New Disney Ghibli Blus: Totoro and Howl

I wish the Totoro Blu-Ray would have the original Streamline dub as it's sooo much better than the Disney dub IMO. Still, I won't hesitate to buy these!
 
[quote name='eastx']I wish the Totoro Blu-Ray would have the original Streamline dub as it's sooo much better than the Disney dub IMO. Still, I won't hesitate to buy these![/QUOTE]

One of my first transactions on CAG was buying the Fox release of Totoro, which we still have. The English dub is absolutely classic.
 
[quote name='greydt']"Only Yesterday" - did they ever release that in the US? I think I had to import it on dvd: looks like I'll have to do the same for the blu.

Thanks for the heads up - didn't even know these were being released in Japan :)[/QUOTE]

Disney does own a license for Only Yesteday, but I really can't see them dubbing it and releasing it here (because it isn't "magical"). The Japanese Blu-ray does has English subs.

There's also the elusive Ocean Waves, which has never been released in the US, either. The Japanese DVD of that also has English subs, but there's a UK DVD that can be obtained cheaper.
 
[quote name='Stele']Debunked my ass. It skates over a ton of stuff on tenuous conjecture. Also, this looks like it was written by one of those English teacher in Japan dudes. Real solid source.[/QUOTE]

I don't really understand what you're trying to write here, but that "debunking" source reads a lot more credibly than any of the articles that lay out the supposed linkages.
 
[quote name='gkrykewy']I don't really understand what you're trying to write here, but that "debunking" source reads a lot more credibly than any of the articles that lay out the supposed linkages.[/QUOTE]

Yes indeed. The urban legend thing is completely silly.
 
[quote name='gkrykewy']I don't really understand what you're trying to write here, but that "debunking" source reads a lot more credibly than any of the articles that lay out the supposed linkages.[/QUOTE]
Besides the questionable credibility of the writer, it looks like some American lesbian in Japan probably doing the English teaching thing, and the lack of source citation, her interpretations has just as much bias as the alleged conspiracy theories and she makes a lot of authoritative statements on things which being a foreigner would be kind of asinine.

"All these “You can only see Totoro/susuwatari if you are close to death” is tomfoolery because they don’t have any history in Japan whatsoever." -- How would she know?

"Yes Jizo is the Buddha that takes care of the souls of children but these Jizo aren’t sinister. They’re very beloved little statues. People knit hats for them and things. The fact that Mei is next to one isn’t indicative of her being dead anymore than any other anime where kids are standing next to Jizo being dead- standing next to Jizo happens a lot. It actually makes her look safer. Here’s the Jizo standing guard over the little one, sort of thing." -- Pure subjective interpretation. Doesn't hold any more water than the opposite interpretation

"It doesn’t mean dead person: it can be synonymous with yuurei which are dead people but when I told my coworkers I didn’t like bakemono/monster movies as much but I liked obake movies, they got confused and asked me what I meant before saying “Oh no obake and bakemono are the same. For dead people maybe you say yuurei.” They clarified to me that obake can be a forest spirit or any other kind of creature or monster as well. The catbus is a bus for obake- totoro is an obake. All those little critters are obake. On that note, the fact that the catbus says “墓道” or “tomb road” literally doesn’t mean anything. Regardless though it changes it’s “heading to” direction when the kids board so I think it’s just put there as a “Look they are otherworldly but they can go to real places too.” -- Obake can mean "supernatural" creature as a primarily definition and "ghosts" as a secondary, but "墓道" literally means the "path to the grave." Not a whole lot of elasticity to that definition. She just glosses over that part as well with a "literally doesn't mean anything." Ok...

“Besides, WHY WOULD MIYAZAKI MAKE A MOVIE ABOUT AN IMPORTANT EVENT IN JAPANESE HISTORY AND ABSOLUTELY LEAVE OUT ANY REFERENCE TO WHAT MADE THE CASE SO IMPORTANT: THE ACTUAL ACTIVE RACIAL DISCRIMINATION OF BURAKUMIN PEOPLE IN JAPAN.” -- Because that topic is even more irrelevant in a children's movie?

I don't see how her tirade is any more credible than this Japanese talk show.

http://youtu.be/Uo4rOGd3Z54

For me personally, I can believe it because Miyazaki was born in '41 in Japan, and growing up in that era, having a morbid mind is easy to imagine.
 
[quote name='Vegan']Disney does own a license for Only Yesteday, but I really can't see them dubbing it and releasing it here (because it isn't "magical"). [/QUOTE]

No, it is because Disney is not comfortable with the subject matter.
 
You single out the debunking site, yet you're completely oblivious to all the conjecture and lack of sources used in the original piece? Yeah that makes sense

1.) Those little soot balls (susuwatari) were Miyazaki's own creation, show me where he ever said that if you see them death is near. The writer says "as the story goes' Yeah? Show me the story, give me a source.

2.) There is zero evidence of the girl saying she saw a Tanuki, or saw a Cat Monster.

Without those 2 things, the entire comparison falls flat on its ass. The rest of the article is just pure speculation about what is seen in the movie, much of which has an actual credible explanation. It is completely asinine to think Miyazaki was aiming for a morbid grim reaper tale, especially one that had to be uncovered later on by some random website using zero sources to back up their claims. It's all complete bullshit. Perhaps you don't even grasp what urban legend is. Like every other one, only suckers believe this shit.
 
[quote name='ssjmichael']It's all complete bullshit. Perhaps you don't even grasp what urban legend is. Like every other one, only suckers believe this shit.[/QUOTE]

Indeed... completely agree, though they can be fun. And for future scholarly reference, Stele, I don't think "nuh uh, lesbian lady" counts as a rebuttal ;)
 
Is it wrong that there's a small part of me that wants the urban myth to be true? :p
Anyone who's done the Disney bluray club, any clue on how quickly these might show up there? I've been thinking about signing up, and if these go in that'll decide it for me. There's alrrady a few Ghibli movies there I think.
 
[quote name='EYEL1NER']My three-year-old loved Ponyo. I wonder how well she would like some of the other Ghibli films...[/QUOTE]

Howl's should be right up her alley.
 
[quote name='DNukem170']No, it is because Disney is not comfortable with the subject matter.[/QUOTE]

Either way, I'm grabbing the Blu-ray when I go to Japan in April!
 
[quote name='Vegan']Either way, I'm grabbing the Blu-ray when I go to Japan in April![/QUOTE]

Bring me back some flavored Kit Kats? :)
 
They need to hurry up with the coupons because I'm just waiting to hit the magic gold box button for quick picks on both. ;)
 
[quote name='diazt350']What's these coupons people are talking about?[/QUOTE]

Amazon in the past has done coupons for ghibli movies before release, usually buy 2 get so much off.
 
[quote name='EdgeCrusher36']Amazon in the past has done coupons for ghibli movies before release, usually buy 2 get so much off.[/QUOTE]It was a deal at Best Buy when Arrietty released and was a B1 G1 50% off.

Some other vendors had them as pre-order bundle items, such as pre-order one + another related title, save $8 / pre-order both, save $8. I think Amazon did one for a previous release, though that's been a while, I believe.
 
[quote name='eastx']Bring me back some flavored Kit Kats? :)[/QUOTE]

You can just get those at a Japanese market in the States!
 
[quote name='gkrykewy']Indeed... completely agree, though they can be fun. And for future scholarly reference, Stele, I don't think "nuh uh, lesbian lady" counts as a rebuttal ;)[/QUOTE]

It is fun when wonky stories like that come out.

It's not fun when people start arguing with each other over what is baseless conjecture. And rumor. And theories. And lack of evidence. It's amazing the number of people that are influenced to believe something, even when there is NOTHING to back it up except a "rumor".


Back to the topic...Here's hoping there's a massive price drop or coupons for these blu-rays. I'm a little worried about whether or not the transfers are just the DVD ones upscaled.
 
[quote name='dualedge2']I'm a little worried about whether or not the transfers are just the DVD ones upscaled.[/QUOTE]

Why on earth would you think that?
 
I am in for Howl's. And upon further inspection, I see Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (my personal favorite Ghibli film) is already out on BR/DVD. I think it is time to get that. I'm currently reading the manga for it and I think I might be enjoying that a lot more than I did the movie.

Sucks there is no Kiki's BR/DVD yet, but I can wait for that.
 
[quote name='ssjmichael']Why on earth would you think that?[/QUOTE]

Because some anime companies do that with US releases. There's a reason why the "Bad Export for You" trope is mostly anime.
 
[quote name='DNukem170']Because some anime companies do that with US releases. There's a reason why the "Bad Export for You" trope is mostly anime.[/QUOTE]

This isn't some anime company, this is a Disney release. They have the original film source so there's zero reason to think it would be a DVD upscale. The BD is already out in other countries, and it looks fantastic :D
 
[quote name='DNukem170']Because some anime companies do that with US releases. There's a reason why the "Bad Export for You" trope is mostly anime.[/QUOTE]

That's certainly never happened with any Studio Ghibli movie. I don't think there's even an anime movie that's an upscale (Ghost in the Shell 2.0's version of the original notwithstanding), though of course several TV series have been upscaled.
 
[quote name='EdgeCrusher36']Amazon in the past has done coupons for ghibli movies before release, usually buy 2 get so much off.[/QUOTE]

[quote name='shrike4242']It was a deal at Best Buy when Arrietty released and was a B1 G1 50% off.

Some other vendors had them as pre-order bundle items, such as pre-order one + another related title, save $8 / pre-order both, save $8. I think Amazon did one for a previous release, though that's been a while, I believe.[/QUOTE]

Really? That's pretty cool and I already have these pre-ordered but I do hope those coupons come out now.
 
[quote name='eastx']That's certainly never happened with any Studio Ghibli movie. I don't think there's even an anime movie that's an upscale (Ghost in the Shell 2.0's version of the original notwithstanding), though of course several TV series have been upscaled.[/QUOTE]I think you're right about the movies being non-upscale in BD transition, mainly because they should be scanning from film negatives to put the content to BD.

TV shows, it's a lot more likely there's no high-res source (film, digital), so they end up being upscales. Upscales tend to be a mixed bag, as you can see from reviews of a number of the anime series put to BD. Some upscales are certainly better than others, and the more recent ones have been better conversions than earlier ones.

[quote name='diazt350']Really? That's pretty cool and I already have these pre-ordered but I do hope those coupons come out now.[/QUOTE]
Since there's two of them coming out at the same time, there may be a deal on pre-ordering both at the same time. I know Amazon did it for Whisper Of The Heart and Castle In The Sky when you preordered both at the same time on the same order.
 
My Kids love Howl's...it was on netflix for a while but I don't think it's there anymore. I'll pick up that one at least...haven't seen Totoro.
 
[quote name='eastx']That's certainly never happened with any Studio Ghibli movie. I don't think there's even an anime movie that's an upscale (Ghost in the Shell 2.0's version of the original notwithstanding), though of course several TV series have been upscaled.[/QUOTE]
Ghibli is a special case where they own all the rights to their movies. They don't have to bow down to Toei or TVTokyo or anyone like that. Plus, Warriors of the Wind really pissed off Miyazaki.

However, other companies often send American companies pre-edited work or make it so that the US version is inferior. A prime example is Dragonball. The lack of updated intros, no individual credits, and no previews aren't because FUNimation is cheap and/or lazy. It is because Toei didn't give them permission to include them on the DVDs. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the cropping for the Orange Boxes was done so that FUNi would be allowed to release the Dragon Boxes.
 
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