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INTEREST: Today in History: Kiki's Delivery Service

Every review for Disney's dub VHS pointed out how much more laid-back, upbeat and storytelling Miyazaki's movie was compared to the corny melodrama in Disney films (like Pocahontas and Hunchback) that had set in after Lion King--One review said, "If Disney had made Kiki, Kiki would have had to rescue Tombo in the middle of a raging thunderstorm..."

And then I saw the JP trailer for the live-action Kiki...Where Kiki rescues Tombo in the middle of a raging thunderstorm.

It's one of the few cases as well where I can't decide if I prefer the original Japanese (with English subs) or the Disney dub. In particular, Phil Hartmann's performance as Jiji is inspired, and I feel the extra dialogue they gave to him really worked.

I think I've only seen the Streamline English dub version once and I don't remember it. .-.
Wish I could find it again....

Kiki's Delivery Service is also likely the highest-selling anime in N. America of all-time, with at least 1.2 million copies sold:

• Suzuki, the president of Studio Ghibli, says "We take it from (the cost of 350 million yen ) that they (Disney) are serious about this release." The interest in Ghibli films in the US is quite high. "Kiki's Delivery Service," which was released on September 1st in the US and Canada, has already sold 900,000 copies. It will surely sell more than 1.2 million copies before year end.
  

They coupled Ponyo with Princess Mononoke? Man, that's a harsh tonal shift, given Ponyo's complete and utter childish innocence followed by a movie where someone is possessed by black, slimy tentacles that makes his shootin' arm take people's arms or heads clean off.

Northlander wrote:

They coupled Ponyo with Princess Mononoke? Man, that's a harsh tonal shift, given Ponyo's complete and utter childish innocence followed by a movie where someone is possessed by black, slimy tentacles that makes his shootin' arm take people's arms or heads clean off.

Well, totoro was originally coupled with gotf: double-features need tonal contrast.

My bookshop hasn't been able to acquire a copy of the novel in english, so I'd say it's OOP at this point.

nargun wrote:

Northlander wrote: They coupled Ponyo with Princess Mononoke? Man, that's a harsh tonal shift, given Ponyo's complete and utter childish innocence followed by a movie where someone is possessed by black, slimy tentacles that makes his shootin' arm take people's arms or heads clean off. Well, totoro was originally coupled with gotf: double-features need tonal contrast. My bookshop hasn't been able to acquire a copy of the novel in english, so I'd say it's OOP at this point.

I don't believe the book was ever translated commercially to begin with, at least going by Amazon.com on the matter proves my point. Seems like you're not the only one asking for this at all, I'm sure plenty that had watched the film got curious to look for the book and went empty-handed if they didn't know Japanese at all. At this point you'd think someone would step up to that challenge.

Here's an article from "Japan Quarterly" published in 1978 if that helps. (if the link doesn't work, copy the entire text as there's an asterisk included).
http://api.ning.com/files/htALzRGjnNRDxrVvNQKAJr6oZKRRFS-opXW6B0dJWOuBfiUdGCboeXjEw8XW26x9yim2nE-B1ohbWVnAPPHC9uAgN5GJm*tO/GraveofFireflies.pdf

StudioToledo wrote:

nargun wrote: Northlander wrote: They coupled Ponyo with Princess Mononoke? Man, that's a harsh tonal shift, given Ponyo's complete and utter childish innocence followed by a movie where someone is possessed by black, slimy tentacles that makes his shootin' arm take people's arms or heads clean off. Well, totoro was originally coupled with gotf: double-features need tonal contrast. My bookshop hasn't been able to acquire a copy of the novel in english, so I'd say it's OOP at this point. I don't believe the book was ever translated commercially to begin with, at least going by Amazon.com on the matter proves my point. Seems like you're not the only one asking for this at all, I'm sure plenty that had watched the film got curious to look for the book and went empty-handed if they didn't know Japanese at all. At this point you'd think someone would step up to that challenge. Here's an article from "Japan Quarterly" published in 1978 if that helps. (if the link doesn't work, copy the entire text as there's an asterisk included). http://api.ning.com/files/htALzRGjnNRDxrVvNQKAJr6oZKRRFS-opXW6B0dJWOuBfiUdGCboeXjEw8XW26x9yim2nE-B1ohbWVnAPPHC9uAgN5GJm*tO/GraveofFireflies.pdf

Actually, I'm fairly certain it was translated to English by a Canadian publisher called Annick Press back in 2003, you can find used copies on Amazon, but they're pretty expensive and it's basically out of print now. I remember when the news first came out that it was going to be translated to English and I was super-excited --- but then I saw the cover, which left a bad taste in the mouth, so I never got around to buying it even though I promised myself I would eventually.

It would be nice if someone picked it up again for release, but the movie's pretty old by this point, so the chances seem kind of slim.