Piracy in Draon Ball... And other things

[Shaddy]

For One Piece? I don't think most people are watching the dub of that show.

[Cure Dragon 255]

For One Piece? I don't think most people are watching the dub of that show.

They used not to but then the casuals coming from Netflix saw the dub and are now a majority. They just dont talk a lot.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

They used not to but then the casuals coming from Netflix saw the dub and are now a majority. They just dont talk a lot.

I think dub fans in general are a silent majority because sadly there's a lot of stigma against those versions of shows coming from the purists. I know not all purists are bad, but I think the attitude of some online hasn't presented them in the best light.

To the topic at hand I think the fact there's a demand for dubs goes to show a lot of anime fans are willing to wait until there's legal ways to watch or own that material rather than pirating fansubbed Japanese recordings and calling it a day because often when an anime becomes available for English audiences a dub comes with it.

[Cure Dragon 255]

They used not to but then the casuals coming from Netflix saw the dub and are now a majority. They just dont talk a lot.

I think dub fans in general are a silent majority because sadly there's a lot of stigma against those versions of shows coming from the purists. I know not all purists are bad, but I think the attitude of some online hasn't presented them in the best light.

To the topic at hand I think the fact there's a demand for dubs goes to show a lot of anime fans are willing to wait until there's legal ways to watch or own that material rather than pirating fansubbed Japanese recordings and calling it a day because often when an anime becomes available for English audiences a dub comes with it.

I agree but back when Funimation had it and the Netflix deal was not finalized One Piece was THE ONE anime where the dub was hated by the majority. It wasnt until Netflix came that many redubs happened worldwide and the covid pandemic hit and having a 1000 episode was a plus rather than a major minus that the dub people started outnumbering the sub fans.

[Shaddy]

I just don't really think that's true? I haven't known the One Piece dub to be "hated" by most people for a long time, and a lot of what remains is people who think the show is still being dubbed by 4kids. One Piece's popularity in English-speaking countries has been fighting an uphill battle for decades because of that old dub and how that had a knock-on effect on every attempted US revival. The show was on and off the air of TV for years, never getting a chance to properly breathe and run through it's stock of episodes.

Now, between the live action show and Funimation's frankly prolific efforts at catching up, the show has definitely gained a lot of popularity over here, but I'm still not even sure how you could measure which version is more popular, especially if you're claiming one side is a "silent majority". I think the only case to be made for shows being more popular in English in America is one where the subtitled versions were less or not accessible, and One Piece is probably one of the last possible examples of fansubbers enabling westerners to watch the show since the dub was so far behind for so long. It makes sense to say this for Dragon Ball, since Funimation's dub became a pop-cultural touchstone in an era where you couldn't just download episodes in bulk, but One Piece has faced the opposite of that for so long. What actual evidence would you present that would suggest the dub is more popular?

[Cure Dragon 255]

I just don't really think that's true? I haven't known the One Piece dub to be "hated" by most people for a long time, and a lot of what remains is people who think the show is still being dubbed by 4kids. One Piece's popularity in English-speaking countries has been fighting an uphill battle for decades because of that old dub and how that had a knock-on effect on every attempted US revival. The show was on and off the air of TV for years, never getting a chance to properly breathe and run through it's stock of episodes.

Now, between the live action show and Funimation's frankly prolific efforts at catching up, the show has definitely gained a lot of popularity over here, but I'm still not even sure how you could measure which version is more popular, especially if you're claiming one side is a "silent majority". I think the only case to be made for shows being more popular in English in America is one where the subtitled versions were less or not accessible, and One Piece is probably one of the last possible examples of fansubbers enabling westerners to watch the show since the dub was so far behind for so long. It makes sense to say this for Dragon Ball, since Funimation's dub became a pop-cultural touchstone in an era where you couldn't just download episodes in bulk, but One Piece has faced the opposite of that for so long. What actual evidence would you present that would suggest the dub is more popular?

Yeah on second thought this is probably the truth. I meant that it wasnt until Netflix got it that it thrived and before then it was mostly subbed on streaming.

[MasenkoHA]

For One Piece? I don't think most people are watching the dub of that show.

It's a big enough anime hit and a lot of people, especially Americans, are super aversed to reading subtitles that I'm going to go out on a limb and say lots of people are watching the dub.

I think dub fans in general are a silent majority because sadly there's a lot of stigma against those versions of shows coming from the purists. I know not all purists are bad, but I think the attitude of some online hasn't presented them in the best light.

I also think online discourse and discussion tends to have more "hardcore" fans (who are more likely to be sub fans) which skews perception of what a fanbase looks like. Like, if your entire frame of reference for the Dragon Ball fandom was message boards you'd get the impression the English dub is super hated and ridiculed by most, DBZ fans are super obsessed with power levels and scaling, there's strong opinions on the music and the best way to watch to show and there's much more awareness of all the revisionist history Funimation pulls and that just isn't how it actually is in my experience.

[Shaddy]

It's a big enough anime hit and a lot of people, especially Americans, are super aversed to reading subtitles that I'm going to go out on a limb and say lots of people are watching the dub.

I also think online discourse and discussion tends to have more "hardcore" fans (who are more likely to be sub fans) which skews perception of what a fanbase looks like. Like, if your entire frame of reference for the Dragon Ball fandom was message boards you'd get the impression the English dub is super hated and ridiculed by most, DBZ fans are super obsessed with power levels and scaling, there's strong opinions on the music and the best way to watch to show and there's much more awareness of all the revisionist history Funimation pulls and that just isn't how it actually is in my experience.

Certainly a lot more people are watching the dub of One Piece now than ever before, my issue is just with whether it's most people, how you'd even be able to tell, and whether that has any chance of explaining why Funimation puts the subs up and not the dub. Because One Piece was a poster child for fansubs for a really long time in-part due to its lack of a dub, and Funimation got a lot of success from simulcasting the JP version. I feel like the only way to make this claim is to say that all of that was not only eclipsed by the dub, but happened recently and with enough of a difference to make that difference.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Like, if your entire frame of reference for the Dragon Ball fandom was message boards you'd get the impression the English dub is super hated and ridiculed by most, DBZ fans are super obsessed with power levels and scaling, there's strong opinions on the music and the best way to watch to show and there's much more awareness of all the revisionist history Funimation pulls and that just isn't how it actually is in my experience.

In my experience a cursory look at random message boards would give the impression the English dub is quite well liked. In hardcore Dragon Ball communities like ours the Japanese version is rightly appreciated, but I don't know how many times on other forums and Reddit I've seen people say they generally prefer subs but Dragon Ball Z is one of the only anime they'll watch dubbed or that Goku shouldn't be voiced by a woman.

As I understand it when the dub was airing on Toonami in the early 2000s the online reception of it and the Faulconer Productions score was overwhelmingly negative, but as the fans who watched it grew up and started using the Internet the pendulum swung in the dub and replacement score's favour, so these days if you look outside places like Kanzenshuu criticisms of the dub is noticeably rarer.

[GhostEmperorX]

In my experience a cursory look at random message boards would give the impression the English dub is quite well liked. In hardcore Dragon Ball communities like ours the Japanese version is rightly appreciated, but I don't know how many times on other forums and Reddit I've seen people say they generally prefer subs but Dragon Ball Z is one of the only anime they'll watch dubbed or that Goku shouldn't be voiced by a woman.

Only possible impression I can get from these people is they haven't seen contemporary anime to DB/Z, whether it's made by Toei or some other company.
Especially other popular Toei adaptation titles that use a lot of the same cast.

[Soppa Saia People]

I think Z is probably the one I hear the most for, "Oh I normally watch anime subbed, but Dragon Ball is an exception!" and I think a lot of it is just, Dragon Ball as a series is a lot of people's first anime, whether it was thru the ocean cast, toonami, video games, kai, etc. So for a lot of people, a big part of it is just a familiarity thing.

[ATA]

Is pirating anime even a big thing still? With all the active streaming services out today I figure sites like animeDuhb.TV (not a real site btw) would no longer have a purpose.

Yes. As streaming services cost increase people have gone back to bootlegging. Even though a lot of streaming services provide anime now... sometimes we forget how bless we are as some people don't have the money to afford multiple streaming services.

[King Bogo]

Is physical media piracy still a thing? I'm currently in the process of making my own Blu-Ray copies of Dragon Ball content that either hadn't gotten reprinted or will never get a legitimate release.

I know MOD (Made On Demand) companies like Stinky Tuna, Nightmare Fuel Video, Monsterland Media, etc. are still around. But, I wonder if there's an anime equivalent to those MOD companies I mentioned?

Yeah. South Wind Electronic as I've seen them trying to sell box sets of the DIC dub of Sailor Moon online.

[CyanRonEX]

My opinion is that the piracy in this community have gone out of their way to make straight up definitive editions of these with audio and video the rights holder just simply dent want to use (i.e. Color Corrected Footage, Broadcast Audio, Westwood/Blue Water Dub). I am enjoying the original dragon ball for first time thanks to that color-corrected release. I personally think it's more than reasonable that someone would want to go to the piracy route to enjoy this series since it's current state on legal physical (& digital) media is utter shit.