h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

is anyone else as keenly interested in the work of the paticular studio once called the disney of japan though i think more accurately compared to aardman animations by sight and sound magazine as i am? and does anyone know if i can get any of the more obscure ones in the UK?

The *only* title presently available in the UK is Princess Mononoke.

Diasney (I think through Buena Vista) own the rights to all of Ghibli's output. The States has had Kiki's Delivery Service released on video (and *possibly* DVD), and Laputa: Castle in the Sky has been dubbed, and advertised, but never released.

Disney caught a huge cold with Mononoke in the States, and they appear to have put the brakes on further releases, though there are rumours that Spirited Away (which has broken Mononoke's Japanese box office record) will get a US release. Disney refused to release Mononke theatrically in Europe as they saw 'no discernable market for the product.' (Given the collapse of the UK anime market, I can't really blame them, but it is a shame.)

Sky showed both Totoro and Porco Rosso in thir early days, both with an excellent dubbed soundtracks, which were rumoured to originate from JAL. They were shown twice (I think) and never surfaced again.

So the short answer to your question is-don't hold your breath waiting for a release of any Ghibli material in this country.

I tell a lie-Castle of Cagliostro is available through the good folks at Manga Entertainment on DVD only. I presume this fell through the cracks of the Disney agreement as Mange already owned the rights before the Disney agreement was signed.

aho, i have the castle of cagliostro on VHS, found in Snoopers Paradise a local haven of second hand goods and antiques, one of the benefactors of which, i think, must be trickling in his anime collection as there is often something, i also have mononoko on video and a friend of mine recorded laputa from the television years ago so it must have been shown here once. i've also read of a 'butchered and kiddified' version of nausica being released in the eighties, but i don't know if it would be worth tracking it down. it seems so unjust that the most magical and successfull animation in japan should be denied the western world just because the more extreem stuff has turned out to be so commercial over here

It's not been the commercial success of Manga Entertainment that has been the block, to be honest. Rather the opposite.
The last time I saw a rep. from ME at a convention, he stated that a good seller for them was one that sold 2,000 copies over two years.

Disney aren't prepared to get involved in that sort of marginal market. There's not enough money in it for it to be worthwhile (bear in mind they have to pay for it to be passed by the BBFC, in each format-so they've payed twice for the dvd of Mononoke to be passed, once for the dub, once for the sub).

Also look at the string of companies that have gone bust/pulled out of the market - Crusader, Kiseki, EastWest, Pioneer (a HUGE company that simply decided they couldn't afford to *keep* trying to 'break' the market). Not veery encouraging if your Disney, to be honest.

If it's not a rude question, whereabouts do you live?

I've got the hacked version of Nausicaa. It's a credit to Miyazaki that even a hacked version (it's missing about a half hour of footage) is as good as it is.

The full length version was shown at the ICA about two years ago. Tickets were, needless to say, like golddust.

i live in a small village in sussex, the shop i spoke of is in Brighton which is near where i live and also the first earthy thing which i cam to love, my favourite place to be. i didn't mean any slight on the industy, its just i'm doing a media studies extended essay on the testing of Ghibli's comparrison with disney and i feel so frustrated by not being able to see any of the films i'm reading about, they all sound so good.

I can see that might be a problem.

Have you tried to see if there's an anime/manga club in Brighton? If there is, then people are usually more than willing to help out newbies with copies. I don't have the facilities to copy, so can't offer that service.

I didn't take it as a slight on the industry, btw. The industry is full of idiots and buffoons in any event. Nowe *that's* a slight.

Well, I can't give much help on UK availability because I live in the US and we can't see the films legally here either. Most people who are desperate break down and watch someones copy of the Hong Kong dub.

I do however know that recently Ghibli in Japan started releasing collections that include English subtitles. If you are able to get import DVD's in the UK, you should try to get that.

I also know that different movies were released in the rest of Europe. Spirited Away had a very good French showing. But I don't know if it is any easier to get French productions than US ones.

Anyway, If you want info on Studio Ghibli films the best English information source is Nausicaa net. Here is a link to a listing of the Films produced by studio Ghibli. Makes the mouth water doesn't it.

http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/films/

Well, France is an excellent source of soundtracks (dirt cheap, basically) anmd merchandise, but is damn all use for videos as they use a third systema part from PAL and NTSC, the dreaded SECANM which is only available in France and Russia.

The Japanese DVDs may or may not be available in the UK, I've not looked into it. But beware, if that is the route you decided to go down, then it is likely to be *very* expensive.

Heh, You lucky stiffs.

Looks like there is a region 2 release of Laputa coming out this year. It isn't available in the US yet, but you all should be able to watch it. Here is the link from Nausicaa net talking about it. It has an English dub, but we don't know how good it is yet.

If you buy it, tell me how it is.
http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/video/laputa/#j_dvd

ah, well truly i have seen that dvd, and make my mouth water it did, but aside from the cost of the dvd itself i would also have to buy a dvd player, and i REALLY do not have that much money. oooh, when about do you think Laputa will be coming out?

No clue.

The rumor is that when Spirited Away is released in the US by Disney that there will be other releases of Ghibli works following.

One rumor says that the works were actually being blocked by Ghibli because region 1 DVD's are so much cheaper than region 2 ones.

I don't know about this, but I do know that something is happening, and promises are being made, but promises have been broken before, so who knows?

-R

who knows indeed, don't trust disney at all.

Spirited Away will be released in the US on September 10th with a grand opening in LA with Hiyao Miyazaki there to comment.

Later in the month, it will be released in theatres. This from a press release and from the theatre where the showing is already sold out. I checked.

This means that an English version of Spirited Away has already been made. Keep your eyes open. My anime shop says that the books and stories about it are already on the way to stores.

Check http://www.apple.com/trailers/ for the "Spirited Away" trailer.

US seems good - just hope it gets picked up in the uk.

MC

Imagine Homer thinking about a donut. Now imagine 12 amazing Ghibli films in a boxed set. It's out there. I think you have to pay in dollars though. They are great films though. There were a whole load of them on at the Phoenix cinema in oxford last year. Great.

The 12 volume box set does indeed sound tempting, and paying dollars or indeed roubles wouldn't overly bother me.

Though this must either be a) Japanese or b) another set of pirated copies from HK. If b, then my small but firm ethical sense wouldn't let me buy it.