Miyazaki Explains What the Deal is with No Face from Spirited Away

by Danica Davidson
January 10, 2024

No Face is one of the most iconic and mysterious characters from Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning anime movie Spirited Away. Kinyo Roadshow (translated as Friday Roadshow) is a weekly Friday-night movie segment on Japan’s Nippon TV, and while playing Spirited Away last week, it tweeted some interesting information on No Face.

“Who exactly is No Face?” it wrote. “Director Hayao Miyazaki says, ‘There are many people like No Face in our midst…it’s the type of person who wants to latch on to others but doesn’t have a sense of themselves. They are everywhere.’ No Face exists without a sense of self and changes depending on the things and people it encounters.”

This got a lot of approval from online fans, and SoraNews24 translated some of the responses:

“I know people like this, who only use fixed phrases all the time.”

“So that’s why No Face speaks like the frog after it eats it — it absorbs the character of the person it eats as it has no character of its own.”

“I can relate to this.”

GKIDS licensed Spirited Away for North America, and gave this description of the movie:

Winner of the Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature, Hayao Miyazaki’s wondrous fantasy adventure is a dazzling masterpiece from one of the most celebrated filmmakers in the history of animation.

Chihiro’s family is moving to a new house, but when they stop on the way to explore an abandoned village, her parents undergo a mysterious transformation and Chihiro is whisked into a world of fantastic spirits ruled over by the sorceress Yubaba. Put to work in a magical bathhouse for spirits and demons, Chihiro must use all her wits to survive in this strange new place, find a way to free her parents and return to the normal world. Overflowing with imaginative creatures and thrilling storytelling, Spirited Away became a worldwide smash hit, and is one of the most critically-acclaimed films of all time.

Source: SoraNews24

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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.