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Interview: Satoshi Kon


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ZZalapski



Joined: 26 Mar 2007
Posts: 34
PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 12:02 am Reply with quote
For those who haven't seen Magnetic Rose, yeah, you're missing out. Between the visuals, Kon's script, and Yoko Kanno's music, it's on a much higher league than the other two parts of Memories, so much that it's kinda embarrassing.

Haven't seen Perfect Blue, but I've found Paranoia Agent, Millennium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, and Paprika (in addition to Magnetic Rose, of course) all to be captivating. Even -- or is that especially? -- spoiler[ when Paprika turns into one big fever dream near the end of the movie.]

[EDIT: Spoiler tags added. -TK]
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TheVok



Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 613
Location: North York, Ontario, Canada
PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 9:03 am Reply with quote
For whatever it's worth, Satoshi Kon has said in the past he doesn't want his works dubbed into other languages.
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TheTheory



Joined: 23 Mar 2008
Posts: 1029
Location: Central PA
PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 9:29 am Reply with quote
ZZalapski wrote:
Even -- or is that especially? -- spoiler[when Paprika turns into one big fever dream near the end of the movie.]

*cough* spoiler tag, please. like I just added there. I feel like I felt when people told me the end of various M. Night Shaymalan movies. Shafted.
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dangerwhat



Joined: 22 Jul 2007
Posts: 187
Location: Central Florida
PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 11:26 am Reply with quote
Haven't seen Paprika or Paranoia Agent yet, look forward to it though.
Good interview, thanks. I really don't think the US cover is THAT bad. Its not entirely unrepresentative - I've seen significantly worse covers. But yeah, it does look a little bad though, artistically, by comparison. Thats what you get for Dreamworks though, who have no business whatsoever releasing Anime >.<
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Veoryn87



Joined: 14 Nov 2006
Posts: 808
PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 1:01 pm Reply with quote
jsevakis wrote:
Honestly, I haven't yet seen a dub of a Satoshi Kon project that I found watchable (though Paranoia Agent was probably the least offensive to me).


That's interesting. I thought the dub of Paranoia Agent was top of the line myself. Haven't heard a dub for any of his other works though.
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Banken



Joined: 29 May 2007
Posts: 1280
PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 2:22 pm Reply with quote
I had to stop for a second and look up "subjective reality" in the Japanese dictionary because you never know when that word will come in handy...lol
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4566
PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 8:55 pm Reply with quote
Veoryn87 wrote:
jsevakis wrote:
Honestly, I haven't yet seen a dub of a Satoshi Kon project that I found watchable (though Paranoia Agent was probably the least offensive to me).


That's interesting. I thought the dub of Paranoia Agent was top of the line myself. Haven't heard a dub for any of his other works though.

I haven't heard Paprika's dub yet myself, but the dub of Paranoia Agent was about as good as dubs get, and that of Perfect Blue seemed at least passable to me.
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Fronzel



Joined: 11 Sep 2003
Posts: 1906
PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 9:27 pm Reply with quote
ShadowTrader wrote:
It seems that he is saying the animation industry, particularly the companies involved in serialized shows rather than movies, portray unrealistic heroines which become the stereotypical anime "girls" but do not represent reality thus alienating mainstream society. It could be just my misinterpretation, but I happen to agree with that completely. I strongly believe that the "moe" movement has degenerated the anime industry into a completely unrealistic, self gratifying, and idealistic feast that portrays women in a negative and stereotypical light.

In other, briefer, words, a gigantic circle jerk.

I didn’t like Paprika much. It had a very bland central message and Kon’s love of fluid, uncertain reality was just used to screw with the audience and look pretty.

I absolutely loved Millennium Actress for the opposite reason; the fluid, uncertain reality was merely a means to tell the story, not something hogging the spotlight itself, and that unusual method of telling the story enhanced it. The whole movie really was like traveling through someone’s memory in the way it jumped around and refused to get to the point.

While it went further than most, I thought Paranoia Agent re-tread some ground a bit (surely you've all heard "don't avoid reality!" from a bunch of different anime), but it gets lots of points for not having a whiff of adolescent fantasy or otaku-ness (same thing) about it.

Satoshi Kon wrote:
Rather than having an impression, it's quite uplifting.

Did...he confuse "impress" with "depress"?
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Dargonxtc



Joined: 13 Apr 2006
Posts: 4463
Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋
PostPosted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 11:45 pm Reply with quote
TheVok wrote:
For whatever it's worth, Satoshi Kon has said in the past he doesn't want his works dubbed into other languages.
When and where did he say this? And do you have a link?

Veoryn87 wrote:
jsevakis wrote:
Honestly, I haven't yet seen a dub of a Satoshi Kon project that I found watchable
That's interesting. I thought the dub of Paranoia Agent was top of the line myself. Haven't heard a dub for any of his other works though.
Out of all the staff, I rarely hear Justin ever give any praise to a dub. And even then only begrudgingly. That's not some sort of jab at Justin, or to even say he is wrong when talking about certain dubs, it's just very clear he is not a dub fan.
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Veoryn87



Joined: 14 Nov 2006
Posts: 808
PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 12:22 am Reply with quote
[quote="Dargonxtc"]
Quote:
Out of all the staff, I rarely hear Justin ever give any praise to a dub. And even then only begrudgingly. That's not some sort of jab at Justin, or to even say he is wrong when talking about certain dubs, it's just very clear he is not a dub fan.


I wouldn't say "rarely" myself. He seems to like quite a few dubs from what I've read on his Buried Treasure articles. He has a greater number of dubs he dislikes of course. I don't know. "Rarely" just didn't seem quite right to me. It's not like I've been frequenting ANN forever or anything.
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TheVok



Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 613
Location: North York, Ontario, Canada
PostPosted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 11:01 am Reply with quote
Dargonxtc wrote:
TheVok wrote:
For whatever it's worth, Satoshi Kon has said in the past he doesn't want his works dubbed into other languages.
When and where did he say this? And do you have a link?


To be more precise, he would prefer his works to remain undubbed into other languages. (Sorry.)

Sadly, the link now seems to be dead ... it's at the end of the following interview excerpt from way back.

***

JAPANIME: Your films are shown in North America uncensored and undubbed, with English subtitles, rather than somebody saying, “That was a good idea. Let’s make an American cartoon based on that.”

KON: Yes. In that regard things have gotten better (in Hollywood). When I watch (English language) movies I like to watch them with Japanese subtitles. That’s because even though I don’t understand English, the nuances in the actor’s voice can convey what’s going on. To watch a dubbed movie is in my opinion ruins the original movie. So I am extremely happy that my film has been screened in its original form with subtitles.

JAPANIME: ”Perfect Blue,” though, was dubbed into English. How did you feel about that?

KON: That was not my idea. And to tell you the truth, I have yet to see it so I don’t really have an opinion. I do have a copy of it but… I’m not too happy about it but just because it was dubbed does not make that version any less special to me than the original Japanese version. Regardless of which version was seen, just the fact that it was seen is important to me. All I look forward to is that my films are seen by as many people as possible whether it be in its original form or dubbed form.

JAPANIME: But your preference is that it remain undubbed.

KON Yes.

Source:(http://www.tkfd.or.jp/eng/division/public/supercool/sc01.shtml)
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 1:58 pm Reply with quote
TheVok wrote:
Dargonxtc wrote:
TheVok wrote:
For whatever it's worth, Satoshi Kon has said in the past he doesn't want his works dubbed into other languages.
When and where did he say this? And do you have a link?


To be more precise, he would prefer his works to remain undubbed into other languages. (Sorry.)

Sadly, the link now seems to be dead ... it's at the end of the following interview excerpt from way back.

***

JAPANIME: Your films are shown in North America uncensored and undubbed, with English subtitles, rather than somebody saying, “That was a good idea. Let’s make an American cartoon based on that.”

KON: Yes. In that regard things have gotten better (in Hollywood). When I watch (English language) movies I like to watch them with Japanese subtitles. That’s because even though I don’t understand English, the nuances in the actor’s voice can convey what’s going on. To watch a dubbed movie is in my opinion ruins the original movie. So I am extremely happy that my film has been screened in its original form with subtitles.

JAPANIME: ”Perfect Blue,” though, was dubbed into English. How did you feel about that?

KON: That was not my idea. And to tell you the truth, I have yet to see it so I don’t really have an opinion. I do have a copy of it but… I’m not too happy about it but just because it was dubbed does not make that version any less special to me than the original Japanese version. Regardless of which version was seen, just the fact that it was seen is important to me. All I look forward to is that my films are seen by as many people as possible whether it be in its original form or dubbed form.

JAPANIME: But your preference is that it remain undubbed.

KON Yes.

Source:(http://www.tkfd.or.jp/eng/division/public/supercool/sc01.shtml)
Well DUH! He's Japanese innhe? Rolling Eyes
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jsevakis
Former ANN Editor in Chief


Joined: 28 Jul 2003
Posts: 1684
Location: Los Angeles, CA
PostPosted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 3:54 pm Reply with quote
Dargonxtc wrote:
Out of all the staff, I rarely hear Justin ever give any praise to a dub. And even then only begrudgingly. That's not some sort of jab at Justin, or to even say he is wrong when talking about certain dubs, it's just very clear he is not a dub fan.


Then you clearly don't read much of my writing on the site.

animenewsnetwork.com/buried-treasure/2008-08-21/magic-user-club
animenewsnetwork.com/buried-treasure/2008-04-03/elf-princess-rane
animenewsnetwork.com/buried-treasure/2008-03-13/twilight-of-the-dark-master
animenewsnetwork.com/buried-treasure/2008-01-17 (Virtua Fighter)
animenewsnetwork.com/buried-treasure/2007-12-13 (Heroic Legend of Arslan)
animenewsnetwork.com/buried-treasure/2007-10-17 (Black Magic M-66)
animenewsnetwork.com/buried-treasure/2007-09-06 (Crusher Joe)
animenewsnetwork.com/buried-treasure/2007-08-16 (Gundam 0080)
animenewsnetwork.com/buried-treasure/2007-04-19 (Video Girl Ai)
animenewsnetwork.com/buried-treasure/2007-01-18 (Goshogun: The Time Étranger)
animenewsnetwork.com/buried-treasure/2006-12-21 (Night on the Galactic Railroad)

I will, however, always call out what I consider to be lazy, uninspired work that often passes unnoticed among fan circles, who are often lost in details like syllable emphasis on Japanese names, and how many jokes are rewritten.
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TheVok



Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 613
Location: North York, Ontario, Canada
PostPosted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 5:35 pm Reply with quote
Mohawk52 wrote:
Well DUH! He's Japanese innhe? Rolling Eyes


Uh ... so what?

As is often pointed out on this site, Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe likes the English dub of that series ... and he's Japanese, of course.
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 5:53 pm Reply with quote
TheVok wrote:
Mohawk52 wrote:
Well DUH! He's Japanese innhe? Rolling Eyes


Uh ... so what?

As is often pointed out on this site, Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe likes the English dub of that series ... and he's Japanese, of course.
Yeah, but when he's watching CB do you think he watches it in English then? Besides I don't think Mr Kon understands English. So why would he like his work in a language he doesn't understand?
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