Grave of the Fireflies (2012)

[deepbreathsanddeath]

So pumped for From up on Poppy Hill to be released on blu-ray. I went to an anime film festival and saw it there along with Wolf Children and Children Who Chase Lost Voices From Deep Below.

All I can say is that Goro Miyazaki definitely redeemed himself with From up on Poppy Hill, or at least almost has. Ruining Studio Ghibli's hit streak with the piece of crap that is Tales from Earthsea (I don't even mentally count it as a Ghibli film nor do I intend to add it to my collection).

Considering he has one atrocious film and one wonderful film now under his belt, I'd like to see at least 2 more good films from him before I believe he's a competent director. There's plenty of mediocre directors out there that have made at least one fantastic film but it doesn't make them a good director. It means they had a fluke. I would really hate for this to be the case with Goro Miyazaki. I'm rooting for him now and hope to see what I presume are blossoming talents, grow. Please don't be a one hit wonder lol

From up on Poppy Hill accomplished something kind of special with me. It's a rather simple and small scale story that feels pretty intimate and I probably rate it somewhere in the middle of the ghibli works. Certainly not among the best but nowhere near the worst. Nonetheless for whatever reason, I find myself overly interested to revist it. The longer I have to wait the more frustrating it's getting for me.

I don't want to pay for the Japanese release due to the incredibly high prices and the lack of english subtitles on the special features and I'm interested in seeing the english dubs (or "dub", perhaps there will be a british and american dub like with Arrietty? Who knows.) so I'm going to continue to wait.

I actually quite like most of the english language ghibli dubs but the japanese voice cast for From up on Poppy Hill did a bloody brilliant job and I think that will probably be my audio of choice even after checking out the english language dub(s).

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by chronoclast

They do home media. They're going to be releasing From Up On Poppy Hill on DVD and Blu-ray after it's theatrical release in March.

Awesome

[MJW]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

From up on Poppy Hill accomplished something kind of special with me. It's a rather simple and small scale story that feels pretty intimate and I probably rate it somewhere in the middle of the ghibli works. Certainly not among the best but nowhere near the worst. Nonetheless for whatever reason, I find myself overly interested to revist it. The longer I have to wait the more frustrating it's getting for me.

Would you say that From Up on Poppy Hill is in the same vein as Whisper of the Heart (if you've seen it)? That's what I'm hoping as Whisper of the Heart is one of my favorite films from the Studio.

I haven't seen Poppy Hill yet and most likely won't until GKIDS releases in theatrically in North America next year. Here's hoping that if it only has a limited run, I can find a theater near me that's showing it.

[deepbreathsanddeath]

Originally Posted by MJW

Would you say that From Up on Poppy Hill is in the same vein as Whisper of the Heart (if you've seen it)? That's what I'm hoping as Whisper of the Heart is one of my favorite films from the Studio.

I haven't seen Poppy Hill yet and most likely won't until GKIDS releases in theatrically in North America next year. Here's hoping that if it only has a limited run, I can find a theater near me that's showing it.

I have seen it I won't get your hopes up incase you don't like it but the style and feeling of it is definitely in the same vein as Whisper of the Heart. I think most ghibli fans agree that From Up on Poppy Hill isn't quite as good as Whisper of the Heart and I wouldn't bother to argue against that. Whisper of the Heart is pretty marvelous.

Like I said, From Up on Poppy Hill fits somewhere comfortably in the middle of the Ghibli cannon in terms of quality but I think my already somewhat high opinion of it will certainly increase in time the more I actually get to watch it. I've only seen it once and I've been absolutely dying to see it again ever since. I adored the soundtrack to it. It's pretty different from the usual ghibli stuff, it has a pretty distinct french flare to it.

When they do an english dub, heres to hoping they do another british one aswel as an American one. I know theres probably not a high chance of this happening but I really loved the UK dub for Arrietty. I couldn't stand the US dub for it and had to turn it off after about 40 minutes. I would be perfectly happy with just the Japanese audio and no english dub at all though since they did such a great job.

From Up on Poppy Hill is also really funny at times. My brother who had only seen 2 or 3 anime movies ever before joining me at the anime film festival had a really good time watching it.

The movies we saw were From Up on Poppy Hill, Wolf Children (from the director of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time & Summer Wars) and Children Who Chase Lost Voices.
We both ended up ranking the three movies in the same order at the end. Wolf Children was the most enjoyable experience, From Up on Poppy Hill came in at a close second and Children Who Chase Lost Voices just wasn't that great of an experience... Neither of us hated the movie, we both hated the Japanese voice work. It was truly atrocious, irritating and distracting. We were both unable to connect or care much about the characters because of it which was what the main problem with the movie was.

Some people are such purists and hate on any english dub of an anime regardless of whether or not it's good. I'm not one of them. Just because it's the original voice cast, does not mean they did a good job and in my opinion the japanese voice cast for Children Who Case Lost Voices were awful and ruined the experience for me which is unfortunate because I was really looking forward to it. Still, it was visually stunning and I'm hoping the english dub is going to be better. I'm definitely keen to give it another go but even though From Up on Poppy Hill came in at the middle, it's the one I've been the most interested in revisiting again

[MJW]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

I have seen it I won't get your hopes up incase you don't like it but the style and feeling of it is definitely in the same vein as Whisper of the Heart. I think most ghibli fans agree that From Up on Poppy Hill isn't quite as good as Whisper of the Heart and I wouldn't bother to argue against that. Whisper of the Heart is pretty marvelous.

Thanks for the comparison, Whisper of the Heart is actually one of my favorite, if not my absolute favorite, Studio Ghibli film. It's such a shame that Yoshifumi Kondō died at a young age. I would have really liked to see what kinds of films he would continue to make in his lifetime.

Speaking of Children Who Chase Lost Voices, Sentai Filmworks released the film on Blu-ray last week in North America with an English dub. I didn't find the Japanese dub as irritating as you did when I first saw the film a few months ago, but I watched the film again last weekend with the English dub and I thought it was pretty well done. Wolf Children is also on my list of films to check out when I have the chance.

Back to Grave of the Fireflies - I just finished watching the North American Blu-ray and the picture quality was excellent. I know there was some concern previously about the screenshots on DVDBeaver being slightly "brighter" than their Japanese counterparts, but I think the difference is so slight that it isn't a problem when viewing. Sure, I would have prefered an exact duplicate of the Japanese release, but at this point I'm just happy to have the film on Blu-ray here at all. It was one of those titles where the license floated around so much you wondered if it would ever get released again, let alone in HD.

[deepbreathsanddeath]

I have grave of fireflies and children who chase lost voices in the mail already from importcds I got Grave of Fireflies for about $11 and Children who Chase Lost Voices for $15. It looks good enough for me! The level of detail and clarity looks identical. Colours are just ever so slightly brighter which won't bother me. That seems to be the only "problem" people are talking about but at least it wasnt DNR'd to death or anything. Anyway, I can't wait to check out the English dub for Children Who Chase Lost Voices. I'm hoping it will help my initial impression of the movie.

Definitely make sure you check out Wolf Children. It was wonderful.

It really is such a shame that he passed away at such a young age, it would of been terrific to see what else he would go on to do

[MJW]

Originally Posted by deepbreathsanddeath

I have grave of fireflies and children who chase lost voices in the mail already from importcds

Haha, that's the same place I got both of mine, too! They really had great prices for these two; Children Who Chase Lost Voices is up to $32 on Amazon!

These were my first two Blu-rays from Sentai Filmworks and I am really impressed with them. Here's hoping they continue to bring more anime titles to different parts of the world.

[deepbreathsanddeath]

haha yeah! they had fantastic prices on them! Couldn't resist buying them at that price. I hope I recieve mine soon in the mail. Could still take a little while longer as I live in Australia but it will be great when I can watch Grave of Fireflies in HD and feel horrible horrible for a week afterwards

[Jasonic]

I'm curious to those who have watched both english dubbings and which one they prefer. I haven't watched the newer. Only the first English dub and remember the little girl's voice being extremely annoying and terrible. I want to know if the newer one is an improvement before I consider buying this.

[MJW]

Originally Posted by Jasonic

I'm curious to those who have watched both english dubbings and which one they prefer. I haven't watched the newer. Only the first English dub and remember the little girl's voice being extremely annoying and terrible. I want to know if the newer one is an improvement before I consider buying this.

I watched the film with the new English dub a few days ago and consider it a slight improvement over the previous one. Setsuko's voice is a little less shrill and cartoony in the new version, but I would have still preferred if they went the more "realistic" route by maybe casting a child. I guess they need an adult to voice the role due to the emotional complexity?

[IronWaffle]

Originally Posted by MJW

I watched the film with the new English dub a few days ago and consider it a slight improvement over the previous one. Setsuko's voice is a little less shrill and cartoony in the new version, but I would have still preferred if they went the more "realistic" route by maybe casting a child. I guess they need an adult to voice the role due to the emotional complexity?

My copy just arrived. I'm girding myself to watch it in the next few days. I'll watch in Japanese but will sample the dub. Been to long for me to compare and I no longer have the DVD but I'll share my observation on the new dub.

[MOONPHASE]

Originally Posted by MJW

I watched the film with the new English dub a few days ago and consider it a slight improvement over the previous one. Setsuko's voice is a little less shrill and cartoony in the new version, but I would have still preferred if they went the more "realistic" route by maybe casting a child. I guess they need an adult to voice the role due to the emotional complexity?

Sentai Filmworks reuses the same voice actors for every series they have since they're kind of limited. Though child voice actors in English dubs of Anime(or maybe even the original Japanese version) is very rare. So they usually just go with an adult voice actress who happens to have a young sounding voice.

[TheBluNaco]

Can someone pretty please post a clip of the new dub?

[Tsinitoboy]

My copy had just arrived earlier today. As expected, it is Region A locked. But I managed to play it on my Region B player by accessing the chapters and skipping to title 4/14!

[TheBluNaco]

Can you please post a video of the new dub?

[JMK]

Grave of the Fireflies Blu-ray Review

[Nielsb90]

I might have to pick this up eventually. Such a powerful movie! The price seems to be right..

[hazelwu]

Originally Posted by Tsinitoboy

My copy had just arrived earlier today. As expected, it is Region A locked. But I managed to play it on my Region B player by accessing the chapters and skipping to title 4/14!

Never seen people can do that, how often does it work for you on other Region A locked titles?

[MifuneFan]

I know that trick, or a similar one worked for me on a Region B title (Return of the Living Dead Region B steelbook). I hit the top menu button after the warning and I got the main menu

[Tsinitoboy]

Originally Posted by hazelwu

Never seen people can do that, how often does it work for you on other Region A locked titles?

It was the first time that I tried that trick. I haven't tried it on my Battle Royale (my friend borrowed it and haven't returned it yet).

At first I was frustrated that it was region locked, then out of curiosity I tried all of the buttons on the remote just to see what will happen.