Okay, this is quite random but I wanted to throw it out there:

Towards the end of Spirited Away how exactly does Chiharu know that her parents are not among the pigs on display?


This has always bugged me about the movie and almost prevented me from liking the movie the first few times I watched it. I don't have a problem with ambiguity or characters/themes with multiple interpretations (No-Face, for example, I have read many interesting essays on this character, you can accept any or all of them, leaving you with a nice sense of satisfaction). But there's something really concrete about Chiharu's final test. In a moment like this in a traditional movie, the character would use a lesson they learned or a skill they picked up to pass the final test. But she just...knows her parents aren't there. Boom. Am I over-thinking things? Is it just that she's grown as a person and isn't the same whiny little girl from the beginning of the movie? Even if that's the case, how does that help her tell pigs apart??