Start with Nausicaa? Don't get me wrong, Nausicaa is one of my favorite Miyazaki films, but I'd probably start someone elsewhere; maybe Spirited Away. Besides, the cliche holds true for Nausicaa: the book(s) are way better.
Yeah, I've had the big bad burly edition on my want list for a few years now. However, I finally sprung for half of Toynbee so it'll have to wait. Spirited Away is a lovely film, but it's very Western. Miyazake made it a good decade into his arrangement with Disney and after the clusterfuck that was the Mononoke dub. This is the work of a guy who was already an acknowledged master, who had most any resource he needed, and who was playing on a world stage. Nausicaa, on the other hand, is alien. It was Miyazake's first broad, bold "I'ma make me a movie" tale. Nausicaa was rejected as a movie, done as a manga, then retooled as a movie - it's doubly refined. It was done cheap and it was done fast and it makes no attempt to embrace the thinking of Americans raised on Speed Racer. Nausicaa is Miyazaki's Snow White - it's the "gimme one shot" reach for the sky of the undisputed master of anime. Much like Watchmen utterly annihilates your expectations of graphic novels, Nausicaa grabs you by the lapels and shakes all the Sailor Moon and Pokemon the fuck and gone out of your head. The first time I saw it was '94, an anime club fan sub. No official English edition had been done and even that horrible, weird recut was hard to come by. Anime for me was, at the time, Vampire Hunter D, Robot Carnival, and occasional weird shit on Liquid Television. We'd trekked down to Santa Fe to see a midnight showing of Urutsukidoji (the film that convinced me once and for all that the Japanese really are different in some not-so-flattering ways) but passed up the chance to do the same thing with Totoro. So when I saw Nausicaa I suddenly got it. I suddenly understood why people bothered with Anime. It made sense. It was an art form that allowed you to do things you can't do otherwise. Spirited Away is nice, but what it says is "Miyazaki can out-Disney Disney."
I've only watched Spirited Away when it comes to anime, since it was recommended everywhere. I found it quite endearing, like watching a new Brothers Grimm fairytale. I can really see why you think it out-Disneys Disney. As Western as it is, I still felt like I didn't get parts of it. Watchmen, on the other hand, is amazing. I just finished chapter 2, can't wait to read further. Exceed my expectations already. Really like the foreshadowing with the clocks, and I noticed that clocks in the background are nearing midnight as well.
It's a great film. One of Miyazaki's best. But it's pretty conventional by Miyazaki standards. Take a deep draught of Ponyo and suddenly Spirited Away is like a long, beautiful episode of The Flintstones. Yeah, funny story about Spirited Away. So Disney bought up the rights to distribute any and all Ghibli films in the US and Europe, as I recall. Miyazake was so apprehensive based on past performance with Nausicaa that he shipped Michael Eisner a Katana and a card that said "No Cuts." So Disney brings in a bunch of A-list talent - Claire Danes, Billy Bob Thornton, Minnie Driver - to do the English language dub. Then, rather than throw it at the art houses, they open it wide… in eight theaters. They proceed to fumble about, opening it in another dozen every couple weeks, until it vanishes five weeks later having made a whopping two million dollars. Disney, in their infinite wisdom, decides that this is because American audiences don't get Anime. So they neglect to release any other Ghibli films, until Spirited Away becomes the highest-grossing film in Japanese history. So Disney grumbles, fumbles, and slashes their budget - no Claire Danes this time, we'll use nobodies and has-beens - Suzanne Plechette. Michael Chiklis (before the Shield). And let's dump it the same way we did Mononoke so we don't lose money. You could try and find that movie in theaters, but you'd have to hunt. Then it got nominated for an Oscar. "Okay," says Disney. "Maybe we'll put it in some art houses. Nerds love Oscars." So they put it on a 3-month run, petering down from 130 screens to six the night of the Oscars. Which it won. So now it's on 700 screens, Disney makes more in a week than they did the entire three months previously, and they're forced to recognize that maybe they just suck at distribution. In order to drive the point home, they re-release the entire Ghibli-back catalog with A-list talent… …direct to video. facepalm Pay close attention to Chapter 5. Pulling off what they did required obsessive attention to detail.I still felt like I didn't get parts of it.
I've only watched Spirited Away when it comes to anime, since it was recommended everywhere.
Watchmen, on the other hand, is amazing. I just finished chapter 2, can't wait to read further.
There is another version of Spirited Away with a different set of voice actors, famous ones at that?