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Author Topic: Animation Marathon - Suggestions  (Read 26500 times)

rodneys

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Animation Marathon - Suggestions
« Reply #90 on: December 25, 2006, 11:39:31 PM »
I'm coming into this topic late, but I have to side with watching dubbed versions of anime films. Anime depends so much on visual style that having to read the subtitles detracts from watching the film itself.

In the case of Spirited Away, the dub is absolutely fantastic. I watched the film in the theater dubbed and forgot until midway through that it should have been in Japanese. The voice acting and dialog are great. Disney has done a wonderful job with their Studio Ghibli releases. In fact, after watching the extra features on the DVD which showed the original subtitles in places, I would argue that the translation done for the dub is far superior to the original translation for the subtitles.

In the case of Akira and Ghost In The Shell, the movies were also all about visuals. I don't think the films themselves were all that great - I would give them about 2 1/2 stars each. They were both overly pretentious in a kind of "if we make this hard to follow, people will think they are really profound" way. The dubs were perfectly adequate and allowed me to watch the movies without distraction.

In spite of what another poster said, I found the dubs for Grave Of The Fireflies to be good as well. I don't think that the overly earnest Japanese style of acting usually present in anime would have served the film any better. It had such a strong impact as presented in the dubbed version that I can't see it being better with subtitles.

As for live action films, I always watch these subtitled. Even heavily action-oriented films. The poor match between dialog and mouth movements is just too distracting. In a good animation dub, this isn't an issue. Spirited Away is probably the best example of dialog matching the animation that I have ever seen in an animated film. But for live action, give me subtitles every time.

StandAloneMatt

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Re: Animation Marathon - Suggestions
« Reply #91 on: February 02, 2007, 11:26:27 AM »
I'm coming into this topic late, but I have to side with watching dubbed versions of anime films. Anime depends so much on visual style that having to read the subtitles detracts from watching the film itself.

Couldn't disagree more.  Our brains are built to accept a lot more visual input than a lot of people think.  If you find yourself "looking" at the subtitles and not the entire picture - you need to watch more subtitled films - eventually you will pick up the skill and it is a much more rewarding experience.

Rufish

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Re: Animation Marathon - Suggestions
« Reply #92 on: February 03, 2007, 01:17:19 PM »
Quote
Couldn't disagree more.  Our brains are built to accept a lot more visual input than a lot of people think.  If you find yourself "looking" at the subtitles and not the entire picture - you need to watch more subtitled films - eventually you will pick up the skill and it is a much more rewarding experience.

I whole-heartedly second that.
I'm a Dapper Dan man.

Atom

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Re: Animation Marathon - Suggestions
« Reply #93 on: February 06, 2007, 10:34:01 PM »
Also coming into this topic rather late, but wanted to leave a few comments.

For one, on the whole sub vs. dub debate.  I strongly believe that an argument could be made for both and it simply is just going to have to come down to a combination of personal preference, and quality.  I am a longtime anime fan (at least longtime by today's standards.  I am one of the many belonging to the 1988 post-Akira generation of fans) and I have seen numerous films and series of varying quality.  I went through the phase of my fandom where I felt a kind of purist sensibility and was a strong advocate for watching everything subtitled.  My biggest defense was that I wanted to see the production as it was originally intended.  But then I realized... am I really going to let myself believe that the director originally intended my eyes to be hovering around the bottom of the screen for the majority of the film? 

Another argument could be made for the high potential for changing the story in the dub version in order to accomodate the lip flap.  What I didn't really consider (and I know many anime fans don't consider) is that even the subtitled versions of films can be slightly altered in order to compensate for viewing time.  What I mean is, a titler needs to leave the subtitle on the screen for a long enough time for the viewer to be able to read it.  If the direct translation of the dialogue is too long to be read in the short amount of time that it's being said (in cases of the character speaking very fast), the translator/titler will compensate by altering the translation to fit the time.  Now granted, I realize this isn't nearly as common of an issue as a change in the dub dialogue to be accomodating, but it's still something to consider.

Now, I am not saying the dubs are better than subs.  What I'm saying is that I believe that they each have their place and one shouldn't be discredited on nonlogical assessment.  Especially in this day and age when anime dubbing has been greatly refined.  These are not the days of Harmony Gold (those of you who know what I'm talking about can surely attest to this). 

So if you're a die hard sub fan, give dubs a chance.  If you're a die hard subs fan, give dubs a chance.  If you still find yourself leaning towards your original preference, that's fine.  Just try not to tell people they're wrong for liking one or the other.

Heh, sorry to go on a quasi-rant there considering it really wasn't a major point of discussion, but it's just something I tend to find interesting to discuss.  Don't mind me :P


My other comment was about the choice of Miyazaki film to review.  I understand that the choice was left up to a poll, but even the poll choices didn't really reflect what I consider the cream of the Miyazaki crop.  Now keep in mind, I DO enjoy all 3 films (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle).  However, if I were to pick my top 3 Miyazaki films, none of them would be present.  My top 3 would definitely be Laputa: Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, and Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind.  Any of these 3 would be perfect contenders for a Filmspotting review, but frankly I think I would like to hear a review of Nausicaa the most.  Not because I think that Adam and Sam would enjoy it the most (that would likely go to Totoro), but I'd be curious to hear their viewpoints on the political/myticism aspects of the film.

So yeah, if you're at all interested in Miyazaki's body of work, I whole-heartedly reccomend My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind, Kiki's Delivery Service, & Porco Rosso.   
« Last Edit: February 06, 2007, 10:46:28 PM by Atom »

StandAloneMatt

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Re: Animation Marathon - Suggestions
« Reply #94 on: February 07, 2007, 02:18:05 PM »
Miyazaki is a legend - he would be easily deserving of an entire marathon - maybe in Filmspotting #465 in 2010.

nougatmachine

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Re: Animation Marathon - Suggestions
« Reply #95 on: February 08, 2007, 10:35:41 AM »
Well, Adam and Sam did say in their review that they thought the Disney dubbed translation was too obvious at times. I wouldn't know; I don't own the DVD and when I rented I just switched it to subtitled.

But speaking of dumbing things down...who the CINECAST! at Disney thought it would be a good idea to have no way to turn off John Lassiter off before the movie? I mean, seriously. I'm all geared up to watch a movie I've been wanting to see for ages, I hit "play movie" and I get...the dude who directed Toy Story lecturing me about how lucky I am to be about to watch it and even going so far as to talk about the plot. WTF? Sorry dude, I liked Toy Story and Toy Story 2, but if you're going to be embarrass yourself with preening fanboyism I'd prefer it not to be on my time, and if the movie is that great, I have a feeling it can speak for itself better than you talking about it. All I can say is thank god for the fast forward button.

StandAloneMatt

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Re: Animation Marathon - Suggestions
« Reply #96 on: March 04, 2007, 02:26:05 AM »
Its because Disney didn't have any faith in the film finding an audience - they thought a introduction by a director of popular films would help.  Disney also didn't have any faith in the audience being able to take it seriously.

I used to think it was a bad thing the studios treating the audience like they were stupid.  I now look at things like American Idol being the biggest show on TV, Boy and girl bands (or pop idols) selling millions of albums, Children of Men bombing and yet Norbit and Ghost Rider are huge hits.  Its depressing but I can see where Disney was coming from.

I still think it was a terrible intro though. 

 

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