The Future of Ghibli US Releases

ChibiOne writes "Nausicaa.net is reporting very interesting news regarding the US release for the works of (Hayao Miyazaki's) Studio Ghibli. Steven Alpert (VP at Tokuma International, parent of Studio Ghibli) spoke after the screening of "Porco Rosso" in New York and revealed several new release plans. AnimeOnDVD has a complete report." It says "every Ghibli feature film should be released in the US by the end of next year" as well as a widescreen re-release of Totoro. Here's hoping!

Comments

Was at the screening on Friday

[nyamada]

Porco Rosso was stunning and the english dub was really quite decent.

If any of you get the chance, please try to see Miyazaki's work on screen -- I've seen Porco Rosso before on DVD and it's about 10x better on film --

Re:Was at the screening on Friday

[nyamada]

1) It's not Miyazaki's last work -- it was released in Japan in 1992. He's currently working on "Howl's Moving Castle", which is slated for release in Japan in July.

2) The audio was fine -- were you at the same screening I was? -- rich, convincing stereo sound --

Ghibli releases

[platypussrex]

If you are not familiar with Ghibli, these are some of the finest animated movies out there, and some would even argue some of the finest movies of any kind. Disney did Spirited Away for the US market, so that's what the Disney comments are about (which have been modded off-topic in some cases... mods with no clue).

Interesting to compare the dubbing done by Disney to the subtitling done by various fans. I have seen at least three sets of subs, all of which vary a bit depending on the translator. Sometimes Disney's dub makes sense, and sometimes it is just plain strange. Hopefully the new realeases will be better translations, although personally I prefer to hear the original language and read subtitles.

Re:Ghibli releases

[bellings]

I think I understand the point you're trying to make, but I don't know if I agree. I don't believe that animated japanese movies are enjoyed only by painfully clueless people who live in their mother's basement, unable to carry on a normal conversation.

The question was, "why would a sub be an (intrinsically) better translation than a dub?" I imagine there are intelligent people out there who could give valid reasons. Just because most anime fans on this site come off even more clueless than the normal slashdot horde doesn't mean they're all incapable of delivering a coherent answer, as you implied.

Re:Ghibli releases

[dead sun]

One of the reasons is that there are varying lengths to a variety of words in Japanese and English. The dialogue may take 10 seconds to say in Japanese and boil down to about five English words (minor exageration). When this happens, you have to fluff up the English a bit or it looks like a bad Godzilla dub. We're talking no sound for a couple seconds and the mouth is still moving.

A subtitling is under no such pressure. If the subtitle takes its sweet time to say the same thing, or puts the sentence into the five words it really means, well, it does. You read, you comprehend, you get sound with the mouth moving, even if it isn't perfect. (You don't think the Japanese always lines up perfect, do you?)

There's also another thing that fansubbing does at least. That is to use a few Japanese words (well, their romanizations) in the sub itself. The average watcher is generally pretty clueless to it, so I don't think it'd be a mainstream (read: Disney) thing, but it adds a lot when these little things are carried over because they have a different feel to them than the English translations tend to. Especially the suffixes used with names, sensei, sama, chan, kun, etc.

When these are translated to what they mean, like little Yahiko in the Kenshin DVD subs (can't stand the English voices) instead of Yahiko-chan like in the fansubs it makes my skin crawl. Little Yahiko is not something that anybody'd think to say in English except maybe in the instance of "poor little Yahiko" which would have waaay been better in the Kenshin instances because chan is used as mocking Yahiko. Anywhere else and you don't really think to call a child little, so "Thank you little Chihiro" is right out, where "Arigato Chihiro-chan" is, well, proper (even if I may have killed the spelling). So it invariably gets dropped in the dubbing process. This leads to a different problem, you lose the information of the relation of two characters by not using these methods of address. Sama and sensei are terms of respect, and to call Yahiko by the term Yahiko-sama means you have respect for them. Instead it's just lost, or translated into a Mr. Yahiko, which in a lot of cases sounds dumb and doesn't imply the same respect.

Just my two cents on the whole dubbing process. And before anybody thinks I'm being too harsh, let me say I have a lot of respect for the people that dub in both the original Japanese and the English releases. I've been working on a fandub with some friends (bad idea, but fun to try) and, while it's coming along, it is incredibly time consuming and difficult to get the voices to sound consistantly in character, let alone capture what's being said in approximately the proper length of time and sound like you mean it. I imagine there are similar problems getting from Japanese script to English subs, just to make the lines sound right when reading, but I think there's less pressure to change things to fit the length of time that mouths are moving and thus the sub can be more true to the original Japanese.

Re:Pretty light on details.

[tuffy]

So who's going to be distributing this?

Disney will. Some films might get a limited theatrical run but all will eventually wind up on DVD with new dubs and the original language track intact - much like the last three Ghibli films Disney put out ("Kiki's Delivery Service","Castle in the Sky" and "Spirited Away")

Re:Has Studio Ghibli ditched Disney yet?

[WIAKywbfatw]

i agree that disney has turned into a money greedy corporation, but i am curious. anyone familiar on when exactly this took place? what was it like in the 50s? 60s?

I can't tell you when it took place but I can tell you that my feelings about Disney have less to do with their marketing and willingness to put their characters on anything that can be sold for a profit and more to do with shit like this.

Let's face it, George Lucas, Peter Jackson et al don't exactly spurn marketing and sales opportunities but I've never heard of extras playing stormtroopers or uruk-hai having to share smelly, diseased jock-straps and other "previously enjoyed" underwear.

Re-relase Totoro Please!!!

[kyoko21]

I have about 7 region 2 Ghibli DVDs. They are cool. Except for Totoro. The english subtitles were not actually done by Ghibili, but instead, they are the actual scripts for the english audio tracks. The english audio tracks were ok, but unfortunately, the english audio track has added lines in places where there moments in the scene they felt "too quiet" so they added lines in. So when you watch the DVD with the Japanese audio and the english subtitles, you would see lines that you have no audio for. (BTW, this was done by Disney...blah).

Please Ghibili! Re do the Totoro DVD!!!!

Re:Pretty light on details.

[aardvarkjoe]

I'm told Tenku no Shiro Rapyuta has the same flaws. So did Mononoke Hime, ...

You were told incorrectly. There are two sets of subtitles on the DVDs; one is for hearing impaired (literal transcription of the English) and one is a translation of the Japanese, which often differs from the English dialogue quite a bit -- Especially in the case of Laputa, the only Ghibli movie so far which I think that the dub was poorly done.

Re:Pretty light on details.

[meringuoid]

True for region 1. I neglected to mention that I'm in the UK, and Disney screwed up our releases. I am baffled as to why, since by all reports they did a fine job in the UK. Yet the fact remains that my Kiki DVD has no literal English sub, only the sub for the deaf. Doubly baffling is the fact that the _storyboard_ special feature has the proper literal sub...

If they mess up Spirited Away, then I'll start importing from Australia. Madman seem to take subs seriously, and they make region 2+4 DVDs. Nice.

Studio Ghibli all region DVD collections

[yulek]

I have the 4 disk 7 film (Laputa, Grave of the Fireflies, Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco-Rossi, Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away) all region Studio Ghibli limited edition collection. It's very high quality and it's all widescreen. The dubbing is quite decent (for e.g. Princess Mononoke uses the U.S. theatrical dubbing which was quite good) but more importantly all the movies have the japanese versions as well (unlike the Disney releases). And the subtitles are actually quite good.

There's also the 6 disk, 12 movie collection which adds Nausicaa, Only Yesterday, Whisper of the Heart, Pompoko, Ocean Waves, and On Your Mark, but doesn't include Spirited Away (this is a newer collection and my guess is the omission of this film from the collection is due to Disney...) Although I can't speak of it's quality I can't imagine it being anything but as good as the 4 disk one.

You can get these collection on eBay. Just search on Ghibli. But you'll end up buying them from distributors like this anyway (they heave the 7 and 12 film collections).

I'd seriously considering grabbing the 7 movie version just to have a non-Disney version of Spirited Away.

These have to be the most imaginative, creative, and beautiful films ever made. The power of animation taken to full advantage (imagine a live version of Totoro? ugh, i just got a bad premonition...)

I can't recommend each and every one of these films enough for anyone with a shred of imagination.

Re:Studio Ghibli all region DVD collections

[meringuoid]

I realise this is /., and I realise what we usually think about large corporations and copyright, especially Disney, but seriously: this is Miyazaki we're talking about. These are pirate.

So speaketh the man with divx versions of every last Miyazaki film. But I'm buying legit DVDs as they come out, conditional only on there being a decent literal subtitle...

Re:Disney dismay

[Robotech_Master]

The reason anime lips don't often sync to the Japanese dialogue is that, in many to most cases, animation over in Japan is dubbed exactly the opposite of how it is over here. In America, the voice track is recorded first, so that the animation can be perfectly synced to the mouth movements. In Japan, the movie is animated first, leaving about what they think is enough mouth movements for the dialogue, then the actors have to match their words to the movements as best they can (and most Japanese directors aren't terribly finicky about this. For an example, watch the Japanese making-of documentary on disc 2 of Spirited Away...there's a bit that covers the voice recording--and it's done in a movie theater style auditorium, with the actors matching their movements to the animated images on a big screen!

Ghibli and Miyazaki

[yulek]

Miyazaki is just one of the founding members of Studio Ghibli. He's become somewhat of an icon here in the U.S. and as such is attributed as the creator of all Ghibli films.

Grave of the Fireflies was directed by Isao Takahata who also did Pom Poko, Yamada and Only Yesterday for Ghibli.

Miyazaki is definitely the driving creative force at Ghibli but it's important to give credit to Takahata. Grave of the Fireflies is one of the most powerful animated films ever made.

Dub not so good

[Anonymous Coward]

I was at the screening as well.

While the print was excellent, I thought the dub was only so-so (compared to the rather good Mononoke and Spirited Away dubs). Michael Keaton as Porco is just wrong - we get Batman cool instead of Japanese Porco's more world-weary cool. Gina wasn't great, and I found Fio's english voice very grating.

But don't let me stop you from watching this movie - it is just fantastic.

Re:Has Studio Ghibli ditched Disney yet?

[ll1234]

The Japanese DVDs are released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment Japan, which is owned by. . . hold on to your seat. . . Disney. For those that want to wash their hands from any Disney-related company try the R3 (Hong Kong) releases, they're done by IVL.

Hewitt (English Adaptors) Interview

[ll1234]

Nausicaa.net held an interview with Cindy and Don Hewitt a few months ago that covers a lot of interesting material such as:

• General Overview
• Voice Actors
• Translating
• Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
• Whisper of the Heart
• Spirited Away
• My Neighbor Totoro
• Howl's Moving Castle

Had you read the interview when it came out you would have already known a new "Totoro" dub was in the works. ^_^

Madman (Australia) got there first ...

[tdelaney]

Madman December Newsletter

I don't know who's doing what where though - mastering, dubbing, subbing, etc - it may well be that the Madman releases will be sub-only (SBS-subtitled I would presume) if there isn't already a dub, or Madman may be getting the dubbing done in the US, or it may be part of the US deal ... I don't know.

"Prepare Yourself for the Biggest Announcement of the Century!

We are absolutely thrilled to announce the acquisition of a treasure trove of Studio Ghibli anime feature films.

After the success of the acclaimed Madman release of Spirited Away, Studio Ghibli has entrusted Madman with the DVD releases of 10 of their classic films including their newest feature - The Cat Returns.

Stay tuned and connected for updates and news on release dates and other details about this exciting announcement. In the meantime, make room on your shelves for all of these Ghibli Classics...

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
Laputa: The Castle in the Sky (1986)
My Neighbour Totoro (1988)
Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
Only Yesterday (1991)
Porco Rosso (1992)
Pom Poko (1994)
Whisper of the Heart (1995)
My Neighbours the Yamadas (1999)
The Cat Returns (2002)

Studio Ghibli's animated features are world-renowned for their intricate stories, multi-faceted characters and fluid animation. The painstaking attention to detail is evident in every cell of their largely handcrafted anime features. Its founders - Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata - have long been celebrated in Japan as visionary directors and icons in the field of animation.

Madman Entertainment plan to release all ten Studio Ghibli titles over the year between April 2004 and May 2005. Theatrical screenings and a Ghibli film-festival touring select locations will showcase the collection. Takahata's GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES - release date 11 February - will also form part of Madman's Ghibli Collection.

We hope you are as thrilled and excited about this announcement as we are... Stay Tuned!"

Re:Disney dismay

[tepples]

Misspellings don't matter much on Slashdot; even the editors make them.

ObTopic: I hate Disney too. In fact, if I were a fan of Studio Ghibli's films, I would region-mod my DVD player just so that I could buy DVDs from regions where Disney isn't distributing Ghibli.