Yes, definitely. Now I am a good 10-12 episodes (the Valentine Day one in season 1) in and I am loving it. Luckily they didn’t put it down after the first 2 or 3 episodes…
Just watched the first season of Hinterland (yes I realise it’s old. Ish).
It’s weird how a murder series makes me miss Aberystwyth
We’re watching Space Force. Neither of us ever watched the complete Office so cannot compare much. We have enjoyed this one quite a bit. Malkovich has to be one of my favorite actors of all time and we’re wondering if he even had to get into the role or if he’s just being himself…? We like how Steve Carell seems to be somewhere between competent and lucky I like the little speeches he gives nearly every episode. Yesterday, we saw the episode with the exo-suits.
Malkovich is a delight on that series. He does not need to play anybody, he is such a good cast. On every episode he has a gem…
I haven’t started a new series of anything in a while. Though, I have definitely rewatched Community about 1000 times since it came to Netflix. Delighted that a whole new group of people are going to - hopefully - discover that show.
Been watching a lot of movies - most recently I finally got around to seeing Spirited Away - I can’t believe it took me so long to see it, but I adored it. Also watched - and strongly recommend - I Am Not Your Negro and 13th . Probably going to take a look at Da 5 Bloods next.
@superjaz and I started watching Westworld on HBONow. We’re only three episodes in so far, but it’s really good.
Spirited Away is amazingly good. I watched in the cinema and I have to give it another go, specially when most of Miyazaki’s movies are on Netflix. Jewels like Princess Mononoke or My neighbour Totoro are some of my favourite movies of all times, they bring back very warm memories from the 90s
The thing I find curious about Princess Mononoke is that the English title is a very poor translation; it makes it seem as if “Mononoke” were her name. Denshi Jisho seems to be offline just now, so I can’t check the translation, but I think Mononoke Hime is two common nouns: angry-spirit princess. Of course, anime and manga titles are often very freely translated . . .
Yes, angry spirit is a fair translation, and her name is San.
I wouldn’t call the title a very poor translation though. It’s obvious why they didn’t go for “princess San” and “princess (insert angry spirit or similar here)” in either order also doesn’t work as well, IMO.
I don’t think that “Princess San” is any less evocative than “Princess Mononoke,” and it’s not misleading. But it seems to me that a closer to literal translation, for example as “Demon Princess” or “Specter Princess,” would be cooler than just having a title and a name (or apparent name).
Both sound like very different films to me. Much better to avoid association with horror films and keep the Japanese word (which in Japanese isn’t as loaded as demon or spectre). Also better to have the English word first for an English audience.
“San” would be commonly confused with the name suffix by English audiences, and evoke a very different film.
I’m not trying to argue down your preference, just trying to give my perspective as a translator.
That didn’t even occur to me as a possible reading. If it had been “Princess-san,” yes (though that reads strangely to me, with an English noun and a Japanese honorific); but seeing “San” capitalized and not hyphenated, I thought of it as obviously being a name.
My basic standard is that a “translation” that doesn’t give the reader an understanding of what the original sentence actually meant is bad. And in English, “King/Queen/Prince/Princess X” unavoidably reads as X being the name of the royal personage, which blocks any understanding that “mononoke” is a kind of spirit—and that seems important, at least thematically.
What about just “Spirit Princess”?? Or “Spirited Princess”??
Still, nothing as bad as the translations for English titles we used to have in Spanish… Rosemary’s Baby got translated as The Devil’s Seed… if that isn’t the biggest ever spoiler, I don’t know what is.
EDIT
The spoiler is so big that I forgot to blur it
Reminds me of Spirited Away, which demonstrates how something quite removed from the original can work well.
千と千尋の神隠し - Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi - is her two names in the film, which works because removing “hiro” from “Chihiro” leaves her with “Sen” (not Chi!) which is a number, 1000, nicely evoking her reduction to a kind of indentured worker, but all completely incomprehensible to an English audience. “Spirited away” is just a very smart translation of kamikakushi.
I have to agree that that full title looks to be untranslatable; if I understand what’s going on with it correctly, you need to be able to see the repeated kanji to get it, and you wouldn’t have that in romaji, let alone in any word for word English translation.
Well, you could have it as “Sen, and the spiriting away of Chihiro”. Wouldn’t convey the connection between Sen and Chihiro, or the idea of a reduction to a number, but I would have thought it comes closer to your personal definition of an acceptable translation of a title.
We’ve just started watching it because my brother in law and sister in law are obsessed. Its funny but I don’t (so far - only 4 episodes in) find it so good, I would rave about it like so many have.
I remember seeing a translation for Sixth Sense that was literally something like “He’s a ghost - surprise!” (spoiler if by some miracle you don’t know what the twist is in that film)
I can kind of see what you might mean at the point you’re in. There are definitely glimpses at what makes the show special in there - I’d say that Social Psychology is the strongest of the first 4, but I find it only continues to grow and change. It’s funny, looking at the episodes in season one it’s probably the most grounded season. I hope you stick with it, and beware Season 4
(Though on re-watching, it’s not good but its not … unwatchable)
I dove in to the mini-series When They See Us on Netflix yesterday.
Can’t recommend it enough, but it is a tough an infuriating watch.