Anime almost exclusively is dubbed without competitive budget (aside from Ocean Group dubs, due to Canada's higher union dubbing rates)- even uber-popular shows, especially FUNImation, who only do non-union, versus American cartoons, which are very high-budgeted, & competitively-auditioned, like the Japanese versions of anime.Mewzard wrote:I would argue that's not really treating a series properly (An English dub really shouldn't be using Japanese honorifics).ringworm128 wrote:We even have dubs that use honerifics.
That said, I do otherwise agree that anime dubbing has come a long way and would argue it's quite respectful now, for the most part. Dragon Ball is being treated very well at this point.
I don't know exactly why, but the Japanese never bankroll the dubs, aside from major video games, such as Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, & Metal Gear Solid.
The dubbing rate in LA is so low that most actors don't even bother with it, which is why there are so few actors,& most of them are people unfortunately not established enough to do without dubbing.
To illustrate the differences, most non-union dubs are $50/hour, SAG-AFTRA (the US union) dubs $64~, with a $20 bump per episode, generally recorded in a 4-hour session. Ironically, the dubbing rate for songs is ~$350, which is why you don't see many of them.
ACTRA (the Canadian union) was about $350-400 for a 4-hour (& union rates are constantly growing), whereas original shows paid $550 daily (4-hour session), though I'm not sure how exactly Ocean Group recorded dubs.
SAG-AFTRA's rates for original animation are $890, without considering ADR/pickup sessions (as often the animation makes mistakes, & you must re-record your lines to match flaps). or royalties, which really turn up the payment. It is fairly easy to make over $1200 from one episode.
Japan's VO rates, I believe are fairly low, but VA's over there are generally very competitive - because the companies over there actually care for the shows. It's sad to know that while the US Megaman, Sonic, Nintendo, Voltron, Transformers, & SF cartoons had very expensive VO work, the actors at 4Kids or Saban were paid piddly-sticks for their work on similar anime, like Pokemon/Digimon, the Sonic/Megaman/Nintendo/Transformers anime (LA dubs), essentially just because it was anime-dubbing.
I feel that many anime are worth well-cared for English-dubs, & I can't believe how little the DBZ actors were paid. FUNimation, even today, having sacrifiiced DBZ to become the greatest anime-licensor in NA, still pays terrible rates, rarely putting in the money for the best talent possible, IMO completely shitting on many of the shows, plenty of which have substantial plotlines, great atmospheres, list goes on. IMO it was a terrible circumstance that FUNimation got DBZ (not sure who it would have gone to, though)
As MarcFBR said, I've made quite a few mistakes (really pushed it with "literally"), especially on the 90's stuff, as I was not around, & clearly lack research, but I do wish the Japanese treated their products better over here. I realize that Ocean dubbed Dragon Ball as well, but I was thinking more of a faithful dub.
