Akio Ogino

While his personality is never fully elaborated on in the film, it is shown in the introduction to the film that he is extremely overconfident and brave, driving his car through an undeveloped footpath in Tochinoki after missing a turn. His curiosity, love for adventure and general carelessness first lands him and his family at the Red Gate, the entrance of the Spirit Realm and subsequently places him under a curse. While exploring he smells food and follows the smell by repeatedly sniffing the air foreshadowingly in a pig-like manner before excitingly reaching the source; a food stall. He is initially hesitant when he notices nobody is there, but is encouraged to eat after his wife says they can "pay the bill when they get back". When Chihro objects to her parents eating by stating they'd get in trouble, Akio tells his daughter to not worry as he has "credit cards and cash", showing he had an assumption that money and status permitted this mass consumption, which ultimately backfired on him.

Akio has lightly tanned skin, short, brown hair and small, dark-colored eyes. Compared to other characters in the series, Akio has a very bulky figure, though more of his bulk is attributed to body fat as opposed to muscle. He also grows a very slightly accentuated mustache on his upper lip. He wore a light blue polo shirt with white stripe and blue jeans. When he is first transformed into a pig in the Spirit World, these clothes were significantly stretched, although he spends the remainder of his time as a pig without wearing them. When restored as a human, his clothes return and in their original size.