Disney Assists Anime Invasion, But I Forgive Them
03.29.06 By Collin DavidWhen you think of the word ‘cartoon’, what’s the first thing that you think of?
If you’ve grown up in North America, it’s likely that some kind of humorous and vapid children’s fare sprung to mind. Cartoons are relegated to the world of exaggerated characters and zany sound effects while much of the potential of animation goes unrealized in the mainstream US media. This isn’t the way that they have it in Japan though, where the artistry of cartoons is far more realized and popular among a wider range of ages. Epic 26-episode sequential adventures, with characters and struggles and consequences. The potential is staggering.
Of course, most of the stuff that’s invading our TVs from Asia on Saturday mornings and after school is specifically geared towards children, as well as mistranslated and re-cut to eliminate any subversive elements that might not mesh with the relatively uptight American ideas of censorship. Did you ever see the Pokemon episode where a certain male character wears enormous female breasts and an old guy threatens someone with a gun? The Cardcaptors scenes where everyone is in love with everyone else, regardless of gender? I didn’t think so, but they’re out there. Instead, we get endless hours of capturing monster after monster and making them fight for your own personal glory. Which is, might I add, highly illegal here in the states, kids.
So, Disney and Buena Vista Home Entertainment have been working hard to both eliminate the stigma that anime currently has found in the US, (mostly due to things like Pokemon and the incomprehensible ramblings of Yu-Gi-Oh), as well as emphasize the true artistry behind the process of animation. They’ve teamed up with Studio Ghibli, which is the Japanese equivalent of Disney in terms of quality and popularity, and have been slowly releasing epic anime DVDs into US culture. These new versions are clean and official transfers, and all of them have the original Japanese dialogue with subtitles, in addition to new vocal tracks which feature popular American actors and actresses.
For collectors of anime, this is good news. Only recently has anime been imported to the US with proper translations. In years past, we’ve been forced to find odd DVDs on poorly translated websites, have them shipped over from across the ocean and hope that the translations were slightly comprehensible. It’s no surprise that the more pornographic titles have been in the US for a far longer time than the truly narrative works. There’s an undeniable audience, and it’s an audience where an exact translation isn’t really the focal point.
Here’s part of that last paragraph translated there and back again through Babel Fish (the weapon of choice for some amateur fan subbers), to give you an idea of what we’ve suffered through :
“It passed with year, we find strange DVDs of the web sight which is translated imperfectly, have shipping those from the ocean, the fact that desire barely you can understand translation make.”
And that’s on a good day.
Even those who have no interest in anime have probably heard the name ‘Miyazaki’ somewhere, as he’s respected as a creator and director, even though he ‘only creates cartoons’. The Ghibli movie library is pretty large, including over 20 epic films, and Disney seems to be methodically releasing them in the US, even despite some suggestive and violent themes present in them. It’s clear that they appreciate the films in their pure form. You can still poke around in the dark corners of the internet and find completely unfamiliar titles, but this is where the real epic moviemaking happens. This month sees the release of ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’, which is based on a Diana Wynne Jones novel, ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ and ‘Whisper of the Heart’. Disney’s DVD releases of these films include behind-the-scenes voice acting footage, as well as various Japanese documentaries about the making of the films, so they’re an immense value in themselves just for the bonuses alone, which would never make it to the US otherwise.
With 11 DVDs in the Disney collection, there’s about 10 more that should be heading our way in the next few years, as well as at least one more epic in-production work based on the novels of Ursula LeGuin. Here’s some reviews of some of the older releases, also! You can leave the Monster Rancher for the brats - it’s time for the adults to have some fun with cartoons.
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Article Tags: anime, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Disney, Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli================
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