Taking this as an invitation, No Face then enters the bath house. As she’s called away by her co-worker Lin, she tells No Face that she’ll leave the door open for him. This time, she addresses him verbally, concerned that he may be getting wet. The next time we see No Face, he’s standing in one of the bath house’s gardens, as Chihiro empties a bucket in a nearby doorway. Kind of like a puppy tagging along behind someone who shows it a little kindness, No Face follows Chihiro onto the bath house grounds.
Though one has to wonder if Chihiro’s little glances and even her polite bow was a trigger of sorts. We never know exactly when he decided to stand on the bridge, or even how long he’s been there. It almost seems that No Face is a creature that does not know who he is, or what purpose he serves in life. As she enters through a side door, we see No Face appear briefly, walking towards the entrance, before disappeaering into thin air. The next time we see him, is after Chihiro returns to the bath house. Though when she turns to look back at No Face, he’s disappeared. As a quick ‘hello,’ she gives him a slight nod, and then rushes past. Chihiro also makes eye contact with him, before attempting to walk past him. The next appearance of No Face is on the bridge the next day. We see her eyes look at him for a few moments, and he seems to stare after her. Almost noone pays No Face any mind or notices him, until Chihiro passes him. When we first see No Face, he’s standing on the bridge to the spirit’s bath house, just watching the spirits passing on by.
Given my penchant for Animated Dissections, I have my own thoughts and ideas as to Hayao Miyazaki’s masked enigma, and below, I intend to present them. No Face’s presence and actions have never been fully explained by Miyazaki, and so many people have come up with their own ideas regarding his actions. When I first heard his name, I thought it was actually spelled ‘Noh Face,’ given that his face seems to resemble masks from Japanese Noh Theater productions. Spirited Away was filled with many strange creatures, but there was one that seemed truly enigmatic: the figure/thing/entity known as No Face. Appearing on only 151 screens during its September 2002 release, it quickly sank from sight, but returned to the spotlight over the course of awards season, taking home numerous critics awards, before managing to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar for the year. Its reception on American shores however, was a little different. Originally released in Japan in 2001, Miyazaki’s unpredictable story about a girl trapped in a world of spirits became a box-office juggernaut in its homeland, becoming the most profitable film of all time in that country, overtaking Titanic’s Japanese box-office grosses from 1997/1998. 10 years ago, American audiences were treated to the theatrical release of Hayao Miyazaki’s animated feature, Spirited Away (or Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, as it’s called in Japan ).