MML Traffic #46 for week 3 - April

• Mailing List Stats For This Week
• Introduction
• Threads Covered

  1.	(40 posts)	R1 "Kiki" DVD Imminent?
  2.	(8 posts)	Saving Ashitaka
  3.	(9 posts)	Nausicaa Ending Theories
  4.	(11 posts)	That 4 fps Look
  5.	(7 posts)	"Sen" Release Date and (maybe) Completion
  6.	(12 posts)	"Prinzessin Mononoke" Reports
  7.	(6 posts)	They Killed Mononoke!

• Quickies
• Conclusion

We looked at 162 posts by 56 different contributors.

Introduction

    Wow. An explosion of activity this week.

1. R1 "Kiki" DVD Imminent?

With news from Disney scarce as hen's teeth, the list was thrown into a tizzy by Noah Selsy's post, "I typed in KIKI for the search and the first item it came up with is this:

http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/moviefinder/products/1509103.html

It does not work properly if you try to order it (it comes up with the VHS version), but why is Disney suddenly saying it is on DVD????? "

Marc Hairston replied with a caution, "I think that means Disney is about to release Kiki on DVD in the US, hasn't made the formal announcement, but someone has prepared the webpage for it on the Disney site and accidentally set it to be public. ^_^"

Ryoko Toyama noted some other interesting items, "The Kiki video page has listed DVD as "Additional format" and likes to the DVD page. The DVD has different ISBN and UPC numbers from the VHS. So it's highly likely that it's coming."

Tempest discovered a not-so-cool item, "It's listed as English Only :-("

The wheels started to turn in Chris Meadow's head, "we need to see about having the list adminnish people get in touch with the appropriate people at Buena Vista and organize another write-in campaign to get them to change their minds. Right? :)"

Some thought a write-in campaign would be too pressing at the moment. Robin Casady wrote, "I wouldn't get too worked up about this. I don't think you can draw any conclusions from it." Sharon Westfall wasn't so sure, "But it has a unique ISBN number. Via Google search anyway. . . I know I shouldn't get worked up over this, but memories are still thick... remembering last July's fiasco, Princess Mononoke's "No Japanese track listed? Gotta be an oversight...""

Chris replied, "It halfway makes me wonder if they think maybe they can get away with it because this movie didn't get shown in theaters so it doesn't have the same wide awareness. Or maybe I'm too pessimistic."

Sharon added, "You just know they'll want to continue their schedule without our interference if at all possible. But if their intention for the Kiki DVD is anything like their original intention for Princess Mononoke, it's only logical that the earlier the intervention, the better chance we'll have to influence the inclusion the the Japanese track, and the literal subtitle."

Robin remained unconvinced, "Are you forgetting that Buena Vista Home Entertainment released a VHS in the USA of Kiki in widescreen with the Japanese sound track and English subtitles?"

Michael Johnson had another angle to work, "I have a mole trying to get information about _Castle_ now, but I could ask him to find out about the _Kiki_ DVD rumor, too." Sharon worried, "Maybe they're guessing that would suffice in calming the Princess Mononoke petitioners? I almost feel like we're back to square one again..."

Chris Collette disagreed, "We shouldn't jump to conclusions just yet, since the entire basis we have this is a simple web page. I personally find it perplexing that Disney would consider doing another anime release with no Japanese language track, especially after the fracas concerning Mononoke. Do they think that because Kiki isn't as big a title they can get away with it?"

Michael received a report from the mole, "According to my mole, who I heard from today, that information is not ready for us nor the public yet. Real Soon Now, though. ^_-" David Athay replied, "I hope Michael was "smiling" because he also heard good rumors about the tracks!" Alas, not the case according to Michael, "No, just smirking about the "Real Soon Now"."

Michael gave Disney's 800 number a ring and produced a lengthy (though devote of new details) report.

2. Saving Ashitaka

Did you know the MML is a great tool for academic research? Hana Nakamura does, "I am writing my thesis on Mononoke and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about the significance of the twig that San cuts then sticks in the ground by Ashitaka's head when she leaves him on the island for the Forest Spirit."

Sharon Westfall theorized, "My idea: She used it to attract the attention of the Deer God, who determined whether or not to let the twig live or not. Otherwise the Deer God would have just ignored the human and walked past him" She added her own query, "What I don't understand is the significance of Yakul not stepping on the island."

Kevin Wagner saw it in a different light, "I interpreted this as an exchange - the life in the young tree for the life of Ashitaka. Yakul might have known this (animals being far keener than people) and not put himself in the place of the twig."

Sharon replied, "But then wouldn't San be manipulating the Deer God's decision on life and death? I wouldn't think she'd do that on purpose."

Inquiring minds want to know. Michael Wojcik cleared up the issues, "I didn't see it as anything so calculated, rather as ritual: the twig and its death symbolize the Shishigami's death-aspect, reminding those involved that the Shishigami is not simply a conduit of life-enhancing power. . . By planting the twig, San indicates she understands that duality. By taking its life, the Shishigami acknowledges her understanding. . . As for Yakkul, I assumed he instinctively avoided the Shishigami's immediate presence out of respect as much as anything. Gods are better observed from a safe distance when possible."

Paul Schilling added another angle, "I looked in the PM Roman album and it is called "sakaki no eda", or the branch of a sakaki tree. Sakaki trees are very significant in Shinto, as this was the tree upon which the jewels and mirror were hung to lure the god Amaterasu out of her cave and restore light to the world. They are used today in purification rituals. They are an evergreen tree, which probably has the significance of everlasting life."

3. Nausicaa Ending Theories

Raz Greenberg wondered about the ending of Nausicaä, "Miyazaki wasn't happy with the ending of the film (which implied that some sort of religious miracle took place). My question is - why did he end the film that way, if wasn't happy with such ending? Was it a decision that was somehow forced on him?"

Chris Meadows replied, "my understanding of it is that he had to end it _somehow_. The manga wasn't anywhere near finished yet, so he had to come up with some way to tie it all together so there would be a satisfactory conclusion to the movie. That was apparently the best he could come up with at the time."

Ryoko Toyama pointed out an interview with Miyazaki that addressed his view of the ending.

Julio Gea-Banacloche took another approach, "it's interesting to note that, in the manga as well, there is a "death" and "resurrection" of Nausicaa, and the effect is, if anything, even more explicitly religious: the "resurrection" takes place "in the morning of the world", as the people of the forest celebrate the new growth; which makes a striking parallel with the Christian Easter miracle. . . Miyazaki, for all his protests that he does not really "have Christianity in his heart" because he does not come from a Christian culture, is, IMO, well aware of the parallels and uses them to great effect.

There is another very striking parallel later on (which would be even more remarkable if it was just a coincidence) with the traditional Christian belief that Christ, in between his death and resurrection, "descended into Hell", to rescue there the souls of the just who had died before him. In the manga, Nausicaa, in her "near death experience" goes through a landscape of personal Hell, and rescues one soul along the way. [...]

My impression is that Miyazaki, for all his avowed mistrust of organized religion, has a wonderfully developed religious sensibility, which comes through beautifully in his works. He may feel most comfortable within an "animist" frame of mind, but he seems to have studied the major religious traditions in a sympathetic way"

Artis Klapars added, "In my opinion, the death-resurrection theme unifies four Miyazaki's works, Nausicaa movie, Nausicaa manga, The Journey of Shuna, and Princess Mononoke, which I dare to call "the Four Gospels according to Miyazaki". . . common to all four of them is deliberate use of the main characters with identical faces despite their opposite sex: as many people on this mailing list have noticed before, Nausicaa and Shuna have identical faces and so do San and Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke. . . Miyazaki has an astonishing talent for combining elements from both the Eastern and Western cultures so naturally that people from both regions seem to enjoy it immensely. [...]

I wonder if Miyazaki is simply sarcastic when he says how hard he tries to avoid religion in his art. If he really hated religion so much then why would he make a movie like Princess Mononoke, which has more mysticism and gods in it than the whole freaking Greek mythology."

Steve warned, "Careful, guys. Death and Resurrection happen every year in nature religions."

Julio replied, "Oh, of course. But you know, Nausicaa's case is pretty obvious--I'd say, even blatant. [Here's a hint: From the beginning she is referred to as "the Messiah", "the Savior of the world," and so forth. She is *not* referred to as, say, "the Enlightened One." ;-)] One could probably write a whole dissertation (or at least, several chapters of a dissertation) just on the parallels between the manga's Nausicaa and Christ. . . It's not exclusive, of course, Miyazaki draws on many other sources (some religious, some not) and his own imagination to paint a portrait of Nausicaa as a unique individual with a unique story--but the Christ parallels are certainly there."

4. That 4 fps Look

Anime framerates are a popular reoccurring topic. Warren Savage asked for some pointers, "Does anyone know of a website or a book or something that explains why Japanese animators use image-change rates that are less than the standard frames-per-second rate of motion picture film?. . . The best answer I can muster is, "Well, it's a cultural thing. Japanese audiences are comfortable with fewer image-changes per second to show motion of the characters." But then I can't answer the next question -- "WHY do the audiences accept the coarser motion depiction?""

Chi Chung Tse replied, "The reason is when Tezuka created the first TV anime "Astroboy" thirty something years ago, his budget was really really low. . . Its was mainly a budget issue at the beginning and the "cheat" did make anime looked cheap (there was before the later anime animators be able to turn this limitation into a true style at the 80's) . The other shows at that time period followed Tezuka's technic and the low frame rate because a standard business model."

Enriko added, "japanese animation Budgets ARE a fraction of a regular animated series production in the US. They just can't animate more fully; no time, no money. That is just the way it is. . . But and here is something that might help you a little more with your argument and also bring it a bit more on topic. Full animation doesn't leave anything to do to the viewer ... ghibli animation (and some other anime) is carefully drafted so that it leaves the task of adding inbetweens (poses inbetween drawings) to the eye of the beholder. . . MiyaSan is a master at that; the "feel of movement" you get from some of his animation in 3s and 4s, is usually way more exciting and natural than many of proficient (but not felt) Disney's animation in 1s."

Michael Wojcik faulted the individual viewer, "If someone's going to avoid watching an animated film because of some largely irrelevant technical statistic rather than judge it on its merits, there's probably not much you can do to change their mind. Do they choose novels to read based on how many words they contain?"

Alan Takahashi went for speed, "most anime studios have many more simultaneous projects that they're working on than most US-based cartoon series. The original reason for the low anime frame rates isn't because it was cheaper (though this was a factor too), but because it was FASTER. This isn't so much a factor for Studio Ghibli, but the low frame rate of anime is a long time and accepted fact in the industry"

Warren jammed a bunch of replies in his next post, but the most interesting was his reply to Michael's point, "Not a good analogy. And, yes, there are some people who are turned off by what they perceive the lower framing rate to mean (cheap, low quality, etc.) Joe&Betty Sixpack may not know what's 'wrong' with the picture, but they know sum'thin is..."

Michael replied, "I'm not laboring under the misapprehension that audiences are composed exclusively of rational, intelligent beings. I claimed that their metric was ill-founded - that judging the work on their *interpretation* of a statistic (your "to mean" above) was an inferior approach. . . The nontechnical viewer - your Sixpacks - is precisely *not* the person who will evaluate a cartoon film on frame rate. The "intuitive" judgement you portray them making here is orthogonal to the case of the technical (pseudo)expert rejecting it sight unseen based on content-blind rules of "proper" composition. . . *If* it can be demonstrated that a higher frame rate correlates with higher approval in the nontechnical-viewer market (the packaged-beverage set), then the discussion would become interesting - frame rate would be marketable. I haven't seen anyone present evidence that's the case, though."

5. "Sen" Release Date and (maybe) Completion

Ryoko Toyama posted in regards to the opening of "Sen" in Japan, "Since the special screenings (called "Shishakai", literally means test screening) by Nestle will be held from July 12 to 16, I'm fairly sure that the film opens after that. . . (My concern is whether the film will be ready by July 12...)"

Sharon Westfall replied, "Wasn't Mononoke rushed at the end too? They'll be working round the clock to finish, I'm sure (...visions of the Miyazaki pig and his tormented racoons sketch)" Chris Kuan commented, "I think that's the "joke" that Ryo was trying to make..."

Chris has good intuition! Ryoko wrote, "And that's been a constant joke at Ghibli. (The trailer of Yamada-Kun said "Production is behind the schedule as planned.") But sometimes, it's no joke. "Grave of the Fireflies" couldn't make the deadline, and it was released with some scenes unpainted. . . the release date of "Sen" is currently set just as "July, 2001." The release date of Mononoke was fixed in June, about one month before the release (July 12). And in the case of Yamada-Kun, just one month before the release. . . if you are planning a trip to Japan, the best bet is after July 21 (it's possible that it opens on 14th)."

For some reason Mike Arnold chose this thread to remark about last week's Nestle controversy, "I can go to a supermarket 5 minutes from my apartment and buy little cans of "drops" candies that have a picture of Setsuko from Grave of the Fireflies painted on the side. I'm sure we'd like to imagine our favorite animation studio as being as little affected by industrial/capitalist influence as possible, but how realistic is that? I think we can safely stop short of assuming that Ghibli is some kind of "anti-establishment" company."

6. "Prinzessin Mononoke" Reports

The release of "Prinzessin Mononoke" in Germany prompted Yuan-Juhn Chiao to trek to a theater and write a (huge) report:

A few things which stood out for me about the German release:

• No Studio Ghibli 'Totoro' Logo before the start of the film, just a brief Buena Vista title, without the trademark Disney animation/logo.
• The film print and sound quality seemed a bit washed out in comparison with the U.S. release
• The 'prologue' included German text and German voiceover.
• The script used was based on the original Japanese script and not the adaptation by Neil Gaiman The 'Tatara Women's Song' was not included.
• Inclusion of the 'Princess Mononoke' song sung by Yoshikazu Mera, during the same scene as the Japanese original.
• The Kodamas were referred to as the 'tree spirits.'
• Ashitaka was pronouced the same way as in the U.S. release.
• End credits were the same as the original Japanese release.

Ryoko Toyama asked if the "Tatara Women's Song" was missing, Yuan-Juhn replied, "Yep. It was completely cut out. Very odd."

However, Hanno Mueller wrote, "Nope. The women's work song was there, sung in Japanese." He also commented about the Yuan-Juhn's "chattering" observation, "I did not have that impression. When doing a literal translation, German usually needs more syllables per word than English and needs more words to express the same thing. As a German learning English, I am often amazed how elegant and short well-written English dialogue can be."

Hergen Lehmann also missed the song, "In the copy i saw ("fsk" cinema, berlin), the song was NOT there. However, the scene was not missing, and also had its dialogue. Just no song in the background."

Hanno saw the movie again and reported, "The song *was* there. Sung in Japanese.

Is it possible that there are different audio mixes - one for surround, one for stereo?"

No definite answer appeared.

Hanno whipped up his own report:

* The picture

Wow, I'm very impressed. I have seen this movie more than half a dozen times on DVD already and used a video projector for a big screen once, so I should know the image details already.

But 35 mm sure is a different format and I am amazed how many things I am missing on a DVD! All these details! The movements! [...]

* The dub

The dub was competent and good.

I did not notice any errors such as non-synched dialogue or false translations.

My opinion when comparing it with the English dub: German San is much better, German Eboshi is a bit better, everybody else is not as good or equal as their English counterparts. . . Moro's German voice is odd, but not bad or wrong. It is the voice of an old warrior woman: Powerful, strong. But to me, she sometimes had too much of a "tough biker grandma with a leather jacket" sound :-) [...]

* Summary

All in all, after having seen the American DVD so many times, I probably criticize things that no normal viewer would notice or care about.

To sum it up, I am very pleased with the German dub. :-) Hanno posted some corrections after another viewing, "In full screen pans, the image seems to flicker and shows "double images". Several others have reported this in de.alt.anime, too (I first thought this was just a problem with the projection at my local cinema). I cannot explain this phenomenon, but it was very distracting and annoying. Tonight, Jigo bothered me even more. His voice acting was the worst of the major characters, IMHO. Ashitaka grows on me. :-)"

7. They Killed Mononoke!

Doom and Gloom from Volker, "Buena Vista killed the movie in Germany before it came out by putting out a minimum of copies, which has worked so well in the US. . . Buena Vista should have put out more than about 45 copies (normal releases in Germany are around 500, expected successes more), and released the movie to more than just the small (50-120 seat) cinemas. . . I had hoped for it to be successful too much, and that has been sabotaged by Buena Vista successfully (again)."

Hanno Mueller replied:

I know an art house cinema owner in Hamburg. I asked him about what a "normal release" in Germany is and what he thinks of the ca. 50 copies figure for Germany.

His comment:

- 50 copies for "that movie" (Mononoke) "is surprisingly good", he would have expected fewer copies. (He knows and loves the movie, but he also is realistic about its commercial potential in Germany.)

- 50 copies for Buena Vista Germany is "quite small", they "usually run with more than 200 copies for a movie". [...]

I'm not sure, but I think that the movie chains decide which of their cinemas they show the movie in, so you cannot blame BV for that. Here in Hamburg, it is shown at the "UFA Palast", a large multiplex with 10 cinemas, ranging from 150 to 820 seats. Mononoke is shown in a 200 seat cinema there.

David Athay commented, "Wow, Germany got 45 prints of _MH_? That's a *lot*. I think there's good reason to suspect that there were never more than about 80 copies of the English version. . . The fact that you say theaters wanted it, but were unable to get it, is interesting (this did not seem to be the case in the US)."

Frederic Goetzinger wrote, "I don't know so much the German cinema industry, but 45 doesn't seem that big to me. The French release (Jan. 00) started with 84 copies and this figure reached 103 in mid-february due to Mononoke success over here."

Quickies

    The MML is 10 years old! Help Patrick Bernier survive the anime desert that is Beijing. Marc Hairston passed along a neat Japanese article (with photo), Deborah Goldsmith provided a translation. Bummed since you can't shell out the $40 for the MH Symphonic Suite? Milan Records is releasing the CD on May 15th. Derek Webster spotted another "Sen" trailer on TV. Ryoko Toyama spotted a Japanese page for "Jade Cocoon II" (character design by Katsuya Kondoh). Hanno Mueller posted two more German reviews of "Prinzessin Mononoke": Moviestar, Stadtrevue. Kids, a perfect example of "check yourself before you wreak youself"

Conclusion

    Whew! Quite a week, ne? I'll probably blow the Sunday release date, so watch for the next issue on 5/1.

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