People say "you never forget your first," and Spirited Away was my first Miyazaki film. Like most of his work, the animation in Spirited Away is stunningly detailed and meticulous, and the world imaginative and captivating. The main characters are all multi-dimensional and interesting. And it wouldn't be Miyazaki without a laundry list of symbolism and themes at play. I also can't help but fondly remember how Spirited Away turned my mother's opinion of anime movies on its head, since when she took me to see it when I was 11, her prior experience with anime films had amounted only to the Pokemon Movie.