The Secret World of Arrietty

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takenoko
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The Secret World of Arrietty

Post by takenoko »

So I finished watching this movie tonight. I tend to like Ghibli's slow pace/slice of life movies, so this was pretty good.

I've heard criticism of the ending, and I agree. It doesn't make much sense. Sho and his aunt are both cool with the Borrowers. It doesn't make sense to move because "humans have seen you" when people are everywhere and many of them (like Haru) wouldn't be as cool as Sho and his aunt. Also, do they not see the city behind them as they're about to go down the river?

Where are they going exactly? They're Borrowers, so that suggests they're going where there's going to be humans anyway.

How did Sho's room get unlocked?

Something cool to note is that Sho is reading The Secret Garden. That's fitting. Another thing I like is that the mom's name is Homily, which means "2. A tedious moralizing lecture or admonition."

Didn't like some of the decisions made regarding the subtitles though. The English subtitles don't have subs for the songs. They are present in the English for deaf subtitles, but those subtitles are from the dub script.

Also the bonus music video (the Japanese one) wasn't subtitled. It would have been nice to have that and it probably wouldn't have been very hard to do. There's also another music video, but I think that was for the dub.

Something weird about the Blu-ray made it so pressing X to unpause would send you back to the start of the movie. This happened to me 3-4 times.

The translation was fine, but I definitely had a few nitpicks and there were some lines left out.

Translation nit picks:
Haru says Bocchan/Young Master 3-4 times before they start subtitling it. That would have helped establish earlier on that she's the maid.

They translate all the "anata" as "Pod" when "dear" would have been fine. It's just weird since she's not saying his name. We learn Pod's name long before it's actually said in the movie because of it.

When Arrietty is running with a handful of leaves and bugs appear, she says "Taisetsu da kara"
Sub - These aren't for you.
Literal translation - These are important.

Dub - Oh well, I guess this means your birthday comes early this year.
Translation - Awww, I was going to surprise you with them for your birthday.

Pod asks Arrietty if she's ready (during the first borrowing). Arrietty says "hai", but her response isn't subtitled.

Pod: It's time we start looking.
Mom: Eh?
Pod: It's time.
Literal translation of the last line - For a new home. (Hikkoshi Saki)
I'm not sure why the translator didn't use the original meaning. It answers Homily's question by providing context/explanation. The replacement line makes it seem like Pod ignores her question and is just continuing with his train of thought.

Also, missing subs:
-When Haru puts the mom in the jar, the mom goes "No, no, no! Help! Help" but it's not subbed.
-When she's in the closet, she goes "let me out! Let me out!"
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Re: The Secret World of Arrietty

Post by locuas »

for what i understand of the ending, they are going because they found more of their people and , maybe, the mother's family. So while sho and the aunt are okay with them, they have to go because it is the best for them.
Personally i would have preffered Arietty chosing to stay with the humans while her parents go live with the other borrowers, but that is more of my personal opinion

ALso, the latin american dub here was pretty good if you ask me.
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