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I prefer to watch a Studio Ghibli film...

In it's original Japanese with subtitles.
21 (61.8%)
Dubbed into English.
7 (20.6%)
It really doesn't matter.
6 (17.6%)

Total Members Voted: 34

Author Topic: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese  (Read 11419 times)

Melvil

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #10 on: September 10, 2013, 03:55:52 PM »
I think one of the big problems is how drastically different a character can be perceived by recasting the voice actor. Howl (of Moving Castle fame), for example, seems to almost have an entirely different personality when given Christian Bale's gruff voice compared to the original. I think there's probably some intentional westernization going on with the voice-casting, and it's not that they're going to make the movie bad by altering your perception of certain characters, but I fundamentally believe that it's always best to experience an artists work as directly as possible, and it's especially off putting when they play fast and loose with such an important aspect.

Totoro

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #11 on: September 10, 2013, 07:36:56 PM »
I don't care and the people that do care aggravate me. "You haven't TRULY seen Spirited Away if you have only watched the English dubs!!!!!!!!1111111111111"  >:(

1SO

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #12 on: September 10, 2013, 08:24:46 PM »
I see the English Dubs as a Certified Copy and just as valid a work of art as the Japanese original.

Bondo

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #13 on: September 10, 2013, 11:18:17 PM »
Like Lobby's experience with at least one film, I've found the voice acting in a fair amount of Japanese anime to be a bit too shrill or emotionally spastic. Sometimes at least the dub will tone this down.

Melvil

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2013, 12:58:02 AM »
I see the English Dubs as a Certified Copy and just as valid a work of art as the Japanese original.

Perhaps, but I feel like I'm rolling the dice on whether I'm getting a "certified copy" or a cheap imitation for every dub I watch. Since there's no downside for me to go with the original I just prefer avoiding all of the potential problems that come with dubbing.

Like Lobby's experience with at least one film, I've found the voice acting in a fair amount of Japanese anime to be a bit too shrill or emotionally spastic. Sometimes at least the dub will tone this down.

This idea could be a whole topic on it's own, it's pretty interesting. On the one hand I'm all for Lobby finding whatever way she needed to be able to enjoy My Neighbor Totoro for instance. I appreciate that if you're annoyed by it you're annoyed by it. But on the other hand, I think films should be judged as a whole package, and it seems weirdly incongruent to just swap out part of a film with a stylistically different approach like that. For me, the energy or the girls voices in Totoro has become a defining feature of it, and I relish the culturally distinct approaches that foreign films bring.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #15 on: September 11, 2013, 07:25:25 AM »
I see the English Dubs as a Certified Copy and just as valid a work of art as the Japanese original.
But the beauty of a copy is that it points us to the original.  :D

oneaprilday

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #16 on: September 11, 2013, 10:39:53 AM »
Until all my kids are readers, it's dubs for us.

oldkid

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #17 on: September 11, 2013, 11:05:32 AM »
In almost all non-English films I prefer subs, but with Miyazaki, I allow myself to watch dubs because M approved the dubs.  Still, I need to re-watch all his films in subs, because I haven't seen them yet.  Oh, what a chore...
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FLYmeatwad

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #18 on: September 11, 2013, 11:11:11 AM »
I prefer playing Ni No Kuni dubbed, if that means anything since it's a Ghibli work.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Studio Ghibli: English or Japanese
« Reply #19 on: December 10, 2013, 04:12:37 PM »
Something to note in relation to this. The dubbed version of From Up on Poppy Hill opens with an insufferable bit of narration. I'm not sure if the whole film does that because I switched over to subbed, which didn't contain that narration, and restarted the film. I wonder if other dubbed films take such liberties.