seconding on the blank check miyazaki series, it's good
― Generous Grant for Stepladder Creamery (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 24 February 2020 13:08 (four years ago) link
blank check series was overall good. ep-by-ep some were good, some (e.g. totoro) landed a little awkwardly. they have more knowledge than a total neophyte to ghibli, but not a lot of context for thinking about anime otherwise (cagliostro ep was best in this regard), and tend to focus on plot, character and auteur versus form and technique. but they brought out some recurring themes i hadn't thought about before, and made me give another think to some that i underrate (e.g. howl's). also was the nudge I needed to finally watch Porco last summer! which was lovely.
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 24 February 2020 13:34 (four years ago) link
Last Ghibli we watched at home was Laputa, and at one point Nora (5) gasped and said "this is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen".
She's kind of grown out of Totoro, which makes me sad - watched it several times very happily when she was 3-4. She still loves Ponyo, though, and Casper (2) is also transfixed by it.
She was a big fan of Kiki for a long time, and The Cat Returns, too. She loved Howl's, which I'd not really clicked with. I think the slightly unhined-from-narrative-expectations ones do work better with kids in that respect.
Question is, which dubs are on Netflix? I kind of assume the most recent ones?
Obviously these days with the kids we always watch the dubs - the differences are minor enough to not stop you getting the overall effect.
I'd have Totoro, Laputa, Kiki, and Spirited as my favourites. Bunch I've not see that I'll hopefully correct as they come onto Netflix.
God, Miyazaki loves airplanes.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 24 February 2020 13:55 (four years ago) link
podcasts maybe not the greatest medium for exploring the visual dimension, which to me is the most under-examined? (i mean i'm sure there's actually ppl busily examining it, i'm just not aware of them)
it's just such an incredibly rich terrain of hints and allusion and echoes, from classic kidlit inc.the endless micro-moomins popping up to the travel posters mentioned above, to herge and serge clerc, to who knows what else (inc.actual japanese and far eastern stuff i know nothing about).
i would read the fuck out of a giant expensive catalogue essay on same, someone shd hire me to sub-edit such a thing and pay me nicely to do a grand job
― mark s, Monday, 24 February 2020 13:59 (four years ago) link
i am not a parent but, perhaps there is something in knowing that, even if they've grown out of the films for the moment, they will likely come back to them at later points in their life seeking (as 20 and 30somethings do) a comfort and safety you helped bring to their young lives. and then discovering to their surprise that things like Kiki and Totoro actually speak to them as adults about things that are emotionally meaningful and valuable to them right then. could make for some really good conversation-starters down the line, and either way it's a good thing you've given them. versus many of the movies i adored as a kid that it turns out are beautifully constructed for a 10 year old (and maybe even "a few jokes for the parents!") but have very little to offer, really, later in life.
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 24 February 2020 14:05 (four years ago) link
xpost hmm fair points! i just remember being let down b/c griffin is a huge animation nerd, dropped out of animation school etc., and when they've talked about pixar or genndy tartakofsky, he's launched into explanations of animation principles, "squash and stretch" etc. whereas here he seemed to stay distant from that stuff, focusing instead on his own late-in-life journey of miyazaki discovery. which was fine enough but especially in the context of thinking about career arcs and "blank checks" i would have expected some notice to, like, how Laputa is a big-budget spectacular epic of relentless and laborious animation, and how Totoro is, comparatively, made on the cheap (but still achingly beautiful of course). i think he just doesn't know much about anime and didn't want to be a dumbass by getting out his depth but it's an area i thought could have been cool to get into, oh well.
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 24 February 2020 14:10 (four years ago) link
https://66.media.tumblr.com/9ee6493e78495d35b98dd75743a793c5/tumblr_nqun7aAb4G1up42jgo7_500.gifv
― ogmor, Monday, 24 February 2020 15:45 (four years ago) link
I'm looking forward to this -
https://www.stonebridge.com/catalog/sharing-a-house-with-the-never-ending-man-15-years-at-studio-ghibli
― Maresn3st, Monday, 24 February 2020 16:22 (four years ago) link
I should really watch these subbed, but I'm always worried I'd be missing out on the beautiful animations
― doorstep jetski (dog latin), Monday, 24 February 2020 17:12 (four years ago) link
watch em twice!
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Monday, 24 February 2020 19:38 (four years ago) link
i am not a parent but, perhaps there is something in knowing that, even if they've grown out of the films for the moment, they will likely come back to them at later points in their life seeking (as 20 and 30somethings do) a comfort and safety you helped bring to their young lives. and then discovering to their surprise that things like Kiki and Totoro actually speak to them as adults about things that are emotionally meaningful and valuable to them right then.
This is how I feel about the classic children's books I grew up with, and Miyazaki's films are one of the few things made for children in recent years that seem to have that same layered quality. (Although I never went through a phase of rejecting my favorite kids' books; I reread them periodically as I got older and found that the best of them continued to speak to me but in ways that kept changing.)
― Lily Dale, Monday, 24 February 2020 20:40 (four years ago) link
We watched Totoro at my daughter's request and aside from the doctor's written diagnosis you see briefly on the telegram, here are some other things I noted that are glossed over in the subs:
+ The father mentions that the country air near their new house will be better for the mother to get healthy when discharged.+ The mother has been in the hospital for one year, and has been discharged once but had to be readmitted almost immediately. This is why Satsuki freaks out when she gets the telegram: she thinks that her mother will never be coming home from the hospital (or worse: that she will die there).
The Disney dub/subs from what I remember are pretty bad ("soot gremlins"... wtf) but they do a better job of pronouncing characters' names more accurately.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Wednesday, 26 February 2020 21:27 (four years ago) link
So Nora decreed it was my turn to pick the Friday ‘pizza and film’ film, and I put Totoro on - they were both rapt pretty much all the way through (5&2). And no, she’s not pregnant. No way. Mei is the same age and the baby is standing in the credits, so at least 18 months would have had to pass for gestation, birth, and a year of development. The baby - like all the other kids in the credits - is just a friend.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Saturday, 29 February 2020 07:00 (four years ago) link
They’re watching it again this morning. So she’s totally not grown out of it.
― Hey Bob (Scik Mouthy), Saturday, 29 February 2020 08:50 (four years ago) link
It’s cool that more people are watching Totoro.... and spending time with the pregnant mom
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Saturday, 29 February 2020 14:52 (four years ago) link
this is starting to feel like one of gregg turkington's theories
― american bradass (BradNelson), Saturday, 29 February 2020 14:53 (four years ago) link
spirited away and princess mononoke now on netflix, i need never leave the sofa
― mark s, Monday, 2 March 2020 11:35 (four years ago) link
a good thing abt tales of earthsea is it made me reread the first three books
― mark s, Tuesday, 3 March 2020 20:13 (four years ago) link
only good thing to say about that movie probably (haven't/won't see that)
― Swilling Ambergris, Esq. (silby), Tuesday, 3 March 2020 20:15 (four years ago) link
we watched Mononoke on Sunday. I will still say Spirited Away is my #1 Miyazaki, and possibly the best movie I've ever seen, but Mononoke is unfuckwithable, original in every frame, subtly plotted, making the case for it over Spirited Away would be easy to do.
― Swilling Ambergris, Esq. (silby), Tuesday, 3 March 2020 20:17 (four years ago) link
i probably will now rewatch it at some point: as weak cover versions of strong books sometimes can it puts in yr mind things you hadn't really thought abt, like actually how spartan cultural life seems to be in the book version of the archipelago (spartan not being a mode ghibli handles well, le guin is fine with it)
― mark s, Tuesday, 3 March 2020 20:26 (four years ago) link
any version of Earthsea where Ged isn't dark-skinned is p fucked up tbh
― Swilling Ambergris, Esq. (silby), Tuesday, 3 March 2020 20:42 (four years ago) link
hard agree. haven't seen any adaptations - if Ged is light-skinned it really takes some of the punch out of the white blond people being the scary primitive Other.
― lukas, Tuesday, 3 March 2020 20:47 (four years ago) link
I don't feel like I ever got the hang of Princess Mononoke I have to say.
Maybe having been introduced to Miyazaki via the one-two punch of Spirited/Howls left me with expectations of all his films being bonkers maximalist masterpieces, so coming to films like Mononoke and Totoro later on left me slightly underwhelmed as they're a lot more understated.
― doorstep jetski (dog latin), Tuesday, 3 March 2020 20:51 (four years ago) link
a good thing abt tales of earthsea is it made me reread the first three bookswhy not tehanu? a) it is used in the film; ii) it's the best one.
― Paperbag raita (ledge), Tuesday, 3 March 2020 21:52 (four years ago) link
weird i would consider princess mononoke way more of a bonkers maximalist masterpiece than spirited away
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 3 March 2020 21:56 (four years ago) link
spirited away takes place in a bonkers otherwordly place but has a very understated time in it imo
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Tuesday, 3 March 2020 21:59 (four years ago) link
otm, whereas Mononoke has like six factions, heads getting lopped off all sorts of people, no definite villains except maybe the local lord besieging Irontown, and the dang forest spirit, the weirdest guy of all
― Swilling Ambergris, Esq. (silby), Tuesday, 3 March 2020 22:02 (four years ago) link
spirited away's big spectacle sequences feel bigger & more overwhelming to me than mononoke's
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 3 March 2020 22:06 (four years ago) link
maybe that's because the baseline is lower though!
― ciderpress, Tuesday, 3 March 2020 22:07 (four years ago) link
why not tehanu? a) it is used in the film; ii) it's the best one
bcz no copy in the house
― mark s, Tuesday, 3 March 2020 22:48 (four years ago) link
get one forthwith, and the next two, and join me in the earthsea thread to discuss the greatest hegelian thesis/antithesis/synthesis in literature.
― Paperbag raita (ledge), Wednesday, 4 March 2020 07:43 (four years ago) link
my wife announced to us all that she'd never seen Spirited Away despite it being one of the kids' favourite films growing up!we're not sure how she could have been always out of the room when it was on, going to rectify it later
― thomasintrouble, Wednesday, 4 March 2020 08:18 (four years ago) link
Watched Nausicaa & Mononoke in quick succession. I really wanted to like Nausicaa more, it looked fantastic and I was instantly drawn into its world, however although most of his films drop you into the middle of a unique and fully realised world it usually serves as setting to a more universal story - even when it's as integral as in Spirited Away things are rarely explained, you just have to take them as they come. By contrast this had too much exposition and the story, especially the climax, relied too much on the invented quasi-mystical ecology. Also it was too damn long and at some points it seemed like 'young girl yells at giant insects: the movie'. Some great moments though, especially the giant at the end.
Also within the first few minutes I thought 'wtf this looks like the work of Moebius'; turns out Miyazaki directed it "under Moebius' influence" (his (or translator's) words, apols to mark s). Great interview between the two of them here: http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/interviews/miyazaki_moebious.html
Mononoke was also too long, also featured a protagonist overly fond of yelling, this one way more annoying than Nausicaa. Even though she was eeeeeevil the Lady Eboshi was much more likeable, as was the mercenary monk, though of all the Engish dubs I've seen/heard so far Billy Bob Thornton's voice is the only one I've thought was really out of place. The eldritch Forest Spirit was great and the "I'm going to show you how to kill a god" scene was awesome. I couldn't really get behind the more conventional aspects, a lot of dashing around on horseback (or elkback) with no real sense of peril.
and re: kiki from upthread:
kiki is a way more anxiety-inducing watch than it should be
yes! i am perhaps unusually anxious about lateness/missed appointments but dropping the package in the forest/dithering around at the old lady's and missing the party gave me palpitations.
― Paperbag raita (ledge), Monday, 9 March 2020 11:01 (four years ago) link
> Also it was too damn long
it's only about 40% of the book(s). i think it was made after volume 2 and it ended up as 5 volumes. this or laputa is probably my favourite.
> Mononoke
english text by neil gaiman. terrible violent thing.
> kiki is a way more anxiety-inducing
that propeller-bicycle at the end looks like a deathtrap
― koogs, Monday, 9 March 2020 20:26 (four years ago) link
lady eboshi is not strictly evil, that's part of the point
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, 9 March 2020 20:30 (four years ago) link
it's always hard to convert an epic manga series into a watchable movie... nausicaa does a pretty good job imo, considering what a feat that is... on the other hand, akira, while a fun movie, feels like a trailer compared to the manga it's based on
― Bstep, Monday, 9 March 2020 20:55 (four years ago) link
lady eboshi is not strictly evil, that's part of the pointshe's not an ahem cartoon villain, sure. i don't think caring for the people of irontown or even the lepers are huge points in her favour though.
― Paperbag raita (ledge), Monday, 9 March 2020 21:04 (four years ago) link
this seems like a good thing to lower your blood pressurehttps://ghibli.fandom.com/wiki/Iblard_Jikanhttps://www.dailymotion.com/video/xpn1g7
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Wednesday, 18 March 2020 18:09 (four years ago) link
rewatching ARRIETTY (2011)
i love how much she adores her dad and is excited by his skills and him being deadpan stoic back at her
― mark s, Saturday, 21 March 2020 19:57 (four years ago) link
Have vented on this before, but find Arrietty almost impossible to watch, in large part because of the UK English dub. Also #1 daughter watched it a lot as a 4 year old and took to addressing me and her mum as "Mother?" and "Father?" in that piercingly insufferable middle class tone, often while we were wheeling her around Streatham Sainsbury's.
― Stevie T, Saturday, 21 March 2020 20:05 (four years ago) link
i'm watching it subbed so luckily this isn't an issue
― mark s, Saturday, 21 March 2020 20:07 (four years ago) link
as a uk english person who used to read the uk english books i thought it was fine except for the boy. was a bit of a shock at first but then a relief from all the american dubs. olivia colman was pretty good.
― Paperbag raita (ledge), Saturday, 21 March 2020 20:16 (four years ago) link
wild theory: Shou (the boy) is actually pregnant...
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Saturday, 21 March 2020 20:53 (four years ago) link
Don’t be silly
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Saturday, 21 March 2020 23:11 (four years ago) link
rewatching LAPUTA (1984) as i break down to make some room in my flat
tentative critical observation so far: tintin is one visual ancestor (see also KIKI) and YELLOW SUBMARINE another
― mark s, Sunday, 29 March 2020 16:14 (four years ago) link
tintin ancestry comes in by way of lupin iii surely
― ciderpress, Sunday, 29 March 2020 17:13 (four years ago) link
maybe yeah
― mark s, Sunday, 29 March 2020 17:22 (four years ago) link
The dub version of Kiki that's on Netflix is the one with the terrible corny music and the extraneous OTT Phil Hartman dialogue that was eventually pared down. Sucks for folks who will know this version best.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Thursday, 2 April 2020 02:03 (four years ago) link
oh we watched it the other day and u remember thinking I didn't remember all that stuff
― doorstep jetski (dog latin), Thursday, 2 April 2020 07:36 (four years ago) link