4 ms·

Now here's some argument-bait: I prefer Miyazaki movies dubbed in English, rather than as subtitled Japanese. This is not true for ANY other non-English movie

Now here's some argument-bait: I prefer Miyazaki movies dubbed in English, rather than as subtitled Japanese. This is not true for ANY other non-English movie, where I always prefer the original language with subtitles. Why? Well, it's anime and the characters aren't "really" speaking Japanese anyway, so there's less lip-mismatch. And apparently the Man himself doesn't mind them. https://www.reddit.com/r/ghibli/comments/7jef8m/miyazakis_views_on_dubs_vs_subs/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ghibli/comments/7jef8m/miyazakis_vi...

woodruffw 3y ago
Miyazaki is pretty well known for having “world-class” dubs; I don’t think liking them is considered controversial. Liking the Akira dub or the dub on a Satoshi Kon film, on the other hand :-)
- ryandrake 3y ago
  The English dub of Castle In The Sky was famously very poor[1]. Most notably, much of the movie's quiet parts got crammed with music and extra dialog because Disney felt Americans' attention span could not handle long stretches of silence and simple ambient environment sounds. Granted this was one of the earlier Ghibli films and Miyazaki reportedly clamped down on these shenanigans on future dubs. 1: https://screenrant.com/studio-ghibli-castle-in-the-sky-english-version-changes/ https://screenrant.com/studio-ghibli-castle-in-the-sky-engli...
  - the_af 3y ago
    Much was said about Mononoke's English dub, but I find it terrible and flat. In contrast, the Spanish dub was top notch!
  - woodruffw 3y ago
    This listicle is hard to follow: it seems to be confounding the 1988 dub (hilariously bad) with the 1998 dub (which was done by Disney and is, IMO, pretty good). In particular, the items about Sheeta's recharacterization and removed silences don't apply to the 1998 dub. Miyazaki has had his fair share of bad dubs (including one of the Castle of Cagliostro ones), but I think it's fair to say that he's fared the best of any major Japanese anime director.
  - mock-possum 3y ago
    Nausicaa was REAL bad too, originally, iirc
  - pks016 3y ago
    Relevant video analysis https://youtu.be/jM6PPxN1xas https://youtu.be/jM6PPxN1xas
    - ryandrake 3y ago
      Bingo. I knew I wasn't hallucinating. Specific CitS comparison at around 4:00.
- erulabs 3y ago
  "Ponyo" had Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Tiny Fey, and Matt Daemon as voice actors, as an example of not skimping on the english dubs.
gambiting 3y ago
I don't think that's particularily controversial, maybe except among the most hardcore fans. Watch films(and other media) in the way you enjoy them, and don't let others tell you what's the "right" way.
Blackthorn 3y ago
The English dubs are also just really good. Even when the voice actors aren't known for, well, voice acting. Daisy Ridley is not known for her voice acting and yet her performance in Only Yesterday was exceptional.
- the_af 3y ago
  > Only Yesterday Only Yesterday is a very good movie. A true anime for adults, not one that mistakes "adultness" for "naked people and/or gore". Re: dubs. I haven't watched the English dub of too many Ghibli movies, mostly because if I watch a dub, I watch it in Spanish. Judging by the only one I've seen in English too -- Princess Mononoke -- I'd rate the English dub the worst, with flatter and less inspired voice acting. The Spanish version of Mononoke is actually tied in quality with the Japanese version in my mind. I used to believe I could only detect bad acting in my native Spanish. Mononoke taught me that no, I can spot bad acting in English too! I don't know what the hell Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver and all those well known actors were doing...
seanc 3y ago
Fun fact, on Princess Mononoke, Steve Alpert and the director of the English dub had to fight Miramax executives who kept trying to screw up Neil Gaiman's English script.
saltcured 3y ago
I don't have thoughts about anime, but generally dislike movie dubs as they distance me further from the original intent. I don't want another team's reinterpretation of the movie to completely replace the original expression. So, I'd only really like a dub if it was a multilingual sound track produced by an original, multilingual team. That should include the original director, writers, and (preferably) actors and producers. To me, the original creative team needs enough fluency to review the alternate language work and keep it from diverging. Otherwise, it's about as satisfying as reading a Cliff's Notes summary of a novel instead of the actual novel. I'd also often prefer subtitle translations if they try to hew closer to the original language including temporality. I'd rather read slightly tortured English subtitles to deliver translated parts of speech in roughly the same order they are being spoken in the original language, exposing a bit of the original language's grammar and remaining correlated with the actor's tone and timing.
lxe 3y ago
I asked a frAInd what famous actors dubbed miyzazki movies: "Spirited Away" (2001) - Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden, and Susan Egan. "Princess Mononoke" (1997) - Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver, and Billy Bob Thornton. "My Neighbor Totoro" (1988) - Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning. "Howl's Moving Castle" (2004) - Christian Bale, Emily Mortimer, Jean Simmons, and Billy Crystal. "Ponyo" (2008) - Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, and Liam Neeson. "The Wind Rises" (2013) - Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci. "Porco Rosso" (1992) - Michael Keaton and Cary Elwes. "Kiki's Delivery Service" (1989) - Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman, and Janeane Garofalo.
- canadiantim 3y ago
  What about Nausicaa?
  - RichardCA 3y ago
    https://youtu.be/ZO5cIjXpnY4 https://youtu.be/ZO5cIjXpnY4 Can be screened on Max/HBO, for now anyways.
the_doctah 3y ago
I would never watch Princess Mononoke without the English dub.
jefurii 3y ago
Miyazaki movies are the ONLY anime where the English dub is anywhere close to good enough. Most anime dubs are done by either A) people who can't act their way out of a paper bag, or B) competent actors who don't bother to pronounce Japanese names properly. Miyazaki movies don't fall into A but do have some major B clinkers. At least with the subtitles I get to work on my Japanese a bit.
GuB-42 3y ago
It mostly depends on the quality of the dubbing. The trend for anime was to have excellent Japanese voice acting and terrible dubs, until western editors realized that good dubs sell and invested in better voice acting. Miyazaki films, being popular, big budget theater releases didn't suffer as much from cheap dubbing as TV series.
- fomine3 3y ago
  Miyazaki's anime are unique about VA. He doesn't like existing Japanese "anime" VA acting, so they adopt non-voice actors or other people (even Anno!) as VA for his work.

woodruffw 3y ago

Miyazaki is pretty well known for having “world-class” dubs; I don’t think liking them is considered controversial. Liking the Akira dub or the dub on a Satoshi Kon film, on the other hand :-)

ryandrake 3y ago
The English dub of Castle In The Sky was famously very poor[1]. Most notably, much of the movie's quiet parts got crammed with music and extra dialog because Disney felt Americans' attention span could not handle long stretches of silence and simple ambient environment sounds. Granted this was one of the earlier Ghibli films and Miyazaki reportedly clamped down on these shenanigans on future dubs. 1: https://screenrant.com/studio-ghibli-castle-in-the-sky-english-version-changes/ https://screenrant.com/studio-ghibli-castle-in-the-sky-engli...
- the_af 3y ago
  Much was said about Mononoke's English dub, but I find it terrible and flat. In contrast, the Spanish dub was top notch!
- woodruffw 3y ago
  This listicle is hard to follow: it seems to be confounding the 1988 dub (hilariously bad) with the 1998 dub (which was done by Disney and is, IMO, pretty good). In particular, the items about Sheeta's recharacterization and removed silences don't apply to the 1998 dub. Miyazaki has had his fair share of bad dubs (including one of the Castle of Cagliostro ones), but I think it's fair to say that he's fared the best of any major Japanese anime director.
- mock-possum 3y ago
  Nausicaa was REAL bad too, originally, iirc
- pks016 3y ago
  Relevant video analysis https://youtu.be/jM6PPxN1xas https://youtu.be/jM6PPxN1xas
  - ryandrake 3y ago
    Bingo. I knew I wasn't hallucinating. Specific CitS comparison at around 4:00.
erulabs 3y ago
"Ponyo" had Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, Tiny Fey, and Matt Daemon as voice actors, as an example of not skimping on the english dubs.

gambiting 3y ago

I don't think that's particularily controversial, maybe except among the most hardcore fans. Watch films(and other media) in the way you enjoy them, and don't let others tell you what's the "right" way.

Blackthorn 3y ago

The English dubs are also just really good. Even when the voice actors aren't known for, well, voice acting. Daisy Ridley is not known for her voice acting and yet her performance in Only Yesterday was exceptional.

the_af 3y ago
> Only Yesterday Only Yesterday is a very good movie. A true anime for adults, not one that mistakes "adultness" for "naked people and/or gore". Re: dubs. I haven't watched the English dub of too many Ghibli movies, mostly because if I watch a dub, I watch it in Spanish. Judging by the only one I've seen in English too -- Princess Mononoke -- I'd rate the English dub the worst, with flatter and less inspired voice acting. The Spanish version of Mononoke is actually tied in quality with the Japanese version in my mind. I used to believe I could only detect bad acting in my native Spanish. Mononoke taught me that no, I can spot bad acting in English too! I don't know what the hell Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver and all those well known actors were doing...

seanc 3y ago

Fun fact, on Princess Mononoke, Steve Alpert and the director of the English dub had to fight Miramax executives who kept trying to screw up Neil Gaiman's English script.

saltcured 3y ago

I don't have thoughts about anime, but generally dislike movie dubs as they distance me further from the original intent. I don't want another team's reinterpretation of the movie to completely replace the original expression. So, I'd only really like a dub if it was a multilingual sound track produced by an original, multilingual team. That should include the original director, writers, and (preferably) actors and producers. To me, the original creative team needs enough fluency to review the alternate language work and keep it from diverging. Otherwise, it's about as satisfying as reading a Cliff's Notes summary of a novel instead of the actual novel. I'd also often prefer subtitle translations if they try to hew closer to the original language including temporality. I'd rather read slightly tortured English subtitles to deliver translated parts of speech in roughly the same order they are being spoken in the original language, exposing a bit of the original language's grammar and remaining correlated with the actor's tone and timing.

lxe 3y ago

I asked a frAInd what famous actors dubbed miyzazki movies: "Spirited Away" (2001) - Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden, and Susan Egan. "Princess Mononoke" (1997) - Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver, and Billy Bob Thornton. "My Neighbor Totoro" (1988) - Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning. "Howl's Moving Castle" (2004) - Christian Bale, Emily Mortimer, Jean Simmons, and Billy Crystal. "Ponyo" (2008) - Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, and Liam Neeson. "The Wind Rises" (2013) - Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci. "Porco Rosso" (1992) - Michael Keaton and Cary Elwes. "Kiki's Delivery Service" (1989) - Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman, and Janeane Garofalo.

canadiantim 3y ago
What about Nausicaa?
- RichardCA 3y ago
  https://youtu.be/ZO5cIjXpnY4 https://youtu.be/ZO5cIjXpnY4 Can be screened on Max/HBO, for now anyways.

the_doctah 3y ago

I would never watch Princess Mononoke without the English dub.

jefurii 3y ago

Miyazaki movies are the ONLY anime where the English dub is anywhere close to good enough. Most anime dubs are done by either A) people who can't act their way out of a paper bag, or B) competent actors who don't bother to pronounce Japanese names properly. Miyazaki movies don't fall into A but do have some major B clinkers. At least with the subtitles I get to work on my Japanese a bit.

GuB-42 3y ago

It mostly depends on the quality of the dubbing. The trend for anime was to have excellent Japanese voice acting and terrible dubs, until western editors realized that good dubs sell and invested in better voice acting. Miyazaki films, being popular, big budget theater releases didn't suffer as much from cheap dubbing as TV series.

fomine3 3y ago
Miyazaki's anime are unique about VA. He doesn't like existing Japanese "anime" VA acting, so they adopt non-voice actors or other people (even Anno!) as VA for his work.