Blithe 'Spirited'

Even before Spirited Away began playing in U.S. theaters, the luminous animated fantasy film had already garnered glowing reviews, won several international awards, and surpassed Titanic to become the highest-grossing film in Japanese history. With that pedigree, Spirited's official North American site (spiritedaway.net) may seem a little lackluster, offering not much more than a plot synopsis, a modest art collection, a bio of writer-director Hayao Miyazaki, and a batch of not exactly ''exclusive'' multimedia clips. So it's a good thing that anime diehards and newbies alike can spirit themselves off to other parts of the Internet, like the fan domain Nausicaa.net. Named for one of Miyazaki's early triumphs, this content-rich (though poorly constructed) page boasts pieces of Spirited's press kit, links to additional multimedia resources, and the auteur's own musings on his film's intended audience: ''for the people who used to be 10 years old, and the people who are going to be 10 years old.''