SPIRITED AWAY (Hayao Miyazaki, 2001)
When Wes Anderson spoke of the influence of Studio Ghibli on Isle of Dogs, he said: “With Miyazaki, you get nature and you get moments of peace, a kind of rhythm that is not in the American animation tradition so much.” That sparse soundscape amounts to ASMR heaven. For instance, Spirited Away allows viewers to soak in the running water of the bathhouse, the rhythms of any food preparation, and also the scampering feet of those little Susuwatari creatures. (For extra viewing, here’s some guy whispering and stroking his Miyazaki Blu-Ray collection for 32 minutes. It’s the new Rule 34 – there really is an ASMR for everything.)
