‘The Boy and the Heron’: How GKIDS Pulled Off One of the Most Important Dubs in Anime History

[naveedchick]

We're taking you inside the story of how an American animation company laid it all on the line to make the English-language version of Hayao Miyazaki's "last" film a devastatingly beautiful must-see event: https://t.co/xZFh5KNDFh pic.twitter.com/7EhsNBGHRa
- IndieWire (@IndieWire) December 8, 2023

• The English language version came together rather

Comments

[fernandocolunga]

I haven’t seen it but super excited to! Hope it lives up to its hype

[moronicus_kyla]

Watching both versions. Omg I had no idea that Masaki Suda and Robert Pattinson are both playing the heron ajdjsnsnsh

[benihime99]

She was encouraged to make it American and was able to bring a more emotional/vulnerable twist to the recording.

Right ...

I've tried watching Chihiro dubbed once and it was so horrendous I've never seen any other Ghibli dubbed
I find dubbed anime often lack in depth and emotion.

Also I'm a kid of the 80 and I've been horrified by the level of censure that occured with certain anime

[su_metal]

They sound so mediocre to me, and I don't hate US dub, there are some supreme US dubbing, but Ghibli films aren't there. Probably Mononoke dubbed is the only one I like the most.

Chihiro, Howl, and Totoro are like nails on a chalkboard for me.

[moirasrose]

They would have been better if Disney didn’t cast “celebrities.” Kingdom Hearts came out around the same time they had the rights to distribute Ghibli’s films and has the same issue.

There are some celebs that can voice act/dub, but for a lot of them it often feels like an easy paycheck “where you work in your pajamas lol.”

[su_metal]

Agree 100%

[aristobrit]

Robert Pattinson is getting the most reaction on social media for his role as the Heron. From the article:

“When we introduced the film to him, he was, I would say, giddy with excitement. He was nothing but enthusiastic about the project, not only because of the film but also because of the prospect of doing this role in particular. We didn’t offer him a platter of roles - we offered him only the Heron, and he was very, very excited about being presented with a role as complicated and nuanced as this one.”

“In fact, Pattinson was so excited about the role that he showed up to his first recording session in Los Angeles ready to prove that he was the right person to do it. Voice director Michael Sinterniklaas initially had his doubts... but “When he came to our studio in L.A.,” Sinterniklaas said, “he was like ‘OK, I’ve been thinking about this role and I recorded some stuff. Do you want to hear it?’ And he whips out his iPhone and plays some stuff that he’s just been doing in the Memos app and it was already the voice. I was like, ‘Oh

[theharleyquinn]

tbh i admire that level of enthusiasm.

[hiimtish]

People wanna be snobs about dubs so much but as someone going blind they’re SO important and I’m so glad that they put so much care into this.

I’ve been saving this movie as a treat because it feels like forever since we’ve had a good Ghibli movie, just wanna savor it.

[sibylblack]

Yeah, I don't understand why people hate dubbing so much. My ex boyfriend who's British was always complaining about us Italians dubbing everything and he didn't even want to listen to me explaining that our voice actors are considered some of the best, to the point they sometimes actually improve the actor's performance

[invisiblegirlx]

I get the necessity of dubbing for some people but i prefer subs cause i like to hear the original language and the dubs i grew up with were truly terrible.

[kjesta]

I generally prefer subs, but I greatly value dubs for making foreign media more accessible to people who may not be able to make use of them for all sorts of reasons. My father's English is great but since his stroke he's struggling to read quickly enough and finds it very tiring to watch subs, my brother has a disability and can't read that quickly either. And as you mention, if you physically can't read the text, dubs are a godsend too.