SPIRITED AWAY -- or This Week In Acid Casualty Anime Fairy Tales That Will Haunt Your Dreams For A Long Time But Make You Want To Watch Them Over And Over Again

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I might be able to order it through hkflix.com as well -- yeah, send me the info, along with maybe the technical details on the box itself (who released it, catalog number, etc.). Might help me scare it up! Thanks! :-)

Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 22 September 2002 23:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

:```````(

jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 23 September 2002 00:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

Well, thanks to this thread and DB, Nicole and Jess's enthusiasm, I went and saw Spirited Away tonight -- it did indeed just get released in the States here. Oddly enough, I think I really lucked out -- see, I heard that in fact it would be a dubbed version, and even the studio promo stuff in the theater lobby said that. But it turns out -- possibly because of the Japanese emigre community around here -- that the version shown was in fact subtitled! Thus blessed, I got the film straight up as it was created, and while I'm not as completely and thoroughly blown away as DB was, I'm not far behind -- there are indeed some amazing images and set pieces, and the story as a whole is beautifully, exquisitely handled. Yes, let me recommend this thoroughly -- it was a blessing to be able to see it that way in the theaters, and I understand the passion for the studio's work as a whole that much more clearly now.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 29 September 2002 07:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

And a little research has turned up how to get that DVD DB mentioned at the start of the thread for a good price, though it is Region 3. Definitely time for me to get that multi-region player...

Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 29 September 2002 20:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

I got the DVD of Spirited Away for $20.00, but it was a region 2 dvd; however, I have found out that region 2 dvds work fine on my region 1 dvd player (at least the ones I have got so far).

Nicole (Nicole), Sunday, 29 September 2002 20:34 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yay! Hurrah for technological loopholes.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 29 September 2002 20:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

i am no face

chaki (chaki), Sunday, 29 September 2002 21:03 (twenty-one years ago) link

I saw this last weekend, and it was every bit as good as everyone on this thread says it is. I think it's probably the most visually enthralling animated feature I've ever seen. For once, I was actually glad that it was dubbed rather than sub-titled because (1) there were no subtitles blocking the bottom section of the screen, and (2) I didn't have to worry about missing the visual action while trying to keep up with the dialogue.

o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 1 October 2002 17:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

*SPOILER ALERT*

One of the scenes in the movie that still haunts me and confuses me is the earlier No Face scenes where he makes these really disturbing, almost orgasmic grunts to produce the gold and offer it. It still sends shivers down my spine.

donut bitch (donut), Tuesday, 1 October 2002 17:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

True, I'm surprised Disney didn't tone down the grunts while redubbing the dialogue. Or maybe they sounded different in the original.

o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 1 October 2002 18:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

:`````(

jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 1 October 2002 19:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

five months pass...
FYI: The movie has been re-released this weekend. If you haven't seen it yet, don't miss your chance to see it on the big screen!

Nicole (Nicole), Friday, 28 March 2003 20:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

How cool! :-) Good run up for the DVD release as well -- but I hear said release is only going to include the dubbed version, so imports here I come...

Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 28 March 2003 20:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

i saw it! it came to the oly art theater a month or two back. there's a reason he's my only hero

jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 28 March 2003 21:05 (twenty-one years ago) link

I laurv this film. Best new movie I've seen in years.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Friday, 28 March 2003 23:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

Grate film. Also available on KaZaA, for those so inclined. I recently watched another great anime, "Grave of the Fireflies", which was incredibly good, beautifully illustrated and totally wrenching. It's about a teenage boy and his baby sister in Japan during the fierce American bombing campaign near the end of the war.

webcrack (music=crack), Friday, 28 March 2003 23:58 (twenty-one years ago) link

Grave of the Fireflies is a Miyazaki flick also right?

James Blount (James Blount), Saturday, 29 March 2003 07:52 (twenty-one years ago) link

I've cried everytime I've seen this movie

James Blount (James Blount), Saturday, 29 March 2003 07:54 (twenty-one years ago) link

fireflies was directed by isao takahata who's his partner in studio ghibli. yes, it's brutal, especially if you have a little sister

jess (dubplatestyle), Saturday, 29 March 2003 07:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

I got three little sisters! include me out!

James Blount (James Blount), Saturday, 29 March 2003 07:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Good run up for the DVD release as well -- but I hear said release is only going to include the dubbed version, so imports here I come... "

The (US) copy I've seen on sale lists Japanese as one of the english language options, with english subtitles. Does this mean you get the "untampered" version too?

Nathan Webb (Nathan Webb), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 17:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

I love this movie, but I must say that it did lead me to get involved in the only movie theater altercation I have been involved with this past weekend.

From everything I have read, the Disney DVD will have the original version (w/subtitles) as well as the dubbed version. Though I must say, having heard the dubbed version it's a vast improvement on the dub for Princess Mononoke.

Nicole (Nicole), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 17:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

the only movie theater altercation

!!!

Heavens. Dare I ask the details?

Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 17:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

i watched grave of the fireflies for the first time a couple of weeks ago, on the first day of "shock & awe". very sad.

Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 18:05 (twenty-one years ago) link

I actually got to see Grave Of The Fireflies in my 10th grade World History class courtesy of one of the best teachers I ever had, Doc Wilkerson (who retired a year later). I just wanted to give him a shout-out.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 19:43 (twenty-one years ago) link

one month passes...
Saw this yesterday, incredible movie. It was dubbed, but I thought it was done really well.

dleone (dleone), Monday, 12 May 2003 12:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

The dub for this turned out to be surprisingly good, probably because John Lasseter was in charge of it.

Nicole (Nicole), Monday, 12 May 2003 13:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

Which leads me to ask who John Lasseter is...

*googles*

Yeah, that would qualify him, wouldn't it?

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 12 May 2003 13:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

BRING OUT NAUSICAA, PORCO ROSSO, AND THE OTHERS YOU BASTARDS

jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 12 May 2003 13:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

This movie is fucking amazing. I can't even begin to describe...just WOW.

nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 12 May 2003 14:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

And a little research has turned up how to get that DVD DB mentioned at the start of the thread for a good price, though it is Region 3. Definitely time for me to get that multi-region player...

Ned, the Japanese Region 3 double DVD set (Spirited Away + Storyboards & Making of) is playable on my computer (RC1) as well as my flatmate's (RC2). I don't know about "regular" DVD players though.

Frühlingsmute (Wintermute), Monday, 12 May 2003 14:13 (twenty-one years ago) link

I've got a multiregion one now so I might yet get that. But I wonder what it's like compared to the American release.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 12 May 2003 14:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

This movie needs more giant robots and tentacle sex.

adam (adam), Monday, 12 May 2003 14:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

And Will Smith in the lead role.

Frühlingsmute (Wintermute), Monday, 12 May 2003 14:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

Kiki's Delivery Service is out on DVD. And Jess, if you're not a Jap-lang. whore, Kim's has like a 12 dvd set for around $59 dollars or something, English dubbing with Chinese subtitles. I would get it but I like to hear the Nihon-go.

Mary (Mary), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 04:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

I really enjoyed this movie, though it really did give me nightmares. It was all because of that No Face guy - yikes!

Sarah McLUsky (coco), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 12:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

I had a dream last night that I was on a hanglider and the muddy stink-beast from Spirited Away was chasing me. I tricked him into going into the ocean, though, where the saltwater dissolved him.

NA. (Nick A.), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 12:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

Wow - we watched Spirited Away twice last night (taking a break to do a Baskin Robin's run for Chocolate Chip Mint and Cookie Dough). I am still completely entranced and disturbed and my mind is all swirly. I do wish that I had some concept of the mythological/historical/cultural allusions in the film - I think that there were many levels of meaning that went right over my head. I loved those little coal-carrying things, though.

So, um, does anyone want to venture what happened to the family once they returned to their car and drove to their "new" home? (With the time passage and stuff, I mean.)

I'm Passing Open Windows (Ms Laura), Monday, 19 May 2003 00:25 (twenty-one years ago) link

I saw this last night and LOVED it and now I want to watch it again. Despite No Face being kind of scary, I really liked him.

Mandee, Monday, 19 May 2003 00:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

strictly Alice In Wonderland turf
I reckon he wanted to animate certain things - then found a way to link 'em all in a 'story?'

Paul (scifisoul), Monday, 19 May 2003 01:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

does anyone want to venture what happened to the family once they returned to their car and drove to their "new" home?

That's part of the joy of the story...that it ends there, and you just don't know. I'm not sure myself.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 19 May 2003 02:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

That's one of the things I really like about Miyazaki's style, is that he leaves lots of things unexplained; the 3 bouncing grunting heads, the strange encounter with the radish spirit, the strange eerie spirits out in the streets...it kinda adds to the strange realism of his films by leaving so much unexplained.

nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 19 May 2003 12:46 (twenty-one years ago) link

It seemed really long. Almost all anime movies I've seen seem too slow. I liked the imagination on display, but I doubt I got more out of it that I would had I looked at a portfolio of the character designs.

I agree with Paul. Very Wonderlandish... As in nearly every scene is another "This is how we do things here in CRAZY Alternate Dimension World... Look there: CRAZY!"

Stuart (Stuart), Monday, 19 May 2003 14:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

six months pass...
NO FACE was so cute. When he tried to give her all those herbal cakes he looked like a puppy. It was a bit sad that she never said goodbye to him properly.

I just saw it for the first time on Thursday. The CCA are showing it with subtitles. They never bother me but I guess I must have been missing visual tuff without realising - I'd love to see the dubbed version too, seeing as people say it's so well done.

N. (nickdastoor), Sunday, 14 December 2003 12:49 (twenty years ago) link

If you want some insight into the origins of some of the weird beings and happenings in Spirited Away, have a read at Shinto and its Festivals by Denny Sargent.

Momus (Momus), Sunday, 14 December 2003 13:47 (twenty years ago) link

Miyazaki believes in the audience feeling genuine, powerful emotions, terror, confusion, unease, gladness, love. Like in early Disney, eg Pinnochio, not today where it's all filtered for you into a low-key blandness.
I saw Spirited Away several times and it stayed fresh while each time suggesting more to me. Finally i think it's an allegory of the horror of having to grow up and go to work. Chihiro being in fear of her life conveys the death of innocence that we fight against.

pete s, Sunday, 14 December 2003 14:01 (twenty years ago) link

i have gathered that @d@m doesn't like this movie AT ALL and want to know why.

I think it's great, but the story is a little meandering and the characters seem to change from being likable to unlikeable rather suddenly sometimes, I'm assuming this is just a cultural difference or something.

anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Sunday, 14 December 2003 23:05 (twenty years ago) link

I don't hate it, I just don't understand all the hullabaloo!

Manga/Anime-what's the big deal?

@d@ml (nordicskilla), Sunday, 14 December 2003 23:09 (twenty years ago) link

I don't hate it, I just don't understand all the hullabaloo!

Well, you're a punk. Uh, yeah.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 14 December 2003 23:43 (twenty years ago) link

Films that make N post stuff like THIS -

"NO FACE was so cute. When he tried to give her all those herbal cakes he looked like a puppy.

- should be banned OUTRIGHT!

@d@ml (nordicskilla), Sunday, 14 December 2003 23:47 (twenty years ago) link

ned aren't you being a bit theatrical? I saw the dubbed version a few times and enjoyed it just fine, admittedly I had no other version to compare it to, but it's still such a minor alteration. i also think i was just so elated and schoolgirl-giddy that I wouldn't have even noticed if the last line was "i'm too old for this shit!!"

CROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW (Adrian Langston), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 16:56 (nineteen years ago) link

ned aren't you being a bit theatrical?

Isn't this like asking, "Do you like the Cure or something?"

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 December 2004 16:57 (nineteen years ago) link

two weeks pass...
this week's new yorker has an big long article/interview (!) on Miyazaki, not available online though. It's the January 17 issue, black-and-white cover.

1. Nausicaä is being released on video/DVD in America with voices of Uma Thurman and Patrick Stewart. This will be a Miyazaki-approved edit with the option to watch the japanese version with subtitles, like Spirited Away. It will be released Feb 22 along with Porco Rosso and The Cat Returns.

2. The next Miyazaki film is an adaptation of "Howl's Moving Castle." Possible US release date of June 5.

teeny (teeny), Sunday, 16 January 2005 01:25 (nineteen years ago) link

"howl" is probably still in theaters in japan, anyone seen it or a bootleg?

Here is an interview with the author of the new yorker article:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/content/?050117on_onlineonly01

It was a really really good article, it made me want to have kids so I could take them to Miyazaki movies.

teeny (teeny), Sunday, 16 January 2005 01:27 (nineteen years ago) link

looking forward to the Porco Rosso release, but I wish they'd gotten Jean Reno to reprise his role as Marco from the excellent french dub. nausicaa is pretty marginal by miyazaki standards (ie. still very good), it was one of his early features and mostly suffers from attempting to streamline the massive, brilliant manga on which it was based.

the manga is really, really worth your time as well. serialized monthly for 12 years straight, he wrote and illustrated it himself (a rarity in the manga industry) and didn't actually complete it until 10 years after the movie was finished. some of the most beautiful and utterly berserk comics ever produced.

ade (Adrian Langston), Sunday, 16 January 2005 01:55 (nineteen years ago) link

and I'm pretty sure Howl isn't on DVD in japan yet, so any bootlegs available right now are probably of questionable quality. the US release date is supposed to be June 05, i think i can wait. oh, and peep this!!!

From a 15 January Chinese news article:

----
Impressed by the success of the movie "Howl's Moving Castle", Studio Ghibli decided to make a "sequel": but this is no ordinary sequel. It will be a "Big Circus Show", with a story that begins with Sophie and Howl's thought of forming a circus together.

The "Big Circus Show" will be started in late April (27 April) and will last for about 100 days (till 21 August). Howl, Sophie, Witch of the Waste and all other important characters will jump out of the screen as actors and let the audience to experience a fantastic voyage of circus.

The nature of a "sequel" and a "circus" seem to be fundamentally different. What made Ghibli to come up with such an idea? Producer Suzuki explained, "Outwardly there seems to be no correlation between the 'sequel' and the original story. In the 'sequel', the characters will make you feel that they have feelings of isolation. But when we examine the outward appearances and the inner hearts of the characters again, you can find that it is related to the original story."

There will also be a gigantic "Howl's City" in the site of the show. All the characters in the story will be displayed as puppets. In the middle of the site, an old-style "tent house" will be built. There will be even more surprises waiting for the people. It will be a new record of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Tokyo that a movie-related show can occupy the museum for 100 days.

According to the the people in the movie industry, probably Director Miyazaki was influenced by the idea "Circus is the source of movies" which made Ghibli to come up with the decision of making a circus show. Producer Suzuki said, "we don't want to be limited to animation which is just a narrow form of creation. We hope that through the circus show, people can grasp the new charms of 'Howl's Moving Castle'."

ade (Adrian Langston), Sunday, 16 January 2005 02:03 (nineteen years ago) link

two years pass...

so ashamed to have only just watched this.

blueski, Thursday, 7 June 2007 23:02 (sixteen years ago) link

But you enjoyed it, right?

chap, Thursday, 7 June 2007 23:05 (sixteen years ago) link

I think my favorite bit is when the stink monster comes in, and it turns out to just be a polluted river.

kenan, Thursday, 7 June 2007 23:27 (sixteen years ago) link

it's all about the scene on the train and all the ghostly passengers getting on and off. i must watch this again soon.

the next grozart, Thursday, 7 June 2007 23:32 (sixteen years ago) link

Giant radish spirit!

Jaq, Thursday, 7 June 2007 23:33 (sixteen years ago) link

terrible film.

jed_, Thursday, 7 June 2007 23:41 (sixteen years ago) link

you mustn't say such silly things.

kenan, Thursday, 7 June 2007 23:42 (sixteen years ago) link

But you enjoyed it, right?

hell yeah, even tho it was the dubbed version. great fun - haters puzzle and sadden me. the 'domestication' of No-Face at Zeniba's amused me (amongst 99 other things) and i liked that Chihiro seemed to always have some new challenge to overcome every 5 minutes, and the general increase in scale of these challenges. now for My Neighbour Totoro i guess.

blueski, Friday, 8 June 2007 00:03 (sixteen years ago) link

I prefer the dubbed version, even of Mononoke, where the celebrity voices are a bit distracting. You get more information. The subtitles are so... terse.

kenan, Friday, 8 June 2007 00:13 (sixteen years ago) link

I tend to enjoy Miyazaki films a bit more if I don't parse for information so much, actually. Few of them make perfect linear sense.

chap, Friday, 8 June 2007 00:18 (sixteen years ago) link

Really NONE of them make perfect linear sense.

forksclovetofu, Friday, 8 June 2007 05:16 (sixteen years ago) link

re dubbed i enjoyed hearing Susan Egan's voice as Lynn. and i thinki recognised Principal SKinner's Mom as the voice of the twin witches.

blueski, Friday, 8 June 2007 09:46 (sixteen years ago) link

HEY if yr an adult and you expect good movies to make perfect linear sense then maybe you should watch more good movies amirite

strgn, Friday, 8 June 2007 10:27 (sixteen years ago) link

I never watch Myazaki films with subtitles. I don't like to have half of the animation covered with superimposed words, and some of the young Japanese girls voices are really shrill to my ears.
In any case, both the Japenese and the Western versions are 'dubbed' - they're cartoons not real people!

DavidM, Friday, 8 June 2007 11:52 (sixteen years ago) link

otm.

the next grozart, Friday, 8 June 2007 12:04 (sixteen years ago) link

wow i never realised

blueski, Friday, 8 June 2007 12:11 (sixteen years ago) link

hahaha! you dumb man!

the next grozart, Friday, 8 June 2007 16:32 (sixteen years ago) link

thirteen years pass...

Hm!

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hayao-miyazakis-spirited-away-to-get-stage-adaptation

(What's potentially all the more interesting -- though I'm finding it a little hard to believe -- is that it doesn't specifically say it's going to be a musical.)

Ned Raggett, Friday, 26 February 2021 21:36 (three years ago) link

this is the thread title huh

rob, Friday, 26 February 2021 21:37 (three years ago) link

one year passes...

It is indeed.

That stage production has launched

A stage production of Spirited Away has opened in Tokyo and it might be the greatest thing you’ve ever seen. ✨

Photos via puppet designer and builder @TobyOlie. pic.twitter.com/e1sRxqt0T7

— Letterboxd (@letterboxd) March 5, 2022

Ned Raggett, Saturday, 5 March 2022 18:25 (two years ago) link

two years pass...

Will be seeing this next Friday in London. Very excited!

willem, Monday, 6 May 2024 07:00 (three weeks ago) link

Yes! I'm going later in the month and I am psyched!

your mom goes to limgrave (dog latin), Monday, 6 May 2024 08:00 (three weeks ago) link

(Is that the play of My Neighbour Totoro, though?)

The start of this thread is the least grumpy I've ever seen jess!

Andrew Farrell, Monday, 6 May 2024 08:30 (three weeks ago) link


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