‘Spirited Away’ From Ghibli Studio Crushed ‘Toy Story 4’ In China

Among some of the best classic Japanese animated movies that were done by Ghibli Studio, ‘Spirited Away’ set a great bar of standard. China never had the animation officially released in their country due to some political tensions between Tokyo and Beijing.

Originally released in 2001, ‘Spirited Away’ is a coming-of-age anime directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The hand-drawn animation shows 10-year-old girl, Chihiro, who had to work hard in an abandoned amusement park as her parents were held hostage as pigs. Haku, a mysterious boy, helped Chihiro and became a friend to her throughout the journey.

‘Spirited Away’ was not only acclaimed for the animation quality and storyline, but also for the moral lessons as well as amazing soundtracks that accompanied the movie. The songs were composed by Joe Hisaishi and have remained as some of the most memorable classics to not just Japanese, but people across the world.

One of his most viewed song on YouTube is titled Inochi no Namae or literally translates as ‘The Name of Life’.

The rerelease of the Japanese animation has earned more than three times the sales of Toy Story 4 at $4.7 million. Toy Story 4 only reached $1.5 million, but remember that Toy Story is up to some of the most legendary anime to have ever been released, it wasn’t surprising.

Both movies also received critically acclaimed rating above 9 on review site Douban. John Lasseter has also often attributed his inspiration in the creation of Toy Story to Miyazaki’s work. So this might actually be a friendly competition for Pixar.