Ukrainian-Language Distribution Certificates for Nine Miyazaki Films and Weathering With You

From January 2019 to September 2021, nine films by Hayao Miyazaki received state certificates to be distributed in cinemas with Ukrainian-language audio. According to the records of distribution certificates held by Ukraine’s State Film Agency (Держкіно), the rights were granted to two companies, KISFF Films and Kyivmusicfilm. The certificate records describe Makoto Shinkai’s Weathering With You (certificate from 2019) and Goro Miyazaki’s Earwig and the Witch (recorded in the certificate as “Ая та відьма,” that is, “Aya and the Witch”; 2021) as “dubbed into Ukrainian,” and ONE PIECE FILM RED (2022) and THE FIRST SLAM DUNK (2023) as having “Ukrainian subtitles.”

The records also hold certificates in which television stations and video companies were granted rights to Japanese anime. Drawing on the records of certificates published by the State Film Agency, we look at how Japanese anime has reached Ukraine in Ukrainian, in the order of cinema, television, and video (as of October 2026). The rule requiring foreign films to be shown in Ukrainian in cinemas is covered in the laws that have decided cinema’s language and is not repeated here.

Ukrainian Versions of Anime and the State Distribution Certificate

In Ukraine, to show a film in cinemas, broadcast it on television, or sell it on video, a state “certificate of rights to distribution and exhibition” (прокатне посвідчення) was required for a long time. The State Film Agency publishes the certificates it has issued as “Distribution Certificates (Archive).” According to that page, the certificates lost force on April 1, 2024, under paragraph 31 of the Media Act’s final provisions.

Each record carries the certificate number, the company that received the rights, the period, the type of right (cinema; national, regional, cable, and satellite television; video duplication, sale, and rental), and an “additional information” field. A note about language is sometimes written in this “additional information” field, but many records do not have one.

Cinema: Nine Miyazaki Films (2019–2021)

The cinema certificates for Japanese animated films whose “additional information” records a note about language are as follows.

All nine of Hayao Miyazaki’s films received their rights through KISFF Films or Kyivmusicfilm. For Spirited Away, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, and Princess Mononoke, the same company received a certificate again after the period ended (2020–2021).

The records for ONE PIECE FILM RED and THE FIRST SLAM DUNK are for subtitles. The State Language Act limits screenings of foreign films in the original language with Ukrainian subtitles to 10% of a cinema’s screenings in a month.

“озвучено” and “дубльовано”

The entries in the table use two words. The records for Hayao Miyazaki’s nine films use “озвучено” (ozvucheno), its abbreviations, or “озвучений,” while the records for Weathering With You and Earwig and the Witch (“Ая та відьма” in the record) use an abbreviation of “дубльовано” (dubliovano). Ukraine’s Cinema Act defines re-recording in different words matched to the movement of the mouth as “dubbing” (дублювання) and replacing the original audio without matching mouth movements as “voice-over” (озвучення) (the laws that have decided cinema’s language). However, the certificate records do not show how the Ukrainian audio of each work was actually made. The studio that did the recording and the names of the voice actors are not written in the records either.

Earlier Records With No Note on Language

There are also cinema certificates from before 2019. A company in Kyiv received a certificate for Spirited Away from February 18, 2003 to August 20, 2004, and a company called MMD received one for Your Name. from October 18 to December 19, 2017. Neither has a note on language in its “additional information,” and the records do not show in which language the films were shown.

Television: From Sailor Moon to Miyazaki’s Films

Japanese anime titles appear among the television rights certificates from the early 2000s. Here are some of those we were able to confirm in the records.

• Sailor Moon (Ukrainian title Сейлормун): from November 15, 2000, the certificate of a company in Dnipro (then named Dnipropetrovsk) records “aired on Novyi Kanal” (Новий канал). In 2002 Novyi Kanal itself received a certificate
• Digimon Adventure (Дигимон): from August 19, 2002, Novyi Kanal
• The Cat Returns (Повернення кота): from July 20, 2005, Novyi Kanal. “Additional information” records “dubbed into Ukrainian” (дубл. укр. мовою)
• Princess Mononoke (2003) and Spirited Away (2004): 1+1. In 2006, Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle: Novyi Kanal
• Neon Genesis Evangelion, NARUTO, BLEACH, DEATH NOTE, ONE PIECE (episodes 1–62): in 2010–2012, Khmarochos Media (Хмарочос Медіа) of Kyiv
• Pokémon theatrical films: in 2013–2014, TET (ТЕТ). Recorded as “aired on a channel of the 1+1 Media group”
• Hayao Miyazaki’s nine films: from December 2017, TRK “Ukraina” (ТРК «Україна», the television station “Ukraina”)

Of these records, only The Cat Returns has a note on language. In what language the other works were broadcast on television, or whether they were broadcast at all during the certificate period, cannot be told from the records.

The Same Work, an Old Title and a New One

Arranging the records by year, the Ukrainian title of the same work sometimes changes. Howl’s Moving Castle is «Ходячий замок» (Khodiachyi zamok, “walking castle”) in the video and television certificates of 2005–2017, and «Мандрівний замок» (Mandrivnyi zamok, “traveling castle”) in the cinema certificates of 2020 and 2021. Ponyo, too: «Рибка Поньйо на кручі» in the records of 2010–2017 becomes «Рибка Поньо на кручі» in the 2021 cinema certificate.

Video: The Age of VHS and DVD

In the records of the 2000s, certificates for video duplication and sale can also be found. Inter-Film (Інтер-фільм) of Odesa received certificates from 2001 to release the Pokémon theatrical films, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Tokyo Godfathers, and Howl’s Moving Castle, and Video-Galaktyka (Відео-Галактика) of Kyiv received certificates from 2001 to release Princess Mononoke, each on VHS, video CD, and DVD. These records, too, have no note on language.

Timeline: Japanese Anime and Ukrainian Distribution Certificates