The Spirited Away Scene That Gives Anime Fans Dragon Ball Flashbacks

At first glance, it seems nearly impossible to find anything in common between Studio Ghibli's critically acclaimed fantasy film "Spirited Away" and the beloved anime series "Dragon Ball." The latter primarily focuses on the childhood of Son Goku (Masako Nozawa/Sean Schemmel) as he fights off various alien threats to humanity using the incredible powers he's inherited as a member of the Saiyans: an alien race whose true mission is to conquer planets across the universe (not unlike the Viltrumites of Amazon's "Invincible"). Much of the "Dragon Ball" franchise is also centered around the eponymous Dragon Balls: seven mystical artifacts which, when united, summon an ancient dragon who will grant their holder any wish they desire.

By contrast, the story of "Spirited Away" focuses on a young girl named Chihiro Ogino (Rumi Hiiragi/Daveigh Chase) who finds herself transported to the world of Shinto spirits known as Kami. There, she takes a job in the bathhouse of a witch named Yubaba (Mari Natsuki/Suzanne Pleshette) and fights against the clock to save the lives of her parents (whom Yubaba has turned into pigs) and escape back to the real world. As such, it's easy to see that the subtle dreamlike feel of "Spirited Away" is a direct contrast to the explosive action of "Dragon Ball" — though there is one particular scene in Studio Ghibli's masterpiece that reminds fans an awful lot of a certain location within "Dragon Ball."

One of the most iconic moments from "Spirited Away" is the scene in which Chihiro boards a sea train alongside several of her spirit companions, including the mysterious No-Face. The train takes them across a reflective ocean within the spirit realm, and at one point the audience can spot a small house resting on an island while Chihiro is looking through the train's window. Although we never discover what this house is or who might live there, fans of the film have compared it to the Kame House from "Dragon Ball," where Master Roshi (Kôhei Miyauchi/Mike McFarland) lives.

The similarities between the two houses are obvious, as both the Kame House and the mysterious spirit house rest on minuscule islands (both of which are empty except for a few trees), and seem extremely isolated, having nothing around them but water. Indeed, the similarities are so striking that several fans on Reddit admitted to confusing the two locations at first glance. "At first I thought it was Kame House," said u/Eigghtbitninja253. Two users, u/Erretico_ and u/paceplumb, even asserted that a screenshot of the house from "Spirited Away" was actually an image from the "Dragon Ball" franchise showing the Kame House.

Despite the fact that this particular house only appears in "Spirited Away" for a brief moment, it's clear that the striking location gave plenty of fans a sense of déjà vu to the time spent at Master Roshi's place.