I got to see Princess Mononoke the other night, for the first time in the original, subtitled Japanese. It was this weekends midnight show at the local art house theater. Incidentally, it was at that same theater, way back in the late 90s, where I saw the English overdubbed version. It was among my first exposures to Japanese animation, apart from cut, reassembled, and Americanized kids cartoons from the 80s, and the beauty, quality, and story really knocked my socks off. I eventually bought it on DVD, and have probably watched it half a dozen times, considering it one of my favorite films. Seeing it the other night, with subtitles, I was struck by the amount of incredible subtlety and distinctly Japanese cultural context in the language is simply missing from Neil Gaimans English translation of the script. I still think the English version is good, but in Japanese, its far superior. I wonder how much of that came from studio pressure to make it relatable to an American audience, thus dumbing down and sanitizing the language a bit? Anyway, if you like the film, and have never seen it in Japanese, do it if you can.
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 17:43:06 +0000
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