The Wind Rises

[CJD]

I thought all young people today were hip to txt spk.

Never got into texting myself. Maybe if it wasn't such a hassle to type on a phone...

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

Seeing the Joe playing Jiro should be good. If you stretch it a little, I guess he sounds somewhat like Anno.

[Sailor Star Dust]

Links up on Amazon, dunno when it'll be available.

Dunno when I'll watch it, but at some point I will.

[Gus Hanson]

I can't believe it but it's actually coming out in theaters in Puerto Rico. Very rare that an anime film gets to be exhibited here, I will definitely go see it when it comes out.

[AR-99]

I was in Japantown last night and saw that the Sundance Kabuki had a movie poster up which had "Coming Soon" as a release date. Further digging uncovered that TWR will have a wider release February 21 through Touchstone. I am hoping for a sub version.

[caragnafog dog]

I will do anything to hear The Master speak.

[AR-99]

I forgot to add it has also received an Oscar nod but is up against Frozen. Miyazaki did pick up the Annie Award for Writing in an Animated Feature Production.

The local theaters screening this in SF have both sub and dub versions, hell yes!

[Joy Evangelion]

Luckily got to see a screening of this with Mr. Anno's voice on Sunday night. Absolutely loved every second of it; beautiful animation, beautiful soundtrack, sparse simple dialogue, love. Didn't feel like two hours, and gave me a better appreciation for the wind as I got out of the theater and lit a cigarette.

The last and only Miyazaki film I saw was Princess Mononoke wayyy back in 2003, so I can't say how much it stacks up to his other work , but I imagine most Eva fans would dig the movie for The Master's voice alone(if they can see it with subs).

I might just have to see it again if I find myself with some extra free time.

[AR-99]

Despite the wider release tomorrow, all the local Century Theatres are only showing the dubs. Driving into SF for the sub will be worth it. This will be my first theatrical Ghibli release since Spirited Away.

[Fazmotron]

I'm seeing this tomorrow in Sydney, Japanese dub, looking forward to hearing Anno. I am really excited.

Also, there's a delicious pasta place right next to the cinema.

[EvangelionFan]

I'll have to pick a day next week to see it. I'm thinking Tuesday afternoon, after my classes for the week are out of the way.

[Sailor Star Dust]

Alamo Drafthouse is gonna show Wind Rises (Subbed) tonight, but considering getting there was a headache when we saw Eva 3.0, we'll probably pass.

I definitely want to check this out though.

[HeeroYuyIII]

Disney/Ghibli are idiots. They need to STOP with this casting BS and use PROFESSIONAL VAs/adapters. Let's start with the English dub side.

Prior to 1996 and after 1985, Tokuma Shoten, the producers of the early Ghibli films also produced dubs of Kiki, Totoro, Laputa and Porco Rosso. Laputa was originally for the HK market, but was released in the US via a short limited theatrical release. The dub is from circa 1987 and can be found on the Japanese Laserdiscs. This dub was staunchly faithful to the Japanese script, keeping everything intact and used professional, experienced dub VAs such as Barbara Goodson, who has a resume that precedes her. You could also hear this dub via the JAL airline flights, making this one of the first anime dubs to be heard by Japanese natives. What they think of the dub is irrelevant, because they're not the target audience, but it's worth noting that the Japanese are mildly curious when it comes to the English dubs of Ghibli work

A second Tokuma Shoten was Totoro, released almost immediately after its Japanese release in 1988. This dub was released in the US by Streamline around 1990. It was rumored that Carl Macek did not like the Laputa dub, even though he had NO connection to the dub, outside of having theatrical rights in the US. This dub was also on JAL flights, making it another early dub to have been seen by Japanese people. It has been included on both the Japanese Laserdiscs and the 2001 DVDs. As of now, Totoro has sold over 1.2 million DVDs, making the dub by technicality the best selling dubbed anime DVD in Japan. The dub was critically acclaimed for being very close to the original and having great voice acting not seen in dubs in the 90s. It sold over 500,000 copies, making it a US hit.

Kiki's dub was released in 1990 and again one of the few dubs the Japanese were exposed to via JAL flights. This dub is included in the JP Laserdiscs as well, although the dub has been long out of print in America. The dub overall was as acclaimed as Totoro and kept to the script very closely, although one scene is hilarious!

Not much is known about the JAL 1995 dub of Porco Rosso.

Then the Disney dubs came and shat on the original dubs. Not only are they not released, but the redubs are inferior to both the Japanese and original dubs. I don't know about you, but I think the original dubs are better due to more professional VAs being involved.

Not to mention, Disney changes the script and alters scenes. The original dubs never did that.

The JP side uses bland, boring JP celebrities and while they are better than the Disney dubs, they such because they have no passion, can't act and don't have the experience of skill to do animation voice acting.

Both sets of voice acting have been criticized by hardcore voice acting fans for not using pro VAs and pandering to get more tickets, even though there is no coloration between grosses with celebrities and grosses without. Frozen, Snow White, Pinocchio and Hunger Games are examples. Use pro VAs.


Whether or not you watch with Anno or Levitt, it doesn't matter, I've seen both and they BOTH suck, but Anno sucks a LITTLE bit more.

[Guy Nacks]

I just saw the dubbed movie and damn, this is a pretty fitting film for Miya-san to go out on if he really is giving up feature length directing. It's definitely his most straight-laced, reality-driven work, but still leaves room for his usual charm and gorgeous animation. Plus the entire film can be seen as a metaphor for anime directing in the first place, so there's that as well. Perhaps that's why he got Anno involved.

Knowing that the engine noises were made by people made me impressed with how well they actually came out all things considered.

SPOILER: Show

DEM FEELS AT DAT ENDING SCENE DOE

[BrikHaus]

I tried to watch this yesterday with my wife. We drove 45 minutes to get to the theater, it's packed with a billion people because it's raining (thus nothing to do outside, apparently), there's a huge line at the ticket booth, and then the power went out.

Two hours later we got home and didn't even see the movie. What a bunch of bullshit.

[drinian]

The local art-house theater started showing it, subbed, this weekend. I was pleasantly surprised, as I had expected to get the dub.

It's a beautiful movie in the sense that any creator or engineer can relate to it; including the inherent discomfort in knowing what Jiro's masterpiece ended up being. I hope that Miyazaki doesn't feel his own life's work has been so destructive.

Is it as strikingly beautiful or original as some of his other works? I don't think so, personally. But it was an excellent film and I can see why he chose this as his last.

P.S. -- Costco had a sale on "Miyazaki films" last month (actually the Disney-licensed Ghibli films) and I think now have everything that's available on Blu-ray in North America -- nine films. It's an interesting sign that Ghibli's apparently mainstream enough in the US now to get its own Costco special.

[AR-99]

^Costco x Ghibli/Disney has been available for a few years now and was likely how I got my Spirited Away DVD, although that was years ago so I'm hazy on it.

Saw the sub yesterday at Kabuki Sundance in Japantown, one of only 2 San Francisco theaters showing the sub. A minor annoyance is that this theater charges a $2 amenity fee just to buy the ticket even if you get it in person. More meh is that the ticket stub is receipt paper, was hoping for a real stub but that seems to be disappearing. An interesting thing about the venue is that there is a 21+ balcony section where you can drink what you bought from the bar, while orchestra is all ages.

Anno voicing Jiro was a draw for watching the sub and I had to remind myself that it was him after adult Jiro's voice kicks in during the train ride. I've never heard Anno's voice so I was surprised that he was able to pull off a younger character. My one critique would be that Jiro is a largely stoic character, so the range of emotions that Anno had to convey was low. As for the subs, with as little Japanese as I know, it was a minor annoyance to hear one thing and see it subbed differently. This is very evident when Honjo announces he is getting married and his final line in the scene is translated as something about irony, but he says something else. Everyone nearby but me laughed at this.

One of the more striking scenes in the film I thought was the conversation with Castorp, placed after the Nazis took power in 1933, in which the German mentions several international incidents that Japan became involved in culminating with the end of World War II:

-Invade Manchuria (1931)
-Leave the League of Nations (as a result of Manchurian invasion)
-Go to war with China (Second Sino-Japanese War)
-Go to war with Great Britain, the Netherlands, Russia, and the US (World War II)
-End up in flames (atomic bombings)

Then he disappears when Jiro turns away, making it seem dreamlike.

I found the wedding scene more emotional than Naoko's return to the sanotorium.

The ending scene in which the flight of Zeros go past and disappear into the sky with the innumerable other cloudlike forms combined with Jiro's line that none came back refers not just to those lost in combat but also the fighter's later role in the war as a kamikaze.

Overall I enjoyed TWR but Mononoke is still my favorite.

I went back to the Japan Center after watching the movie and saw that Kinokuniya was advertising the DVD of the 2013 war drama The Eternal Zero (Eien no Zero), in which the protagonist was a Zero pilot. The film goes back and forth between his story and his grandson's 60 years later. This I want to see.



Official website | Trailer

[Mr. Tines]

The local art-house cinema sent out its regular "Picturehouse recommends..." newsletter, and that has the film with a release date of 9-May -- and a cast list of the English voice actors I just hope that there is a subtitled showing like there was for Poppy Hill.

[Giji Shinka]

Hey, today is Academy Awards, right?

Let's hope that Miyazaki gets 2nd Oscar....

[Gendo'sPapa]

Went out to catch the english dub of THE WIND RISES today. I have to say I was genuinely impressed by the dub. I was concerned that Joseph Gordon-Levitt would have over-emoted the part of Jiro to compensate for his actions throughout the film but he did not. The performances were pretty solid across the board & aside from perhaps Martin Short being too cartoony at times the Disney team really appreciated the fact this is not a kids film. I don't believe the film had any extraneous lines of dialogue thrown into shots were the main characters weren't on screen like they've done for some of his previous work. Plus, Werner Herzog showing up as Castrop is freaking genius.

Solid dub. Also great to see the film on a big screen for the second time.

Now the wait for the Bluray starts. I want to hear Hideaki Anno's performance again!