MetaFilter posts tagged with hayaomiyazaki

Kittybus!

Artw — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 07:23:00 -0800

Toren Smith, 1960-2013

Sokka shot first — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 07:10:00 -0800

I had discovered the Animage comics version of Nausicaa, which provided my entry into the world of Japanese comics--a world which was to cause me to devote my life to bringing it to all English-speaking people.

Toren Smith, a brilliant editor and translator and one of Japanese comics' first and greatest advocates in the English-speaking world, is dead. Anglophone otaku the world over have Smith and the manga import company he founded, Studio Proteus, to thank for much of the existence of their hobby. In addition to his instrumentality in bringing titles like Akira, Domu, Oh My Goddess, and Blade of the Immortal to the English-speaking world, Smith and Studio Proteus translated much of Science Fiction legend Masamune Shirow's oeuvre into English, starting with Appleseed and continuing with Dominion, Ghost in the Shell, and Orion. Over the course of his career he became involved with über-nerd animation studio Gainax, who immortalized him in Gunbuster as "Smith Toren," a robot pilot aboard the Exelion. Of Studio Proteus's legendary and unimpeachable translation of Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, Smith said:

Above all, Tom, Dana and myself all agreed that despite all the hard work we were doing, we wanted our work to be totally invisible to the readers. We hoped that, when we were done, the English-language readers would never notice the translation, the sound effects or the lettering--they would simply read and enjoy this incredible story without ever thinking about the fact that it was translated from another language.

Sketchtravel: 71 artists, 15 countries, 5 years, 1 book

filthy light thief — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 11:02:02 -0800

Back in 2006, a red sketch book started a journey around the world, traveling not through the mail, but from artist to artist. The idea came from Dice Tsutsumi and Gérald Guerlais, two animators at Blue Sky Studios. They compiled a list of 71 artists, personal friends and influential people they would like to have involved in their traveling sketch book. Dice and Gérald thought they could get it done in a year, but the book is now full, five years later. Another component of the project was to auction off the completed book and 9 reproductions, which was done in October, 2011, collecting more than 76,000 euros (100,000 US$) for the Room to Read international library-building organization. You can browse through the past travels on the Sketchtravel blog, view the participants by name or location on Sketchtravel.tv, along with video interviews and clips with 15 of the 71 artists. There are even more videos in Curio's Vimeo collection, and two informative interviews with Gérald Guerlais on NoWatch.net. There are also two retail editions of the Sketchtravel book (description in French, auto-translation from Google). Though you can see most of the sketches on the Sketchtravel blog, here are some pictures of the retail book posted on Flickr, and more on Gallery Nucleus.

The Manga of Miyazaki

filthy light thief — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:21:54 -0800

If you recognize the name Hayao Miyazaki, it's most likely due to his anime films. But along with his involvement in animation, Miyazaki has produced some manga and illustrated story books. Part of the reason his work in still images is less known is lack of translation and distribution. That's where the fans come in, digging up and translating many Miyazaki works, back to his first published manga, which was a serious serialized work, in 1969-1970. Predating his first solo manga, Sabaku no tami (People of the Desert), there was a 1969 Puss in Boots manga, tying into the Puss in Boots movie (Japanese trailer with English subs; Japanese movie with Lithuanian (?) overdubbing), on which Miyazaki worked as a key animator. In 1972, there was a similar serialized manga of a movie for Dōbutsu Takarajima (Animal Treasure Island; Japanese trailer #1, #2, Swedish dub with moments of English). Shuna no tabi (The Journey of Shuna) is a short watercolor manga that was released in 1983, something of a proto-Nausicaä. Miyazaki released a book of image boards in 1983, including images of movies he had only dreamed of making. One of those stories was titled Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke). The story is vaguely along the lines of Beauty and the Beast, and includes imagery that would appear in future Miyazaki movies, including Spirited Away. The story line is a huge change from the movie as released. That same year, Miyazaki released a short illustrated story, Imouto he (For My Sister). I'll leave the 17 page story to stand on its own. From 1982 to 1994, Miyazaki published his serialized epic Kaze no tani no Naushika (Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind). The first two volumes were used as the grounds for the movie, but the story continued on for another 5 volumes of manga. In 1989 or 1990, Hikōtei Jidai (The Age of the Flying Boat) was published in Japan, showing a story that would evolve into the 1992 film Porco Rosso. In 1993, a US magazine focused on anime and manga published an English translation, 13 years in advance of the US release of Porco Rosso on DVD. Zassō Nōto (Daydream data notes) is a series of sporadically released graphic essays on Miyazaki's manga stories, mecha ideas, or movie ideas about tanks, planes, or battleships from the era before World War II. The essays were serialized from 1984 through 1990, and compiled into one volume in 1997. Some of the stories were broken out into their own publications, including Hansu no kikan (The Return of Hans), in 1994. Kūchū de o-Shokuji (Dining in the Air) is an illustrated history of in-flight food, published in 1994 in a Japan Airlines in-flight magazine. The manga is available in English in Starting Point: 1979-1996, a collection of Miyazaki's writings and interviews. Doromamire no tora (Tigers Covered with Mud) was a six-volume serialized manga, published from 1998 to 1999. A fan translator describes it as "one of the very best comics in the world involving pigs and tanks." In 2006, Miyazaki provided a new cover illustration and a 23 page manga, titled A Trip to Tynemouth, for a Japanese re-issue of British World War II ghost stories. Most recently was the 2009 manga Kaze Tachinu, featuring more love for old aircraft.

Shinto Perspectives in "Spirited Away"

hippybear — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 15:36:08 -0800

Among the anime films by Hayao Miyazaki made available in English translation, Spirited Away contains the most folk and Shrine Shinto motifs. The central locale of the film is a bathhouse where a great variety of creatures, including kami, come to bathe and be refreshed. This feature, plus the portrayal of various other folk beliefs and Shrine Shinto perspectives, suggests that Miyazaki is affirming some basic Japanese cultural values which can be a source of confidence and renewal for contemporary viewers.

Roger Ebert on Anime, with a focus on Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli

filthy light thief — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:46:06 -0800

"In Japan, animation is not seen as the exclusive realm of children's and family films, but is often used for adult, science fiction and action stories, where it allows a kind of freedom impossible in real life. Some Hollywood films strain so desperately against the constraints of the possible that you wish they'd just caved in and gone with animation." -- Roger Ebert on anime, with this excerpt being related to Tokyo Godfathers. Ebert has been a fan of anime for a while, especially the works of Hayao Miyazaki. Ebert has reviewed 6 of the 18 Studio Ghibli films released to date, and even interviewed Miyazaki with a bit of fanboy glee. More reviews and videos inside. Roger Ebert could be considered something of a closet "otaku" (Japanese for "fan" or "fanatic", though the term is often applied to anime fans in the US), and he even added a small comment on the dub vs subtitle otaku war ("I know. The best is subtitled DVDs."). Ebert has reviewed anime movies since they first were screened on US theaters at large, with Ghost in the Shell (1995) being positively reviewed by Siskel & Ebert (YT) and in print by Ebert in 1996. The year before, Ebert reviewed another anime movie, The Wings Of Honneamise, which got an honorable mention in Ebert's top 10 for 1995, though it wasn't reviewed by Siskel & Ebert. In 1996 the Walt Disney Corporation and Tokuma Publishing first formed a deal in which Disney was granted the rights to distribute many of Tokuma's works, including most of the Studio Ghibli films, throughout much of the world. The first Studio Ghibli film to get "the Disney treatment" under the new arrangement was Kiki's Delivery Service, which was released in the US on September 1, 1998, eight years after the Japanese release. Ebert has since reviewed all major Ghibli releases, both in print and as part of At The Movies, even covering some of the earlier Ghibli-related titles. Feature-length Studio Ghibli films + Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984, Miyazaki) - reviewed by Michael Mirasol, the Flipcritic, as part of the Foreign Correspondents feature that is edited by Roger Ebert. The movie, based on the manga by Miyazaki, was produced before Studio Ghibli but is often considered the starting point for the studio. First released as a heavily edited and awkwardly re-dubbed work entitled Warriors of the Wind (YT trailer), later re-dubbed by Disney and kept true to the original form. Videos: English subtitled Japanese trailer collection (YT), full English dubbed movie (Google video) + Laputa: Castle in the Sky (1986, Miyazaki) - refered to as a point of comparison for some design features in Pixar's Up, but not reviewed by Ebert. Videos: subtitled Japanese trailer 1 and subbed Japanese trailer 2 (YT), English dub trailer (YT), full English dub (Gv) * Grave of the Fireflies (1988, Isao Takahata) - review by Ebert (YT clip, edited and extended by a fan) from the Ebert & Roeper era, in print, where he said the film was "an emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation," and included in Ebert's list of great movies. Videos: subbed Japanese trailer (YT), full English dub (MySpace video) * My Neighbor Totoro (1988, Miyazaki) - reviewed by Siskel & Ebert (YT), in print, where Ebert said "Here is a children's film made for the world we should live in, rather than the one we occupy.... Whenever I watch it, I smile, and smile, and smile." Ebert also included it on his list of great movies. Videos: Japanese trailer, short clip of English voice actors on the movie, original Japanese movie unsubbed, Fox Home Video/Troma dub (MySpace vid / Troma presskit) * Kiki's Delivery Service (1989, Miyazaki) - transcript of Siskel and Ebert At The Movies review, not reviewed in print by Ebert, but included in his Best Movies of 1998 (when the US dub was released) in The Chuck Jones Award category for 'feature-length cartoons are breaking away from the "children and family" category and growing up into full-bodied entertainments.' Videos: Japanese trailer 1, Japanese trailer 2, Japanese trailer 3, 1998 Disney edition trailer, updated Disney trailer (YT), Japanese video with Chinese subtitles (56.com), first 11 minutes of the English dub (Gv), and the full US dub (MSv) + Only Yesterday (1991, Takahata) - not reviewed by Ebert, and is the only theatrical Studio Ghibli release not available in the US, though Turner Classic Movies aired it in January 2006 as part of tribute to Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. "No matter what your preconceptions about anime might be, Only Yesterday probably confounds them." Videos: Japanese trailer with English subs (YT), Chinese dub (Youku) + Porco Rosso (1992, Miyazaki) - not reviewed by Ebert, this movie grew from what was intended to be an in-flight short, "a movie which tired businessmen on international flights can enjoy even with their minds dulled due to lack of oxygen." Miyazaki expanded the idea into a story of a pig of a man, along with his friends and enemies, in the Adriatic in 1929, during the early days of the Great Depression and the rise of Italian fascism. Videos: Japanese trailer 1, Japanese trailer 2, Making of the English dub (YT), Japanese version with English subs (Veoh, req. Windows-only player plugin) + Ocean Waves (1993, Tomomi Mochizuki) - also known as I Can Hear the Sea (literal translation), this was Studio Ghibli's first made-for-TV movie, and only one to date. It was also the first Ghibli movie directed by someone other than Miyazaki or Takahata, though Mochizuki had directed other works before. Videos: Japanese trailer with English subs (YT), full movie with Chinese subs (Youku) + Pom Poko (1994, Takahata) - briefly discussed in a Movie Answer Man column, insofar that Ebert thought that a movie featuring mythical abilities of the tanuki, or racoon dog, would not mesh with cultural and moral understandings elsewhere. In short, their ability to transform their testicles into many forms (YT, SFW if your work is OK with animated expanding animal testicles). Videos: collection of Japanese trailers, Japanese trailer with English subs, and French trailer (YT), full movie, US dub (MSv), full US dub (Vodpod) + Whisper of the Heart (1995, Yoshifumi Kondō) - not reviewed by Ebert, roughly based on manga of the same name, and the first appearance of the Baron character. Kondō had worked with Miyazaki and Takahata before the formation of Studio Ghibli back in the mid-1970s, and seen as the natural successor to Miyazaki and Takahata. Kondo passed away from an aneurysm at age 47, in January 1998. Videos: long Japanese trailer, short Japanese trailer with English subs, and "Behind the Microphone" English dub clip (YT), full US dub (MSv) * Princess Mononoke (1997) - discussed by guest reviewer Harry Knowles (YT) of Ain't It Cool News, print review by Ebert, in which he said: "Hayao Miyazaki is a great animator, and his 'Princess Mononoke' is a great film. Do not allow conventional thoughts about animation to prevent you from seeing it." The movie also ranked as #6 on Ebert's top 10 films for 1999. Videos: Japanese trailer 1, Japanese trailer 2 with English subs, US trailer, and Behind the Microphone (YT), Full US dub (MSv) + My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999, Takahata) - not reviewed by Ebert, this movie is the based on a serialized comic strip, and is the first Studio Ghibli film completely made digitally, to achieve the appearance of being made with watercolors, instead of the cel-painted form of other Ghibli films. Videos: Japanese trailer with English subs and Behind the Microphone (YT), full Japanese movie with Chinese subs (Youku) * Spirited Away (2001) - reviewed by Ebert & Roeper (YT), in print ("I feel like I'm giving a pitch on an infomercial, but I make these points because I come bearing news: This is a wonderful film. Don't avoid it because of what you think you know about animation from Japan. And if you only go to Disney animation--well, this is being released by Disney."), and #8 in Ebert's top 10 movies of 2002. Videos: Japanese trailer with English subs, US trailer, Behind the Microphone, making of Spirited Away (Japanese language with English subs) part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 and part 6 (YT), full US dub (MSv) + The Cat Returns (2002, Hiroyuki Morita) - not reviewed by Ebert, the film features the return of some elements found in Whisper of the Heart, and is based on the manga Baron: The Cat Returns by Aoi Hiiragi, who created the manga behind Whisper. She was commissioned to create the short manga by Studio Ghibli, who were asked to make a short film starring cats. The theme park canceled the project, but the manga was created, and the short film expanded into a movie. Videos: Japanese teaser with English subs and Japanese trailer with English subs (YT), full US dub (MSv) * Howl's Moving Castle (2004) - reviewed by Ebert & Roeper (YT), in print, where Ebert said the movie was "a disappointment, compared to [Miyazaki's] recent work." Videos: Japanese trailer with English subs and US trailer (YT), full US dub (Gv), full US dub (MSv) + Tales from Earthsea (2006, Gorō Miyazaki) - not reviewed by Ebert, this film was directed by Hayao Miyazaki's son, who had initially not wanted to follow his father, yet returned to prove his capabilities, though the resulting movie faced mixed review of an odd sort. The movie is loosely based on first four Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin. The younger Miyazaki turned from animation and instead became a construction consultant of parks and gardens, but was invited to work on the Studio Ghibli Museum, and he was the museum's director from 2001 to 2005, when he turned his attention to directing his first film. Gorō wrote about the process, how his father was against his son directing "Tales from Earthsea", and Gorō gave Hayao Miyazaki gets zero marks as a father, but full marks as a director of animated films (though another story slipped out in a supplementary entry while the director was busy). Hayao Miyazaki attended the launch party without telling his son, and passed along a few positive words at the end -- "It was made honestly, so it was good," which greatly lifted Gorō's spirits. -- review by Ursula K. Le Guin, and drama reaches the English-speaking 'net. Videos: Japanese trailer with English subs and English trailer (YT), full US dub (MSv) * Ponyo (2008) - reviewed by Lyons and Mankiewicz (YT) in their continuation of At the Movies, print review by Ebert ("This cannot help sounding like standard animated fare. But I have failed to evoke the wonder of Hayao Miyazaki’s artistry. This 68-year-old Japanese master continues to create animation drawn by hand, just as “Snow White” and “Pinocchio” were. There is a fluid, organic quality to his work that exposes the facile efficiency of CGI. And, my God! — his imagination!"). Videos: Japanese trailer with English YT pop-up subs and US trailer (YT), full Japanese movie with Chinese subs (Tudou), full English dub (Veoh, plugin req.) + The Borrower Arrietty (2010, Hiromasa Yonebayashi) - Released to theaters in Japan on July 17, 2010, this movie is based on the 1952 children's fantasy novel, The Borrowers. This is Yonebayashi's directorial debut, and Miyazaki sounds pleased with the results (time-sensitive link, pointing to GhibliWiki's Latest News, with translations of a YouTube clip that is already removed. A bit of translation, copied for posterity from GhibliWiki: Miyazaki says to Yonebayashi, "You did it really well. It was three times better than I thought. You had better take a rest for awhile. It is not a shameful work even if we show it to anyone. I felt a director appeared at last. I was relieved. It was really good. I cried." (laughs) ) Videos: Japanese teaser and Japanese trailer (YT) Other anime films reviewed by Ebert (and friends) * Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (1987, Hiroyuki Yamaga) - reviewed in print only, listed with an honorable mention in Ebert's top 10 for 1995 when it was released in the US. Videos: Japanese trailer and Manga Ent. US trailer (YT). * Roujin Z (1991, Hiroyuki Kitakubo) - reviewed by Ebert in print. Videos: US trailer (YT) * Ghost in the Shell (1995, Mamoru Oshii) - reviewed by Siskel & Ebert (YT) and in print by Ebert. Videos: Japanese trailer (YT login required), US trailer (NSFW - animated nudity), US dub in 6 parts (YT), full movie with original Japanese soundtrack and Chinese subtitles (Tudou), and Conan O'Brien & Andy Richter dubbing the movie (Vimeo). * Metropolis (2001, Rintaro) - reviewed by Ebert & Roeper (YT), in print. Videos: Japanese trailer, Japanese teaser and US trailer (YT), full Japanese movie with Chinese subs (Tudou) * Tokyo Godfathers (2003, Satoshi Kon, previous [obit]) - reviewed in print. Videos: US trailer and full Japanese movie with English subs (YT) * Steamboy (2004, Katsuhiro Otomo) - reviewed by Ebert in print. Videos: Japanese trailer, US trailer, and US dub in 13 parts (YT)

Hayao Miyazaki, the master of animation

azazello — Fri, 21 Mar 2003 11:58:40 -0800

Among Hayao Miyazaki's masterpieces are Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind, Princess Mononoke, and, most recently, Spirited Away. With the April 15 US release of Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Laputa: Castle in the Sky, an Academy nomination for Spirited Away, and Disney's commitment to release re-dubbed, re-mastered versions of Miyazaki's films in the US and worldwide, the American public is getting more acquainted with this legend of animation. Miyazaki's films are not your regular anime [more inside...]

More than a year ago,

gen — Sat, 21 Sep 2002 22:11:10 -0800

More than a year ago, MetaFilter discussed a petition to bring "Spirited Away," the newest full-lenth animated movie by Hayao Miyazki, to the US. Released in Japan as Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, it is the most popular movie ever released in Japan and has it's US limited release this weekend. Do you think "Spirited Away" will "break through" to a wider American audience when Princess Mononoke didn't? What a wonderfully fantastic movie!

Japan’s Gross National Cool

gen — Tue, 30 Apr 2002 14:37:21 -0800

Japan’s Gross National Cool - Foreign Policy has an interesting article on the impact of Japanese culture and how it has replaced "Made in Japan" products as the dominant export from Japan. The author points to director Hayao Miyazaki, director/actor Takeshi Kitano, artist Takashi Murakami, and singer/songwriter Namie Amuro, as well as anime in general and Hello Kitty as examples of the global spread of Japanese culture. Do you recognize these people or their work? [more inside]