This entry should be split apart according to the show in question, as well as applied udner How To Write An Example:
Any of the Disney-Ghibli dubs are not word-for-word translations, but are often Woolseyisms, although still faithful to the original scripts in tone overall. Fans were divided, but Hayao Miyazaki and Ghibli applauded the changes made by Disney - Miyazaki believes that viewers should experience these movies in their native language of choice, and hates subtitles. A cynical view would be that endorsing the Disney version is in his economic best interest, but this has little credibility in light of Miyazaki legendarily warning the Princess Mononoke producers by sending them a katana with a two-word note attached: "No cuts". (He had been previously stung by the particularly-galling "Warriors of the Wind" Macekre of Nausicaa.)
In Princess Mononoke, one particularly memorable line was rewritten to tie right into some previous foreshadowing: "I told you...a wolf's head can still bite..."
American test audiences laughed at the first appearance of the Deer God until it was foreshadowed with an extra line of dialogue in the dub.
Kikis Delivery Service and Castle In The Sky contain similarly altered lines which tie into previous conversations. In the former, Kiki asks Ursula if she'll fly again instead of coming to see her again; in the latter, Sheeta refers back to the old miner, Uncle Pom's warning about her crystal in exchange for her talk about her crystal's heritage.
Pom Poko was a very difficult movie to release because of the male tanuki's gigantic scrotums dominating every scene. However, there were a lot of Pom Poko fans at Disney that wanted to find a way to release the movie. Their solution: change the references from "scrotums" into "pouches" on the logic that scrotum is (literally speaking) a kind of pouch. It allowed the English release to be greenlit, whereas a "more accurate" translation would have probably gone down in flames.
Of course all of these films (and others as well) would have some changes that caused controversy with fans. Jiji talks at the end of the Kiki dub whereas in the Japanese original he does not, intended to indicate that she has grown mature enough that she no longer needs to communicate with him. In Spirited Away, Chihiro gets an extra line of dialogue because test audiences were unsatisfied with the originally-silent ending. The Princess Mononoke dub was criticized for trying to remove or hide almost all references to Japanese animism to make it more palatable to Christian audiences, despite the fact that animism is a core element of the plot. Finally, Kikis Delivery Service and Castle In The Sky both have extra lines of dialogue and music (the former case being a change to soft piano music; the latter case being an immense extension and reorchestration of the score). Fans' and critics' reactions were particularly divided over the music changes; since then, Disney has not provided new pieces of music to Ghibli films.
In the case of Kiki and Jiji, that change actually made it more true to the original book. The original author actaully hated it that Miyazaki had Kiki outgrow talking to her cat familiar in the movie.
It's also important to note that Castle In The Sky was changed from "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" to just Castle In The Sky because "Laputa" resembles the phrase "La Puta" in Spanish, which translates to "The Whore". (A Take That! on the part of Jonathan Swift, from whose Gulliver's Travels the name comes; his Laputa was an extremely scathing satire of scientists and the British monarchy.) And more people in North America and Europe are likely to know Spanish than in Japan, so this was simply changed to keep potential problems out. (However, they do refer to the castle as "laputa" with no problems, as it's pronounced "Lap-you-ta"; and there is a part early on where "Laputa" is written on a part of the background. Possible they decided it was only for a couple seconds)
There are also a couple of (minor) terminology changes to certain parts of the films. For instance, the Deer God in Princess Mononoke is the "Spirit of the Forest", the Sea of Decay in Nausicaa is the "Toxic Jungle", and the Volucite crystal in Castle In The Sky is "aetherium". These were only altered in the dubs.
It doesn't hurt that translating the word kami as 'spirit' may actually be a case of better translation; kami matches the Western concept of 'god' about as well as an adult's size XL shirt would fit a 12-year-old girl. (Meanwhile, translating the Western idea of 'god' to kami would hit the opposite end of the scale: think 'Manfaye,' instead of 'Loli in Manfaye's T-shirt.')
In Spirited Away, Haku's explanation to Chihiro to hold her breath is not present in the Japanese original; this is such a common trope that Japanese viewers wouldn't need the explanation. The same goes for when Chihiro stepped on the vomited up slug. In the dub, Kamaji explains that it's bad luck and has her do a counter charm. But in Japan, it's a widely known kid's "charm" for when someone steps in dog poop, and no extra dialogue is given to explain the action.
Ironically, the Japanese voice actress for Chihiro didn't know that particular charm either.
If you believe Carl Macek, one of the infamous lines that most epitomizes the term "Macekre"—in Miyazaki's Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro, changing Goemon's "Once again I have cut a worthless object" to "Should've worn an asbestos suit" after he sliced the burning clothes off of Lupin—was intended as a Woolseyism. Macek felt the original line wouldn't make sense to viewers who lacked the context of Goemon's behavior in the rest of the Lupin series, and figured that if he couldn't make it comprehensible he could at least make it funny.
Unfortunately, this became Harsher in Hindsight after the links between asbestos and lung cancer were exposed...
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
This entry should be split apart according to the show in question, as well as applied udner How To Write An Example:
- Any of the Disney-Ghibli dubs are not word-for-word translations, but are often Woolseyisms, although still faithful to the original scripts in tone overall. Fans were divided, but Hayao Miyazaki and Ghibli applauded the changes made by Disney - Miyazaki believes that viewers should experience these movies in their native language of choice, and hates subtitles. A cynical view would be that endorsing the Disney version is in his economic best interest, but this has little credibility in light of Miyazaki legendarily warning the Princess Mononoke producers by sending them a katana with a two-word note attached: "No cuts". (He had been previously stung by the particularly-galling "Warriors of the Wind" Macekre of Nausicaa.)
- In Princess Mononoke, one particularly memorable line was rewritten to tie right into some previous foreshadowing: "I told you...a wolf's head can still bite..."
- American test audiences laughed at the first appearance of the Deer God until it was foreshadowed with an extra line of dialogue in the dub.
- Kikis Delivery Service and Castle In The Sky contain similarly altered lines which tie into previous conversations. In the former, Kiki asks Ursula if she'll fly again instead of coming to see her again; in the latter, Sheeta refers back to the old miner, Uncle Pom's warning about her crystal in exchange for her talk about her crystal's heritage.
- Pom Poko was a very difficult movie to release because of the male tanuki's gigantic scrotums dominating every scene. However, there were a lot of Pom Poko fans at Disney that wanted to find a way to release the movie. Their solution: change the references from "scrotums" into "pouches" on the logic that scrotum is (literally speaking) a kind of pouch. It allowed the English release to be greenlit, whereas a "more accurate" translation would have probably gone down in flames.
- Of course all of these films (and others as well) would have some changes that caused controversy with fans. Jiji talks at the end of the Kiki dub whereas in the Japanese original he does not, intended to indicate that she has grown mature enough that she no longer needs to communicate with him. In Spirited Away, Chihiro gets an extra line of dialogue because test audiences were unsatisfied with the originally-silent ending. The Princess Mononoke dub was criticized for trying to remove or hide almost all references to Japanese animism to make it more palatable to Christian audiences, despite the fact that animism is a core element of the plot. Finally, Kikis Delivery Service and Castle In The Sky both have extra lines of dialogue and music (the former case being a change to soft piano music; the latter case being an immense extension and reorchestration of the score). Fans' and critics' reactions were particularly divided over the music changes; since then, Disney has not provided new pieces of music to Ghibli films.
- In the case of Kiki and Jiji, that change actually made it more true to the original book. The original author actaully hated it that Miyazaki had Kiki outgrow talking to her cat familiar in the movie.
- It should be noted, however, that Miyazaki had no such problems with these changes: each was approved by him. In particular, both he and Joe Hisaishi are said to have been very pleased with the reworking of the Castle In The Sky rescore, and there are several reviews which have echoed in his agreement. (Ironically, in the recent 2010 editions of this film and Kiki, the altered soundtracks are reverted back to their original Japanese mixes, much to the consternation of fans who loved these two dubs as they were, never mind that purists objected to them in the first place.
- It's also important to note that Castle In The Sky was changed from "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" to just Castle In The Sky because "Laputa" resembles the phrase "La Puta" in Spanish, which translates to "The Whore". (A Take That! on the part of Jonathan Swift, from whose Gulliver's Travels the name comes; his Laputa was an extremely scathing satire of scientists and the British monarchy.) And more people in North America and Europe are likely to know Spanish than in Japan, so this was simply changed to keep potential problems out. (However, they do refer to the castle as "laputa" with no problems, as it's pronounced "Lap-you-ta"; and there is a part early on where "Laputa" is written on a part of the background. Possible they decided it was only for a couple seconds)
- There are also a couple of (minor) terminology changes to certain parts of the films. For instance, the Deer God in Princess Mononoke is the "Spirit of the Forest", the Sea of Decay in Nausicaa is the "Toxic Jungle", and the Volucite crystal in Castle In The Sky is "aetherium". These were only altered in the dubs.
- It doesn't hurt that translating the word kami as 'spirit' may actually be a case of better translation; kami matches the Western concept of 'god' about as well as an adult's size XL shirt would fit a 12-year-old girl. (Meanwhile, translating the Western idea of 'god' to kami would hit the opposite end of the scale: think 'Manfaye,' instead of 'Loli in Manfaye's T-shirt.')
- In Spirited Away, Haku's explanation to Chihiro to hold her breath is not present in the Japanese original; this is such a common trope that Japanese viewers wouldn't need the explanation. The same goes for when Chihiro stepped on the vomited up slug. In the dub, Kamaji explains that it's bad luck and has her do a counter charm. But in Japan, it's a widely known kid's "charm" for when someone steps in dog poop, and no extra dialogue is given to explain the action.
- Ironically, the Japanese voice actress for Chihiro didn't know that particular charm either.
- If you believe Carl Macek, one of the infamous lines that most epitomizes the term "Macekre"—in Miyazaki's Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro, changing Goemon's "Once again I have cut a worthless object" to "Should've worn an asbestos suit" after he sliced the burning clothes off of Lupin—was intended as a Woolseyism. Macek felt the original line wouldn't make sense to viewers who lacked the context of Goemon's behavior in the rest of the Lupin series, and figured that if he couldn't make it comprehensible he could at least make it funny.
- Unfortunately, this became Harsher in Hindsight after the links between asbestos and lung cancer were exposed...
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman