Forum - View topicBuried Treasure - Only Yesterday
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nicomorr
 Posts: 127 Location: London, UK. |
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Amazon US converts automatically when I order from the US while in the UK - just set up an Amazon UK account using your US login details & I would expect the same to happen in reverse. Since our pound sterling has tanked recently you should get a good deal .... moan. I've got two Studio Ghibli Japanese Edition sets ... one is the vast 19 disk version (still in its shrink-wrappers) but the other (which I watch) is a 6 disk 12 movie version that opens out into three sections and is kept closed by a transparent plastic slide-on wrapper. All in Japanese/Eng subbed. Anyone know of this? I looked through my CD Japan & Yes-Asia order listings but cannot find it .... I was going to recommend it to this thread. Nico M Wandsworth, London, UK edit: http://joesmoviecorner.blogspot.com/2007/06/ghiblog-hq.html has a terrific set of links to various Ghibli postings/essays/trailers, including much on Takahata Isao & his work. ..... |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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To this day "Only Yesterday" is still the only sub that brought tears to my eye's, and made me a blubbering mess of happiness. A blue diamond of anime.
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nicomorr
Posts: 127 Location: London, UK. |
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Seconded old son - just ordered a copy from Amazon UK for my son & his partner; they've been watching Miyazaki films with my grandchildren (I buy the kids books of the films - they read them together with their parents - then only do I buy them the film - they love this). Thought it was time they experienced a 'grownup' Ghibli film; I thought 'Fireflies' was too grownup and the other Takahata movies too enmeshed in Japanese literature or myth for first-time easy watching. Nico M Poorer 
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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I here you. Only Yesterday has the most realistic voice performances I've ever heard in an Anime. The characters sound like real people do, instead of being just actors reading a script. I suppose given the time and money that Studio Ghibli had, they could get the voices done first and animate later (the opposite of what almost every other Anime has to deal with). This method gives an incredibly natural feel to the voices, and we even get the verbal "tics" that people actually have. Brilliant. Oh, and why was there a German dub but not an English dub? Seems kind of weird. Still, I shouldn't complain; the sub is beyond reproach. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15306 |
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kallisti: Actually, I did see Only Yesterday. And frankly, if kids can enjoy other coming-of-age anime like Whisper of the Heart and Kiki's Delivery Service, I think Only Yesterday is probably more thematically appealing to them than Pom Poko.
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Mohawk52
Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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nicomorr
Posts: 127 Location: London, UK. |
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Is there any evidence for this? In my opinion the professionalism of Japanese Seiyū is what makes many anime - the western animation voice system makes it difficult to have realistic voicing. So I totally disagree with 'what almost every other Anime has to deal with'. Of course that is only my opinion, but I would be grateful to know where you found the above, or if it is only a guess. Tks, Nico M |
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Lainofthenet
 Posts: 44 Location: Canada |
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One of my all time favorites. I found it to be a gentle thing to watch. Thanks for the info on how to obtain a copy.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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What do you mean about evidence? It's relatively common knowledge that animators work on episodes weeks in advance, because it is just so time-consuming. The Seiyuu are often forced to wait until the day before the broadcast before doing the voices, as that's when the animation is done. And they must wait for the animation as otherwise their performances won't necessarily match the lip flaps. Code Geass: R2, episode 22, had some key scenes where the dialogue was completely out of synch with the flaps, which is just shoddy. That's one example, I'm sure there are more. Anyway, while there are outstanding Seiyuu out there, and though the sub is on average better than the dub, there are limits to what even good Seiyuu can do. The pay sucks, and most have to either have a proper "day job", or branch out into singing. The fact that the performances are so good is fairly amazing, all considered. Then there are the expensive recording studios; studio space is at a premium, so the price is high. Which means sometimes the entire cast are thrown into a single cramped room, and everyone must do all their lines for the episode in the space of a few hours. A typical Anime episode has roughly three hundred lines of dialogue, and it is impossible for the director to help everyone with every one of their lines. Most importantly, because the Seiyuu are under so much time pressure, they don't have much time to prepare their lines. It's not just the animation that can hold everyone up, but the script, which in turn holds up everything else up. If the script is late, everything is late, except perhaps the music. And with Seiyuu often being among the last to go, they receive a larger share of the pressure. Which means they have to hurry, and they cannot nail the exact performance they perhaps wanted. Yes, a well-oiled production doesn't face most of those problems, but even popular and/or relatively well-financed productions can face difficulties or restrictions. Money doesn't buy you time; only a clip show will do that. So where does Ghibli come into all of this? Well, for a start they have a big budget, experienced staff and years to make each movie. I don't know for a fact whether the Seiyuu for Only Yesterday gave their performances before or after the animators. But I DO know that having the Seiyuu go before the animators is the preferred order for any sensible director who has the luxury of time. Anyway, the cast in Only Yesterday have this amazing natural feel, as if they had had a thousand takes and chose the best one. As if the Seiyuu thought the microphones were off and started chatting and joking around. Studio Ghibli has all that time and money, and if those resources were offered to many Seiyuu, I believe they too could sound that good. What I'm trying to say is I don't think the Seiyuu in Only Yesterday were that much better than any other, but instead they were not bound by the pressures of television. Wow, that was longer than I thought it would be . . . . . . Last edited by dtm42 on Sun May 24, 2009 5:55 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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rekishi
Posts: 78 |
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just throwing this out there... haven't read the whole thread so apologies if it's been said already;
you can get this in Australia from Madman, they released it some time ago. subtitles only of course (though it would have been nice if they dubbed it with australian voice actors... it wont ever happen... they're too cheap)... i don't know how hard it is to get a multi region DVD player in other countires though... most Aussie players are region free right out of the box... even my Sony 5 disc player is region free... |
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KrisEllieOphi
 Posts: 111 Location: Texas |
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They aired this on TCM several years ago, during a Ghibli highlight evening. I completely fell in love with it and it's easily one of my favorites from the studio. I didn't know it had no release here, but I hope they get around to it at some point.
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Swissman
Posts: 768 Location: Switzerland |
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The scenes in 1982 were lip-synchronized animation, in other words the animation came after the voice performances. AFAIK it's the only Ghibli movie to use this technique. In the making of there's a scene with Miki Imai (grown up Taeko) and Toshiro Yanagiba (Toshio) sitting at a table facing each other and performing their part by reading the script. I think the key reason as for why the voices feel so real and fresh in this movie is that Ghibli often choses movie and theater actors instead of well known anime voice actors, or in this case a former idol like Miki Imai for the grown up Taeko and an actor & singer for Toshio. Anime and radio voice actors often produce, for a lack of a better word, a kind of "artificial" performance. Their performance is often very good and very expressive, but that's not the way japanese usually speak or intone their speach. Not every anime director likes to use anime voice actors. Anno Hideaki for example grew weary for a short of seiyû voices after finishing The End of Evangelion. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23769 |
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What a great review. I wish I had a copy in my hands right this second so I could watch it. Geez, the review alone had me kind of emotional, I can only imagine what the film itself would do. I think it's pretty brave to be so openly personal about painful stuff as part of review. Well done.
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taeko-san
 Posts: 12 Location: Göteborg, Sweden |
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Many thanks for giving such an insightful review. "Omohide poro poro" has so many lovely moments that simply make time stand still (featuring "cloudy day..."; sitting in the car; churning cream...), exquisitely directed and animated. Moodysson's "Show Me Love" and Scorsese's "the Last Temptation of Christ" are the only two films that come close to this intensity and sincerity, in my book. Many thanks as well, Justin, for daring to make it such a personal review. This happens to be my favourite film, in any shape or form. Wonder what this makes me...
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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I bought the soundtrack of this film (import Japanese copy of course) specifically because of the ending theme being a remake of Bette Midler's song, which I thought was so cool.
OY also happens to be the first Ghibli film I ever watched. It was screened in a video room at the very first anime con I attended: AnimEast 1994. Wonderful capturing of the tender nostalgia that this movie brings to me also, Justin. |
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