This Month's Haul: September 2017 Edition

[A Robot Bit Me]

If you're tuned to upcoming re-releases, you probably already know this, but just in case: the Miyazaki box set has the good subtitles instead of the Disney dubtitles:

This one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/253136522911

[kedawa]

I dropped a few hundred dollars on an area rug and a wall mirror. It feels weird spending money on stuff like that after decades of living in quiet austerity, but I guess I'm finally tired of living like a broke college student.

[Diff-chan]

I remember how weird it felt to buy some art to hang on my wall.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

Just got to work and there was a basketball sized box in front of the door. The Post office loves to leave packages outside the door where anyone coyld just grab it and walk away- instead of leaving a note that I had something to pick up at the post office, which is located RIGHT BEHIND the plaza I'm in. I had to contact Amazon and ask them to only ship ups or fedex because of this. I dont want to loose several hundred dollars because of a lazy postal worker.
So anyway, there's a box. Befuddled, I looked at the address. It's from my best friend. Now I'm really like wtf.
I got inside and opened it. There was a card and a wrapped present. Opened the card. It's clearly for a baby and says "Congrats! You're 1!" Inside he wrote, "I know you really wanted one but didn't want to spend the money so I got you one, too bad. Merry Christmas.
I opened the present, and it's an NES Classic.
I'm bugged on so many levels.

[Brianvgplayer]

If you're tuned to upcoming re-releases, you probably already know this, but just in case: the Miyazaki box set has the good subtitles instead of the Disney dubtitles:

This one:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/253136522911

Thanks. I saw it on Amazon at a higher price and didn't expect it to be lower elsewhere because it was listed as an Amazon exclusive. The Castle of Cagliostro with it is also more bare bones than the US Blu-ray, which includes a new subtitle translation for the original JP audio, the streamline dub, two versions of the Manga dub, and a reconstruction of an early subtitle translation.

[A Robot Bit Me]

Yeah, Cagliostro is still worth hanging on to. Notably, I think that's the only movie in the set whose earlier Blu-ray release was handled by someone other than Disney. All the Disney replacements here are at least superior to their predecessors, even though it sounds like improved releases are on the way.

"Dubtitles" sounds like some nerd shit, but the difference is staggering. My wife, who loves Miyazaki but otherwise isn't into anime at all, maintains that Disney's Ponyo and box set Ponyo can't even be called the same movie. Disney depoliticized the heck out off it.

[GohanX]

If I don't care about subtitles and just listen to the English dub, should I care?

[A Robot Bit Me]

Yeah, for Ponyo anyway. The dubtitles are transcripts of the English dub, and the English dub pussyfoots around the moments when Miyazaki miyazaks.

There's a moment in Ponyo, for example, where Ponyo's pappy talks about the ocean revolting against humans for what they've done to the environment. Disney totally defangs it in favor of something like "The world is scary." You only get the environmental bent in the box set subtitles.

Ponyo is loaded with moments like this. I know Mononoke uses dubtitles too, but I'm not sure if the difference is as pronounced.

[Brianvgplayer]

Yeah, for Ponyo anyway. The dubtitles are transcripts of the English dub, and the English dub pussyfoots around the moments when Miyazaki miyazaks.

Ponyo actually has proper subtitles on the standard blu-ray, but makes it so some settings can only be changed from the main menu. Once the movie is started, some settings aren't available from the menu or via remote. Japanese audio and the subtitles to go with it have to be set before starting the movie. It's more confusing than it should be. The main issue with Ponyo is the lossy JP audio. Too bad there isn't a Totoro Blu-ray with the Streamline dub. I prefer that over the Disney dub.

[GohanX]

Yeah, for Ponyo anyway. The dubtitles are transcripts of the English dub, and the English dub pussyfoots around the moments when Miyazaki miyazaks.

There's a moment in Ponyo, for example, where Ponyo's pappy talks about the ocean revolting against humans for what they've done to the environment. Disney totally defangs it in favor of something like "The world is scary." You only get the environmental bent in the box set subtitles.

Ponyo is loaded with moments like this. I know Mononoke uses dubtitles too, but I'm not sure if the difference is as pronounced.

Thanks for this! I'll have to look to see what I have versus what I don't have and figure out if the set on ebay is worth picking up for me. I've been picking some up for around 15 each when they go on sale at Best Buy but I only have a few.

My daughter doesn't know who Miyazaki is, but she LOVES his movies. At 5 she doesn't understand how great some of these are, but she knows she saw something special.