OK, I think that I know the answer, but is "Earwig and the Witch" the same movie as "Aya and the Witch"??? I've seen the covers for each and the artwork appears to be identical...

YES? NO?

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Haha, yes it is the same thing. Earwig and the Witch is the title used in English-speaking countries and is the name of the original book too. I usually just call it Aya and the Witch (based on the Japanese title) because that's the name that was used when it was first announced.

Other countries seem to vary in whether they base their version on the Japanese or English title. You can see some here: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12441478/re..._=tt_ql_sm#akas

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Thank You...

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Found a new Ghibli version of "Earwig and the Witch" and was able to watch it at home today...

The credits showed Planning by Hayao Miyazaki; Produced by Toshio Suzuki and Directed by Goro Miyazaki...

I did enjoy it, a little different from other Ghibli's that I've watched, but still a pleasure to watch... I listened in Japanese and read the subtitles as I usually do...

It was short, only 82 minutes, but still good in my opinion...

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I'm glad to hear you got to see it! My hopes of catching it at the cinema with the original audio came to nothing, so I'm still waiting for a chance to watch it. Apparently it'll be out here on DVD and Blu-ray at the end of September, but I hope it'll appear on some kind of streaming service before that. How did you see it, husky?

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It was a Ghibli DVD-BlueRay release that I bought on E-Bay... It was a sealed case...

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Lucky you, I thought the DVD Blu-ray will be released by end of September?

It sounds like the US releases are already out, but other places are still waiting for it.

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Alright, I finally got to watch this! I found out it was on UK Netflix after all, and then I was about to watch it a few days ago, only to find out that for some strange reason, Netflix has English subtitles but NOT the original Japanese audio... so I got it on DVD instead as that was still pretty cheap.

Anyway, I enjoyed it! There were still some weaknesses - the CG sometimes feels a bit too unnatural, and even when it works it just doesn't have the expressive power of classic Ghibli animation, it maybe stayed a bit too close to the original book by finishing so abruptly - but really, I don't think there's much good reason for the backlash it's had. I almost feel like a lot of the negative responses are based on the trailer and not much more. I won't be remembering this as one of my favourites, but it was a lot of fun, especially the strange characters and old-school witch stuff.

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Glad that you enjoyed it...

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Also glad that you enjoyed it! But for me, I guess I just had such high hopes considering how meaningful the other Ghibli films have been for me, that this just fell so short.

There are of course things that are very ghibli in the character design and even the storytelling. But much of the "life" that the animation usually has wasn't there for me. But of course that's my opinion and I wish I could find more to like! I should however give it a second watch. I might do that this week actually and see how I feel about it now.

I do understand finding the animation distracting and not liking it as much as other Ghibli films. I'd agree that it's one of their weaker films, but even the weaker ones I've always enjoyed. Definitely do give it a second chance if you find some time.

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Buttapairotto:
I DO agree with arren, DO give it another try... Yes, IMO, Not one of his best, but I kinda feel that ANY Ghibli has its good points...

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I will do that then!

I honestly still have a few Ghibli movies that I have yet to see. I guess I don't want to save them or something lol. But I'll get to them, eventually, no rush

hahaha, 12-13 or so years ago, when a couple of my Granddaughters came to visit, they loved Grandpa, but almost as soon as they came in the front door, it was "Totoro, Grandpa, Totoro" and plop down on the floor in front of the TV... Didn't matter to them that they were watching in Japanese or English... lol

I figured that I'd try and get all of the Ghibli films and even some of the Miyazaki animations, like "Puss o' Boots", etc... So I've got and seen them all and when I can find one at a theater within a reasonable distance, I try to see it there on the big screen.

I've even gotten a tattoo of the Totoro eyes, nose and teeth smile on my firearm and a Kodama on the other and kids (haha) from 5 to 60 have seen them and we have a short chat, lol... Went to an ER one day and the Receptionist; Triage Nurse; Cardio Nurse all commented on my 'Totoro' and their memories of him and when the Doctor came in, we had a nice 10 minute chat about Ghiblis... lol

I also try to get the books that the movies are based on, where I can, like Marnie.

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