| 1. | (9 posts) | UK Mononoke Rating - The Final Word |
| 2. | (20 posts) | R2 Kiki DVD - Subtitles & Comments |
| 3. | (7 posts) | Crying Kids get Results |
| 4. | (41 posts) | Flame On! |
| 5. | (8 posts) | Totoro Artwork |
| 6. | (5 posts) | Upcoming Studio Ghibli DVDs |
We looked at 151 posts by 69 different contributors.
Busy week.
Mark Yates received a totally unexpected reply from the BBFC about the UK rating for "Princess Mononoke":
Thank you for your e.mail.
PRINCESS MONONOKE has in fact been classified 'PG' without cuts for video release. The rumour you have heard is in fact nothing more than that and completely unfounded.
The rumor referred to ran wild on the list last week.
A good news/bad news approach from Joe Curzon, "I was expecting PM to get a 12 or a 15 since "Samurai X"/Kenshin OAVs got a 15 and have a lot more violence. . . What bothers me really is the possibility of parents with small children, who think that all animation is for young children, just seeing the PG label, and assuming that it will fine for their kiddies. . . This is when the UK newspapers latch on and go for the standard all Japanese cartoons are full of gratuitous violence etc.... view.
To summarise, I am pleased that PM got a PG, since it will allow more people to see it, especially children, whose parents feel they are mature enough to watch it as well. However I do fear the possibility of some parents complaining about the video/DVD as in the US, when they took their children to the cinema to see the film.
Hanno Mueller replied, "In my perception, "Mononoke" is a fairy tale / legend, in the classic meaning of the term.
Read any of the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales and you will have much more blood, decapitations, witches burning in stoves, villains eaten alive and rumpelstiltskens tearing themselves in half.
And these are the goodnight stories that most parents do not hesitate to read to their children long before they reach the age of 12. . . I wonder if there any parents on this list who took their kids to this movie.
Marc Hairston referred to a post he made on the topic.
Matthew Mehlich wrote, "My wife and I went to see this movie before letting our 5 and 7 year olds watch it. After seeing it we decided it would be best to wait for the DVD to come out so we could discus the movie with them as it was being watched. The film is very powerful and not suited for children without explanation, just as the brothers Grimm stories need to be read and discussed with small children if you don't want to be up all night dealing with frightened young'uns. . . As parants one has to gauge how much your children can understand about a movie and if they will get something out of it. My 7 year old son loves thoughtfull movies (long as they have some action in it). the main thing we try to stay away from these days are movies with alot of foul language..
The crux of this narrative is: Don't let your young children see MH with out supervision and explination, but dont let them miss it either.
Lee Johnson added, "The number of parents I have witnessed renting the South park movie for their kids is unbelievable - despite the 15 certificate, the "Warning contains very strong language" sticker on the front of the box, and then prior warning from yours truly. They then proceed to bring it back and complain that it isn't suitable for their kids!
Hopefully any parents who (metaphorically speaking) see red will also appreciate the complex narrative. If there is an uproar, it will not be from the parents anyway but from the media. So far, any UK media coverage the film has had has been very positive. . . Time will tell.
Massive confusion over the subtitles on the R2 Kiki DVD. Lee Johnson quoted a source that indictaed the DVD contained true subtitles, however, Robert Lee soon followed with, "It seems as if the subtitles are actually not a literal translation of the japanese track, nor a dubtitle from the Disney dub, but a dubtitle from the old Streamline/JAL dub. . . The reviewer on the forum even mentions a line "Oh the Humanity" in his review that seems to be from the English subbed VHS and Streamline/JAL dub."
Chris Collette wrote, "I'm not 100% sure if the Kiki sub vhs used the Streamline script or not. D'oh, and I don't have my copy of the movie off-hand. I was under the impression it was a literal, Ghibli-approved translation and I certainly don't recall there being a Hindenberg reference while watching it."
Ryoko Toyama explained, "the BV VHS sub was actually based on the Streamline script. Tokuma gave the Streamline script to Disney thinking that it was an accurate translation, and Disney worked on it. Several things that were not in the original Japanese script migrated to the BV subtitles."
Stuart Gale posted a mini-review, "It's a *very* impressive 2 disk package. In fact, I think it sets the standard for every animated film to be released on DVD!. . . I though a whole extra disk seemed a bit much since there only seemed to be a trailer for the Ghibli collection, and another for Sherlock Hound and Cagliostro. Then I found that there were the original storyboard drawings presented along with the soundtrack, but even more impressively you could then jump to the relevant animated scene! So you get the whole film again!! (But the only audio is Japanese, and no subtitles.). . .
you can watch the film any way you like:
Japanese audio
Japanese audio/English subs
Japanese audio/Japanese subs!
English audio
English audio/Japanese subs!
English audio/English subs
Joe Curzon added, "I agree. First I played the DVD on my PC, normally it picks up any grains in the images, that a TV would blend out. I must say there where hardly any! The video quality, is simply stunning. . . Menus are nice too. With the White Totoro (commonly seen on Nibariki stickers that come with Totoro merchandise) used as bullet points. . . Although expensive in comparison to a US/UK DVD I would say it is worth the price with the extras."
Sharon Westfall exclaimed, "Well for christ sakes, why didn't they just go ahead and make it Region 1, too already? Hehe.... I'm just being facetious. Remember when the R2 Cagliostro came out with dubtitles, I was so distraught, because I figured BVHE Japan had no need to consider the english market and would if anything, only include the Japanese text subs on the Kiki DVD? Looks like they've proved me wrong, and have included the subs for both markets on one DVD!"
Ryoko also wrote about the lack of true subtitles, "Since English (or French, or whatever non-Japanese language) track is just "extra" for the Japanese audience (the R2 DVD is for the Japanese market after all), it does not make sense for Tokuma to spend extra yen to newly create English sub or dub. It makes sense to use whatever they have at their hand. My guess is that, Cagliostro was dubtitled because English sub was not available (so easily) to Tokuma. Since they used Macek dub instead of Manga dub, I would assume that Manga sub was not available either. . . This is not a bad news since all other Ghibli films to be released on DVD already have the sub version. They have been shown around the US at "Ghibli retrospective". That means Tokuma has them, and most likely to release the sub version on DVD. And those sub were not so bad, AFAIK."
In a semi-related topic Robin Cassady asked, "the interleave lines are very obvious in areas that change radically from frame to frame. Does this mean the DVD is not anamorphic?"
Tom Wilkes (who must have a killer A/V setup) wrote, "The _Kiki_ R2 DVD plays in anamorphic mode on my HDTV -- it looks wonderful. ^_^ The Ekonte version of the movie on the second disc is also anamorphic, but the _Sen_ trailer and some of the other extras are not."
Martin Kaegi added, "It is anamorphic (and looks gorgeous too!). However, there seems to be a minor problem with the way the video signal is encoded on the disc. When I played it back over my DVDO line doubler last night, the unit's lights kept switching back and forth between "progressive" and "interlaced". That's probably why you saw the interlace artifacts. A phenomenon, incidentally, that I've encountered on several Japanes anime DVDs before, but not on the American PM. . . Still: far from annoying. The picture is fabulous, and even the sound appears improved compared to the previous LD and VHS versions."
Kevin Wagner posted an interesting experience that took place in a videostore, "On the end of a shelf of videos and DVDs is hung a Japanese poster for Laputa. Around the corner comes this little girl maybe 4 years old followed by her mother carrying an infant. The little girl points to the poster and says, "I want that one, it's my favorite!" Her mother says, "We'll ask the man up front what it is." I told her it was Castle in the Sky, and felt bad having to tell her that it is only available in japanese.
"But there is this trailer at the end of Kiki" she says. "I know..." and I briefly explained to her the Disney deal. She turns to her little girl and tells her they can't get it because it would be in a language they wouldn't understand. "But WHY! WHY! WHY! WHY!" the little girl was quite upset. Now I felt twice as bad. My wife suggested Totoro but the mother said, "We have that one at home already. It's really good."
I wanted to put this little girl in an envelope and send her to David Jessen.
Joe Monson advised, "Maybe you could talk to the owners of the videeo store and see if they would allow you to put up a small explanation and the mailing address so people could send letters to Mr. Jessen. . . This way, people who aren't just anime fans will be able to write in to Disney and request that Laputa, Kiki, and other movies be released on video/DVD."
Kevin replied, "Imagine this little girl standing on the desk of a Disney executive, crying because he won't let her watch a movie. Now that's a power for change."
Michael Johnson injected some humor, "If you could find that child and videotape her tantrum, that would be even more visceral than a letter. Furthermore, imagine Mr. Jessen bringing such a recording (or a sample of many such recordings) to the attention of the people within his company who might be thwarting his best efforts to encourage the release of further Ghibli films."
Kevin wrote back, "I was trying to imagine how a stodgy, old, cigar smoking executive of a large corporate stereotype would be unable to handle effectively this kind of situation -- and fold under the pressure. Very Hudsucker."
Now the thread you've all been waiting for, Flame Wars! Actually, I'm not going to cover (most) of it since it quickly disintegrated into something akin to raam. Anyways, it all started when Alex Hemard annouced that he had a "Sen" trailer from the R2 Kiki up for download. Bruce Jones jumped all over Alex, who then pulled the trailer. Bruce then posted, "In retrospect, my inital post was too confrontational and should have been re-worded. (like 90% of my posts)"
Alas, the proverbial ball had started rolling. Remember that scene in "Princess Mononoke" when Jigo is trying to catch the rolling iron pot? Replace Jigo with the Level Headed People and the pot with the Flamers and you get an idea of how things proceeded. All sorts of nasty barbs flew back and forth, scaring young children and animals alike.
The First Annual Leslie Brennan Rout III Memorial Crazed Otaku of the Week Award goes to Joseph Calandria for his brilliant message on ethics. Heyadol is runner-up for his wise use of quoting.
The thread stopped when Michael Johnson applied the Iron Fist.©
Tobias Reich wrote, "I'm looking for the source of a spicific Totoro artwork.
http://www.studioghibli.net/posters/index.htm
The one with the two girls standing in front of the arriving catbus. . . Maybe someone the list is able to help me out ?
Jonathan Miller replied, "Well, if nothing else, it's the cover of the OST. . . I'd bet you can find it in the Art of Totoro book"
Paul Sauberlich confirmed Jonathan's hunch, "Yep, page 8. ;)"
Tobias then wondered where to buy the book, Marc Hairston answered, "I have to plug my personal favorite anime place, Planet Anime. Their wesite shows it as in stock for $39.99. Now since you're in Germany, you'll probably want something closer, but if all else fails, PA will sell and ship orders outside of the US."
Chris Wallace (who created the posted) added, "I used the picture from the back of the Roman Album Extra: My Neighbor Totoro"
Joe Curzon scanned a leaflet for the upcoming "Sherlock Hound" and "Totoro" DVDs. Four people working sepreatly came up with the following information:
Amy Howard Wilson says hello. Toshitsugu Uesugi posted an English translation of the director notes from the official "Sen" page. David Mankins spotted a review of the Nausicaa manga. Fukumoto Atsushi and Ryoko Toyama reported on the Ghibli goods availible at Lawson's. Why can't 7-11 sell neat stuff like this in the US? Ryoko also posted about a new Umacha commercial. Michael Kerpan saw an article about "Grave of the Fireflies" in a Australian cinema journal, Sense of Cinema. Cindy Massmann noted that the "Princess Mononoke" VHS is really cheap at Wal-Mart. Abood Rabbat is foaming at the mouth over Nadia/Disney. Visit Marc Hairston's Nadia page for a more sane view.
Whew! See you next week.
