Look on e-bay for Howl in Japanese when it is released to DVD. That's where we got our collection. It was only 50.00 for 10 movies of the original Ghibli collection and Spirited Away. I have rented Spirited Away in English (and saw it in the theater) but again I make them watch it as is.
When I watched "The Cat Returns" all I could think of is how much better it would be with Haru in Japanese. Although I have to admit that Cary Elwes made the Baron just HOT!
Have your mom watch "Grave of the Fireflies". She will know that anime is serious. Did you know that "My Neighbor Totoro" was released with "Grave" in Japan?!? Can you imagine a darling story about happy children shown with a depressing story of children in WWII Japan?
Ack! You bought a bootleg!
I can't say this with 100% certainty, but 95%+ of anime that's available on ebay is bootlegged. Did it come all in one box, which folds out, and maybe two movies per disk? And are there Chinese subtitles or Chinese characters on the back?
I know the real stuff is expensive, but bootlegs are produced by the Chinese mafia, not the world's nicest people.
I'm not sure I'll be up for watching "Grave of the Fireflies" again any time this decade, which is why I haven't watched it with Mom.
If you like anime movies, you might like to start branching out into series. I've seen a lot so if you're interested, I can recommend a few for you. There's a lot of lousy stuff, all right, but a lot of good stuff too, shows that would just never be produced here because there's no audience for it.
Grave of the fireflies is a masterpiece. I watched it on my computer dvd player and dropped my head on the keys and cried when it was done. The author wrote about his own experience in WW2.
Disney has never had the ability to come close to that film.