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grave of the fireflies 2009/3/24 11:55
I've been wanting to see "Grave of the Fireflies" for a while but I have a Japanese friend who says the English dub isn't very good. She says I should wait until I learn Japanese to watch it for the first time. Do you think I should wait a few more years or does it make a difference? She said the same thing of "Spirited Away" but I thought that movie was good in English. Have you seen both dubs? What do you think?
by youlooklikearabbit  

.. 2009/3/24 15:00
No movie is every perfectly translated nor 100% accurately translated because of cultural and language differences. Various changes are made sometimes to fit the target audience. Sometimes a 100% fully accurate translation of a foreign film to another language will make no sense at various parts because of the cultural differences/references.

Grave of the Fireflies is an excellent movie in English or Japanese. I prefer watching with English subtitles while keeping the original dub, but to each his own, the English dub is just fine and doesn't take away from the great movies.
by ExpressTrain rate this post as useful

Grave of the fireflies 2009/3/24 15:53
She says I should wait until I learn Japanese to watch it for the first time.
To really appreciate a film in its original language in all nuances you have to have reached advanced levels in that language; IMO you better of with the sub or dub and I believe that all US and UK DVD releases include the original sound track and English subtitles.
Furthermore, Grave of the fireflies is beautiful but it is the most depressing film I ever saw. I own it and I only watched it once as I cannot watch it again, just too heart-wrenching. As a result of the very intense images, I think the dialogue is of less importance for this film in particular.
by Hoshisato rate this post as useful

watch it again and again 2009/3/24 15:54
I'm quite a picky movie fan when it comes to translations, and still I see no reason to wait to see any kind of movie.

Why not see it now, and then see it again after a few years, and then again after another few years? See it on DVD, TV and theaters if you can. I'm sure you'll have different impressions about it as you learn the language and culture and as you yourself mature as a person.

That's what a good movie is all about. And everybody hates other versions of good movies, because their favorite version is always the best.
by Uco (guest) rate this post as useful

Subtitles? 2009/4/6 05:39
Why not just watch it in original language with subtitles?
by Phil (guest) rate this post as useful

Movies 2009/4/8 03:13
I have watched Grave of the Fireflies and Spirited Away. I thought they were both great movies, as are most Studio Ghilbi movies. I also like PomPoko and My Friend Totoro.

Dont wait to watch Grave of the Fireflies. It is a very moving and emotional movie, not really a kids film.
by cf (guest) rate this post as useful

question about language 2009/4/30 13:17
I have a question about the title. In Japanese, Hotaru no Haka, the title is 火垂るの墓. This probably has a complicated answer, but I'm asking anyway lol, why isn't the title 蛍の墓? Hotaru is 蛍 in kanji isn't it?
by . (guest) rate this post as useful

RE:question about language 2009/5/2 17:34
From a very quick internet search, I found the following answer.
http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail...

It seems that the author Akiyuki Nosaka first came up with the phrase 蛍の川 (river of the fireflies), but then realized that a similar title had been used for another author's novel.

But hoping to use the word "fireflie(s)" he looked up dictionaries and coincidentally found an ancient version of the kanji which was 火垂る. He thought that the version literally meaning "fires pouring" can suggest air raid. Then he instantly came up with the word "grave."

But this is just from an anonymous internet post which claims to be coming from a magazine article.
by Uco (guest) rate this post as useful

Dubs 2009/5/3 13:48
Studio Ghibli films are an exception to watching Japanese films with Dubs if need be. They are actually very good quality as are the English subs.
I think most people prefer to watch Japanese films with subs instead of dubs. Funny considering how bad many subs are =) Advanced understanding of Japanese is a godsend.
by Stacey (guest) rate this post as useful

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