Forum - View topicHoshi o Ou Kodomo US Premiere and Q&A
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FaytLein
 Posts: 1260 Location: Williamsburg, VA |
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Oh man, I really really dug this movie. I totally agree with the Ghibli-esque assesment, if you didn't know it was Shinkai, you could have been fooled for a little bit. My only problem was with Asuna during the whole adventure just didn't seem to have her heart in it at all. Sure Shun had some impact on her, but she didn't really seem to be in it for him at all. But it was still a great flick, and I really hope this gets a Blu Ray release in the near future.
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FireChick
 Subscriber Posts: 2498 Location: United States |
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...I was the one who asked the TV series question. Yeah. Stupid, I know.
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einhorn303
 Posts: 1180 |
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ANN didn't mention my favorite part of the Q&A: Shinkai name dropping Greg Egan as an influence, and saying that Egan's his favorite writer now. I'd heard he was more popular in Japan, amnd I hope so, because he's criminally under-appreciated in the Anglosphere.
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DavidShallcross
 Posts: 1008 |
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Egan criminally under-appreciated in the Anglosphere? Perhaps. He's been on the Hugo award ballot nine times, but only won once.
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Surrender Artist
 Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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It amuses me that the English title is so much longer than the Japanese one. Is this one of those cases of one language having words that cram a lot of meaning into a few particular syllables that another expresses with many more, or just some sort of very eccentric official English title? My paltry few scraps of Japanese certainly can't find all of that in Hshi o Ō Kodomo. Oh well, it's very poetic sounding in both.
It's good to read that the film seems to be some ways different from the director's prior films. I really hope for good things out of him and expanding his range seems essential to accomplishing that. His travels to the middle east and England go toward that promise as well. Incidentally, I curious: can anyone give an idea of how well he speaks English? This article indicates that he has at least some knowledge of the tongue, but not to what extent. How Makoto Shinkai acted here and in the director's panel makes him seem like a humble, sweet-natured fellow and it's really great that he's been willing to fly halfway across the world and make himself accessible to a foreign audience. I'm sure that Otakon has paid him pretty well for the appearance, but he seems to have gone past what he was compensated for. I've never really been keen on designating him as, "the next Miyazaki," in part because I don't want him to be bound, either creatively or in critical expectation, to another man's style, but also because Hayao Miyazaki seems, at least nowadays, a touch arrogant and slightly obnoxious.
I don't think that it was such a bad question. I know that I'd be very interested in seeing what would happen if somebody who might be thought of as something of an auteur were to try to work in a medium that those types seldom venture into. His answer as to why he would not makes sense and I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it, although I don't think it quite closes the door on the idea. The last time that somebody more or less like him tried television, we got Paranoia Agent. Last edited by Surrender Artist on Mon Aug 01, 2011 6:11 am; edited 1 time in total |
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2251 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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spoiler[ I think Asuna's "reluctance" stems from the fact that she didn't really have a goal. As Morisaki kept asking her "Why did you come here?" in the end her true answer was simply: "Because I was lonely". Actually, that makes it sort of a refreshing adventure movie, where the main character doesn't have a motivation like "save the world" ] |
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2251 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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The latter. Hoshi o ou kodomo translates literally to "Children who chase stars" Hoshi however I think is supposed to be metaphorical for "that sparkling thing so far away one cannot reach it", however, so in the english title it's made more specific. |
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ibmman
Posts: 20 |
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I wanted to ask about the differences in the English/Japanese titles, but asked about the importance of his use of light instead, as that was something I've been intrigued by for a long time (alas, it was the last question and wasn't included here).
The English/Japanese title difference is something of a trend with his works, with the exception of "5cm per second". With both Voices and Place Promised, the English titles seem to be far more explicit than the original titles in Japanese. In all of these cases, I think that the Japanese titles would be somewhat ambiguous at first even to native speakers- only after viewing the movies could an understanding of the titles be obtained in the context of the work. I don't think that Mr. Shinkai himself has had much control of the English titles- in the directors panel on Sunday, he seemed to say that he doesn't really know the English title for "Hoshi wo...", so it's quite likely that the English titles are the result of decisions in marketing or elsewhere in the production process. Relatedly- a translator assisted with the majority of the dialogue in the panels. I was able to attend the autograph session, and he was talking to pretty much everyone in English. I was happy to see the warm reception for the new movie and for his appearance this weekend. Even in "Hoshi wo ou kodomo" he had five production roles despite having a much larger staff than any of his previous projects. Such productivity while also maintaining creativity seems nearly miraculous, but it's something he seems to have down very well, while also being extremely detail oriented. Although I enjoy his take on sci-fi, this new movie was a huge step, and I hope that he continues to be able to express himself through these works. (He also indicated that he has interest in producing more sci-fi stories in the future. |
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einhorn303
Posts: 1180 |
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I was thinking he was especially unappreciated further out toward the main-stream. I've never seen an Egan book at a Brick & Mortar store ever. To be honest, I love SF, but I don't follow the Hugos at all. |
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omoikane
Posts: 494 |
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Actually, the "Children who Chase Lost Voices from Deep Below" is the subtitle to the film's title. 5cm and Kumo no Mukou both have English subtitles in their original Japanese billing: "A Chain of Short stories about Their Distance" and "The Place Promised in Our Early Days" respectively. IIRC someone did ask this question at ... some Otakon event, I forget which one. The answer was simply they haven't had the chance to come up with a better title. I think whoever licenses this for localization will get a chance to do that. And, yes, Shinkai named all 3 of this fims in this way. it's kind of like a post-rock track lol. |
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Nick Hobbs
 Posts: 9 Location: Maryland |
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He can't speak English very well, there was a translator there for him. (Though he knew enough to say he couldn't speak it very well). Otakon is lucky they got such an exciting premiere for the con, and Shinkai deserves a lot of credit for his work. Here is my review of the movie /shameless plugging. http://www.toonzone.net/news/articles/38319/otakon2011-children-who-chase-lost-voices-from-deep-below-review |
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Nishiio
 Posts: 2 |
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 I was so lucky to be able to see this movie and meet Shinkai at Otakon.
The movie itself was a little too Miyazaki-ish but I still enjoyed it. Shinkai was super modest and nice throughout his Q&A session and his English was also pretty impressive. You could probably carry on a normal conversation with him, haha. |
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