Studio Ghibli on DVD

[Titus]

The last several months I've been trying to catch up on Takahata's back catalogue with "Anne of Green Gables" and "3000 Leagues in Search of Mother", the former of which I'm about 12 episodes in (with unsubbed DVDs -- I'm scanning the fansubs to keep up) and the latter I'm about halfway through (thankfully the DVDs of this have English subs). "Mother" has been very good so far, and "Green Gables" has been wonderful. The larger format is extremely conducive to Takahata's talents, in particular his love of the minutiae of daily life -- so many subtle, beautiful moments peppered throughout. "Mother" can pour on the syrupy music and borders on sentimentality on occasion, but I haven't minded in the least.

MK, have you seen (any of) Heidi?

[Michael Kerpan]

The last several months I've been trying to catch up on Takahata's back catalogue with "Anne of Green Gables" and "3000 Leagues in Search of Mother", the former of which I'm about 12 episodes in (with unsubbed DVDs -- I'm scanning the fansubs to keep up) and the latter I'm about halfway through (thankfully the DVDs of this have English subs). "Mother" has been very good so far, and "Green Gables" has been wonderful. The larger format is extremely conducive to Takahata's talents, in particular his love of the minutiae of daily life -- so many subtle, beautiful moments peppered throughout. "Mother" can pour on the syrupy music and borders on sentimentality on occasion, but I haven't minded in the least.

MK, have you seen (any of) Heidi?

My wife and I (my children have taken a pass) are about halfway through Takahata's absolutely wonderful Anne of Green Gables series -- even better than the good American/Canadian TV series (with Megan Fallows). Our movement through this is pretty sporadic -- but that is not the fault of the show.

Wher did you get a subbed version of "Marco/ 3000 Leagues"? (We don't have this yet).

I've only seen snatches of Heidi -- it seems a lot less artful than "AoGG.

You've mentioned "Gauche the Cellist", which Didn't come to mind when I was thinking about Ghibli! But I have seen that one, too!

This is pre-Ghibli -- but definitely of Ghibli quality.

"Jarinko Chie" (Chie the Pest) is quite interesting -- but more robust in its humor (a la Pom Poko). Unfortunately, The Japanese DVD is not subtitled -- and the Japanese spoken is mostly Osaka dialect.

[Titus]

Wher did you get a subbed version of "Marco/ 3000 Leagues"? (We don't have this yet).

Here is where I ordered it from, though I paid a heftier price than this (all of their Masterpiece Theater Adaptations have been heavily cut in price since I picked up "Anne" and "Marco") -- I paid $60 more, so this is quite a steal. It's two sets of 5 discs. The shipping to the US is about $25, though.

The subs have relatively frequent errors, but nothing too annoying.

[Gregor Samsa]

Disney's last credit as a director was in 1945, but his brand lives on. I'm actually of the (vaguely controversial?) opinion that Disney did more damage to the growth of animation as a serious art form than anyone else in the 20th C.

I think that judgement can only be made from the perspective of the present, when there has been many Disney films that are cheesy, cutesy or whatever else you want to call them. The interesting thing is that in the late 1930s and early 1940s Disney was widely seen as making animation into an art. This opinion comes through very strongly in the writings of contemporary critics such as Bosley Crowther and Frank S. Nugent, who claimed that Snow White is "as important cinematographically as Birth of a Nation." Even reviews of Fantasia (with the notable exception of Dorothy Thompson) claimed that the film would open "a field in which he and others will will advance and create wonder."

It's a very interesting period of animation criticism actually, as we also see events like the installation of Snow White artwork into the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which inspired lengthy newspaper editorials concluding that "Disney is a great figure in the historical development of American art" and that Snow White belongs as a symbol of modern art and popular culture. Sadly, this belief in the artistic potential of animation disappeared in the mid 1940s, partially through Disney releasing its series of 'Package Features' and through critics such as Theodor Adorno associating Disney with mass culture rather than art.

Even today, those of use who see animation as an artform don't talk about it in the same terms as these earlier critics. In less than a decade (1939-1946), opinions of animation changed from placing Disney with “the immortalsâ€

[tryavna]

Sadly, this belief in the artistic potential of animation disappeared in the mid 1940s, partially through Disney releasing its series of 'Package Features' and through critics such as Theodor Adorno associating Disney with mass culture rather than art.

Adorno's description of Mickey Mouse as a castrated non-male (can't remember his specific words) is hilarious, though. And makes a bit of sense: high squeaky voice, tight short pants that reveal no sign of male organ, chaste relationship with Minnie, etc. Mickey certainly isn't as randy as Bugs Bunny, dressing in drag and kissing everyone in sight!

But more seriously, let's not forget that Disney also went commercial as no other studio executive ever had before: clothing, lunch boxes, children's games, book tie-ins, comics, food, theme parks, etc. Perhaps Uncle Walt should have paid a little more attention to the quality of his films than to all that other stuff from c. 1946 onwards.

[Gregor Samsa]

I like the bit where Adorno mourns the audience preferring Donald Duck to Betty Boop (and preferring 'Mickey Rooney to the tragic Garbo'), it's good proof that he didn't hate all popular culture.... Just a lot of it.


As for the merchandising issue, that's another interesting thing about reading the animation criticism of the time. Even when merchandising is mentioned in articles written during Disney's 'Golden Age' their authors tend to focus upon Disney balancing art and popularity--and this balance breaks down during the 1940s. If you read reviews written during the mid 1940s, a lot of reviewers felt deeply betrayed by Disney. My favourite example (and the source of the "Hollywood phonies" line) is Bosley Crowther's charmingly titled review of Song of the South: "Spanking Disney: Chastising Walt for Song of the South."

[tryavna]

I like the bit where Adorno mourns the audience preferring Donald Duck to Betty Boop (and preferring 'Mickey Rooney to the tragic Garbo'), it's good proof that he didn't hate all popular culture.... Just a lot of it.

Yeah, contrary to most readers' impression of him, I've always found Adorno to be a writer with a great sense of humor. Apparently, the man enjoyed dancing and was pretty good at it. So I don't think he's was ever as dour and grumpy as people who only read "The Culture Industry" think he was.

That's a great title from Crowther, too! I'll have to track that review down.

[manicsounds]

Kazuo Oga: The Man Who Painted Totoro's Forest documentary is out now in Japan, both on DVD or BR+DVD
Very unusually, The extras and bonuses have English subtitles for those interested.

[manicsounds]

Ponyo (Gake No Ue No Ponyo)



Ponyo (Gake No Ue No Ponyo) Y4935
2 Disc DVD (Sorry, BluRay will be available in December!)
-DTS 6.1 Japanese, Dolby 2.0 Japanese
-English, Japanese subtitles
-Complete Storyboards
-2 Theatrical Trailers

VHS (!!!) Y4725 (!!!)
-No extras or subtitles, duh...

"This Is How Ponyo Was Born" (Ponyo Wa Koushite Umareta) Y9240 DVD, Y11340
5 Disc DVD / 2 Disc Blu Ray
752 minutes (12 hours 32 minutes) of documentary material on the making of Ponyo,
There are no English subtitles.

"Joe Hisaishi in Budokan" Y4935 DVD, Y6090 BD
2 Disc DVD / 1 Disc BD
-PCM 2.0, Dolby Digital 5.1
-Japanese anecdote subtitles
-Making Of
-The Projected Animation from the Concert

Got this on release day, and it seems the big boxset with the 9 discs are gone from pre-orders, and you have to get lucky instore.

I got the DVD release of the film, and the concert.
The concert was really something. The 5.1 was kicking, but I was hoping for a DTS track (like the oomph it gave "Fantasia 2000"'s orchestra), it would've been a better addition than the PCM 2.0.

Picture quality actually was worse than I was expecting for the concert. Shot in Hi-def and downcoverted to SD, I wasn't expecting that much pixelation problems. The BD I would think looks better, but I can't compare. But it doesn't distract from the overall experience. The subtitles with anecdotes were a nice addition, with short trivia about certain pieces, lyrics to the songs, which movie it came from and the titles, and some of the performers names. All in Japanese by the way.

[esl]

Saw that picture and others from the movie plastered all over the Yamanote Line commuter trains in Tokyo last weekend. It looked interesting. Anime has not interested me much, although I do have a DVD of Graves of the Fireflies. If you wouldn't mind, tell me about it and why I might want to buy it.

[manicsounds]

Give it a rental first if you are not so sure, esl. You live in Japan too.

I watched Ponyo last year and found it towards a return to childhood innocence that Miyazaki was into during the Totoro/Kiki period. I know some people had mixed feelings as it wasn't "adult" enough compared to his more recent films like Mononoke/Howl, but some thinking it was too child-like. But it was bounds ahead of the terrible "Earthsea" film.

The movie made me very happy. That's what I wanted to feel and that is what I got. And plus the song, Soyo-Kaze will bring a tear to anyone's eye. Beautiful stuff.

[Michael Kerpan]

In terms of sophistication, "Ponyo" is a lot closer to "Panda kopanda" than to "Totoro".

Not an ideal entry point to Studio Ghibli films -- for anyone older than five years old.

Not saying other people won't enjoy it (but it I found it much less rewarding than most other Ghibli films).

[StevenJ0001]

I watched Ponyo last year and found it towards a return to childhood innocence that Miyazaki was into during the Totoro/Kiki period. I know some people had mixed feelings as it wasn't "adult" enough compared to his more recent films like Mononoke/Howl, but some thinking it was too child-like. But it was bounds ahead of the terrible "Earthsea" film.

Earthsea wasn't directed by the same Miyazaki, just in case there is any confusion.

[jojo]

I saw this thread bumped up and thought Disney is finally releasing Only Yesterday. Foolish me.

[swo17]

I posted in the Amazon thread earlier that they are showing My Neighbor Totoro as having gone OOP. Doing a little research on the web, it looks like people are just recently starting to notice this (like, this month) and I don't see anyone else selling it either. I tried to place an order with the only place I noticed that still had it in stock (DVD Empire) and got this response shortly thereafter:

We have been informed by our distributors that the item 'My Neighbor Totoro' is no longer available and will not be available at any time in the future.

Of course, I'm sure the Blu-ray reissue will be announced approximately five minutes after I shell out for the DVD...

[Michael Kerpan]

The Korean and HK DVDs have true subtitles -- and the classic dub (not the new one). If you can play R3, you might find these a better placeholder than an over-priced R1 copy (as you wait for a Blu-ray version).

[solaris72]

Of course, I'm sure the Blu-ray reissue will be announced approximately five minutes after I shell out for the DVD...

Kiki, Totoro, and Castle in the Sky are all out of print, but are being rereleased the same day Disney releases Ponyo, according to Ultimate Disney (the August 18 news item on the main page). They might be blu-ray, but nothing is announced yet.

[swo17]

Oh shut the hell up, I just bought the old DVD on ebay. Do you have a source for proof of an upcoming reissue?

[tavernier]

yes, the fact that you just bought the old DVD on eBay

[solaris72]

Five minutes too late....

[swo17]

Oh shut the hell up, I just bought the old DVD on ebay. Do you have a source for proof of an upcoming reissue?

yes, the fact that you just bought the old DVD on eBay

Hopefully they will issue me a refund. If not, it was nearly worth $25 just for this joke. =D>

[manicsounds]

It went out of print in America a few months ago, I remember looking during the DD sale, and it was gone for some odd reason. There was mention in a DVDtalk thread. I really don't see any reason for an updated reissue, as there hasn't been one for Japan recently either.

$25 for Totoro is a safe price, so I wouldn't worry. Now, $45 on Amazon.com is a rip-off though...

[bjeggert82]

I went to Best Buy this week to finally pick up Miyazaki's films on DVD, and they had My Neighbor Totoro there for $23.99. Check online if in-store pickup is available in your area and you might find it...

[ehimle]

i've bought straight from disney when they had a sale once and got pom poko for $15 new. that was when I couldn't find it anywhere and amazon was saying it was out of print.

[Murdoch]

Is the R2 of Totoro a good release to buy or is it strongly recommended to go for the R3 releases? I've had Totoro sitting in my Amazon UK basket for about a year now.