First time I watched this movie I was like WHAT?! (Spirited Away)  

The first time I watched the movie, I was enthralled. I kept watching it again and again after that, because the story is so engrossing, the art is simple yet lively, and Miyazaki's references to Japanese culture is done with twists.

You can also try watching Howl's Moving Castle. It's another masterpiece from the master himself. I also liked Mononoke Hime - such unrestrained, poetic fury! \m/^_^\m/

well, for me I had never seen anime and Spirited Away was my first. I went in having no knowledge about anime and thought it would be another meaningless cartoon, so when i first watched it I remember thinking "wow, this is deep" Then after watching about 5 other seasons of anime (including Serial Experiments Lain) I went back and thought "woah, that was really simple, what was I thinking" I think it's a matter of getting used to anime, not the show that is confusing.

Well, I got it right away. I'm not exactly sure it's that hard to understand though. But I loved it. The art was amazing and so was the music. Everything seemed pretty deep and it was just a really good movie. I really like Haku and how he turned into a dragon. It is indeed one of my favorite movies too. But also, if you have time, you should watch "Castle in the Sky" too, it's from the same person who did Spirited Away. But it's based on a U.S. book (which I read and was vastly different from the movie) but nonetheless, the art was extremely well done.

No, actually, I could follow it pretty well; but then again, I'd been watching anime long before I saw that movie. I suppose if you're new to anime, it may take a while to get used to certain aspects of it.
I absolutely loved that movie when I first saw it. I thought is was very well done, and I fell in love with the storyline. I almost wish they'd make a sequel.
Also, if you like that movie, I think you'd like KiKi's Delivery Service and Howl's Moving Castle. Both are equally good movies.

I think Miyazaki's films are quite easy to udnerstand, they have a simple message that's universal to all his self written stories (so not Howl's, that was written by someone else and adapted to a anime) it's basically a message to all children watching to be more kind tot he enviroment and nature or bad things might happen. I think that's quite a nice message and the films make kids more intrested in nature (that children these days are slowly decreasing in)

I had to do a bit of preparation for watching Spirited Away. There are a bunch of elements in the movie that are definately Japanese and pretty unfamilair to those of us who are in the US. I can see how you could get confused. I originally saw this movie with a friend in the theater and she hated it because she just didn't get it. Meanwhile, I was enthralled with the visuals.

You should really take some time to see Miyazaki's other films like Castle in the Sky (well, it's more like a floating city and has a lot of action), Nausicaa, Princess Mononoke, KiKi's Delivery Service, and My neighbor Totoro. Disney has done a pretty good job translating them, so they are definately worth your time. They are all different and quite good in their own ways.

There will definitely be some meanings that will be lost in translation once the original Japanese version is dubbed in English, and several cultural differences that might confuse others. You should watch other Miyazaki films to get a hang of it.

I really like spirited away, the first time I bought a dvd player, I also buy this anime dvd, the art is very great compared to other anime, and I saw other anime from studio gibli too like my neighbour totoro, nausica from the valley of wind, howl moving castle, and lots of other gibli studio anime. My favorite is spirited away. and the story doesn't confuse me cos i saw lots of other anime before spirited away.

not really... i love watching animes so i can easily get/understand what miyazaki wanted to portray in the story. i love his work since most (if not all) has a lesson embedded on it: may it be on respect to the nature or one's loyalty and love towards parents.

(^_^)For me, it's like Alice in Wonderland crossover Wizard of Oz with twists and turns. When I watched it I already anticipated it, so no confusion for me.ü