Forum - View topicNEWS: Totoro, Grave of the Fireflies BDs English-Subbed in Japan
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Optitron
 Posts: 46 |
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The image of this Blu Ray set should be placed in the dictionary next to the word "mismatch".
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Kettleburn
Posts: 1 |
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Yes yes yes yes yes, this is amazing.
I didn't think they'd release two catalogue Blurays this summer, but here we go! Covers for both films' individual releases can be seen here, if you like: http://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=6051455&postcount=370 |
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icomeanon6
 SubscriberPosts: 114 |
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Screening My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies as a double feature was the biggest bait-and-switch in cinematic history. I'll never understand why whatever distribution company was handling the movies' theatrical release thought that was okay.
At any rate, can't wait until a few years later when Disney makes these available on BD in the US at a more reasonable price, and really can't wait until their BDs get up to 1997's Princess Mononoke. |
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Hoofbites
 Posts: 49 Location: under your porch |
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24 years later, and they're still the Odd Couple of anime films.
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toru
Posts: 115 |
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Miyazaki's Kaze Tachinu and Takahata's Kaguyahime double-feature release in 2013.
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TwelveMind
Posts: 5 |
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I wouldn't call it a bait-and-switch. By definition that would mean the ticket buyers didn't get what they paid for. In this case, they received a double dose of what can be considered influential anime films. Utterly different, yes, but the whole idea of a double-bill was to uplift the audience after watching Grave of the Fireflies. Though, there are reports some screenings had it come after Tonari No Totoro. In whichever case, one story takes place in 1945 and the other in 1958 rural Japan. Essentially a mere decade apart, both are about a pair of siblings and I can imagine the juxtaposition between circumstance makes the content for each all that more poignant. It definitely wasn't some bad drive-thru. Rather, its programming was to deliberately provoke the audience to reflection.
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14758 |
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It was purely financial why they were double-billed. Believe it or not, Totoro was a financial risk - this was before Ghibli became a sure thing. So Ghibli asked another producer to fund Grave in order to share the burden. They both still lost money though. http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/grave/faq.html#totoro Q: I heard that it was double-featured with "Totoro" in Japan. Is that true? Yes. At that time no one thought that people would want to see "a movie about two little kids and a Monster in rural Japan", and "Totoro" was considered a big investment risk. Still, Miyazaki and the editors of "Animage" wanted to make this movie, which was Miyazaki's pet project for a long time. So they thought up the idea of risk-sharing. "Grave" was a well-known book, and because of its "educational" value, a certain level of audience could be expected. (Indeed, "Grave" was chosen by many school boards as a movie to show their students - and "Totoro" along with it, since it was in the package.) Toshio Suzuki, then the chief editor of "Animage" (now a producer at Studio Ghibli) went to Shinchosha, the company which published the book. Since Shinchosha was looking for an opportunity to enter the movie business, they agreed to produce the movie "Grave". Both Tokuma and Shinchosha knew they were going to lose money, but they still went ahead with the project (they did lose money from the theatrical release). So, if it were not for "Grave", there would have been no "Totoro". As for the order in which they screened the newest DVD release from CPM contains an interview with Takahata who explained: The film was very well received from the start because of its themes, of course. People thought it was a very meaningful work. It was a little awkward in a way, because it was double-featured with My Neighbor Totoro. The response was different depending on which film was shown first. My Neighbor Totoro would make them happy, then this Grave of the Fireflies... Those who saw Totoro first didn't want to see Fireflies to the end. Those who saw Fireflies first didn't have that problem, and stayed to the end. The double featuring was a problem, I'd say. |
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TwelveMind
Posts: 5 |
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Veers
 Posts: 1197 Location: Texas |
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After the recent Fireflies DVD remaster I'm curious how the BD compares.
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Geoffrey88
Posts: 34 |
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I'll never understand why whatever distribution company was handling the movies' theatrical release thought that was okay.
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StudioToledo
 Posts: 847 Location: Toledo, U.S.A. |
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Why not? This makes perfect sense to me. It best represent this iconic symbol of the theater to me... 
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Raoh
 Posts: 357 Location: Florence, OR |
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As much as I would love to own Totoro on Bluray, I am not sure I would. The higher resolution would show the age of the film, while DVD can hide this and still maintain a fairly good picture.
Also, the extras are very lackluster. I would hold off for a version that finally includes the Mei-chan and the Kittenbus short film. Also, I bought Disney's 2010 two disc DVD release, and thats been an amazing set to own so far, so not in any huge rush to replace that anytime soon. |
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