#3

In the screening of Laputa yesterday, a thought came to me - theme songs. In most US films and animations, the theme song is thought of as separate from the film's content. It is usually a song by some artist, either fitting or abhorring in its usage. However, the theme songs of Japanese films is treated with much greater care. For live action films, it is rare that a song is written for that purpose, but nevertheless the song and lyrics fit with the story. And even greater for anime. The theme song, sometime multiple songs are written and recorded for the sake of anime. Therefore, the lyrics have an almost mirroring resonance with the story.

In watching the film yesterday, we skipped over the ending. Of course, it may be due to the fact that there are no subtitles for the song. However, we must not ignore the fact that the theme song is an integral part of the entire feature. This is especially true because Miyazaki's composer, Joe Hisaishi composed the song as well. The songs are included in the official soundtrack and should accordingly be treated with the same emphasis. In Laputa and many of Miyazaki's following work, the theme song summarizes or at times supplements the happenings on screen.

Finally, the translations for Laputa were very bad. One thing, what is up with there being subtitles for dialogue that doesn't exist and subtitles coming 6 seconds after the line is said? I took a Japanese-English translation course so I know that total accuracy is difficult. But getting the placement wrong is just ridiculous. That sort of "professionalism" makes me cringe.