An amused Zeniba reveals that the slug had been one of Yubaba's means of controlling Haku, and that the curse put on the seal has already been broken by Sen's friendship.

In another article detailing Hayao Miyazaki's wide impact to the film industry, he wrote "The influence of Spirited Away can be easily observed in Disney productions like Brave and Frozen, thanks to John Lasseter's (the Chief Creative Officer of Pixar) efforts to introduce it to Western audiences". As a monstrous, out-of-control being, No-Face exhibits all the negative traits of those he had swallowed (most significantly, Aogaeru), becoming a brash, arrogant, loud, and selfish creature whose obsession with Chihiro proved troubling for everyone around it.Sen and Chihiro's Spiriting Away') is a 2001 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten, Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Tohokushinsha Film, and Mitsubishi and distributed by Toho.

The bathhouse, situated within an abandoned theme park, symbolizes Japan's distorted cultural identity. Miyazaki responded, "I never thought about whether we should include scenes of Haku or Chihiro flying or not.Similarly, Chihiro and Haku stay under Yubaba's control forever if they forget their real names and consequently their real identities. So in that sense I thought it really was wonderful to have Chihiro actually ride the train, even better than flying through the air. During her adventure she matures from a whiny, self-centered, and pessimistic child to a hard-working, responsible, optimistic young girl who has learned to care for others.

Marc Hairston argues that this was a justified response to Studio Ghibli's retention of the merchandising rights to the film and characters, which limited Disney's ability to properly market the film.Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 96 out of 100 based on 41 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

When the workers do not comply with his demands, he eats several of them; this causes a panic and the entire bathhouse is thrown into pandemonium.

Sen discovers a bicycle handle sticking out of him, and the workers help to remove the bicycle and a large amount of garbage. For inspiration, he read shōjo manga magazines like Nakayoshi and Ribon the girls had left at the cabin, but felt they only offered subjects on "crushes" and romance. In an interview on the film's Roman Album dated September 10, 2001, Miyazaki refers to the strange world Chihiro wanders into as Japan itself.