[mttjj]

Having never seen any Studio Ghibli films before, I watched all of them in release order last month, Jan 2023. I'm so glad I did. With few exceptions, the films are masterpieces of cinema, not just animation. Nearly any single frame from nearly any of the films would make gorgeous wall art.

I'd recommend anyone who is remotely interested in animation, Japanese films, or films in general to check them out. All but 2 (for licensing reasons) are available to stream on HBO Max. I believe they have both subbed and dubbed versions, though I preferred to watch with subs.

[omnibrain]

> Nearly any single frame from nearly any of the films would make gorgeous wall art.

Studio Ghibli provides hundreds of stills for their movies on their website:

https://www.ghibli.jp/info/013409/

[FpUser]

Yes, for the most part Studio Ghibli's art is insanely beautiful.

[rahimnathwani]

I opened a couple of Ghibli movies on the HBO Max app just now, and the only audio and subtitle options were English.

[mttjj]

I think HBO Max is weird in that you have to pick the options before you start the movie. I found I couldn't change languages from the audio track or subtitles options while the movie was playing. But I can 100% confirm that I watched all of the movies on HBO Max in Japanese audio with English subtitles. AppleTV 4K.

[rahimnathwani]

Thanks for the tip!

https://i.imgur.com/nuRLkcH.png

The only way I can find to switch the audio track is by clicking the word 'English' on the description page (screenshot above), before hitting 'play'. This is really confusing because:

1. There's an option to change the language track once you're playing the movie, but it doesn't show the other option.

2. When you click that button, there's a helpful notification saying you can choose language in 'settings' (which isn't the case!).

3. The icon next to where it says 'ENGLISH' looks like a speech bubble, which to me indicates 'subtitles'.

4. I have to click the word 'ENGLISH' to switch to Japanese!

[mttjj]

Ah yes, I remember doing this dance at the beginning of January. As you've discovered, there are about two dozen UX violations with this procedure. Thankfully, I only had to do this once; all the rest of the films played in Japanese by default from then on.

[poulpy123]

Why is it a problem?

[nicoburns]

The original versions of the films have Japanese audio, and you're missing out on that if you watch them in english.

[HideousKojima]

Also, at least on the Disney blu-ray releases, there were some notable differences between the English dub and the English subtitles. The most glaring one I ever saw was in Porco Rosso when Curtis says he's from Alabama in the subtitles but from Texas in the dub. The Japanese voice acting is also usually way superior, even though they hire quality actors for the dubs.

For example, Gillian Anderson is a great actress but she doesn't do the character of Moro (in Princess Mononoke) justice, especially compared to the Japanese VA (Akihiro Miwa).

See their voices compared at 4:19 https://youtu.be/1X4RWYsDs8A

[mttjj]

I think if you watch Pom Poko[1] with the dub, you're watching a completely different movie.

> Prominent scrotums are an integral part of tanuki folklore, and they are shown and referred to throughout the film, and also used frequently in their shape-shifting. This remains unchanged in the DVD release, though the English dub (but not the subtitles) refers to them as "raccoon pouches".

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pom_Poko

[mcphage]

> Also, at least on the Disney blu-ray releases, there were some notable differences between the English dub and the English subtitles.

Some or all of them have 2 different English subtitle tracks — "English" and "English for the Hearing Impaired". For reasons I don't understand in the slightest, they sometimes differ. English for the Hearing Impaired is the one that matches the English Dub.

[slim]

Dubbing imposes constraints on translation, you have to chose words that look alike when lip syncing. Sometimes dubbing is more like a creative translation, different from original text

[echelon]

Neil Gaiman changed Kaya from Ashitaka's romantic partner to younger sister. He also inserted a fart joke into a moment that didn't deserve it.

The dub is above average, but the original with subs is the best way to watch the film.

Mononoke Hime is still in my top 25 films. If you haven't seen it, please treat yourself. I think it's far better than Sen to Chihiro / Spirited Away.

(FWIW, I bought the domain for Miramax's original marketing page and kept it online: http://princess-mononoke.com)

[Aeolun]

Who is Kaya, and in what part of the movie does Ashitaka have a romantic partner?

[TremendousJudge]

afaik the English dub literally changes the ending of Kiki's Delivery Service

[mytailorisrich]

There are a lot of differences between the English and Japanese audio in Kiki. For instance, there are more silent periods in the original Japanese version, whereas in the (American) English version they almost stereotypically cannot stop talking. So it seems there was some cultural adaptation beyond simple translation.

[thaumasiotes]

> the English dub literally changes the ending of Kiki's Delivery Service

True, but that is a rare case where the dub is making a gigantic improvement.

[js2]

Complete tangent:

Last year I watched Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), a fairly amusing Spanish farce (Almodóvar, so, you know). In the movie some of the characters play voice actors dubbing an American movie to Spanish and I wondered, what movie is that?

The movie they were dubbing is Johnny Guitar (1954). Which is how I came to discover a film that's now well in my top 10.

[harry8]

Maybe don't try that for the voice acting scene in "Jesus of Montreal"

[pie_flavor]

This isn't the case - Studio Ghibli's English dubs have always been perfect, with the studio being very careful about their quality, and in some movies such as Spirited Away, there's sometimes even details of the original design that are expressed in the English dub that weren't in the Japanese version, like a side character's name.

[mlindner]

They're still a different production than the English, often with different dialogue. They're "equivalent" in terms of production value but they are "different".

[micromacrofoot]

I would add though, that if you aren't into subtitled movies the dubs are still perfectly serviceable and I'd still strongly recommend watching them.

Also despite some of the issues with earlier dubs, some of the later ones are good in their own ways. In the case of Howl's Moving Castle, I prefer the dub by a large margin, Billy Crystal was especially good.

[thot_experiment]

one notable aspect is the lack of silence in the English dubs, the originals use it to great effect but the English dubs always tend to have background music inserted in

it doesn't make it unwatchable by any means but the vibe is no longer as impeccable

[pks016]

https://youtu.be/jM6PPxN1xas

This is why.

[Zababa]

I'd recommmend Mamoru Oshii's movies too, they are masterpieces as well.

[test1235]

Did any of them stand out to you in particular? Which was your favourite(s)?

Any you didn't like?

[mttjj]

My favorites were probably "Grave of the Fireflies" (warning: it's heavy and devastating), "Pom Poko" (very funny), "From Up on Poppy Hill", "Arrietty" to name a few. The fantasy-centered films are good, but my personal taste tends to lean towards the slice-of-life/coming-of-age films so that's why those were some of my favorites.

The only truly "bad" movie of the bunch is their latest from 2020: "Earwig and the Witch". It's computer generated instead of hand-drawn but it looks like a computer generated film from the early '90s. Just ugly and uninspired. And the story was not good. It had promise but did absolutely nothing with it. Very disappointing film. Thankfully, it looks like their next release (summer 2023) will be back to the hand-drawn style.

[jfax]

Earwig and the Witch was a really fun movie to watch back when the Gamestop short squeeze was in the news. It's a film about overcoming cruelty and injustice through a hacker mindset, rather than resolving conflict through cathartic resistance. Goro in an interview said:

> "Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki and Yoshiyuki Tomino, are, in a manner of speaking, the first generation of those who experienced the war, who saw a radical change in values. Their opposition to authority and violence began from a certain kind of resistance, and they came together to make something, to start building something new. I think it's a kind of revolutionary mindset. But it's not possible for those of us who were born amid the period of economic development to possess that. The answer I've come to now, which made me think while making movies, is found in Earwig."

> "There's dubious stuff going on across the world, and there's no rosy future waiting after an upheaval. And this state of affairs will probably continue," Goro says. "If people rose up democratically against violence, would stable peace eventuate? It's a very difficult situation. I get the feeling that an ending with catharsis isn't something you should portray without careful consideration. At the same time, we need some kind of fantasy to live mentally enriched. We realized the time has come to decide on where to put emphasis."

[kldavis4]

fwiw, Earwig and the Witch, while produced by Studio Ghibli, was not a Hayao Miyazaki film (it was directed by his son) and was critically panned. Definitely one to skip.

[ddoolin]

And the elder Miyazaki walked out during the premier of his son's first feature film in an apparent expression of disgust at his son's creation. Not exactly a model father.

[toyg]

Old Hayao was not a good father, even more so for Western standards. He dragged his son into his work, and then effectively threw him under the bus when it became clear he was not going to be particularly good at it. From the outside, it looks like a classic case of a capostipite, the upstart who builds a family fortune and is then disgusted at the fact that his son is of a different breed.

[UncleOxidant]

Looking at it from the elder Miyazaki's perspective: Seeing that disaster of a film and realizing that your name was going to be associated with it forever after you spent your entire working life establishing a very high standard was probably a very difficult thing to endure.

[Aeolun]

I rather think it’s the opposite. It was a decent film, but all the others are masterpieces. It sucks for Goro because it’s basically impossible to live up to the standard unless you’re a once a century genius.

[Shared404]

As much as I love his films and their stories/values, the elder Miyazaki is definitely not the greatest of people.

He was one of the first instances I can think of where I came to understand "don't meet your heroes".

Edit: Never met him in person. Mostly meant 'meet' in a figurative sense.

[glandium]

For the record, that was for Gedo Senki (Tales from Earthsea).

[Aeolun]

I don’t think it’s one to skip at all. While not at the same level it’s still quite entertaining.

But maybe not watch in the same sitting as the other movies.

[skhr0680]

The grim tone of Grave of the Fireflies and the equally bright and cheerful tone of Totoro made more sense to me when I found out that they were a double feature at the cinema.

[antoniuschan99]

Also check out 10 years with Hayao Miyazaki!

[jsf01]

As an engineer, The Wind Rises really spoke to me. One of my favorite films of all time and one I’d recommend any day of the week.

[baby]

Which one was your favorite :)? Mine is mononoke

[SamPatt]

Porco Rosso or Castle in the Sky

Spirited Away is amazing too