The GKids English dub, finally!

So, I got the chance to see the theatrical release of the GKids English dub of Only Yesterday, ahem, only yesterday and I really enjoyed it. It features the voice performances of Daisy Ridley (Star Wars Ep.7) as Taeko Okajima, and Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) as Taeko's potential love interest Toshio. I was also happy to hear the voice performances of several "anime regulars" in the supporting cast, including Laura Bailey, Stephanie Sheh, Yuri Lowenthal, and Cherami Leigh. Most general audiences probably won't know those names but North American anime familiar with English dubbed Anime most definitely will. The film is deeply personal and introspective. A professional unmarried woman of 27 (practically a spinster in the eyes of Japanese society, even today), Taeko Okajima, while visiting the countryside on vacation, has powerful memories of her childhood in 1966, when she was only in 5th grade. As Taeko reconnects with nature, she also explores her vivid memories and relates them to her friends and relatives whom she has come to visit.

Disney passed on producing the English dub of this as a co-production of Studio Ghibli because of several extended scenes with girls talking about going through puberty and experiencing their first periods, and boys finding out and making fun of them. It fell to GKids to finally dub this film into English, as Disney evidently did not feel this content was appropriate for a "family film". In any event, I'm very glad the English dub was finally completed and released in North America, and very glad the supporting cast was largely drawn from experienced anime voice actors in LA, though I was quite pleased with the performances of Ridley and Patel in the lead roles as well. The visuals of the film still hold up. The film was written and directed by Isao Takahata, with Hayao Miyazaki serving as producer. I can see how the environmental themes would in particular be appealing to Miyazaki, as well as the strong female lead. This is a film I think my mother would enjoy, so I may well end up acquiring the GKids dub on Blu-Ray in the near future. There's no way she would watch it with subtitles, so I'm glad the dub now exists that I can share this film with family members who are non-anime fans.