Updated 2024-08-18, skip to the bottom for more recent insights.
As mentioned in the title, this book is the basis for the purported final animated film directed by 宮崎駿「miyazaki hayao」due out later this year in 2023.
So, like many others who have been fans of 株式会社スタジオジブリ「kabushiki-gaisha sutajio jiburi」aka Studio Ghibli Inc. I thought: wonderful! Finally an opportunity to get a little bit ahead of the curve and read the novel before the film is released!
I wasn't disappointed, well, that isn't true.
I was very disappointed I couldn't seem to source a Japanese copy of 君たちはどう生きるか「kimi-tachi wa dō ikiru ka」which is the original title of this book by 吉野源三郎「yoshino genzaburō」and not for lack of scouring the interwebs, eBay and even San Francisco's Kinokuniya Book Store.
Which is to say: I need to redouble my efforts and source the text in its original language before I give it a fair review.
After all, reading a translation, is really reading the words of someone else entirely, who in this instance comes from another language and culture than Japan, entirely.
The "foreward" [sic] by "NEIL GAIMAN" is less than worthless to me, as I find his purported "treatment" of もののけ姫「mono no ke hime」(Princess of the Spirit, more widely known by its half-translated convicted sexual assaulter Weinstein produced abomination in English as "Princess Mononoke") to be a travesty. I had the good fortune to see that film, while it was still screening in Japan in my youth. I even went so far as to co-create a fan sub as an undergraduate at The University of California, Santa Cruz circa 1998 which was, at least from a translation perspective: far superior to the Miramax effort and I do not write that to toot my own horn. It was a collaborative effort, one of my Japanese history professors: Noriko Aso assisted immensely! The JACOsub script itself was timed for a LaserDisc release, which lamentably, I did not own at the time. I predominantly just stitched the requisite pieces together with my aged (Commodore declared bankruptcy in 1994) Amiga 1200 and a used Genlock I bought off eBay for $10 which only had RCA ins and outs and a couple of low grade monaural VHS decks. Admittedly, I did a bit of sed search and replace on the JACOsub script to reduce the fonts down to the constraint of four availed in the unregistered version of JACOsub (being a poor student after all) and I used the pause button during what would have been LaserDisc side flips, resulting in a bit of a jarring viewing experience, to say nothing of the JACOsub watermark (though I did meddle with the chromakey a bit to make it less visible than usual on the Genlocked overlay watermark image, not going so far as to crack the software outright). If I had more time and better finances and resources, doubtlessly I could have created a much better viewing experience with a LaserDisc copy of the film and a LaserDisc player with S-Video or RGBHV and stereo outputs and corollary Genlocks [though yes, LaserDisc is only composite video, but the comb-filters on higher end LaserDisc player models presumably used better internal components which would be reflected by at least separating out some of the video channel information and certainly vastly better than using a VHS source as I was constrained to at the time due to financial and resource challenges], an SVHS deck with a TBC and a flying erase head, stereo inputs and a registered version of JACOsub to retain all the fonts in the original fan sub script. Doubtlessly, some individuals or fan sub groups with better budgets were able to enjoy such things in that era prior to DVDs and Blu Ray and UHD/HD 4K Blu Ray technologies now available to home consumers. However, the fan sub I generated was screened freely, not for profit and at least a year before the commercial release made its way to theaters in the USA in 1999, as a dubious dub. In more recent years, even Neil Gaiman has disavowed his work on the Miramax version, blaming it on Weinstein, but give me a break: did Neil Gaiman get paid and credited? In my efforts, I had neither of those accolades and demurred to those who did the bulk of the work. For me: it was a labor of love and came at considerable cost. Sure the Genlock was only $10 and I doubt I paid even that much for the blank VHS cassette. However, UCSC tuition was not free (I am indebted deeply to my maternal grand mother Dorthea Sullivan [RIP] for help in that regard as my parents were of little assistance when it came to academia). Moreover, the Amiga 1200 (which I bought used for around $400 circa 1994 from someone off of comp.sys.amiga.marketplace after being forced to work for my dad as a janitor in no small part because my parents lied to me about buying me a computer when I went off to college, instead paying for my abusive older sister's wedding even though she was given a Mac SE/30 when she was in college as an undergraduate which with an MSRP of $4,369 in 1989 is worth $10,457.31 in 2023) and VHS decks also weren't exactly the sorts of things found on sidewalks at the time, one of them belonging to my now ex-wife, the other was from my now deceased maternal aunt Mardi Marans, formerly VP of Warner Bros. and later Paramount who gifted it to my family in the 1980s. Moreover then, as now: I find myself in debt and without a home of my own so much as a wretched shared existence with many who seem to wish me ill. Yet here with this book, again, we see Gaiman's name adorning an English translation of something tangentially related to Miyazaki, but WHY? We already know that both Disney and more recently GKIDS have tried to wipe the Miramax version of Neil Gaiman's tainted treatment of もののけ姫 from USA's audiences, so Neil Gaiman's name appearing on the cover of this translation, from my vantage: is a very bad omen indeed.
So, taking that with the block, not grain, of salt I just outlined: what can I say about this book?
At the moment, I cannot profess to have done a comparative translation. However, the translator's note at the end of the book, provided some cultural context with the author's impetus in a climate of pre-World War II Japan's increasing militarization, and that insight is helpful.
In general, this book, with that context, can be gleaned to be an effort by intellectuals to attempt to provide a text for Japanese youth, to hopefully inspire them to become free and independent thinkers rather than subjugated to the whims of those with money, power and social influence. Though much like George Orwell's Animal Farm (using animals as substitutes for humans in its political discourse) or 1984 (which had an original working title of 1948 and was commentary on events of that era) such nuanced subject matter critical of contemporaneous events and their political climate is shrouded from a perfunctory read. Which is to say, doubtlessly there are even more depths to be plumbed by going to the source material in its original language.
Given that the aforementioned treatment of もののけ姫「mono no ke hime」by Gaiman lost all of the subtleties that the Japanese spoken in that film was closer to Old English as found in Beowulf if I were to attempt to try to convey how divergent Gaiman's bowdlerization was, I have concerns that Bruno Navasky may have fallen prey to a similar fate all too common among Westerners? Particularly given that Gaiman is, yet again, in my eyes: an unwelcome collaborator, or perhaps more accurately on this English publication, a grifter in my eyes if I were being a bit less polite.
Not to disparage Bruno Navasky outright, from what I can glean, he is an academic and has had the good fortune to have spent more time in Japan than I can claim. After all, despite being a life long learner of Japanese language and culture (in pre school one of my friends was the daughter of a pilot for JAL, in second grade my now deceased friend Frank Allard was the son of a Japanese instructor at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey and he and his family continued my education with conversational Japanese and various customs and eventually I matriculated from UCSC with a B.A. in 言語研究「gengo kenkyū」[aka "Language Studies" focused on, you guessed it: Japanese.] Though that was not the end of my efforts with regards to the language and culture, in more recent years I was employed by a subsidiary of 株式会社小学館「kabushiki gaisha shōgakukan」at one of their retail locations in the New People building in San Francisco's 日本町「nihon machi」"Japan Town".) I have only been blessed to have visited Japan once, for a few weeks circa 1997/1998.
However, it should be noted that the original text itself, went through multiple editions. In particular it was revised and simplified in Japan after World War II, as an attempt to appeal to a wider audience. Which is to say: the real depths to be gleaned from this literary work imply at least going to the source material in its original language with two different versions at a minimum and as I have not found even one copy in 日本語「nihongo」(Japanese) here in California with which to begin comparative translations at the moment, I doubt I will be able to shed much additional insight into this text having only read a singular English translation to date.
Without getting into spoilers, if you are only an English reader: the book itself is a light read. It barely touches upon scientific and historical concepts and figures which are themselves, centuries old such as Copernicus and Napoleon. The print does so in a rather legibly large font with decent spacing. In other words, you should be able to read through this translation relatively quickly. Doubtlessly significantly more time and effort are going into animating this book into a film by Miyazaki and his collaborators and for me, I still look forward to seeing the results of that much more. I read significantly more daunting texts in the English language while I was still in elementary school. So, insomuch as this story is meant to appeal to youths, it seems as if that much is at least retained in this translation?
At its core the story is I suppose, a morality tale, but the set and setting and even ideas of morality may be lost to time to 21st century readers in the English language. Polyglots and scholars and those who care to read writings in their original language are thus advised to seek more deeply as I plan to do so myself.
Updated 2024-08-18:
So, "The Boy and the Heron" was released theatrically, in 2023 (late summer in Japan, late Fall/early Winter in the USA), as expected when I wrote this review originally (last edited previously on 2023-02-09 [February 9th, 2023], prior to the film's release, even in Japan).
Heck, it was the first movie from Studio Ghibli to get an IMAX release! Albeit, near as I could discern, just so-called "LIeMax" digital IMAX screenings, no 70mm 15 perforation IMAX film screenings that I could find in the USA at least. So, other than undergoing a title change, it turns out:
The movie, The Boy and the Heron has more or less NOTHING to do with this book!
Contrasted with say, 魔女の宅急便「majo no takkyūbin」(Witch's Home Delivery) aka Kiki's Delivery Service, which is relatively faithful to the book upon which it is based, or even Howl's Moving Castle relative to its source material.
The book, at least a much older edition of it, is depicted almost as a cameo, very briefly in the film. On screen for maybe 60 seconds at most. The character reading it, is not the protagonist "Copper" from the book, but the character Mahito Maki (who is not in the book at all, this isn't some weird cross over Neverending Story stuff) is the one reading the text. So, did Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli just pull a bait and switch on, well, EVERYONE?
I guess so!
Maybe we should have expected as much, given that in Japan, the ENTIRE promotion, was just a single poster. Not so much as a 15 second advertisement was made to promote the film in Japan, which in 2023 and societies besieged by too many ads, IMHO, was a breath of fresh air! Bucking the marketing madness! Leave it to Miyazaki to come out of retirement and steer Studio Ghibli in such a punk rock manner!
So, in retrospect, given that the book has more or less nothing to do with the movie released by Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki Hayao, that now makes my comments about Neil Gaiman writing the "foreward" for this English republication seem as if he was even more of a grifter!
Like, my dude, this book has almost nothing to do with the movie Miyazaki made.
And as previously implied Neil Gaiman had, almost nothing to do with もののけ姫 too way back when, maybe Neil Gaiman should be more worried about sexual assault allegations with a "Claire" that are making headlines (e.g. writeout.ink/@ljwrites/112986422116772050 ) more recently than trying to get your name out to more Miyazaki audiences?
Please, Neil, leave Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli alone!
Heck, within the last week I paid good money to see Coraline for its 15 year anniversary 4K 3D remastered theatrical re-release. Despite having seen it when it originally opened (maybe in IMAX? I am not totally sure, but I want to say I saw it at the Metreon in San Francisco on that screen way back when) and despite having purchased and gifted a BluRay to a friend's daughter in more recent years, I had forgotten that it's based on source material from Neil Gaiman! Egads. I think LAIKA and Henry Selick do OUTSTANDING stop motion animation work (one of my high school friends was obsessed with Slow Bob of the Lower Dimensions to the point where I bought and gifted him the recalled first LaserDisc print of The Nightmare Before which included those shorts, without permission apparently, so they were kind of fetching a premium for a while), which largely eclipses everything else, but sigh I just kind of don't want to have anything to do with or see or financially contribute to anything that Neil Gaiman has a hand in anymore, at all.
It was bad enough that I bought Sandman t-shirts when I was still a poor college student in Minnesota. Admittedly, I think I always liked Dave McKean's artwork, certainly I wasn't flipping through those for the stories and writing. McKean also did some Front Line Assembly album covers!
So yeah, wtfh did that "foreward" have to do with Miyazaki and the movie we got in The Boy and the Heron? Beats the ever living fuck out of me. For those reading this, I probably seem as if I am a crazy person, disjointed and writing across spacetime.
Who the heck writes a book review, then revises it, more than a year later?
Who the heck writes a book review, and spends more words on a movie and the "trying to ride the tailcoats" scammy "foreward" author?
I do, apparently.
Don't get me wrong, I have fun playing with spacetime, but more when I am indulging in my experiences a skratch deejay ideally.
In somewhat tangential news: I was able to finally source a copy of 君たちはどう生きるか "How do you live?" in 日本語「nihongo」(Japanese) though I have not read it in its entirety to do comparative analysis of this English translation which the earlier parts of this review mentioned as something that might be worthwhile.
I still think that might be worthwhile!
However, particularly having watched The Boy and the Heron, I am thinking that I would prefer to find a MUCH OLDER copy of the book than the Japanese version I did purchase prior to the film's release, such as the edition depicted in that film, presumably from an era before it was softened or dumbed down for more mass appeal as alluded to by the translator relative to some of the various editions.
So far, I have been unsuccessful in such searches (it was after all, difficult enough to find a publication of the text in Japanese in the first place), and doubtlessly that would require being in Japan or the skills and resources of a much more versatile book seller/mogul/finder sort than I currently have the financial means to pursue for a more specific earlier edition. So I will have to save that exercise for another time.
Oh yeah, according to Suzuki Toshio (Studio Ghilbi's producer) The Boy and the Heron, will not be Miyazaki Hayao's last film either! Apparently he is already working on something else! So, you can ignore that bit in my original part of the review which mentions "final" too I guess.
