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Post by Jay on Jan 30, 2018 12:59:11 GMT -8
Could be time for me to catch up with that long-postponed series then! I may even use it as occasion to open up a new annual anime thread. I promise not everything I get myself involved in will be a sequel this year! That would be too depressing...
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Post by Zarnium on Jan 30, 2018 15:33:54 GMT -8
Steins;Gate already has its own lonely solo thread, though.
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Post by Jay on Jan 31, 2018 12:05:04 GMT -8
I don't know with a forum of our traffic if there's much use in splitting off a thread unless the commentary is heavy or the engagement high. My recent tour of the last half-season of TWD was mostly me talking to myself in thread, which ... eh.... I feel as if a more catch-all thread is in order. Plus we got ten-pages last year so maybe we can open up a new annual one yay.
Another couple of viewing thoughts:
* I should continue on with Rurouni Kenshin and am reminded to, perhaps monthly, as the new Hokkaido arc is released in manga form. I'm a lot more receptive to the anime this time around, but as it drifts into more one-off storylines, I don't find myself as enhahed, and that's one of the problems maintaining a proper pace. I'm sure that once some of the arc stuff resumes, I'll be back into it, but otherwise it can come off somewhat formulaic even as it maintains an awareness of the samurai genre tropes.
* One other viewing project I should consider taking on is Gurren Lagann. It's heresy to admit as much, but with few exceptions ("Big O!... Big O! Big... O! Big O!", Eureka Seven), I haven't ever been much into the giant mecha anime (or space opera for that matter), but GL was one of those big watershed anime for a lot of people around my age and I think the surrounding hype has dropped off enough to where I can look at it and not be expecting Greatness, which was one of my problems probably with Evangelion even if Shinji is a whiner and Asuka is annoying and over-fetishized by weeaboos.
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Post by Zarnium on Jan 31, 2018 13:17:44 GMT -8
I think if there is going to be detailed spoiler discussion, a solo thread is usually warranted.
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Post by Jeremy on Feb 1, 2018 20:21:27 GMT -8
I don't know if this is the proper thread for this, but I feel sad about not partaking in one of the forum's longest threads, so...
I just watched Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. It's kind of slow and heavy-handed in spots, but I really liked it. The story is well-told, the characters are entertaining, and the animation and backgrounds look gorgeous.
I've always been somewhat averse to fantasy (see my recent thoughts on the Lord of the Rings trilogy), so I was pleasantly surprised at how grounded this film was. Nausicaa is a likable protagonist, and she keeps the film interesting even during the somewhat leisurely middle act. The flying scenes are beautifully staged (reminiscent of the How to Train Your Dragon films) and the action surprisingly tense.
If I do have a complaint - and recall, I watched the dubbed version - it's with the dialogue. I like a lot of these actors, but the lines they recite often feel on-the-nose, like the film is aimed at little kids. Maybe the original version is more eloquent (or maybe the dialogue doesn't translate well from Japanese), but I did find myself rolling my eyes at a few lines.
Still, a very good film, and definitely one I'd be willing to watch again. Though I'll probably be checking out some of Miyazaki's other films first.
(Side note: Is the old lady in this film called "Obama"? It sure sounds like she is. I cracked up anytime someone said her name.)
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Post by Jay on Feb 2, 2018 8:01:08 GMT -8
Nausicaa! I think it was one of the first Miyazaki films I ever watched but a friend of mine has listed it as a favorite since childhood.
Miyazaki does have an explicit environmentalist bent to his work and it probably manifests most clearly here and in Princess Mononoke, which is something you should watch. I don't mind it as much, although it's preaching to the choir in my case, because a great deal of anime and cultural output from Japan is more or less about the bomb and everything that led people to think about. The bug forest and the poison take on that idea of nature rebelling, but I do love the bug forest and the ohmu and all the other textures within. It was actually a film Miyazaki tried to make, couldn't get funding for, created a long-running promotional manga for, and then eventually was able to wrestle back into movie form. I've heard that the manga is far longer and goes into much greater depth on the geopolitical stuff within the world.
As for the dub, I haven't heard it, but Miyazaki is pretty careful in dubbing and most of them are good. He was famously dissatisfied with the original attempt at releasing Nausicaa on VHS in the states and sent Disney (I think it was Disney) a katana with a note saying "NO CUTS" after they took over the rights. I would say that in the original the children are convincingly children and it never really feels too preachy in its content, at least from the voice acting standpoint.
Oh, and her name is "Obaba," it's a typical honorific title for a female elder but basically means "grandmother."
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Post by Jay on Feb 2, 2018 8:10:55 GMT -8
I checked the Wikipedia page and it's helped me elaborate the answer a little bit better as to the film's preachiness so I'll just drop this in here:
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Post by Jeremy on Feb 2, 2018 9:37:08 GMT -8
I believe John Lasseter (director of Toy Story) oversaw the English dubbing of Miyazaki's films. And, given that he was trying to translate a famously rigid language into a more fluid one, I'd say the final product does a pretty good job. Not great, but better than I'd expected.
And yeah, the ecological message is pretty obvious, but I don't believe the dubbers were specifically trying to dumb down the original film. Spiritual themes are likely to get lost in translation (literally, it seems), but "respect the environment" is a pretty universal message.
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Post by Zarnium on Feb 18, 2018 11:30:44 GMT -8
I'm late, but I'm glad you liked Nausicaa, Jeremy! I like the dub pretty well, but it's not the best I've heard, either... I'm a big advocate of dubs for animated TV, but movies tend to be hit or miss for some reason. I think it might be that because the lip-syncing and character movement is usually more elaborate, there are more restrictions on what can be done and still have it look or sound natural. In any case, if you intend to watch Princess Mononoke, I'd recommend watching it with subtitles; I found the dub for that one to be pretty poor.
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Post by Jeremy on Feb 18, 2018 11:56:44 GMT -8
Fortunately, the DVDs I'm getting have both English and Japanese (w/ subs) versions. So I can always switch languages if need be.
I'll watch Laputa later this week, and post thoughts on the new anime thread.
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