. This action wakes up a sleeping humanoid snail that was in the room that asks what the heck is going on. Lin replies that the new person feels sick. That ends this scene, and they then go on to show Haku walking up steps to go to the ceremonial (not exactly) leaving of Yubaba. She wears a cape, curls it around her, grows wings, and flies away with the ugly bird in the first quarter of the movie. Haku stays and turns off the lights and walks away. It is morning. All of the stores slowly turn their lights off, and Sen lies shivering in her sleeping bag. Suddenly, somebody comes walking over to her. She is shocked and then feigns sleep. Haku leans down and tells her to meet him at the bridge, for he will show Sen her parents. He leaves and Sen quickly opens her eyes. She sits up and crawls out. She goes walking down the stairs back to Kamaji's room. However, she notices that her shoes are gone and comments on it. All of a sudden, the fuzzies, with their big eyes, come marching out with her shoes and socks. Sen thanks then and puts on her shoes, tapping her right foot against the ground to put her foot in completely (or something like that). When she reaches the door, she looks back. The fuzzies are jumping and squeaking. She waves at them and walks out. She heads up the stairs while the music crescendos and looks over at the pigpens. At the top, she begins to cross the bridge, but she sees that weird black thing. She averts her eyes and quickly runs across the rest. On the other side, Sen looks back but sees nothing. She turns around and there's Haku, who tells Sen to follow him. He leads Sen through these flowers in a shot obviously done by computers and they are soon on top of the pigpen thing. Inside, she sees a whole lot of pigs. She calls out to her parents, but all they do is flap their ears (and only one of them did that). Sen worriedly (is that even a word) asks if her parents are okay. Haku tells her not to worry, for they are only sleeping off their binge from the night before. The emotions slowly go into Sen's face and with tears flying out of her eyes, she cries for them not to eat too much otherwise they'll be slaughtered and she'll save them somehow. And then she runs away. She sits in front of a bush crying and Haku comes and takes something out of his shirt. It is her clothes. She is quite amazed at the sight and says she thought they were thrown away. Haku says she'll need it when she goes back. Sen looks inside her shirt and sees the going-away card that was the center of the first shot of the movie. She slowly reads the name: Chihiro. Then she was hit with insight. She exclaims how that's her name and how she thought her name was always Sen. Haku tells her that Yubaba steals people's names, and that's how she keeps her hold on them. He adds how he doesn't remember his name and then says it's funny how he remembers Chihiro's name. He tells her to keep her real name a secret and become Sen in this spirit world and then takes out rice balls. He says he made these with magic to give her energy. Sen/Chihiro says she doesn't want it, and reluctantly takes one after another plea from Haku. She slowly eats the first bite and begin chomping down on the unfortunate ball of rice as giant tears roll down her face. After a few more bites, she begins to sob. Haku comforts her by telling her she must have been through a lot (and not to eat to quickly). Sen/Chihiro takes another two rice balls and continue to eat and cry at the same time. (It's amazing she doesn't choke.) The movie immediately cuts to Sen/Chihiro telling Haku she'll work hard (after a customary arigoto) and she runs across the bridge. She stops at the other side and watches a dragon fly away. She gapes at it before running back to the bathhouse. The mysterious thing shrouded in black with a weird mask comes following her. Meanwhile, as Kamaji was getting a drink of water, he notices Sen/Chihiro sleeping on the ground with the fuzzies looking at her (one looks at him). He takes a pillow and covers it. It is night, and it is raining. The stores still turn their lights on as Yubaba as the bird flies back to her bathhouse. Lin castigates Sen/Chihiro for being out (and how she was so worried) while Sen/Chihiro apologizes as they put their sleeping bags and pillows away. (One person is brushing her hair, but you didn't need to know that.) They go down the stairs and grab their name thingies. A b-----y humanoid snail tells Sen/Chihiro to hurry the heck up while two more are laughing behind her. A few workers do that lap-running thing with the wet rags. Sen/Chihiro lags behind. She slips and falls as the others lap her. Sen/Chihiro struggles to squeeze the water out while Lin asks her whether or not she can squeeze harder. This field assistant person, a guy with a Hitler mustache (it's true, you should see him!), comes up and tells "Rin to Sen" that they have to take care of the Big Bathtub tonight. Lin argues that the Big Bathtub is the frogs' job, while the Hitler-mustache dude (I think he's Aeogeru...they never really said his name. Some enlightenment would help) tells them something to the point of "Orders from the top". Lin eventually decides (now this is implied) that the most efficient thing to do with Sen/Chihiro is to have her dump the water out. As Sen/Chihiro completes her new chore, she looks up and sees...THE MYSTERIOUS BLACK THING! MWAHAHAHA! She notices it standing out in the rain and inquires if it's getting wet. When Lin calls for her to get back there, Sen/Chihiro quickly adds that she'll keep the door open and runs off. Smiling, the mysterious black thing steps into the dry bathhouse and disappears. Lin and Sen/Chihiro walk to their assignment for the night while a humanoid snail taunts her. She is told to shut up. There is a pan right of the mess. Lin comments on it while two humanoid frogs vibrate with laughter. Lin looks back and the two quickly go away. As they (Rin to Sen) walk forward, Sen/Chihiro slips and falls backwards, and the stuff Sen/Chihiro was carrying flies everywhere, getting more guffaws. The dynamic duo clean up the grass and started to scrub the gunk off the tub itself. As they were scrubbing, Lin tells Sen/Chihiro that this tub is meant for especially dirty guests. The field manager person-ish thing comes and tells Lin the first guests are arriving. Lin replies with a "Hai" and curses as she throws her sponge down. She gives Sen/Chihiro a boost up and tells her to get a tag from the foreman. Sen/Chihiro do a forward roll and lands on her belly, while Lin pops her head up to tell her what type of tag to get (a herbal soak). Sen/Chihiro runs off before coming back to ask what the heck the foreman is. Meanwhile, Yubaba is inspecting some of her loot when she notices something. She walks to the window (without forgetting to put her precious jewels up) and notes that something evil comes this way. Sure enough, this sludge-covered thing comes and all the shops close down at the sight of it. (They like to eat dogs and stuff with high cholesterol!) Meanwhile, a guy who says Ohio a lot was telling off Sen/Chihiro. He's telling her he can't waste something like that on her. Go scrub it off by hand, he says, for which Sen/Chihiro replies it's too thick. The guy tells her the only thing thick is her head and ignores her. The mysterious black thing slowly appears and bows down at Sen/Chihiro, who bows back. The foreman dude looks at her as if something's wrong with her head, and looks to the right of him, seeing nothing. The phone rings and he picks it up. Suddenly, a tag (probably a good one) floats up and he reaches for it, but it flies into Sen/Chihiro's hands. She thanks him and he says she wasn't supposed to have it, but the voice on the other side (Yubaba) asks what's going on. He can't admit anything bad is happening, so he decides to lay low. Yubaba, talking on her cool phone (a talking skull) tells him something evil goes his way. When asked what it is, Yubaba tells him to figure it out for Haku's not there that day. Lin, however, is admiring the tag her assistant got for her. She puts it on this thing and it flies and falls to Kamaji. Lin tells Sen/Chihiro they don't have to wait long for the line is not too long, and sure enough, this thing falls and the two get on the tub. Lin tells Sen/Chihiro to pull the chain hanging down. She does and she falls. Lin chastises her for being so clumsy. Sen/Chihiro admires its color, and she is told it is filled with crushed, dried earthworms. Lin jumps down and tells her assistant that she can let go. Another pull would stop the water, and with that, Lin goes away to get their breakfast. Sen/Chihiro slowly releases the chain. She smiles as she gets her balance, but loses it (the smile) as she slowly turns around. She sees the mysterious black thing standing there, and looks at it before she falls and hits her head. She curls up in pain but quickly gets up as the black thing approaches. She thanks him for what it did, but then it pulls out a lot more. She looks at it and then back up. It holds them out even further, offering it to her (accompanied by this pathetic pleading noise), but she says she doesn't need that much. The smile disappears off its mask and Sen/Chihiro tells him she only needs one. With a sigh, it disappeared, and all that stuff went clanging on the ground. The water overflows, causing her to turn around and go "Aah!" (Pretty humorous, but you'd have to listen to the Japanese soundtrack to hear it.) Meanwhile (I use that word too much), Yubaba rushes down the stairs at an amazing speed. Her assistants tell her that it's a stink god. There is a cut to show the humanoid frogs (including the foreman) telling it to go back as it approaches the bridge. Yubaba notes that it doesn't seem like a stink god, but then gave up that argument and tell it to get the bath over it as fast as possible. The field manager dude comes and tells Lin and Sen to go see Yubaba. At the front, Yubaba tells Sen/Chihiro to take good care of this stink good. When Sen/Chihiro begins to object, Yubaba shuts her up by threatening to turn her into something undesirable. It comes, and it stinks. Smelling it, Sen/Chihiro's hair start standing up and she puts her hands over her face. Yubaba says that is disrespectful for the guest. The thing comes in and Yubaba welcomes it (in a voice much more entertaining in the Japanese version). The thing holds out its left hand, and Yubaba notes it's the money, so she tells Sen/Chihiro to take it. Sen/Chihiro holds out her hand and a bunch of sludge with a few gold coins plop in her hands. A shiver rises from her feet up. With a cue from Yubaba, she invites the thing inside. In the big hallway, Lin appears with two bowls of rice. She sees Sen/Chihiro and the big stink god (and the foreman who's the only person in the movie that finds the situation hilarious). She reels at the smell, but looks up when...THE RICE MELTS! MWAHAHAHAHA! :D Okay. Yubaba runs (in her fast speed) to this place to watch the action while telling everybody to open the windows. She reaches her destination and looks down. Sen/Chihiro, still in her half-hypnotic state, leads this stink god thing to the big bath filled with hot water. Note the word filled. Therefore, when the stink god gets in, the water overflows! And it's not clean herbal soak anymore, it's this nasty brown gunk! Sen/Chihiro is waist deep in this stuff, and she falls while trying to keep her hands on the tub of tags. (I would guess she moved the tags into the wooden tub that you saw her carrying earlier in the movie.) The stink god is inside the bath, and he sees how dirty the water is. He goes to the edge of the tub and exhales a plume of stinky smoke. Sen/Chihiro struggles to get up (she slipped and fell, remember) and remembers she has the tub, so she tells her guest to wait. Yubaba chuckles at this hilarious sight, while her assistant (this humanoid frog with brown hair and eyebrows) reminds her that's no laughing matter. Sen/Chihiro struggles to get across the muck covering the floor and searches for the secret door Lin had opened earlier that night. Yubaba notices it and comments, while her assistant moans at the gunk she's spreading on the wall. Sen/Chihiro pulls at random planks before banging one. The door opens and hits her in the face. She pulls out a tag and attempts to attach it on the thing hanging down, but it slips out of her hands. She pulls out another one and manages to get it on. She pulls on it and it went to Kamaji. Yubaba takes note of the tag (good eyesight) and is quite amazed at the quality of the tag. The assistant gives her a negative feedback. As usual, the plank falls. Sen/Chihiro struggles to get to the tub, while the stink god admires (hey, you should see its face) her. She climbs onto the side of the tub and the stink god emits another blast of bad breath. Sen/Chihiro struggles to keep her vomit in, and reaches for the chain, but falls into the gloop. The water comes down and engulfs the stink god, going over the tub. The assistant mourns the waste of such high-quality water while Yubaba leans in for a closer inspection. The water sweeps the tub of tags away. (I don't see why they kept this shot.) Underneath the water, Sen/Chihiro's top half is submerged. She's kicking her feet, struggling to get out. The stink god pulls her out and carries her in his hands. She spits out some water and reaches in for some reason. She notices this large thorn or something. Lin runs over telling Sen/Chihiro that she got Kamaji to use the best type of water. Sen/Chihiro thanks her and tells Lin about the thorn. Lin loudly replies by repeating the word, allowing Yubaba to hear it. Yubaba blinks twice before she realizes who the stinky guest is. She yells at everybody that to congregate and jumps down. She levitates in midair and tells Sen/Chihiro that it's not the stink god! She creates a rope and throws an end at Sen/Chihiro. Sen/Chihiro grabs the rope and attempts to wrap it around the thorn thing. It doesn't seem to stay on and eventually Lin grabs the rope and ties it on herself. Once done, Sen/Chihiro yells out to Yubaba, who takes out two fans while calling for everybody to pull. The people start to pull while Yubaba, many spirits, and a couple of employees cheer while waving their fans. After a few seconds of pulling, out comes a bicycle! "A bicycle?" gasps Sen/Chihiro with surprise. This merely confirms Yubaba's suspicion. She calls for everybody to pull harder, so they do. The bicycle comes out, followed by a bunch of other trash amid a sea of grimy liquid, before the while darn thing falls out, knocking over many workers while forming a large pile while other things scatter about. All of a sudden, a watery hand grabs Sen/Chihiro and the water overflows. Lin calls for Sen (no /Chihiro here because Sen's the word she used) while a stuffed elephant floats by. Sen is still stuck inside that hand, and a large, ugly head comes out of the water, saying "Yokikora". The water recedes, and Sen/Chihiro is left (clean) standing on the side of the tub. She looks in her hand, curled up into a ball. Inside, there is another ball. Meanwhile, the water continues to recede, revealing...little bits of gold! The people all rush forward to pick up some bits of instant wealth. Yubaba tells them to cease and desist, for the guest is still there. Water begins to jump up within the tub, and Yubaba yells at Sen/Chihiro to get out of the way (and for people to open the door, for the guest is leaving). Sen/Chihiro quickly bows and rushes off, and then a large dragon comes flying out, laughing as it flies out the door and away. There is a pause before everybody starts cheering (and saying "Yum yum!"). Yubaba comes and gives Sen/Chihiro a big bear hug for she earned her tons of money and announces that this guest was the revered River God! (When she says this, Lin points at herself.) After a cut, Yubaba announces that sake is on the house that night, leading to applauds from her worker, but she added that all of the gold must be returned. People weren't too happy about that, but the celebratory mood was still high. Meanwhile, the mysterious black thing appeared and disappeared, obviously thinking of a plan. Later that night, people were still up and chatting. Sen/Chihiro was sitting at the edge of the bathhouse looking out at the sea. Lin comes with a plate of buns. (I think they're filled with bean paste.) She said she swiped it. They each take one and being eating it. Sen/Chihiro comments on the fact that Haku wasn't there, prompting Lin to say he's often not there. A person behind them calls and says they're turning off the lights, and does. Sen/Chihiro says that it looks like a sea outside, and Lin replies it's always like that after it rains. They observe the city far away and Lin tells her assistant her dream. She swears she would eventually make enough money to leave this bathhouse and into that city on the other side of the sea. Sen/Chihiro takes out the ball she got from the river god. She sniffs it, notices something, and takes a little bit. She reacts to the bitter taste and immediately takes several bites out of her bun, while Lin inquires what's wrong. That ends that scene. (Quite a few abruptly ended scenes, no?) Meanwhile, the froggy dude that went "Hak-sama!" earlier in the movie is going snooping. He runs down the hall and turns on the light to the Big Tub, the scene of that night's action. He takes this stick thingy and pulls out some dust, inspects it, and throws it away. All of a sudden, a piece of gold (probably what the frog was looking for) comes falling down. The frog pounces on it and cries for joy. He looks up and sees the mysterious black thing inside the tub, so he calls out at it, saying it shouldn't be in there. The mysterious black thing merely holds out its hands and pieces of gold falls out. The frog picks them up, quite amazed at the stranger's ability to create gold and his newfound wealth. More gold pops out of the thing's head, and the frog follows it like an animal to a trap. When he was taking the gold from the thing's hands, the thing grabbed him and...ATE HIM UP! Anyways, the field manager person comes walking down the hall, saying the lights should be OFF! He sees gold fall and looks up. The thing is crouched over like a frog, carrying gold. He announces his presence as a guest and demands a bath and food. The field manager recognizes the voice, but more gold (as payment) shuts him up. All of a sudden, the running-through-the-flowers thing plays again and Sen/Chihiro runs into the pigpen with her ball. She cries out to her parents, saying the ball she has can turn them back into humans. The pigs look up (many have buck teeth!) and began crowding around Sen/Chihiro, who desperately calls out for her parents, but is surrounded by snarling pigs. She wakes up! It was all a dream. A creepy dream, but a dream nonetheless. She sits up but notices nobody's there. She runs outside and observes many things. The first is that there really is a sea down there. The second is the fact that she can see the pigpen from where she's standing. The third is that there is smoke coming from the smokestack, which implies that Kamaji is already burning water. She wonders if she really slept that long and goes looking for Lin. Meanwhile, there is chaos, as everybody rushes to prepare food (including a humanoid frog chopping like a maniac) for the mysterious black thing. Sen/Chihiro walks out and sees Lin, who shows her a piece of real gold and tells her about the mysterious but rich guest! Cut to the thing greedily throwing food down his mouth and throws plates backwards, all while the people were clamoring for money. The mysterious black thing calls for more food and throws money out. Sen/Chihiro wonders about it while Lin tells her to go down and not miss this wonderful opportunity. Sen/Chihiro tells her she must go see Kamaji, but Lin tells her assistant not to disturb Kamaji, as he gets angry if he is awakened (while people calmly stand around in the background). Some people come and tell Lin to join them for another round. Sen/Chihiro looks at them with a puzzled look and walks away. She walks back to the edge of the bathhouse (I guess edge isn't the best way to describe it) and beings to worry about the dream. What if she can't recognize her parents? And then she expresses her worry about her dad's eating habits. She notices a commotion and looks up. A white dragon (the same one she saw at the bridge!) is being chased by hundreds of flying birds! She watches in horror as the dragon falls into the sea while the birds hovers above. The dragon swims while the birds follow, and then flies up, shocking Sen/Chihiro! She calls for the dragon, inadvertently calling out "Haku!" when it hits her! She continues to call out for Haku, telling him to go to her, which he does (and breaks down a door in the process). When the birds follow, Sen/Chihiro quickly closes the door, but not in time. The birds fly all over the door and even onto her! She brushes the birds off when she notices it's only paper! She watches as the multitude of paper birds falls of and flies away before tending to the wounded dragon. He's dripping blood all over the sleeping materials. She asks him if he's really Haku, if he's all right, and that the birds are gone. All of a sudden, he flies out, with blood flying everywhere. Sen/Chihiro rushes out to watch, and saw it fly into the wall. She notes he's heading to Yubaba, and she decides she must go help him, so she rushes away. One paper bird follows her and clings onto her back as she scales the stairs. In the next scene, the field assistant does a boogie while singing about the richness of the guest. Everybody bows at it before he gives the workers the order to beg for money. Sen/Chihiro rushes out as people clamor for money. She squeezes through the throng of people to the elevator (while another guy rushes across) and runs into somebody. He yells at her for being there and she pleads for him to go up. He rejects this but notices...BLOOD ON HIS HANDS! He reacts in shock, allowing Sen/Chihiro to rush in front of the mysterious black guest. The field manager tells her to get the heck out of the way. Sen/Chihiro quickly bows and thanks him for the night before. The field manager yells at her again, but the mysterious black guest picks him up and tosses him aside. It bends down holding its hands out to Sen/Chihiro, and (to the surprise of all of the workers), a pile of gold springs out of his hands. Sen/Chihiro looks up at the thing, who continues to offer it with the pleading noise he made before he ate the frog. She looks at it and up at the thing before shaking her head. The thing begins to shake himself, and it tries one last time to get her to take it, but she expresses her feelings in words. (In other words, she directly says she doesn't want it.) Crushed, the thing begins to shake quite violently. Sen/Chihiro quickly bids farewell (for she is busy) and rushes away. The thing reacts by dropping the pile all over the floor. The mob of people swarm over to the gold, surrounding Sen/Chihiro while the thing was still wondering what the heck he did. While Sen/Chihiro manages to squeeze her way down the hall, the field manager person whacks the workers' heads with the fans he was holding. (He even kicks one!) He walks up to the thing and apologizes for the disrespect. He attempts to expiate things by saying the offender was not only a new worker, but also a new human, worker. The thing turns to look at the field manager person, who manages only a smile and a sweatdrop (not literally). The thing leans down, dropping a solitary piece of gold, and asks what's so funny. It growls menacingly and the field manager person tries to deny it, but it was too late. The mysterious black thing picks up the field manager and the humanoid snail that was retrieving the gold...AND ATE THEM! Reacting with horror, the workers all scatter, leaving the thing alone with a bunch of garbage. Meanwhile, Sen/Chihiro climbs out of a window and jumps down. She slips a few inches, but manages to climb up. She climbs to the top of the roof (of the thing she stands on) and sees the ladder that would take her to the top. The only way thing that leads there is a pipe. But Sen/Chihiro is determined. After looking at her hands (for no reason as far as I can tell, but then again, I'm stupid), she ties this strings around her arms and lifts up her pant legs. And then...SHE RUNS! When she was halfway across the pipe, the pipe becomes loose and starts to fall away from the building. Sen/Chihiro runs along the moving pipe and leaps onto the ladder, hugging it for her dear life. Two birds fly by and Sen/Chihiro decides to start climbing. After climbing for a while, she stops to take a rest and takes a look behind her. A large bird with sunglasses and a bag flew towards the bathhouse. Sen/Chihiro instantly recognizes it as Yubaba and continues to climb. The Yubaba-bird flew up to the bathhouse and uncovered herself, greeted by the three heads and the smaller, uglier bird. Sen/Chihiro has finished climbing and she now stands in front of a window. She struggles to get it open, working the handle, whacking on it with her hands and then her behind. The paper bird that was attached to her slips through the crack, and after one whack by the behind, the paper bird opens the window. Sen/Chihiro! attempts another whack but instead falls backwards on her head. She is inside the bathroom. She gets up and runs down a hall with large mirrors. She turns left and runs into a nursery. It is a massive room filled with toys and dolls. She looks at all of the junk before hearing Yubaba talking on her skull telephone (and finally revealing the identity of the mysterious black thing: Kaonashi.) Sen/Chihiro rushes over to eavesdrop. She hears Yubaba chastising the workers about their greed and after hanging up, mourning the stained carpet. When Yubaba tells her assistants to get rid of them, Sen/Chihiro gasps. When Yubaba begins walking towards the nursery, Sen/Chihiro panics. She quickly thinks of where to go before diving into a nearby pile of pillows right when Yubaba walks in. In a moment of suspense, Yubaba turns towards the pile and begins to pull out the pillows, revealing a baby! (Whew.) Yubaba wonders aloud why Boh isn't sleeping on the bed, and Boh (the baby), begins to cry. Yubaba apologizes for waking it up and tells it she has things to do before planting a big kiss on her baby. (Quite nasty, considering how ugly Yubaba is.) She puts a pillow on the pile, picks up two dolls and tosses onto a chair, and flips a switch that turns out the lights. (And causes the Sun on the ceiling to turn into a moon.) She walks out the door Sen/Chihiro came in by and closes the curtains. Ready to save Haku, Sen/Chihiro begins to climb out, but a hand grabs her arm and jerks her back in. She pleads for him to let go (which he doesn't) before seeing the big baby. She thanks him for saving him and asks if she could go. Boh asks if she's there to spread germs, for there are germs outside. Sen/Chihiro says she's a human and that maybe humans are special (at least that's the Japanese version). Boh says to stay there and play with him, for she'll get sick outside. Sen/Chihiro inquires if he's sick, but Boh replies that because going outside would make people sick (or as the Germans say it, krank), he stays inside all the time. Sen/Chihiro yells that it's staying inside all day that'll make him sick! She pleads for him to let her go, for her most important friend is hurt and she has to go help him. The pampered baby begins to use threats. He says that if she goes away, he'll cry, and then Yubaba would come and KILL HER! MWAHAHA! He says he could also break her arm, for he's still holding on to it, and begins the process. Sen/Chihiro yells with pain before Boh lets go. She says that she'll come back to play with him, but he demands playtime NOW! After grimacing with pain again, she pulls up her free hand and cries that it's BLOOD on her hands. He begins screaming and pulling pillows over himself, giving Sen/Chihiro a chance to escape. She rushes outside to see Haku lying near a pit in front of the fireplace. The three heads were in front of him, and they turned around. Calling out his name, Sen/Chihiro rushes towards him. She shoos the bouncing heads away and calls for Haku again. The heads move towards Sen/Chihiro, who calls for them to shut up with their grunting. She calls for Haku yet again when the ugly small bird swoops down and attacks her a la The Birds. She turns around to mount another attack, which allows the heads to continue pushing Haku into the hole on the ground. Seeing this, Sen/Chihiro grabs onto Haku yet again. To add to the confusion, Boh slowly walks out, bringing the curtains along with him. At that, the attacking stops as the participants (except Haku) turn to look at Boh. He still wants Sen/Chihiro to play with him despite the blood. Sen/Chihiro tries to calm him down by calling him a good boy. He doesn't listen and repeats the threat again, along with a mass of tears. Sen/Chihiro tries to shut him up, and then the paper bird (who's been sticking to Sen/Chihiro all this time) tells it to shut up too. The latter is more successful and the paper bird floats up, telling Boh he's too fat, which is very true. It lands on the ground and a hologram of Yubaba pops up. It comments that it's still transparent. Boh falls for the hologram too, saying "Baba!" The hologram lectures Boh for being unable to tell his mother apart and with a twirl of her finger, turns Boh into an adorable, if still fat, mouse. She then makes a comment that's different depending on the version you see. Happy with her power, she wonders what she should do next. As the ugly bird attempts to fly away, the hologram turns it into a small bird. It bounces over the mouse and flaps its wings, unable to get anywhere. While it hops over to the mouse, the three bouncing heads try to get out of there, but they are unable to escape the magic and turn into Boh. The hologram turns to Sen/Chihiro and warns her to keep this it a secret, or else lose her mouth. Sen/Chihiro glares at the hologram and asks who she is. The hologram tells Sen/Chihiro that she's Yubaba's older sister. She adds that she enjoyed the tour of the bathhouse and demands custody of the dragon. Sen/Chihiro asks what she wants with it, for Haku's severely hurt. The hologram tells her that Haku is Yubaba's lackey, and he stole from her (Yubaba's sister)...A PRECIOUS SEAL! Sen/Chihiro cries that Haku would never do that! He's so kind. The hologram tells her that dragons are kind...but STUPID! She adds that once Haku learned magic, he went and helped steal items for her greedy sister. She proceeds to tell her that Haku's going to die anyways, because there is a spell on the seal that kills anybody that tries to steal it. Sen/Chihiro resists this fact but was interrupted by loud bangs. The fake Boh was attempting to smash the real Boh, prompting the hologram of Yubaba's sister to inquire WTH is wrong with the people there. She tries to get them to go back in their rooms while the mouse with the small bird climbed onto Sen/Chihiro's shoulder. At that moment, Haku wakes up, smashes the bird (and destroying the hologram, who says she's too careless as it disappears) and falls down into the pit with along with Sen/Chihiro and her two new friends. The mouse and the bird couldn't fall as fast (because of air resistance) so Sen/Chihiro grabbed on to them. As they kept on falling, Sen/Chihiro climbs to Haku's head (calling his name, as usual) and suddenly, through a flashback of some sorts, sees herself in water. They keep on falling and eventually fall through this large room full of dark spirits that float around and stuff. When Haku falls, they float up as if they wanted to reach them, but at that moment, Haku flies up. You can see at this point that he doesn't have any pupils. He avoids more dark spirits and finally goes through this tunnel. He keeps on going (he has pupils now) until he reaches the end, which is a fan. They break through and end up in Kamaji's room! Sen/Chihiro falls backwards and lands on Kamaji while Haku grabs onto the shelves and struggles. The remains of the fan land and break a cup and a pot while the bird flies the mouse down to safety. Kamaji asks what's going on, but Sen/Chihiro climbs over to get to Haku. She calls Haku's name yet again as he falls onto the floor. He looks at her with eyes of hatred, and when Sen/Chihiro asks if he's okay, he snarls at her. Kamaji climbs over, making the observation that this is not good. Finally, Haku faints from exhaustion. Sen/Chihiro is worried that Haku might die, and Kamaji tells her something is sucking the life away from him. After Sen/Chihiro repeated what he said, Kamaji adds that the magic is too powerful for him. Sen/Chihiro quickly reaches into her pockets to retrieve the river god's bitter ball. She tries to give it to Haku but Haku doesn't react. She can't even put it into his mouth because his mouth is closed. She pleads for him to eat it, even biting off a piece to show that it's safe. (Kamaji is quite impressed at the ball.) Finally, Sen/Chihiro opens a crack in Haku's mouth before stuffing a piece of the bitter ball in and keeping his mouth closed. Haku struggles (while Kamaji crawls away) and whacks his tail against the ground (full of fuzzies) and against the shelves before regurgitating a ball of stuff. It bounces against the step before coming to rest. Kamaji yells out, and Sen/Chihiro turns around. The fluid covering it melts away, revealing the seal and a little bug thingy that looks around and crawls away. Sen/Chihiro quickly picks up the seal and tries to step on the bug thingy, who's very agile. It tries to find shelter in the holes along the wall, but the fuzzies don't let it, so the bug thingy crawls back to Sen/Chihiro. (Smart move...) She quickly stomps her feet along the ground before landing a solid shot right on the bug! She stops, wide-eyed, and lifts up ick-covered feet. Kamaji cuts his hand through the air, crying, "Enacho! Sen, enacho!" Sen/Chihiro turning while forming an ellipse with her fingers and hops over to Kamaji, who cuts the ellipse apart, crying "Kita!" Now free from I-don't-know-what, Sen/Chihiro quickly tells Kamaji that the seal belongs to Yubaba's sister. Kamaji is quite shocked. He repeats the facts that it belongs to Yubaba's sister (only calling her by name: Zeniba) and cries out how precious a witch's seal would be. At that point, Sen/Chihiro quickly rushes over to Haku, who is turning back to human form. This confirms her suspicious, and she tells Kamaji the obvious. (It's Haku!) The mouse lands near Haku's head and the fuzzies crowd around. Because Haku was lying face down, Sen/Chihiro turns him over. She calls his name three time, but without any reaction. She tells Kamaji that Haku's not breathing. Kamaji tells her he's gravely ill. After giving Haku some medicine (half of which falls out) and lying him down, Kamaji tells Sen/Chihiro the story of Haku. He had appeared suddenly (just like Sen/Chihiro) and said he wanted to learn magic. Kamaji was against it, for there's nothing good being a witch's apprentice, but Haku wouldn't listen. He (Haku) had nowhere else to go anyways. So he became an apprentice to Yubaba. As time passed, he became paler and his eyes had an evil gleam to it. All the while, the fuzzies and the mouse had a reenactment of the excitement that had just occurred. The fuzzies had gathered around the footprint that was left, and the mouse wanted in on the action too, so he pointed at the direction of the footprint, and the bird flew him to it. He walked up and planted his feet on the footprint and quickly shivered. He held out his hands like Sen/Chihiro had it and one of the fuzzies cut it free. The mouse triumphantly stood up high while the fuzzies cheered. Sen/Chihiro tells Kamaji she must return the seal to Zeniba and apologize for Haku as well as plead for her to save Haku. She (Sen/Chihiro) then asks Kamaji for the directions to Zeniba's. Kamaji scratched his head before telling Sen/Chihiro that Zeniba's one scary witch, but Sen/Chihiro persists, for Haku once saved her. She must return the favor. Kamaji tells her to wait there and begins to flip through his drawer. Sen/Chihiro rushes over to the fuzzies (while untying the string she tied on fifteen minutes earlier) and asks for her shirts and shoes. The fuzzies abandon the footprint (but some still look at it) so the mouse points and the bird flies it back to Sen/Chihiro. Lin comes in and calls to Sen/Chihiro. She (Lin) has been searching for her (Sen/Chihiro) for a while. While walking towards her assistant, Lin notices Haku and the aftermath of the commotion. At that time, the bird and the mouse land on Sen/Chihiro's shoulder. Lin asks what are those (while the fuzzies carry the clothes out in the background). Sen/Chihiro tells Lin they're her new friends. Back to business. Lin tells Sen/Chihiro that Yubaba has been looking all over for her. That guest turned out to be Kaonashi! Yubaba says Sen/Chihiro let her in. After thinking about it, Sen/Chihiro replies that it could have been. Lin let out a loud gasp! Sen/Chihiro says that she thought it was a guest, and Lin cries out that it has already eaten THREE people! At this moment, Kamaji lets out a cry in rapture as he crawls over to the two. Lin is kind of peeved of being interrupted, but Kamaji shows Sen/Chihiro four train tickets. Lin is surprised Kamaji has it and asks where he got it from. Kamaji says it's leftover from forty years ago. He tells Sen/Chihiro the directions. He tells her to ride until the sixth station, the Swamp Bottom station. Sen/Chihiro repeats it as she commits it to memory and Kamaji tells her yes, and that it is the final station. Sen/Chihiro repeats the sixth station part again, and Kamaji tells her not to forget it. There used to be a train coming back, but not anymore. Once again, he asks her if she's sure about the trip, and Sen/Chihiro gives him an affirmation. Coming back, she could just walk along the rails. After that, she walks over to Haku. Lin asks her about Yubaba, and Sen/Chihiro replies that she'll go there soon. She tells Haku not to die while she's gone. Lin asks Kamaji what's going on, and Kamaji tells her that it's love. Meanwhile (that word again), there is chaos. A humanoid frog carries a scroll or something but trips and falls. Another one finishes the job. Three humanoid snails scream while running away (one of them falls too). The one that fell runs up to two other humanoid snails and tells them that it's growing bigger! Worried, one of the two tells the other she doesn't want to be eaten. They stop and watch Sen/Chihiro walk forward. Everybody seems to want to get one last look at the human. The brown-haired, humanoid-frog assistant greets her at the door and tells her that Yubaba cannot control it anymore. With that, there is a large thump and a scream (probably Kaonashi with his female voice), and then Yubaba tells it to calm down for Sen's coming. There is another thump, and Kaonashi (with his frog voice) calls for Sen to come. The assistant leads Sen/Chihiro to the door and tells Yubaba that Sen/Chihiro. Yubaba angrily opens the door and walks out, turns around to calm Kaonashi down, and closes the door behind her. She chastises Sen/Chihiro for being slow and to get as much money as possible. At this moment, the bird flew the mouse forward in front of Yubaba. "Chu," says the mouse but Yubaba merely asks what a dirty rat is doing there. This disappoints the rat and it lands on Sen/Chihiro's shoulder again with an angry look. Sen/Chihiro asks if Yubaba really can't recognize who that is, and Yubaba replies how could she before pushing Sen/Chihiro in. She says a few words to Kaonashi before closing the door. The assistant asks if Sen/Chihiro would be okay, but Yubaba tells him if he's so worried, he could replace her. That shut him up. Kaonashi has grown into one huge, bug-like thing. It walks towards Sen/Chihiro, who's still sitting there. It picks up a plate of food and offers it to Sen/Chihiro. It puts the food down and offers her gold! She doesn't move, but the mouse moves back a couple of step. Kaonashi tells her to come closer and tell it what she wants. She merely asks where it came from and that there is a place she must go to. This surprises Kaonashi, who backs up. Sen/Chihiro tells it to go back to where it came from and that what she wants, it cannot possibly give her. Kaonashi continues to back up, but only with its head. Sen/Chihiro continues the interrogation. She asks where its home is and whether or not it has parents. Kaonashi stuffs its face inside itself, saying "Samishii...samishii" (in other words, it's lonely) as it turns around. Sen/Chihiro backs up to the wall and asks if it doesn't know where its home is. It turns towards Sen/Chihiro and says it wants Sen. All of a sudden, its head pops out and it holds out its hand, full of gold. He says he wants her to take the gold. Sen/Chihiro asks if it's going to eat her, but Kaonashi only commands her to take the gold. "Chu!" The mouse bites Kaonashi's hands. It pulls its hands back and looks at the rodent, and tries to smack it, but the bird pulls him out of the way just in time. Sen/Chihiro walks up with the river god's bitter ball and tells it that if it's going to eat her, then it should eat that instead. She says she was planning to save it for her parents, but it would probably help Kaonashi. With that, she tosses it into its large mouth. It swallows the ball before turning around and vomiting large quantities of black stuff. (Large look of horror on Sen/Chihiro's face) Done regurgitating for the time being, it asks Sen what she fed him, and chases her out. He knocks the door down on top of the assistant and two other unsuspecting humanoid pigs. It chases Sen/Chihiro down the hall, knocking over all the food and knocking down workers in its path. At the end of the hall comes Yubaba, saying that this is unforgivable even for a guest. With that, she threw a beam of light or something at it. It hit Kaonashi in the mask, causing a sea of brown gunk to spew out, all over Yubaba. It runs past her to a fence. It hears Sen/Chihiro calling for it on the floor beneath it, so it crawls over, leaving large quantities of black stuff hanging. Sen/Chihiro begins running down flights of stairs with Kaonashi chasing after her and the workers running away with fear. On the bottom floor, Sen/Chihiro is stopped when she runs into the side of the elevator shaft with an elevator coming down with a group of five workers. Good for her Kaonashi was unable to stop itself as well. As the workers run off, Kaonashi gets up and coughs out the two field manager and the female worker. It gasps for breath and mutters that she cannot be forgiven. With its energy gone, the chase is reduced to two people walking. They walk past a dirty kitchen and down a hallway (where Kaonashi ejects some more gunk) before going outside, where Lin meets them with a boat. She gets in and the mouse with the bird lands on her head. She notices Kaonashi and calls for it while taking off her uniform (with her clothes underneath). Perturbed, Lin asks why she is calling for it, and Sen/Chihiro replies that it became bad after going into the bathhouse, so perhaps it would be better for it to go away. Lin asks where she would take him, but Sen/Chihiro says she doesn't know. Lin groans while seeing it splash into the water. After swimming some distances, Kaonashi gets up and coughs out the frog, who swim away using breaststroke. After a little while, Lin let Sen/Chihiro off and tells her to walk from there and that she'll be all right once she gets to the station. Sen/Chihiro thanks her and walks away carrying her shoes. Seeing her friend walk away, Lin calls out that she (Sen/Chihiro) must come back. Sen/Chihiro holds up her right hand, indicating that she heard it. Still not feeling comfortable, Lin yells that she had once called Sen/Chihiro slow. She takes that back. Another lifting of the right hand. Passing Kaonashi, Lin yells that if it dares to touch Sen/Chihiro, then she'll never forgive him. As depressing music beings to play, Sen/Chihiro reaches the train station. She runs over to it. As the mouse and the bird, peers down at a bug, Sen/Chihiro tells them the train is coming and puts on her shoes. When the train passes Kaonashi, it kicks up a wave of water that runs it over. It stops and Sen/Chihiro runs toward the door. Getting on, she takes out the tickets from inside her shirt while telling the conductor her destination. It counts the amount of people, stopping at Kaonashi. She looks at it and asks if it wants to come on. It nods its head, so she tells the conductor to include it. (At this point, Kaonashi begins to hold out its left hand, as if it wants to grab Sen/Chihiro on the shoulder). The tickets are destroyed in the conductor's handy-dandy ticket shredder. And the four passengers are left to sit down on their own. The train begins to move. The other passengers are semi-transparent shadow people. Sen/Chihiro sees an empty seat and sits down. Feeling left alone, Kaonashi begins to panic and disappear. Sen/Chihiro tells it to sit next to her and to behave itself. The mouse bounces up and down while the bird hops as it looks out the window. Sen/Chihiro looks at them admire the sights. The train moves on, passing houses and more shadow people. At stops, shadow people take their bags and get off. The four watch them do so. At a certain stop, the shot focuses on a teenage shadow girl and doesn't cut until the girl is almost off the screen. (I don't know why.) Day turns into night. The four are the only ones left on the train. They pass a bunch of neon signs. The mouse and the bird are both asleep in Sen/Chihiro's arms. Yet Sen/Chihiro still looks forward with determination. But she really has nothing to worry about, for at that moment, Haku wakes up and sees Kamaji taking a rest. He (Haku) and wakes him (Kamaji) up by shaking his hand and calling out "O-ji-san." Kamaji wakes up and Haku asks what happened. Kamaji asks if he remembers anything, and Haku says all he remembers is Chihiro calling his name in the dark. He followed the voice and woke up in Kamaji's room. All Kamaji has to say about that is something along the line of 'So! Her name's Chihiro! Ah, the power of love.' (Some help he is.) So now we see the fake Boh chomping down on deserts while Yubaba curses Sen/Chihiro for losing the bathhouse that much money. ("Sen to baka!" says she.) A pile of gold and a glass of lemonade sits in front of her while three of her minions (from left to right, the frog: the large brown-haired assistant, and the singing field manager person) kneel in front of her. The one on the very left (the frog, in case you weren't paying attention) spoke up, saying they wouldn't have been saved if it weren't for her. Yubaba tells him to shut up, and adds that it was their problem anyways. She notes the fact that Sen/Chihiro had also escaped, abandoning her parents. She takes advantage of this to conjure some methods of revenge. Her parents, not fat, would make good bacon and ham. At this, the three kneeling down reacts with horror. All of a sudden, a voice (Haku's), tells her to stop. "Hak-sama," says the frog for the second time this movie. (While fake Boh eats a candy bar.) Yubaba looks at him and cruelly asks if he's still alive. Haku walks up to his master and asks her if she still can't see she lost something precious. Thinking he's talking about the seal, she remarks on his newly defiant attitude. The two stare each other down for a while (Yubaba with a grin, Haku with a frown) before Yubaba notices something is amiss. She picks up a piece of gold from the pile and inspects it. The brown-haired assistant in the middle looks at his piece as well. She looks up at Haku and a grin forms on her face. Haku's frown grows deeper. Yubaba's smile disappears and the sounds of clattering (from fake Boh's binging) appear. She looks over at fake Boh shoving food into his mouth. She moves her finger and the baby's face is replaced by the head of one of the bouncing heads. It tries shoving popcorn into its mouth but fails, and looks over before turning back into the three bouncing, grunting heads. They bounce away (one of them is stuck in a popcorn container) and Yubaba goes into panic. When the gold melts into a pile of mud, she loses it. She screams and flings the mud and the glass of lemonade away (into the hands of her minions) and rushes into the nursery, screaming frantically for her baby. Haku calmly walks in. She turns around and curses Haku as flames stream out of her mouth. She rushes over to him while pillows fly away from her fury and she demands where her baby is. Haku, still in his calm disposition, replies that he's with Zeniba. "Zeniba," moans Yubaba and the fire are extinguished. She walks zombie-like to a chair that squeaks as it kneels down to let her on. (And squeaks again getting back up). She wonders aloud if that evil witch (Zeniba) thinks she's beaten her sister with that method and chuckles. She turns to Haku and asks what he's going to do. Haku replies that he'll get Boh back under one condition: she frees Sen/Chihiro and allows them to return to their own world. Angry at his new attitude, Yubaba threatens to tear Haku apart once it's done. Miyazaki seems to enjoy cutting to a new, quieter scene when the action is still high on the old one, for this is what happens at this point. We see an old clock, tilted and covered with moss. It is here that the train stops and let its final four passengers off. They stand and watch the train drive by before continuing down on a dirt path. After walking some ways, the bird gets tired and falls to the ground. (Not surprising, considering how fat the mouse is.) The mouse keeps on going by itself. Sen/Chihiro offers a ride on her shoulder, but the mouse refuses (by turning its head away) and keeps on walking. It doesn't matter much for after a while, a bouncing lantern that squeaks comes bouncing and squeaking towards them and the bird flies the mouse to Sen/Chihiro's shoulder. The lantern stops in front of Sen/Chihiro and bows. The four fearless friends (bad use of alliteration) bow back. The bouncing lantern then becomes a guide as it leads the way to Zeniba's house. At certain times, it stops and leans against the tree and let the others catch up. This continues until they reach Zeniba's: a farmhouse. At the gate, the lantern jumps up and moves his hands up. They walk up to the door, which opens automatically. Zeniba's voice comes out, telling them to come in. Sen/Chihiro goes in but Kaonashi pauses. Zeniba, growing slightly impatient, asks if it's coming in or not. Kaonashi panics before Sen/Chihiro calls it in. Zeniba closes the door behind it. 'Everybody's here,' notes Zeniba. Sen/Chihiro tries to ask her about the seal, but Zeniba tells for them to sit down as she walks over to the stove. Sen/Chihiro rushes over to her (Kaonashi follows) and returned to her the seal. Zeniba takes it and asks if she knows what it is. Sen/Chihiro answers no, but she knows it's important. She bows down in apology. (Her hair fall over the bird, which struggles to get out.) Zeniba asks her if she (Sen/Chihiro) really didn't feel anything holding it. Sen/Chihiro lifts her head and says, "Eh?" Zeniba takes a closer look at the seal and finds it rather strange the curse is gone. Sen/Chihiro panics and cries out that she squished the little bug that was on it. Zeniba finds that amusing and gives out a large, hearty laugh and tells Sen/Chihiro that bug was placed in Haku by Yubaba and is meant to control his movement. With that, she laughs again. She asks them all to sit down, even Kaonashi. Sen/Chihiro turns around and asks Zeniba to turn the mouse and the bird back to their original form. Zeniba tells them that the spell is gone and they can turn back whenever they want, but the two animals shake their heads. So they run on the wheel part of a spinning wheel (and pant when they get tired) while Zeniba tells her story. She and Yubaba were twins but never got along. She criticizes Yubaba's tastes and says sorceress sisters are just a recipe for trouble. With that, she sips her tea. The mouse (with the bird) comes and gobbles down a cookie. He carries two more back to the wheel while the bird holds one in its beak. Kaonashi picks up his cake and cuts it in half with his fork. He picks it up with his fork and gingerly places it in his mouth. Meanwhile, Zeniba tells Sen/Chihiro that even though she'd love to help, the rules dictate that she cannot. In other words (which Zeniba says), Sen/Chihiro is on her own. Sen/Chihiro asks for pointers. She says that she knows she's met Haku somewhere earlier, she just can't remember where. Zeniba says it's easy. Memories are never completely forgotten, even if you don't remember it. (Boy do I wish that was true.) Getting up, she tells Sen/Chihiro to rest because it's late before asking Kaonashi to come help her. Sen/Chihiro sadly looks down at her untouched cake. (With that, Futababi, the best song on the soundtrack, begins to play.) There is a shot of the outside of the farmhouse, and the sound of Zeniba's laughter floats by. She encourages the two small animals running on the spinning wheel. We see Kaonashi helping spin a broom, and Zeniba encourages it as well. She tells them they're doing a big favor for her, because a magic broom is useless. Sen/Chihiro, however, is hunched over on a chair by the door. Sen/Chihiro walks over when Zeniba was teaching the other three how to sew. She (Sen/Chihiro) tells her (Zeniba) that she should go now, for by now, Haku could be dead (she starts crying) and her parents could be slaughtered. Zeniba tells her to wait and clips something off with her scissors. She hands Sen/Chihiro a hair band telling her to tie her hair with it. Sen/Chihiro comments on its beauty. Zeniba tells her that it would protect her, and that everybody has contributed to it. Sen/Chihiro thanks her and puts it on. The windows begin to rattle. Zeniba tells Sen/Chihiro to open the door. Sen/Chihiro complies, and is amazed by what she sees. It's Haku as a dragon! "Haku!" she screams and runs over to it, giving its face a hug. She quickly pulls away and asks if it's all right. Seeing no injuries, she happily presses her face against it again. Chuckling, Zeniba walks out, saying he's right on time. Sen/Chihiro happily tells Zeniba that Haku's still alive, and Zeniba tells Haku she won't question him any more about the seal, as long as he takes care of the girl. Meanwhile, the bird flies the mouse towards Zeniba. When it reaches her, Zeniba tells the mouse to visit her again. The mouse kisses her nose with a "Chu" and waves to her as the bird flies him to Sen/Chihiro's shoulder. Zeniba turns to Kaonashi and says it'll stay there and be her assistant. Kaonashi happily nods its head at the offer. Sen/Chihiro runs to Zeniba and gives her a big hug, bidding her farewell. Zeniba hugs back, encouraging her. After the hug, Sen/Chihiro tells Zeniba that her real name is Chihiro. Zeniba thinks it is a wonderful name, and tells Sen/Chihiro to treasure it. With that, they bid farewell to each other. Mounting Haku, Sen/Chihiro thanks Zeniba while the mouse waves goodbye. Haku begins to fly. Rising above the compound, everybody waves goodbye, even the squeaking lantern. They fly in the air while the music reaches a crescendo. After a couple seconds of flying, Sen/Chihiro gets the watery flashback again. She thinks back and remembers a shoe floating away on the water and a hand going KERSPLASH. She leans over to Haku and tells her the insight she just gained. She doesn't remember the incident directly, but she remembers her mother talking about it. When she was small, she had fallen into a river. The river had been cemented and now buildings cover it. But she remembers the name of the river. The name is: Kohaku Gawa. Thus, Haku's real name is...Kohaku Gawa. All of a sudden, Haku's eyes widen and his scales start flying off. Sen/Chihiro lets out a gasp as Haku returns to human form. They begin to fall. Sen/Chihiro grabs on to Haku's hands as the mouse attempts to swim in the air. Haku eagerly thanks Chihiro (no Sen this time) as he remembers his real name is Nigihiyami Kohaku Nushi. "Nigihiyami?" asks Sen/Chihiro. "Nigihiyami Kohaku Nushi," Haku replies. Tearing up, Sen/Chihiro happily exclaims that the names sounds just like a spirit's name. He says he also remembers that when Sen/Chihiro fell into him, she was trying to retrieve the shoe that had fallen into him. Crying tears of joy, Sen/Chihiro says that it was Kohaku Gawa that saved her. The press their noses together while the mouse tries to grab the tears. One of them hits him right in the below. They continue to fall but right before they hit the water, they fly up and over the clouds. Morning. Yubaba angrily marches in front of twelve pigs. A sign in front of the bathhouse announce that the bathhouse is temporarily closed. Lin pops her head up and cheerfully reports the return of Sen/Chihiro and Haku. (Even though his real name is Nigihiyami Kohaku Nushi, Haku is easer to type. Anyways, they never say Haku's real name for the rest of the movie.) Everybody comes out to watch the two float down. The bird flies forward carrying the mouse. Seething, Yubaba says that Boh had better be back as the bird flies off the screen. BAM! Boh falls down onto the bridge in human form. "Baba!" he cries. Yubaba happily runs towards Boh and gives him a big bear hug and asks if he's all right, but is surprised that he could stand on his own. At that moment, Haku calls out that Yubaba must keep her end of the deal and let Sen/Chihiro go. Yubaba sneers and says it's not that simple. There are rules they must follow. With that, everybody boos. Yubaba tells them to shut up and they all hide. At this time, Boh speaks up. He tells Yubaba not to be so miserly, for he had a wonderful time with Sen/Chihiro. Feeling betrayed, Yubaba slowly explains that those are the rules, and that the spell cannot be broken any other way. Boh (with the bird perched on his left shoulder) tells Yubaba that if she makes Sen/Chihiro cry, then he'll hate her forever. The bird nods in agreement. Yubaba is at a lost for words, but at that moment, Sen/Chihiro calls out, "O-ba-jan." "O-ba-jan?" asks Yubaba, quite surprised that Sen/Chihiro would call her that. Sen/Chihiro then announces that she'll walk to Yubaba, and does so slowly. When she reaches Yubaba, she tells her that Haku has told her the details. Yubaba sneers again and says Sen/Chihiro has guts. She holds out the contract and tells her to follow. Walking past Boh, Sen/Chihiro tells him not to worry. The two stop in front of the twelve squealing pigs. Yubaba tells Sen/Chihiro to pick out her parents from the pack. Sen/Chihiro looks across the front row of the pigs. Yubaba adds that she only has one chance. Get it right and she'll be free. Another shot of squealing pigs. In the crowd, the frog that was the first of Kaonashi's victim gulps. After looking around some more, Sen/Chihiro turns to Yubaba and says it's impossible, for her parents are not in there. Yubaba asks if that's her final answer. Eyes glistening, Sen/Chihiro gives her affirmation. Suddenly, the contract disappears. The pigs transform back into workers who tells Chihiro (no more Sen) that she answered correctly. There is jubilation among the crowd while two humanoid snails kiss a humanoid frog. The turnip spirit from earlier in the movie is also cheering from the bathhouse balcony. Chihiro looks up at everybody and thanks them. Yubaba is not as happy and sourly tells her she won. When Chihiro bows to thank Yubaba, Yubaba snobbishly looks away. Chihiro runs across the bridge waving goodbye to the hands of Haku. Together they run through the restaurants from three days earlier. Chihiro asks where her parents are, and Nigihiyami Kohaku Nishi says that they left earlier. The two stop in front of the field. The water is all gone. Haku says he cannot go any farther, but he tells Chihiro to follow her steps back. He warns her not to turn around until she gets out of the tunnel. Chihiro asks what would happen to Haku after this, and Haku replies that he'll talk to Yubaba to get out of this apprenticeship. He adds that she shouldn't worry for he has found his name again and would eventually return to his world. Chihiro asks if they would ever meet again, and Haku says definitely. Chihiro asks him to promise, and he does. He then tells her to go on, and remember not to look back. The two hands separate and Chihiro runs back to the original building. There, in front of the tunnel, she sees her parents. Her mom calls for her while her dad waves. Excited, Chihiro runs towards them, calling their name. Her mom tells her not to run off like that and they begin walking towards the tunnel. Chihiro asks her mom if she's all right, and as a reply, her mom says that the moving truck should be there already. Chihiro stands there looking. She slowly begins to turn her head to look back, but stops herself and runs to join her parents in the tunnel. In a shot reminiscent of the beginning, the family walks out of the tunnel. Out of the tunnel, the dad is shocked to see their car all covered with leaves and full of dust. Chihiro uses this opportunity to take a long look back. The mom asks if it's a practical joke, and the dad agrees. The shot stays on Chihiro looking back while her parents get the car ready. When they are ready, they call for Chihiro. The hair band shines as Chihiro turns around and gets on the car. In a shot opposite to the beginning, the car backs up farther away from the tunnel, and finally drives away. The End.