Hypothetical Dub Question

[Eddie]

I agree with Herms. I love a good dub. Cowboy Bebop and Death Note, for example, I absolutely love. I'm not anti dub at all. Hell, I don't even dislike the majority of the Funimation DB cast. If it wasn't for the ridiculous reversioning, I think more people would appreciate the dub. The games (especially with the new Freeza voice) aren't too bad.

[Casual Matt]

I agree with Herms. I love a good dub. Cowboy Bebop and Death Note, for example, I absolutely love. I'm not anti dub at all.

As far as Death Note goes, I never really watched much of the anime. Mostly just the first episode and last, to see how close to the manga it was. Either way, when I found out Brad Swaille was playing Light in the dub and Brian Drummond was doing Ryuk I was absolutely amazed. Those were the exact voices I had pegged for them reading the manga.

Anyway, somewhat back on topic, I'm sure nobody here is against the idea of a dub all together. That would just be silly. Of course I'm sure there are people that prefer to watch any show in it's original language, and fortunately we live in a world where that is often an option.

[Ashura]

I like plenty of English dubs (Noir, Niea_7, Haibane Renmei), but not DB's, because I think it's bad.

Man, Noir... a show I don't see people mention a lot. I remember seeing an earlier pre-release master of Noir, and I was talking to the ADR director about the scene in episode 1 where Mireille and Kirika meet up in Japan, and I asked him if he left in the Japanese dialogue for the background characters on purpose or if it just wasn't finished. He said something to the effect of 'well, they're in Japan... the series is international... so why not? ' Which I thought was pretty cool at the time.

But anyways, it's kind of like how people are anti english dubs regardless of the quality of it

No, it very much is not like that. Just because people dislike a dub you like does not mean that they are "anti English dubs regardless of quality", it means that they disagree with you about the quality of the dub in question. I like plenty of English dubs (Noir, Niea_7, Haibane Renmei), but not DB's, because I think it's bad. If DB actually did have a good dub, I'd be open to it.

I've seen fans who run the gamut; some who just refuse to watch dubs no matter how good they are, to people who just don't like certain ones. Some people who will ONLY watch dubs, or even people who have no preference which version they watch.

Actually, I know this one guy who has this ridiculous thing where he'll only watch shows/movies or play games in whichever language they came out in first. So for Metal Gear Solid 1, Japanese. But for 2, English. For The Big O, Japanese for season 1, and English for Season 2. I remember we had a chance to go see Howl's Moving Castle, but only in English... and he refused. And I was thinking, man, you're passing up a chance to see a ghibli flick in theaters just because it's in English?

I usually take it on a case by case basis, personally. If it's good, I'll watch it dubbed... if it's not, usually subbed. If I'm really into it, probably both ways. Sometimes there are mediocre shows which the dub makes better, sometimes mediocre dubs which make good shows look bad. There are some shows I loved subtitled, but ended up enjoying the dub more once I saw it. (Black Lagoon, for instance.) I think there are even some great shows in Japanese that have somewhat looser adaptations which are also excellent in English, such as Fullmetal Alchemist.

[Eire]

I think that Kemuri07 meant dub haters- just one more kind of annoying creatures that you have to face joining an anime community. Double annoying for pro-choice fan like person writing this post. Meh, I wish we here had a dubs to complain about

[Herms]

I'm not denying that there are people like that out there, but this thread was about this site in particular (with Hujio and I noted as well), and I don't think dub-hating for the sake of dub-hating is something the site administrators here or at Kanzentai are guilty of. Heck, I remember Mike talking pretty highly of the Spanish dub back when Funi's Ultimate Uncut DVDs were coming out and were including it as a bonus.

[Ashura]

There's actually some episodes of the podcast where they talk about dubs in general, though I can't remember which ones since I've listened to a bunch while working and they all kind of blend together. I know in some of the pre-Kai stuff the podcast brought up something along the lines of welcoming an accurate dub even if they wouldn't watch it. There was also some talk of regular anime dubs in general somewhere in there too, and it wasn't really negative, but more analytical.

[kemuri07]

Perhaps my second post was a bit rude. I guess I'll wait, then.

Someone mentioned reciting of classic lines from Ocean's dub. Well, why does that cast and their scripts' problems get a free pass, but not Funi?

While both dubs suffered from terrible, terrible scripts, it's the early Funimation dub that had some terrible voice work. The early Ocean stuff was pretty great, and if it had better writing, could have been truly amazing.


Also, seems like people completely misread what I post. I wasn't accusing anyone of being anti-dub. I was just making a point that regardless of how accurate the dub was, there will people who will always care more about the original.

[roidrage]

[/quote]The early Ocean stuff was pretty great, and if it had better writing, could have been truly amazing.[/quote]

I could not disagree more. Brian Drummond is as laughably ridiculous as early Chris Sabat; his vocabulary is pretty much made up of the vowel "e". I would understand Scott McNeil as Piccolo, though. He was pretty badass.

Ian James Corlett I've always found overrated. He just sounded...bland, it's hard to explain.

Terry Klassen as Kuririn? That voice sounds familiar...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1mvCpGunQM
(Appears at 1:50)

[roidrage]

Perhaps my second post was a bit rude. I guess I'll wait, then.

Someone mentioned reciting of classic lines from Ocean's dub. Well, why does that cast and their scripts' problems get a free pass, but not Funi?

While both dubs suffered from terrible, terrible scripts, it's the early Funimation dub that had some terrible voice work. The early Ocean stuff was pretty great, and if it had better writing, could have been truly amazing.


Also, seems like people completely misread what I post. I wasn't accusing anyone of being anti-dub. I was just making a point that regardless of how accurate the dub was, there will people who will always care more about the original.

I could not disagree more. Brian Drummond is as laughably ridiculous as early Chris Sabat; his vocabulary is pretty much made up of the vowel "e". I would understand Scott McNeil as Piccolo, though. He was pretty badass.

Ian James Corlett I've always found overrated. He just sounded...bland, it's hard to explain.

Terry Klassen as Kuririn? That voice sounds familiar...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1mvCpGunQM
(Appears at 1:50)

[Ringworm128]

I for one am glad they didn't do a faithful dub. Because this forum not to mention the entire DB web community would be....well....boring. Think about it we wouldn't have anything to make fun of. We wouldn't have anything to argue about. We wouldn't have anything to compare to. All it would be is "gee that Chris Ayers is a good Freeza" And speaking of Chris Ayers the Kai dub wouldn't be that exciting.

[Eddie]

I for one am glad they didn't do a faithful dub. Because this forum not to mention the entire DB web community would be....well....boring. Think about it we wouldn't have anything to make fun of. We wouldn't have anything to argue about. We wouldn't have anything to compare to. All it would be is "gee that Chris Ayers is a good Freeza" And speaking of Chris Ayers the Kai dub wouldn't be that exciting.

Let me get this right... you're HAPPY?! Happy that the vast majority of the fans in America are horribly misinformed? Happy that the average DBZ community is a breeding ground for idiocy? I'm also confused by your comment about having nothing to discuss were it not for the shitty US reversioning. As was mentioned in the latest podcast episode, roughly 50% of this community is not from North America. Plenty of people that didn't get this adaptation manage to find things to talk about on a regular basis. Hell, look at various shows that DID get good adaptations. Do you think Cowboy Bebop fans are dull people that have nothing to talk about? Glad that a show was rewritten... sorry, I just don't get it.

[laserkid]

If the dub was good and accurate I'd probably not watch it subtitled. Heck, DB/Z is my ONLY anime I watch subbed. By and large I preffer my anime dubbed - not that I can't watch subbed but dubbed is easier on the eyes and thus more relaxing for me.

But that's me, not Daizenshuu EX - which I believe would widely be the same because the focus here has been on an international community (which it is), so the original version would still be considered the universal version (because everyone would have acess to the original subbed and their own local dub).

Course, if the dub WAS accurate, as has been said by others, this would hardly be an issue for anyone. As for the dub being awful giving us stuff to chat about? Please, other anime fandoms have LOTS to talk about without that. Heck, get me and my friend Clovis chatting about Big O (which has a great dub) and we'll be going for hours. You do NOT need an awful dub to have lively conversation about an anime.

[Eire]

Let me get this right... you're HAPPY?! Happy that the vast majority of the fans in America are horribly misinformed?

Calm down, guy, if you want to make a fuss about being misinformed think about those who can't do proper resuscitation. That's a matter of life, not knowledge about a cartoon! Those poor misinformed fans can read and write? If the don't use this ability for getting informations is just because they didn't care.

Happy that the average DBZ community is a breeding ground for idiocy?

What does that fact have in common with bad translations?

I've come across USA dub as an adult, after watching 3 versions and I yes, I like that. Because of comparisons, because of the discusses, because of wondering about particular changes, because of it's historical value. It didn't have to be made, but when it is, use it for fun.

[Adamant]

I remember we had a chance to go see Howl's Moving Castle, but only in English... and he refused. And I was thinking, man, you're passing up a chance to see a ghibli flick in theaters just because it's in English?

If the chance was to see the Greek dub subtitled into English, would you go?

As I've asked before, if you can read, why in the world would you want to watch a foreign dub rather than the original? Makes no sense.

[Eire]

Because I like to use my ears and voice actors needs a job. Also, I like to play the buttons of my DVD player's remote control

[JulieYBM]

Because I like to use my ears

Uh...you use your ears to discern the actor's performances. It doesn't matter what one is watching, one will always use that technique.

[laserkid]

I will agree that you do use your ears when you watch subtitled anime (I end up half hearing the Japanese performance in english to the subtitled translation in my head), but I will ALSO agree there is a value to dubs. Not everyone likes them, just as not everyone likes subtitles - its a prefference issue.

There are advantages and take aways for both methods (assuming both are good translations).

[kemuri07]

Let me get this right... you're HAPPY?! Happy that the vast majority of the fans in America are horribly misinformed?

Calm down, guy, if you want to make a fuss about being misinformed think about those who can't do proper resuscitation. That's a matter of life, not knowledge about a cartoon! Those poor misinformed fans can read and write? If the don't use this ability for getting informations is just because they didn't care.

Happy that the average DBZ community is a breeding ground for idiocy?

What does that fact have in common with bad translations?

I've come across USA dub as an adult, after watching 3 versions and I yes, I like that. Because of comparisons, because of the discusses, because of wondering about particular changes, because of it's historical value. It didn't have to be made, but when it is, use it for fun.

That's a good point, and I do agree that part of the fun of DB is seeing all of the different changes (especially in the NA) and discussing them.

On the topic of accuracy, I've never actually cared for it. That's not to say I don't expect a dub to be faithful. It's just that if I wanted an extremely accurate dub, I'd just watch the original Japanese version. I've always judged the quality of a dub on two things: Voice work and writing. I don't dislike the early funi dub because it's not entirely accurate, I dislike it because the writing is so goddamn awful.

[Ultimate_DB_Fan]

Yo, EX, you gonna answer?

The thread's been active for a couple days now, buddy.

[laserkid]

Good christ dude, he's not exactly required to answer you...