Modern Hero: Chihiro's Story


Chihiro Ogino and her parents find a tunnel while moving to their new house.
Chihiro’s parents pull her through to an abandoned theme park. While her
parents start eating from an abandoned booth, Chihiro, wanders off.

In front of a bathhouse, a boy sees Chihiro, becoming shocked. He warns her
to leave. Chihiro finds her parents have turned into pigs; and cannot make it
back to her world in time, becoming trapped in the spirit world.

Haku, the boy Chihiro met earlier, helps her back to the bathhouse and advises her
to get a job from the owner, the witch Yubaba, with the help of the boiler man, Kamaji.

Chihiro manages to get a job at the bathhouse; however, Yubaba tells her she will be
called Sen from now on. Chihiro is placed under the care of a worker named Lin. She is
 surprised to learn Haku is Yubaba’s apprentice.

 The next morning, Haku takes Chihiro to see her parents, who are still pigs. He warns her
 to remember her name, as that’s how Yubaba will control her. Chihiro finds out Haku is a dragon.

 Chihiro helps a very rich spirit and earns the workers’ respect.  Chihiro is worried when Haku
 comes home, dying. She meets an apparition of Yubaba’s twin, Zeniba, who demands that Haku returns
 the seal he has stolen and turns Yubaba’s baby, Boh, into a mouse.

 A spirit Chihiro let into the bathhouse turns out to be a monster called No Face, who consumes
 spirits after appealing to their greed She travels to Zeniba’s, with Yubaba’s baby, to find a
 cure for Haku.  Yubaba, who is furious with the damage caused by No Face, orders Chihiro’s parents
 to be killed. Haku proposes that if he returns with her baby, Chihiro and her family can go home.
 Yubaba agrees, but only if Chihiro can pass a test.

 Zeniba tells Chihiro Haku has been cured by her love for him. Zeniba encourages Chihiro to listen
 to her true self, pointing out the changes she’s already made in her friends’ lives. Haku arrives
 in dragon form.

 As Chihiro flies back to the bathhouse with Haku, she remembers she had already met Haku, as the
 spirit of the Kohaku River. This completely breaks the spell Yubaba had on him.

 Yubaba’s test for Chihiro is already set up; she must identify her parents from a group of pigs.
 She realizes that none of them are her parents, sealing her confidence in herself and her judgment.

 Chihiro is released. Haku tells her that her parents have already returned to the human world.
 He warns her not to look back until she is outside the tunnel. Chihiro realizes that she doesn’t mind
 the move anymore.

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