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Shelf Life - Shin Godzilla


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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5504
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 10:14 am Reply with quote
I wonder how people in Japan cope with watching Hollywood films dubbed into Japanese? Because live action dubs look weird.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 10:27 am Reply with quote
MarshalBanana wrote:
I wonder how people in Japan cope with watching Hollywood films dubbed into Japanese? Because live action dubs look weird.


Probably the same way we do: wait for subtitles. Honestly, live action films should remain in their original language for purposes of immersion. Japanese Godzilla movies should really be watched in Japanese as it's too awkward to hear English voices dubbed over them and the same applies for Japanese voices dubbed over English acting. It's just too distracting.
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whiskeyii



Joined: 29 May 2013
Posts: 2268
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 10:27 am Reply with quote
Gabriella's second link goes to a wiki page about Peter Singer. Is that intended? I couldn't find anything related to either Japan or Godzilla.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that even as someone with only bare-bones knowledge of how Japan handled the Fukushima incident, I still quite enjoyed it, and felt like this was a good point of entry for a total Godzilla newb. But I also have a thing for fast-talking political dramas like these. ^^;
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ultimatehaki



Joined: 27 Oct 2012
Posts: 1090
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 10:36 am Reply with quote
I saw Godzilla in theaters with my cousin and he didn't like it. I however enjoyed it immensely, it had political drama which I always found extremely entertaining for unknown reasons and it was centered around a giant monster. I was hooked from start to finish even though the ending was weird and confusing (the final shot of his tail(?))
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Themaster20000



Joined: 05 Aug 2014
Posts: 871
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 10:39 am Reply with quote
belvadeer wrote:
MarshalBanana wrote:
I wonder how people in Japan cope with watching Hollywood films dubbed into Japanese? Because live action dubs look weird.


Probably the same way we do: wait for subtitles. Honestly, live action films should remain in their original language for purposes of immersion. Japanese Godzilla movies should really be watched in Japanese as it's too awkward to hear English voices dubbed over them and the same applies for Japanese voices dubbed over English acting. It's just too distracting.


I agree that foreign films should be watched in their original language,though I believe the hilariously bad dubs of older Godzilla films and Gamera films add to the charm of them. Still gotta get around to this one, Don't care for Anno at all,but it looks way better than the last Japanese one in the godawful Final Wars.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4157
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 10:57 am Reply with quote
I really don't like Shin Godzilla as either a Godzilla film or a metaphor for inept response to natural disasters. I'll just keep it to these two points as I could spend days on all the topics at play here, from running statistics... "Ok, you're not going to fire missiles at the smallest Godzilla because two people will get killed? OK, how many have died already? 100? 2 sounds like reasonable loses to me..." Later, hundred of thousands die because they weren't willing to kill two people, how awkward... to its almost Swiftian lack of subtlety in its satire... wow, Anno really did that to the majority of Japan's government? Jonathan Swift just resorted to taking the piss, err, literally.

Quote:
The plot concerns a young official's attempt to mobilize an effective response to a rampaging Godzilla (the result of US nuclear testing this time) in the face of bureaucratic resistance.


What rampage? He walked slowly... in the scenes he was animated moving... I mean not when he moved by falling forward or the times he stood stuck in place for days, weeks? but those times he was strolling... which somehow only resulted in small number of casualties. A hundred seems too small but it was a really slow walk. Man, it's like he wasn't even trying. But by the time something could be done to it... and in fact the only time it was truly hurt, ended in destruction that far eclipsed Anno's own metaphor in that doing something was far worse than doing nothing. So what was his message then? "Forget today, prey for tomorrow"? And no, I didn't misspell it...

What did I like about this movie? The middle section with the said single attack and not the "let's throw spoiler[CGI public transportation at the problem!"] ending or the "Godzilla with the googly, googly eyes!" beginning. "He has those eyes because he's was previously adapted to seeing under water!" Convenient then he got those two legs first, huh? Could have just been a snakelike but then without the legs, they're be no notable tail... I guess? And the ending was just...

And I liked the use of previous music. Not the Anno stuff but the Akira Ifukube tracks from previous Godzilla films... in particular the "Terror of Godzilla" track from the still unreleased King Kong versus Godzilla... over fifty years later and that gem is still stuck in Japan. Yes, there is a version with new footage and an entirely different score but it's just not the same... I've seen that version. In fact, I've seen all of them and the closest one I put Shin Godzilla next to is Godzilla 1998.

"Godzilla in name only" territory.
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 11:00 am Reply with quote
I arrived expecting to see the usual monster movie, but found myself watching a witty political satire and enjoyed it immensely. In retrospect I can see why the film is viewed as an attack on the government's response to the events surrounding Fukushima, but at the time I wasn't really thinking about that. I saw it more broadly as a parody of Japanese politicians and bureaucrats and how attached they were to following lines of authority even if those in charge were ineffective.

I suspect I'll buy this release, or put it on my Xmas list.
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mgosdin



Joined: 17 Jul 2011
Posts: 1302
Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 11:04 am Reply with quote
Found this on the shelf in Books A Million on Saturday. Watched it thru in Japanese first then the Funimation Dub. To be honest Japanese w/ Subtitles is just better, the Dub is not bad & way better than many of the old Classic Godzilla dubs, the actors' native language has the import and emotion in it that a Dub is challenged to do.

As far as the politics are concerned, I firmly believe that politicians ( All of them, both sides of the Pacific & elsewhere for that matter. ) are better and at the same time worse than any film can portray.

Mark Gosdin
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15551
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 11:31 am Reply with quote
BTW, the movie did well in limited. It wasn't really meant to be a 'blockbuster' outside of Japan. It was always intended to make its money on home video here, so...
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Usagi-kun



Joined: 03 Jul 2013
Posts: 877
Location: Nashville, TN
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 12:17 pm Reply with quote
yuna49 wrote:


I suspect I'll buy this release, or put it on my Xmas list.


I will wait for X-mas as well. I was a huge fan of the campy English dub-originals when I was a kid, but after seeing the recent Hollywood take, I want to see Japan's response. Political drama is just an added bonus and not hard for me to enjoy. As much as I don't understand Anno's personality, he is a damn good director when it comes to corruption and how personal interests can twist into apocalyptic consequences, and the result when those in power try to shift the blame and responsibility onto the next generation. I cannot claim that I know honestly anything about Japanese politics, but I'm curious; this description has applicability for other world governments closer to home...

But X-mas sales are a commin'. I'm prepared this year.
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BodaciousSpacePirate
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Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3019
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 12:53 pm Reply with quote
Once I get through this round my dissertation edits, I'll probably photograph my shelves again and send them in, as I've dramatically revamped the way I display my Gunpla this past year.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 2:30 pm Reply with quote
mgosdin wrote:
Found this on the shelf in Books A Million on Saturday. Watched it thru in Japanese first then the Funimation Dub. To be honest Japanese w/ Subtitles is just better, the Dub is not bad & way better than many of the old Classic Godzilla dubs, the actors' native language has the import and emotion in it that a Dub is challenged to do.


I would think it's far too challenging for a live action movie to have a voiceover dub that's actually better than the original audio. I certainly wouldn't watch Les Parapluies de Cherbourg in anything other than its native French.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 2:59 pm Reply with quote
belvadeer wrote:
MarshalBanana wrote:
I wonder how people in Japan cope with watching Hollywood films dubbed into Japanese? Because live action dubs look weird.


Probably the same way we do: wait for subtitles. Honestly, live action films should remain in their original language for purposes of immersion. Japanese Godzilla movies should really be watched in Japanese as it's too awkward to hear English voices dubbed over them and the same applies for Japanese voices dubbed over English acting. It's just too distracting.


Sony, with the Heisei GZ films, made the mistake of dubbing straight English voices, although hiring Asian-sounding actors--
But in the old UPA days of dubbing the 60's Toho films, dubbing foreign films was still a new industry (dubbing monsters was pretty much handed to the same people who dubbed Italian Hercules), and the voice actors had to be more versatile.

In an interview on one of the 60's-Toho disks, one veteran actor said that since they had to pause to keep up with mouth movements, that "staccato" rhythm managed to suggest a Japanese accent, without doing an actual stock accent or suggesting that people in Tokyo spoke perfect English--
And proceeded to demonstrate the 60's style of "You mean....Godzilla? But...that's impossible!"
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 4:47 pm Reply with quote
Well, to be fair, Parapluies is essentially an opera. I wouldn't want to hear it dubbed into English either.
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Brand



Joined: 30 Jan 2006
Posts: 1029
PostPosted: Mon Oct 09, 2017 5:16 pm Reply with quote
I went to see it with a friend when it was in theaters. I rather enjoyed it. He was rather bored. But it turns out the only other Godzilla movie he had see was the most recent U.S. one. He made the comment that there was a lot of talking in this movie and I was like "Have you seen another Japanese Godzilla movie?" The answer was no. I did almost crack up when the Eva music started playing though. I was totally like "ANNO" and wanting to shake my fist. I actually thought the movie was an interesting call back to the original without being a complete remake.
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