Taking Sides: Seeing Miyazaki Films in English vs. Seeing Miyazaki Films in Japanese

This is precisely why I will refuse to see the English dub of this.

For live-action films, I also think it would be nice if dubbing were more often an option. I guess maybe it is on certain multi-layer DVDs. The same points that I argued for the animation case also hold true for live-action for the most part, except the lip-synch issue becomes a bit more noticeable - though it's still less distracting than to have to spend most of the time reading when you're trying to watch a movie.

GIRL: 
Oh!
LARGE, MUTE, SLOW-MOVING SYMBOL OF THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF NATURE: 
.........
GIRL: 
Um...
LARGE, MUTE, SLOW-MOVING SYMBOL OF THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF NATURE:
.... ..
ADULT: 
I feel threatened by nature and youth!
GIRL: 
Uh-oh, it's sick!
LARGE, MUTE, SLOW-MOVING SYMBOL OF THE INCREDIBLE POWER OF NATURE:
... ...... 
GIRL: 
Wow!

HERE HE COMES, HERE COMES SPEED RACER!!!

"we are showing both the dubbed and subtitled versions of each film in the forthcoming Studio Ghibli season, beginning this Friday with The Castle of Cagliostro - the first time a film plays it will be in the dubbed version, and then its second play will be the subtitled version."

English - Dubbed
Fri 04th Aug - The Castle Of Cagliostro (4.55pm)
Sat 05th Aug - Kiki's Delivery Service (4.55pm)
Sun 06th Aug - Princess Mononoke (4.30pm)
Mon 07th Aug - Laputa Castle In The Sky (4.55pm)
Tue 08th Aug - My Neighbour Totoro (5.10pm)
Wed 09th Aug - Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Winds (4.45pm)
Thu 10th Aug - Porco Rosso (5.15pm)

Japanese - Subtitled
Fri 11th Aug - Princess Mononoke (4.45pm)
Sat 12th Aug - My Neighbour Totoro (5.05pm)
Sun 13th Aug - Laputa Castle In The Sky (4.55pm)
Mon 14th Aug - Kiki's Delivery Service (5.05pm)
Tue 15th Aug - Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Winds (4.45pm)
Wed 16th Aug - Porco Rosso (4.45pm)
Thu 17th Aug - The Castle Of Cagliostro (5.10pm)

nice of them to do this btw. think Nausicaa is the only one i've seen with subtitles.

don't like watching cartoons w/ subtitles

Does it really matter? Although the films' origins are in Japan, the location of the stories aren't all in Japan, especially the recent ones.

The most annoying thing for me is just when the sounds don't quite match the movement of the characters.. but they never match up in animations anyway, so it doesn't really matter here. And for the record.. I grew up watching these films in Chinese

otherwise the dubs are pretty good

Is this why Howl's Moving Castle, which I saw for the first time last night, in its American dubbed form, made NO FUCKING SENSE AT ALL?

Spirited Away annoyed me when dubbed cos it lost a lot of subtetlty, in my opinion.

And: Gillian Anderson is never ever the voice of the wolf god Moro, the original voice for that is just awesome.

That's nothing compared to Phil Hartman as the gay cat in Kiki's Delivery Service! My god, he sure did make that movie grating!

How about the question of the new English dub of My Neighbor Totoro vs. the old one?

Not really. In the nightclub scene, Porco still tells the flapper they'll talk "next time, when it's just the two of us." And I think they say hell and maybe damn, same as the subtitles. It's actually a really good dub, other than the American pilot's over-the-top accent.

The common wisdom is that the old Totoro dub was better, but they're both pretty grating, and at least in the new one they sound like real children (because they are duh). The old one is so obviously adults making cutesy helium voices.

Nausicaa and Porco Rosso I watch dubbed, the rest I watch subbed.

what the freakin gah i want to buy friend's little kids 'my neighbour totoro' but the only version available via yknow amazon or cdn online retailer involves dakota fanning wtf how can i do that to children

i know they won't care
but i will care. i guess i need to view this version first and see what it sounds like. i'm cringing already; i need to stop that.

ok internet people tell me:

Now, this is where it gets tricky, a lot of anime enthusiasts (read: geeks) consider the English adaptation by Macek to be one of the best dubs out there, with arguably a more faithful translation and the voice acting by the sisters (Cheryl Chase and Lisa Michaelson) to be more natural and in tone with the Japanese cast. I own both versions and can attest to the superiority of Macek’s dub, but it in no way makes up for the cut-up print you get that goes along with that dub. Disney’s English dub with the Fanning sisters is certainly acceptable and while the Fanning’s may be a little grating for older viewers, unless you’ve heard the Macek version to make comparisons, it makes little difference. The glorious widescreen transfer is the name of the game here and I would go with Disney’s version over Fox’s any day of the week because of it.

so okay then

i guess it comes down to love of original dub b/c of robotech nostalgia

i haven't seen the new dub but it kind of bothers me that every single feature-length cartoon of like the last 30 years has featured celebrity voices. i mean, back in the day they had special voice actors for that shit. it's not like you can even tell jennifer aniston's voice from kirsten dunst's or whoever so why bother?

I just watched Kiki's Delivery Service for the first time. Kirsten Dunst is kind of annoying.

I really liked Ponyo, but there was something dissonant about Tina Fey voicing Kosuke's mom. But my friends didn't even notice, so maybe I just have feydar.

Just decided that I'm going to t0rr this before I see it in the theaters; Howl's Moving Castle always felt wrong to me and that was the first one I saw in English first.

It looked great on the big screen.

Howl's has a pretty incoherent plot, but yeah, the visuals are amazing and trippy.

True, but I meant Ponyo.

Tina Fey voicing Kosuke's mom

Why did you say this, might not have noticed.

Maybe your viewing will be enriched by this knowledge...

i knew it was her but I didn't think it sounded like liz lemon or anything. liam neeson was much more incongruous, if only because his character was so androgynous and his voice is so "I'M MANLY LIAM NEESON". Anyway, cute movie, my 3 year old sat through it which is saying something, and when it was done he exclaimed "That was an amazing movie!" The plot stuff at the end didn't make a lick of sense though.

Usually in NYC, at least one theater will run the film in Japanese with English subtitles, but I can't find anywhere that is doing this. Am I condemned to witness (what I'm assuming is) Noah Cyrus's film debut?

Noah Cyrus was not an issue for me, fwiw. I agree about Liam Neeson though. Strange choice.

Watch them in Cantonese you cowards:

The original Cantonese dub for Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was produced by Tsui Hark who demanded it be filled with jokes and references. Most of it's extremely Hong Kong-specific, and then there's this: 'You think this is a Spielberg movie?!' pic.twitter.com/1XBZ5Kud33

— Dylan Cheung (@Futurhythm) March 7, 2023