I never watched the English dub of Spirited Away because In not a dub person (I didn’t know it was even her in it!) but I loved Chase’s performance in Lilo and Stitch and that makes me want to check it out after the fact.
From my perspective Spirited Away was one of the movies that really solidified anime as “a thing” in the west, and that’s kinda huge.
If the English release of Nausicaa had been done well, Ghibli may have continued allowing foreign distributors to make major changes to their movies under the remit of “internationalisation”
But they screwed it up, which lead directly to the now-famous “no edits” policy.
In the long-term I think that fuck-up really helped Ghibli to cement their reputation in the west for making good stuff.
I suppose my point is more that I’ve reservations with believing Miramax simply made a series of oopsies (still took the money, though), vs the far more likely: their parent co (Disney) internationally burned its release.
Hell, it was so slack-ass, so devoid of effort, it screams “slap in the face”. Never mind that it’s indefensibly illegal —Disney no doubt was betting they’d skate at worst, 'cuz: Murica.
Impressive, from an academic point that, to this day, so few’ve seen the insane box art for that “fuck you” robbery Disney pulled (by proxy), much less are even aware of this event at all.
Whomever they paid to bury it deeper than fish shit really took it to the enth. 🧏🏽♂️
Very few scenes were cut completely but the dubbing was very liberal. For scenes, they cut the dream sequence/ memory of the baby Ohm, a bit with the foreign girl who died in the crash in order to make her a princess instead of a sister, and they removed the scene where Nausicaä is crying in the room with all the plants from the forest and she explains that the plants themselves aren’t toxic, the soil is. Overall the script changed enough that you just miss all the real politics and environmental impact. still liked it as a kid but Nausicaä as it was re dubbed / released is better.
Going through and watching it for the first time in years after watching Nausicaä and am also noticing a lot of pretty blatant sexism in the editing process- all of her skills are downplayed where in the Miyazaki cut the characters are proud of and will brag about her flying skills or marvel about her between themselves, in this edit they’re quiet or the scene is cut completely. Also any scenes where it’s just women talking to each other about mythology or history of the world are also cut- like in the bedchamber of her father, and at the submarine at the end.
In this cut they also cut any sass she gives the men, and instead had the men give her condescending remarks or praise at points that she seemingly just ignores, where in the Miyazaki cut she gives back just as equally.
Also completely forgot they call the Ohm Gorgons but that may be because we use the word Ohm in english for electronics.
*Chihiro
I never watched the English dub of Spirited Away because In not a dub person (I didn’t know it was even her in it!) but I loved Chase’s performance in Lilo and Stitch and that makes me want to check it out after the fact.
From my perspective Spirited Away was one of the movies that really solidified anime as “a thing” in the west, and that’s kinda huge.
Ghibli films are the only foreign language films that I watch dubbed, because the English voice casts are incredible
Studio Ghibli films are generally better with the English dubs - they put serious effort in, and it shows.
In Spirited Away the English dub is far better than the original IMO.
Outside of Ghibli, I avoid English dubs.
Ghibli dubs are undoubtedly the best in the business and have some serious talent.
But I still like the subs more. That’s just preference I suppose.
TBF, Miramax fucked the Western release of Nausicaa, way back when, so…
A blessing in disguise, perhaps.
If the English release of Nausicaa had been done well, Ghibli may have continued allowing foreign distributors to make major changes to their movies under the remit of “internationalisation”
But they screwed it up, which lead directly to the now-famous “no edits” policy.
In the long-term I think that fuck-up really helped Ghibli to cement their reputation in the west for making good stuff.
I suppose my point is more that I’ve reservations with believing Miramax simply made a series of oopsies (still took the money, though), vs the far more likely: their parent co (Disney) internationally burned its release.
Hell, it was so slack-ass, so devoid of effort, it screams “slap in the face”. Never mind that it’s indefensibly illegal —Disney no doubt was betting they’d skate at worst, 'cuz: Murica.
Impressive, from an academic point that, to this day, so few’ve seen the insane box art for that “fuck you” robbery Disney pulled (by proxy), much less are even aware of this event at all.
Whomever they paid to bury it deeper than fish shit really took it to the enth. 🧏🏽♂️
I’m not familiar with this situation, what did Miramax change about the English release of Nausicaa?
I’m also not familiar but here’s a reddit post from 2 years ago where the VHS is titled Warriors of the Wind:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Miyazaki/comments/1bzyr6v/the_vhs_version_of_nausica%25C3%25A4_that_caused_miyazaki/
Thanks for that summation! Wonderfully done, and the box art was especially ridiculous, let’s not forget. 🤓