Fine. I’ll admit it. I’m an otaku. I’ve always been very partial toward shows like Naruto and Inuyasha, and I’ve tried (and failed) to convince my friends to watch Japanese anime. I like anime, but I know a lot of people don’t. For most, the incomprehensible humor, the enormous eyes and unrealistic body proportions, and the unfamiliar Japanese culture are all turn-offs to watching anime. Only otakus like me can accept anime without prejudice. That’s why we’re called otakus. However, I can say with full confidence that Spirited Away is not a movie for otakus, but for everyone and anyone. It’s brilliant, relatable, but still charmingly unique and quite unforgettable.

Spirited Away is the story of a little girl named Chihiro who gets lost in a world full of gods and magic and gigantic bathhouses, one of which she gets a job at scrubbing tubs and washing the gods. She starts out as a spoiled, immature little brat, but her journey transforms her as she understands what is truly precious to her.

The true beauty of this film is how different it is. Young girls and women in Disney movies are usually beautiful and brave. Chihiro is nothing of the sort. She is a twelve year old with tiny eyes and chubby cheeks and a constantly pouting face. And instead of embracing the new exciting world with open arms, like Alice in Wonderland, Chihiro screams and runs away. I mean, how many of us would start conversations with strange cats and hatters like naive Alice? The human instinct would be to run, obviously, like Chihiro shows us here. Chihiro has no supermodel good looks or insane heroism; she’s just another human being.

Yet Chihiro is a deeper exploration of human character than any character I’ve seen. She may be timid at first, but Chihiro gradually grows to be accustomed to her new workplace. She makes friends and works diligently, unlike the sheltered child she was before. She even helps clean the huge smelly god no one wants to serve. Chihiro also knows to look beyond outer appearances. Beauty and the Beast may have been the classic tale of not judging books by their covers, but if you think about it, doesn’t the Beast transform into a handsome prince at the end? Why do all the stories we know feature characters whose inner beauty match their outer (albeit secret) appearance? In contrast, Chihiro can spot the warmth behind the half-human half-spider exterior of Kamaji, know which ugly grandmother twin is which, and see the true identity of an injured dragon. Chihiro embraces both sides of human nature: the cowardly, laughable side but also the warm, noble, beautiful side.

To add to that point, why are good guys always good and bad guys bad? People can have ugly sides but have good hearts and vice versa. Spirited Away makes the good and bad guys so interconnected that you realize there are no good and bad guys: there are just people, and how they love, live and are different.

Paradoxically, this is why Spirited Away is a film for everyone, because everyone’s different. No need to learn Japanese or love anime like I do; this movie is about being different. Be different (everyone is). That’s all you need to love Spirited Away.