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matrixschmatrix wrote:Which one has dubtitles, Castle in the Sky?

Yes. The dub was revised for the 2010 DVD release. A lot of the extraneous dialogue was removed and Joe Hisaishi's original score is used instead of his orchestral update created for the American release (and featured on the 2003 DVD.) Based on the 2003 dub, I wouldn't be too keen on the dubtitles, but the revised dub script may be a different experience (I don't have the 2010 DVD or the Blu-ray yet, so I can't say for sure.)

The Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Blu-ray only has the credits sequences with the English titles burned in, no unaltered original credits as with all of the DVDs. This is made ridiculous because an extra forced credits sequence with all of the English cast and crew is included after the movie anyway. Otherwise, it's fine, good subtitles and all.

The rest are superb and the two upcoming titles shouldn't have any problems.

Breathtaking pictures of the London stage adaptation of Princess Mononoke

This is about the fourth time he's announced it in this way though so take it with a flat of salt.

knives wrote:This is about the fourth time he's announced it in this way though so take it with a flat of salt.

I certainly hope so, especially since he keeps threatening to bring Studio Ghibli down with him. Wow, just the idea of Miyazaki making his last film is incredibly depressing.

This is a bit old, but it hasn't been mentioned yet: Disney is going to release The Wind Rises in the U.S., under the Touchstone brand. This is a bit of a surprise after they let GKids take From Up on Poppy Hill—perhaps they feel Miyazaki's name is too valuable to pass up, and/or they think The Wind Rises has broader appeal (though not broad enough for the main Disney label).

Dansu Dansu Dansu wrote:

knives wrote:This is about the fourth time he's announced it in this way though so take it with a flat of salt.

I certainly hope so, especially since he keeps threatening to bring Studio Ghibli down with him. Wow, just the idea of Miyazaki making his last film is incredibly depressing.

He's made the same claim each time he finished a movie, going back at least to Princess Mononoke. But it often seems to take just the suggestion of some new challenge to get him back in the saddle. His son makes a bad movie? He's suddenly making some sort of filmic corrective. Takahata finishing his new movie will undoubtedly stir Miyazaki's competitive spirit and make him want to direct again.

Got the Blu-Ray of Totoro over the weekend, and to me it looks wonderful. Finally get to hear this with the original soundtrack, and this film in particular is so wonderful filtering everything through the children's POV, merging so many grounded ("real world") elements with the imaginative parts. Miyazaki's greatest film, IMHO.

Such a shame that Totoro's only great Englush dub is on Fox's long-OOP DVD. That's how I first discovered it during its 1993 North America theatrical rollout

hearthesilence wrote:New to Miyazaki - where to start? What are the best films, the essential ones?

Best films:

1. Nausicaa
2. Castle in the Sky
3. Porco Rosso
4. Princess Mononoke
5. Spirited Away
6. Kiki's Delivery Service
7. Totoro

For pure fun, it's hard to beat " The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)". I also agree with what was said about Ghibli's "Whisper of the Heart," which Miyazaki himself did not direct, but which he obviously played a huge role in making. It's a magical, wonderful film.

In terms of the order to watch them in for a noob, I would say:

1. Nausicaa
2. Castle in the Sky
3. Princess Mononoke/Spirited Away

And then go from there.

beamish13 wrote:Such a shame that Totoro's only great Englush dub is on Fox's long-OOP DVD. That's how I first discovered it during its 1993 North America theatrical rollout

My recollection is that the original Totoro dub was included on the Japanese DVD release of Totoro. Unfortunately that DVD had only dubtitles (based on that very overly loquacious dub) -- so watching the Japanese version was a painful experience (lots and lots of English dubtitles when no one was talking).

Totoro is very near the top of my Miyazaki list (vying with Nausicaa and Spirited Away).

Oh wow those Jen Bartel prints are wonderful. Those three posters by Tracie Ching and Bruce Yan are the best of the lot. Those are all a delight - I'd highly recommend checking your bank account before clicking that link tho

Fantastic! Picked up the Gilbey print for my daughters's room.

I'm not generally a big reader of Manga but I would actually say that to really understand his career its definitely worth reading Nausicaa. For one thing its an excellent piece of work in its own right for me greatly expanding beyond the original anime that deals with a simplified version of the early stages of the story were as the manga expands in scope and ambition greatly to the degree don't I think its out of place to mention it alongside Herbert's Dune. Beyond that as well I think when you realise the manga run up until 1995 a lot of the shifts in Miyazaki's output make more sense. Most obviously Princess Mononoke to me feels like its somewhat of a revisiting of the latter stages of the Nausicaa manga in theme and indeed style in which the darker elements that had dropped away after Laputa are returning.

I think you could also argue that the Nausicaa manga shows most clearly the shift in Miyazaki's politics from the earlier political idealism towards the latter humanism.

The darker tone of the late sections of the Nausicaa manga is definitely reflected in Mononokehime. Too bad the font used in the translated manga is so "blah". On the other hand, the original Japanese font is so old-fashioned/elaborate that some Japanese young people apparently have trouble reading it....

The original Joe Hisaishi soundtracks to several of Miyazaki's features are getting first-time LP reissues in the U.S. They are not exactly priced to move, but those covers are awfully lovely.

whaleallright wrote: Wed Sep 05, 2018 5:34 am The original Joe Hisaishi soundtracks to several of Miyazaki's features are getting first-time LP reissues in the U.S. They are not exactly priced to move, but those covers are awfully lovely.

These are reissues from Tokuma Japan so the pricing isn't too out of line.. The soundtrack and image album LPs for Laputa would need to include a 12x12 acetate that positions over part of the inner gatefold and completes a scene. That might explain the slightly higher price for those two (as well, the Nausicaä symphony album includes a poster), and given the high prices the originals for these particular LPs seem to command in the secondary market, would be worth it.

Oh, $40 isn't an unusual amount of money for a new LP imported from Japan. Indeed, I saw a bunch of original-pressing Ghibli soundtrack releases at a store in Montreal and they were going for $75–$200. (They tend to be pricey on Discogs, though not necessarily that pricey—the store was doing some serious price-gouging across their inventory.) And some recent LP reissues of Hosono albums went for even more, something like $60 a pop stateside.

I just happen to find that sort of thing awfully expensive for a single album of music. I suppose that now that the majority of royalties come trickling in from streaming services like YouTube and Spotify, to offset the decline labels have to market LPs as niche, luxury items—akin less to just a way to play music you'd like to hear, and more like one of those illustrated bibles, or a Tiffany lamp. As someone who's always been wary of "collectables", I find that a little hard to abide even as I see the imperative for it.

whaleallright wrote: Thu Sep 06, 2018 3:08 am I just happen to find that sort of thing awfully expensive for a single album of music. I suppose that now that the majority of royalties come trickling in from streaming services like YouTube and Spotify, to offset the decline labels have to market LPs as niche, luxury items—akin less to just a way to play music you'd like to hear, and more like one of those illustrated bibles, or a Tiffany lamp. As someone who's always been wary of "collectables", I find that a little hard to abide even as I see the imperative for it.

I don't doubt they're expensive, but these are actually slightly discounted prices given the current exchange rate (at least going by the Amazon Japan listings for these titles). This distributor also isn't charging Japan Post prices for international shipping so that's another plus.

My guess is that these will be a very limited edition, which can justify almost any price these days; almost no vinyl title gets a large press run let alone a reissue these days. As well, the package designs for these titles for the most part were unique to the initial release. I think only the CD box set of Hisaishi's soundtracks for Miyazaki's films ever replicated them, and it didn't include the story, image or symphony albums.

Cool limited edition Miyazaki tokens from Spoke Art

Indications are that Miyazaki's valedictory (I suspect this time for real) film, How Do You Live?, will be finished towards end of this year

I stumbled on to The Collected Works of Hayao Miyazaki on eBay, all being sold by different U.S. vendors. Here's a photo of one copy

None of these sets list a UPC (I don't see anyone showing a photo of one on the box either), and even though it's a Blu-ray set, the prices range from $30-40 shipped.

Amazon also sells this, but it's labelled an "Amazon Exclusive" and it goes for $220.

Are the eBay sets all knock offs, or is there something I've missed?

I ordered a copy of this from eBay a few years ago, and mine ended up being a knockoff. The quality of the box material was great, but all the discs were burned. I didn’t try watching them, just filed a complaint with eBay.

The versions on Amazon now are almost certainly knockoffs too. They're only available from third-party sellers, and if you look at the more recent reviews (i.e. within the last three years or so), they're loaded with complaints about mislabeled discs, non-English menus, lack of encryption (not a problem in and of itself, but here it's an obvious sign of a bootleg), low-quality printing, discs too thick to fit in slot-loading players, etc. There's no reason third-party sellers would have a bunch of legitimate copies of a set that was only sold through Amazon and has been out of print since at least 2017 (since the Amazon set used the Disney releases and that's when the rights moved over to GKIDS).