# Q about "Spirited Away" animation **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-spirited-away-animation/306748 "2005-06-03T17:20:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-spirited-away-animation/306748/1 "2005-06-03T17:20:33Z")
Thoroughly enjoyed _Spirited Away_ on DVD and have a question. This was obviously made in an English as well as a Japanese version. Did they do a separate animation so that the English voices were sync’d with the mouths, or did it just appear that way? It certainly seemed to me to be perfectly sync’d. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-spirited-away-animation/306748/2 "2005-06-03T17:25:29Z")
Animated dubs are scripted and directed so that the English dialogue is lip synced as much as possible. This has been known to result in some odd dialogue (see the Speed Racer effect), but they’ve gotten better at it. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2005, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-spirited-away-animation/306748/3 "2005-06-03T18:15:42Z")
One of the special features detailed how they did this. It was a lot of work. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2005, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-spirited-away-animation/306748/4 "2005-06-04T15:08:51Z")
One of the most interesting features on the DVD for _Pokemon: The First Movie_ (I was a big Pokefreak at the time) was listening to the commentary by the directors of the English dub commenting on what they called “lip flap.” They had to write the dialog so that the lip movements from the original animation would match the new dialog. (They also joked that they wished that more characters were psychic Pokemon, since they communicate through thoughts that can be heard, and thus don’t move their lips.) The same thing was done with the English dub of _Spirited Away_ (which was produced by Disney and supervised by John Lasster of _Toy Story_ fame). ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-spirited-away-animation/306748/5 "2005-06-06T18:17:48Z")
As I recall reading in an old issue of Animerica, the Canadians dubbing Ranma 1/2 (I can get Word to spit out ⅓, but not 1/2. What’s up with that?) had an Amiga program allowing them to sinc the animated lip movements with those of the actors. I guess either it was had lots of holes in it, as a tool, or I am misremembering things. ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2005, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/q-about-spirited-away-animation/306748/6 "2005-06-06T18:25:27Z")
Interestingly, the Japanese animation companies don’t care as much about “lip flap” as the American companies do. They even do their primary voice recording after the animation is finished (or close to finished), as opposed to the American practice of recording the voices first, and often separately. Scott, you’re probably thinking of [WordFit](http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/lexicon.php?id=32).