Spirited Away Movie Facts, Easter Eggs and hidden details

17 of the most interesting Spirited Away easter eggs you didn't know about. Handpicked and verified, these little-known hidden details can be obscure enough most people will miss. These behind the scene easter eggs and hidden messages will give you another view of Spirited Away movie message.

Spirited Away Plot

During her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches, and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.

Genre	Animation, Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Mystery
Director	Hayao Miyazaki
Stars	Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki, Takashi Naitô
IMDB score	8.6

Spirited Away Movie Easter Eggs

Jiji from Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) is visible on a pillow in Boh's room.

1 - The magic paper that's trying to get to Hakku by following Sen makes a cone shape near her ear so she'll hear the voices in the next room and find Hakku.

The magic paper that's trying to get to Hakku by following Sen makes a cone shape near her ear so she'll hear the voices in the next room and find Hakku.

Accuracy details in Spirited Away

You can see the loose spikes in the plank before it breaks.

Costume details in Spirited Away

Her tie sparkled when she turned her head to her family. It protected her from going back or a harmful idea.

Spirited Away Movie Foreshadowing

Chihiro bathes a sludge monster that happens to be the spirit of a polluted river. Once cleaned, the spirit thanks Chihiro and transforms into the body of a white dragon. Haku turns into a dragon later in the film which foreshadows him being the spirit of the Kohaku river.

The train is carrying people who have died to the afterlife. As Chihiro leaves, it's shown there is a young spirit girl waiting for someone who never got on the train.

Spirited Away movie hidden details

1 - Chihiro mentions losing her shoe in a river. In one of Miyazaki's other films, My Neighbor Totoro, Satsuke briefly sees an abandoned shoe floating around in the river.

Chihiro mentions losing her shoe in a river. In one of Miyazaki's other films, My Neighbor Totoro, Satsuke briefly sees an abandoned shoe floating around in the river.

When Chihiro forces Haku to take his medicine in his dragon form in 'Spirited Away' (2001), Director Hayao Miyazaki had his animators study the way a dog would resist taking its medicine and based Haku's struggling off that.

Chihiro is still wearing the purple hair tie Zeniba gave her to protect her as she looks back for the last time meaning her time spent in the spirit world was real.

1 - Zeniba uses a paper doll to project a hologram of herself to interact with the other characters. Since the paper doll is missing an arm, so is the projection. (real Zeniba for comparison)

Zeniba uses a paper doll to project a hologram of herself to interact with the other characters. Since the paper doll is missing an arm, so is the projection. (real Zeniba for comparison)

The hopping lamp that guides Chihiro to Zeniba's house is a hidden tribute to Pixar Studios.

Chihiro still has the bobble that the sorceress gave her after she left the land of the spirit as a proof that she wasn't a dreaming

When Chihiro visits her parents as pigs she says, "Mom! Dad! It's me Sen!" because she's already forgotten her own name.

Chihiro lags behind her mom and has to run to catch up, due to her shorter stride, despite a similar step-count

Chihiro's dad is driving and slams on the brake pedal. However, you can see there is a third pedal in the footwell, meaning it has a manual transmission. In reality, hitting the brake without also hitting the clutch would stall the car and in the movie, it doesn't.

The Radish Spirit rides past his floor so that Chihiro doesn't have to travel through the bathhouse alone.

Her tie sparkled when she turned her head to her family.