While making 'Spirited Away', which would be later considered his major movie, animator and film director Hayao Miyazaki was very focused on the power of words. In an early proposal dated November 8, 1999, Miyazaki wrote: "Words are power. And in the world into which Chihiro stumbles, the words one utters have irrevocable significance". That could be seen in the film, for example, when the witch Yubaba litteraly tears Chihiro's name away from the page and turn it into Sen. By tearing away her name's authenticity, Yubaba rips off Chihiro's memory. Conversely, it can also be seen in other situations that turn in Chihiro's favour: "when Chihiro says out loud, 'I'll work here', her words are so powerful that even a witch like Yubaba can't ignore them", writes Miyazaki. In Miyazaki's mind - at least for what he aimed to achieve with this film - words show our real will, words are us. He designed the movies explicitly "for ten-year-old girls", as he says, yet the movie has the most important of a story's qualities: the universality. That's one of the reasons why 'Spirited Away' became such a hit both in Eastern and Western countries, and helped japanese animation to be accepted all over the world. Because our will is what defines us, and our will is inscribed in our own words.