The good and evil twin trope is employed as a handy, though rather elementary, foil to depict the struggle between good and evil in a single individual. Often, the label of twin isn’t used and instead there is a shadow figure of the individual (Link and Dark Link are a good example of this from the Legend of Zelda series). I actually prefer this identical shadow figure over the evil twin since the latter is often reductive of twins – the evil one is meant to be conquered and expendable for the character development of the good twin. Essentially, using twins is just a really terrible trope to present the conflict between good and evil.
The elderly twin witches, Yubaba (top) and Zeniba (bottom), from Spirited Away offer some complexity and subversion to this trope. Yubaba is the main antagonist of the film, turning Chihiro’s parents into pigs and then employing her to work in her bathhouse for the yōkai – figures from Japanese legends. Chihiro’s ally and Yubaba’s servant, Haku, gets gravely injured after stealing a seal from Zeniba at Yubaba’s command. Chihiro travels to Zeniba’s cottage on Haku’s behalf to return the seal and hears from her that Yubaba is actually the one behind Haku’s injury. Upon returning to the bathhouse, Chihiro is able to outwit Yubaba and return with her parents to the human world.
What exactly Yubaba and Zeniba are in conflict over is never explained and, throughout the film, Chihiro acts as their intermediator. Yubaba is the twin mainly focused on in the film which is unusual in the good and evil twin trope. In the end, one twin doesn't "beat" the other.
Zeniba and Yubaba are cast into good and evil twins respectively, though some of their actions suggest they are more morally gray characters. Despite her greed and mistreatment of her workers, Yubaba does praise her workers and value her customers. This is particularly exhibited during the stink spirit scene where she welcomes him in despite being grotesque and throws the whole bathhouse a celebration after Chihiro is able to cleanse him. Yubaba also has a son, Boh, who she dotes on, displaying a softer side. Conversely, Zeniba shows an evil side by attacking Haku with paper spirits and transforming Yubaba’s allies into other forms, including Boh into a mouse. Of course, in both these scenarios it could be argued that their actions are simply byproducts of their good and evil natures. Yubaba profits more greatly from happy workers and customers and Zeniba was justified in seeking revenge against Yubaba and Haku for stealing her seal. Nonetheless, these actions do move the twins beyond being simply good and evil.
This along with their completely identical appearances, even down to their jewelry (the only notable difference being Zeniba sometimes wears glasses), suggests that perhaps Zeniba wasn’t entirely truthful in saying, “We’re identical twins, yet exact opposites.” In fact, after a bit of research, I found this to be a blatant lie.
Yubaba and Zeniba are one person.
There is little evidence of this in the film itself since they do refer to themselves as twins, but there are some clues viewers have picked up on. For starters, Yubaba and Zeniba are never seen together. Additionally, when the first syllables of their names are combined they form the Japanese word for bathhouse, sentō.
The most detrimental statement against their twinship comes from Hayao Miyazaki, the creator of the film. When asked in an interview about Zeniba’s character, this is what he had to say: “Ultimately, when we were getting down to the wire in the latter half of the production, Masashi Andō, the animation director, begged me not to add any new characters. So I created a twin for Yubaba. Of course, in retrospect, it could have been a taller, older sister and not just a twin. But either way, it’s still really like two facets of the same person. When we’re at work we’re like Yubaba, yelling and making a mess and getting people to work, but when we go home we try to be good citizens. This schism is the painful part of being human.”
Later in the interview, Miyazaki explains the intention behind the vaguer aspects of the film, including the truth about Yubaba and Zeniba, assuming that viewers would still, even on a subconscious level, understand: “We skipped all the explanations. The same with the fact that Yubaba and Zeniba are really the same person. I’m that way too. I’m a completely different person when I’m at Ghibli, when I’m at home, and when I’m out and about in the community. In fact, I live in a most schizoid fashion.”
So there you have it, Yubaba and Zeniba aren’t twins but in fact a depiction of the “schizoid fashion” of living workers adopt. It’s an absolutely fascinating topic to utilize the good and evil twin trope for, especially when paired with the fact that Yubaba and Zeniba are heavily Westernized characters. Not only their attire, but their living spaces are starkly different from the Japanese setting. Yubaba’s office is very opulent while Zeniba’s cabin has a lot of European trappings. Their characters are meant to comment on the influence Western society has had on Japanese work culture.
This all begs the question, if Yubaba and Zeniba aren’t twins, why have I included them in this blog? Well, I didn’t know any of this until I did some serious research into the pair and my guess is that, unless you’re a super fan of the film, most viewers didn’t figure this out either. Which leads to what I’ve been wondering about during my digging – is it enough to leave the fact that Yubaba and Zeniba aren’t actually twins up to implication?
Spirited Away equates twins to split personalities, furthering the dangerous ideas that twins are a single individual and complete opposites. It’s a blatant misrepresentation of twins. In Miyazaki’s interview, it’s disheartening to hear that creating Zeniba was an animation shortcut, but at least he acknowledges that Yubaba and Zeniba could have been sisters instead and still have achieved his desired message.
Despite all this, I do still value Yubaba and Zeniba’s characters as twins and as a single individual. Miyazaki set out to convey a very complex idea with their characters and created very memorable scenes with them. Researching more into their characters only made me further appreciate the thought behind the story and the realities of developing Studio Ghibli’s most iconic film. When creating such a rich world and characters, it’s difficult to explore it all within the scope of the movie and yet the filmmakers still made space to present Yubaba and Zeniba with more depth than simply as the good and evil twins.
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