#3rd draft

An investigation into the humanisation of the character No Face (Kaonashi) from Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away

No Face or Kaonashi in Japanese, is a lonely spirit who befriends the young female protagonist, acting as both an obstacle and ally to her, in Studio Ghibli’s animated fantasy masterpiece Spirited Away (2001). This essay is my investigation into how and why the animated spirit No Face is humanised in the film. How does the character’s look, animation style, movement and behaviour etc. make them more human, as well as looking at why the artists, animators choose these features for No Face, and what messages we can draw from this. This information will help me to for fill my aim to explore and analyse how the character manages to be very human, relatable but otherworldly. Ultimately he is only an animated body with a mask, but as quoted in the online article; Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away: No Face (Elyse.T, 2016), writer and director Hayao Miyazaki himself said; “Kaonashi (No Face) is inside everyone”.

The literal translation of Kaonashi from Japanese is No Face derived from Kao meaning face and nashi meaning without (Jisho). This juxtaposition of his name and design is one of the many elements of No Face’s character that make him such an unknown and unpredictable character. (and his only voiced motive is to befriend Chihiro, otherwise his intentions and origin are unclear) According to Volger’s book on Archetypes (Volger, 2007) I would identify Miyazaki’s No Face as a Shapeshifter. ‘Shapeshifters change appearance or mood, and are difficult for the hero and the audience to pin down. The Shapeshifter serves the dramatic function of bringing doubt and suspense into the story’ (Vogler, 2007, pp. 59,61). Through the protagonist’s Chihiro’s eyes his presence is unsettling, an unknown spirit, an outsider, a mute appearing and disappearing seeming to follow Chihiro’s every move. When he is invited to come inside the bathhouse, by the now employed Chihiro, he uses the greed of the workers to gain the attention he desires, apart from the one he wants the most; Chihiro. This frustrates him, becoming this enormous rampaging creature who is saved by Chihiro from the crippling mental state he has ingested from the Bath house’s workers. He is now just a lonely soul in our eyes, back to his original spirit form, vulnerable as he’s knocked over by the waves of water from the passing train. Unsure of himself, like a lost child, he’s panicky and must be reassured by Chihiro to stay calm and cause no trouble. We, the audience are relived and pleased when at the end he is calm and polite, finally finding his purpose working for the witch Zeniba. This character development is strongly influenced by No Face’s appearance, which is constantly changing.  

No Face’s original designs were very different to the final look, his form was more human like and covered in stars and swirls, giving him a more magical feel (see Figure 2).  His final basic design is made up of a thin black body that seems to be disappearing the closer it is to the ground, and a white mask with tribal like markings. In the terms of shape theory Chris Solarski theorised that ‘shape has a way of communicating universally, because the concept of circular versus originate very much from nature. Rounded shapes tend to be safe, while angular shapes make us cautious’ (2012). If we apply this to No Face, he is mostly made up of rounded shapes apart from the markings around his eyes, this could have been a conscious design decision, we are first cautious and scared of him but we realise that he is actually quite soft and harmless when he is removed from the negative bathhouse environment. This is also emphasised by his black body that suggests a malicious character, contrasted with the pure white mask that propose a more innocent side to his character. Masashi Ando, supervising animator on Spirited Away, purposely made No Face basically expressionless, referencing that he could have gone further and made it ‘more Noh-like’ (Miyazaki, 2008). Noh is a form of Japanese theatre that contains masks that look expressionless (see Figure 3) but have slight facial differences that tells the audience what character type the actor is playing (Japan-guide.com, 1996). These design observations are brought to life by the close coordination between the animators, painting staff and camera department and ‘is how it’s possible to combine both terrifying and humorous into the character.’ (Miyazaki, 2008).

[There have been some interesting comparisons to No Face’s design that Miyazaki may have also referenced, for example the markings on his mask resemble a silk worm’s head, there are also similarities in his actions; his insatiable hunger, rapid growth and the spinning of silk in Zeniba’s cottage (ChannelFredarator, 2016). Alternatively, No Face has been compared to Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion by the artist Francis Bacon (Odell, Le Blanc, 2015: 116) (Figure 4).]

All these design factors are what make No Face not human but this a big part of his humanisation. ‘Anthropomorphism is the interpretation of nonhuman things or events in terms of human characteristics.’ (Guthrie, 2008), therefore it is easier to make a connection through an anthropomorphic character, such as No Face, because we can effortlessly project our own self onto them. This projection was intended and made possible by Miyazaki and his team’s meticulous design and animation decisions, proven by Miyazaki’s quote “Kaonashi is inside everyone” (Elyse. T, 2016). This humanisation from No Face’s design are felicitated by Miyazaki’s attention to detail to his character’s movement, which is what makes them so realistic and believable. Glen Keane put it perfectly, that it’s the ‘little moments that convince you this isn’t an imaginary world, this is real’ (Carey McGleish, 2011). The most human we see No Face is the scene just after he has chased Chihiro out of the bathhouse, where he goes from being this rampant creature to this weak and insecure spirit.  He gets onto the train Chihiro is boarding to see Zeniba and as she goes to sit down he has a little panic attack, he shakes his head, looking around and his whole-body fades slightly, this is No Face’s most vulnerable moment where we see him as he truly is; a lost and lonely soul looking for a purpose and a companion. It’s in these seemingly unconscious movements, that are so relatable to our lives, is what makes Miyazaki’s characters so real. In the next scene, No Face is sitting on the train next to Chihiro, they are both sombre and quiet, contrasted by the lively and excited little bird and mouse next to them, surrounded by these mute shadow people as the train passes this desolate world by (see Figure 5). These moments allow us to feel, to reflect on how far the characters have come and how they have grown, causes us to develop an empathic bond them. Miyazaki said he includes segments like this because ‘If you have non-stop action with no breathing space at all, it’s just busyness but if you take a moment then the tension building in the film can grow into a wider dimension’ (ChannelFredarator, 2016).

[It’s also shown in parts where we fear No Face, for example when he swallows up the bath house workers, he gains their likeness and personality traits, Masashi Ando wrote that No Face does this so ‘he might become more human and appealing’ (Miyazaki, 2008) Ultimately its No Face’s failure to appeal to Chihiro and the audience that humanise him.]

Although Spirited Away and its characters are a creation of many people, it is, as quoted by Glen Keane, ‘an explosion of Miyazaki’s imagination’ (Carey McGleish, 2011), it’s his story, which he wrote, directed and drew for. Toshio Suzuki, Japanese producer of Spirited Away even goes as far as to compare No Face to Miyazaki, ‘In my experience many of the characters portray and contain positive elements of the man Miyazaki, No Face is desperate to enter somehow into the hearts of others but really doesn’t have the ways or means to do so’ (Carey McGleish, 2011) The Film is fantasy but Miyazaki incorporated his own life experiences as well as spiritual and societal beliefs into his work. For example, he has a distaste for modern society and the lack of knowledge of respect for traditional culture. This is shown In Spirited Away in the form of the bathhouse, portrayed as ‘this world is a grotesque version of our own where greed and ambition mix with kindness and camaraderie’ (Odell, Le Blanc, 2015), encouraging us not to be so wound up in money or status but to appreciate what we have and learn from our mistakes.