Ocean Waves (1993) - April 18, 2017

[Bandit Tajomaru]

Originally Posted by JTurner

The thing is that whatever minor deviations the dubs may have have to be approved by Ghibli in the first place. I don't agree with all the occasional changes, but as long as they were approved and not done with no involvement from Ghibli (like what was done with Nausicaa's first edit) then... well, I really don't see the issue here. If they're OK with the dubs, they're OK with the dubs. At least none of them veer into Warriors of the Wind territory.

I'm glad Ghibli started dubbing the movies themselves, because the last two films Disney dubbed Ponyo & Arrietty had bizarre music changes at the end of the film to promote their Disney channel star of the day.

[Zen_Amako]

Originally Posted by svenge

$70? The Taiwanese release (which does have English subs) was about half that price. Even the Japanese release only costs $57 shipped from Amazon Japan these days.

The Taiwanese release came out a while after the Japanese release. I regularly see the Japanese disc selling for $65+ at places like Yesasia. Even the Amazon Japan price is expensive compared to what you will be able to get the U.S. release for. Since I already own this movie on DVD, I didn't want to spend a lot of money on an upgrade.

[JTurner]

Originally Posted by Bandit Tajomaru

I'm glad Ghibli started dubbing the movies themselves, because the last two films Disney dubbed Ponyo & Arrietty had bizarre music changes at the end of the film to promote their Disney channel star of the day.

That's not necessarily why GKids took charge over the Disney dubs; the reason is because the likes of Poppy Hill, etc. wouldn't have appealed to them. That said, Disney did dub The Wind Rises just after Ponyo and Arrietty.

I'm not overly fond of the Ponyo ending song either or Cyrus's shrieky Ponyo, but the rest of the dub was fine IMO.

Those two added in songs were my least favorite additions to the dubs.

I personally thought that Castle in the Sky had an excellent new musical score for its dub. Unlike Ponyo and Arrietty, there's no pop music inserted in that dub just for the sake of promoting the DC stars; it was just Joe Hisaishi himself fulfilling a lifelong dream to have this music performed with a full orchestra. Opinions vary, of course, but I thought the new score legitimately improved over the (still beautiful) original and is a better fit for this movie. Yes, there are places where it would've been ideal not to have the new score, but the end result is still absolutely beautiful.

By contrast, I'm 50-50 about the musical alterations made to Kiki. I liked the Sydney Forest songs, but I'm neutral about the additional extra pieces of music Paul Chihara supplied. Most of it is simply soft piano music, but some of them seemed a bit much. I didn't mind, though; because the Disney dub VHS was the first version of Kiki I saw, and perhaps because of that I am partial to it.

I would gladly take the musical alterations done to Kiki and Laputa than the extra end credit songs of Ponyo and Arrietty any day though. (Particularly Laputa, because it still is, after all, Joe Hisaishi's work.)

[EricHG]

Nice that we finally have N American releases of all of the full length Ghibli films.

This never played theatres here, but I did like it in its low key way when I saw it YEARS back as a VHS fansub and need it for my collection.

That said--it got an MPAA rating of PG-13?!?! That seems crazy, unless I'm mis-remembering something.

[shinobipopcorn]

I'm gonna assume teenage drinking? There's no sexual assault or anything like that, no dreaded periods like Only Yesterday... Some boob jokes, but I didn't think those were insta-13s.

[EricHG]

Originally Posted by shinobipopcorn

I'm gonna assume teenage drinking? There's no sexual assault or anything like that, no dreaded periods like Only Yesterday... Some boob jokes, but I didn't think those were insta-13s.

Ah--must be! In Canada that would still prob get a PG, but I know the states can be tougher with stuff like that...

[EricHG]

Originally Posted by shinobipopcorn

Just found out about this getting a US license. I bought the Ghibli DVD release when I lived in Japan, and while it is a little less exciting than most of their stuff I did enjoy it. That could be because I worked in a middle school and got a lot of the cultural references and drama between the lead characters...

I'd say get it if you are a stickler for collecting, but maybe rent it if you're on the fence. It's a drama where the lead whines about how they cancelled his class trip, meets the outcast/different new girl, gets tricked into going with her back to Tokyo, etc... The music isn't as sweeping as the others (it's a little synthy), but it still looks good. I'm guessing GKids redid the English subs instead of swiping Ghibli's? I have to watch this one with them on, it's so dialogue heavy that my Japanese isn't good enough to follow along.

To be fair, it is based on a popular young adult novel (a live action TV version was later done as well, I think, as a sequel). So approach it at that level (and I don't mean Hunger Games YA of course).

It also was the first of several subsequent Ghibli attempts to "test" the younger staff members without Takahata and Miyazaki. And it was the only time *I believe* where they didn't promote someone from the studio to direct, but brought in Tomomi Mochizki who has done a ton of tv stuff but was probably chosen due to the success in the late 80s and early 90s of his adaptation of the teen drama themed tv adaptations of the manga series Kimagure Orange Road and Here is Greenwood--although he takes a more subdued, Ghibli style here. I don't think those series are on anyone's radars now, but when I was 12 or 13 at the time and getting into anime and especially Ghibli through fansubs (people felt there was zero chance Miyazaki would agree to more English versions of his films) they were pretty hot items.

[shinobipopcorn]

From what I recall it also went horribly over budget, since this was supposed to be a TV movie designed to groom new young staff as you said.

Ghibli was really counting on Yoshifumi Kondo to be Miyazaki's replacement, but his unfortunate death changed those plans.

[animefan77]

So the special features have episode 2 of ghibilies. Is there a Blu-Ray that has episode 1?

[shinobipopcorn]

I don't think so, it was a JP TV special. It might be on one of the non canon film dvds.

[Bandit Tajomaru]

Originally Posted by shinobipopcorn

I'm gonna assume teenage drinking? There's no sexual assault or anything like that, no dreaded periods like Only Yesterday... Some boob jokes, but I didn't think those were insta-13s.

I thought it was because of

[Show spoiler] the guy slapping the girl and the girl lying to her mother and sharing a hotel room with him in another state and the fact that she begs guys for money.

and also the drinking and the girl did say she was on her period.

[Bandit Tajomaru]

Originally Posted by animefan77

So the special features have episode 2 of ghibilies. Is there a Blu-Ray that has episode 1?

No, but Disney thought about dubbing the Ghibli episodes for a domestic Ghibli shorts dvd back when they were dubbing Totoro ,but nothing came out of it.

[shinobipopcorn]

Originally Posted by Bandit Tajomaru

I thought it was because of

[Show spoiler]the guy slapping the girl and the girl lying to her mother and sharing a hotel room with him in another state and the fact that she begs guys for money.

and also the drinking and the girl did say she was on her period.

If the MPAA rates a film PG-13 because a girl says she's on her period then they have really lost their minds.

(You know, we better not let members of the MPAA go in Japanese drug stores. They have actual product samples on display, it might horrify them.)

[EricHG]

Originally Posted by shinobipopcorn

From what I recall it also went horribly over budget, since this was supposed to be a TV movie designed to groom new young staff as you said.

Ghibli was really counting on Yoshifumi Kondo to be Miyazaki's replacement, but his unfortunate death changed those plans.

Yes, I remember the over-budget thing too... A Ghibli film going over-budget? *shock*

Speaking of shocking--it was such a shocking tragedy when Kondo passed away.

[EricHG]

Originally Posted by shinobipopcorn

If the MPAA rates a film PG-13 because a girl says she's on her period then they have really lost their minds.

(You know, we better not let members of the MPAA go in Japanese drug stores. They have actual product samples on display, it might horrify them.)

I was gonna say... Wow. Even with all of these examples, I still find the PG-13 rating shocking. I suppose it's no big deal--ratings mean so little anyway, and the film probably wouldn't interest anyone much younger than 13 (I think I was 13 when I saw it, first, actually...)

[Bandit Tajomaru]

Someone at Gkids posted on Amazon about why this film wasn't dubbed.

Dave Jesteadt says:
Hi there, this is Dave - I help run GKIDS. Thanks for your feedback, and I appreciate your disappointment that there is not a dubbed version of the film in existence. As someone who has produced many of the GKIDS dubs for our various releases, I can attest it's both a great honor to try to get as close to the creative intent and impact of the original, and a whole lot of work. Any time we dub a film, we always make sure the original language release appears both in theaters and on disc, because we know there's a strong preference for viewers on both sides. (As evidenced by this thread!)

Ultimately, the decision was made jointly with Studio Ghibli. Studio Ghibli creates their own dubs for all of their films. There are no "GKIDS dubs" or "Disney dubs" for their films, only Studio Ghibli dubs, and the time and care they take with each one is extraordinary. When we met with them to discuss rescuing and releasing this film in North America, we agreed that the time/energy/$ cost of a dub - what I believe was one of the things keeping this film out of the market for so long - should no longer be an impediment to giving fans the opportunity to see it, especially as they just restored the picture with a new 4K scan.

Although I agree it is disappointing that we will not see how Ocean Waves plays in an English dub, I hope you'll still decide to support the North American release of this great movie. We've received many emails, social media messages, etc. over the years asking us to help release the film, but for our manufacturing and home video partners that we rely on to help make this happen, sales are always the final word. We've taken over a year to ensure that the release has the best picture and sound, and full transfer of newly-subtitled bonus features from Ghibli's own Japanese release. It should be the definitive English-territory edition now.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R3C5EZ6UQ01BKN/ref=cm_cr_rev_detmd_pl?ie=UTF8&asin=B06WVBQMK5&cdF orum=Fx3MLTHSH5BW7Z3&cdMsgID=Mx2CKP1EP5OUELI&cdMsg No=14&cdPage=2&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=Tx2HNC41IC84 57X&store=movies-tv#Mx2CKP1EP5OUELI

[DasRetroKid]

4K scan if true, is great news.

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by Bandit Tajomaru

Someone at Gkids posted on Amazon about why this film wasn't dubbed.



https://www.amazon.com/review/R3C5EZ6UQ01BKN/ref=cm_cr_rev_detmd_pl?ie=UTF8&asin=B06WVBQMK5&cdF orum=Fx3MLTHSH5BW7Z3&cdMsgID=Mx2CKP1EP5OUELI&cdMsg No=14&cdPage=2&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=Tx2HNC41IC84 57X&store=movies-tv#Mx2CKP1EP5OUELI

That's interesting.
I always thought Disney did handle/produce the English dubs for the Ghibli films? Seems like every Disney release has a bonus feature that talks with the English cast. I just assumed it was Disney that did it.
The Disney Ghibli dubs are among the best IMO. Very well done.

[kevin87]

Originally Posted by Bandit Tajomaru

Someone at Gkids posted on Amazon about why this film wasn't dubbed.



https://www.amazon.com/review/R3C5EZ6UQ01BKN/ref=cm_cr_rev_detmd_pl?ie=UTF8&asin=B06WVBQMK5&cdF orum=Fx3MLTHSH5BW7Z3&cdMsgID=Mx2CKP1EP5OUELI&cdMsg No=14&cdPage=2&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=Tx2HNC41IC84 57X&store=movies-tv#Mx2CKP1EP5OUELI

That's nice and all, but I think if people wanted it they could have saw it in Japanese by now, wanting it in the US was probably to get a dub lol I prefer to watch movies without having to try and read what's being said and miss out on the subtle things happening in the movie itself.

[Shingster]

Originally Posted by DasRetroKid

4K scan if true, is great news.

Surely it's not news at all? They're talking about Ghibli's 4K scan (released across Asia) not their own.