On Sunday, December 4, the film will screen at 12 p.m. Now, in honor of its 15th anniversary, “Spirited Away” will return to over 400 theaters nationwide for a two-night event this December, courtesy of GKIDS and Fathom Events. READ MORE: The 100 Greatest Films of the 21st Century: BBC Polls Critics From Around The Globe This past August, the film was voted as the fourth best film of the 21st century so far by over 177 film critics from around the world. It was universally acclaimed upon release, became the most successful film in Japanese history and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
There is something really wrong with dub apologists.In the fifteen years since its initial release, Hayao Miyazaki’s animated film “ Spirited Away,” about a 10-year-old girl who enters a mysterious spirit world to free herself and her parents, has been cemented as a modern classic. Kiki's Delivery Service has a certain plot development that the dub changes, and the dub also drastically alters the character of Kiki's cat (he turns into your typical wisecracking comedic sidekick).Įdit: came back 21 days later to link to this post again, and it's now at -6. Spirited Away's dub adds an additional line of dialogue to the end of the movie. It's not too difficult to learn basic Japanese as you're watching (in fact you will inevitably learn it), and it will improve your understanding of the work.Īnother danger of dubs is that they can make unnecessary changes to the script and characterization. All the information the original voice acting contains-such as honorifics and personal pronouns which give you a more nuanced understanding of the dialogue-is simply gone. They think, or feel deep down, that it's just "cartoons for children." The intended audience is children, and the voice acting doesn't matter as long as it isn't so bad as to become distracting.ĭubs are also harmful to you in the long run, if you watch anime more than occasionally. The reason why anime continues to be dubbed regardless of its intended audience (is Jin-Roh supposed to be for children?), and why dubs continues to be recommended, is because people don't take anime seriously. Japanese voice acting is also better 99% of the time, because their voice acting industry is far more advanced and the original production team and voice actors are far more invested in what they're doing. The results may not be bad, but they will be different from what the original production team and actors intended. Dubs, unless they try to very slavishly adhere to the original voices, will change those. Dialogue isn't just about conveying information, it's also about conveying emotions and character.
Why would you replace them with something else? You wouldn't watch a live action movie dubbed, or claim that the vocal performances of the actors are unimportant. The actors were chosen and supervised by the work's original production team. The performances of the voice actors are an important part of the work, not just some optional thing that can be replaced at will. The answer is always subbed, unless you're dyslexic or a child.