Watching the Dub VS "Grading" the Dub

[TheBlackPaladin]

There's something I've been thinking about lately. I'm primarily a dub watcher anyway, and I love it when dubs are loyal...but I find I'm able to enjoy the Kai dub a lot more if I just sit back and watch it. Which is to say, watch it rather than analyze. Every. Single. Detail. And how faithfully it was preserved from the original Japanese version. I call that "grading" the dub rather than watching it.

Now, in theory, you can do both at the same time, but I find my enjoyment level is inherently brought down when I'm "grading" the dub rather than watching it. Not because I'm dissapointed by FUNimation's efforts, quite frankly I think they're doing a great job. It's just that when I'm constantly thinking...

"Is the script loyal here? What did they cut there? Will there be an uncut version of that line? Etc. etc..."

...It takes me out of the moment. Even when FUNimation does a good job, because I'm reminding myself, "Oh yeah, the English adaptation company behind a Japanese cartoon did a good job of adapting it," rather than, "That episode was good!" See what I'm saying? I have no one to blame but myself, of course. It's just that I've noticed I tend to enjoy the Kai dub most when I am watching it on Nicktoons and on TV. I don't have a computer to look up scene comparisons, and I don't have a remote to turn the subtitles on to compare the dialogue to. I'm always the most "in the moment" when I'm watching the dub rather than grading it.

Anybody else have similar thoughts?

[Kendamu]

I know how you feel. I enjoy Dragonball a lot more when I just watch it instead of checking for accurate translation. However, I don't tend to ever check it anymore. It's a matter of how you go into it when you decide to watch it. Just be sure your mind is in the right place and that you're ready to just relax and be entertained.

[penguintruth]

If the dub is good enough, I don't have to grade it.

If it's a Dragon Ball dub, there are expectations, since the previous ones have been so horrible, so it's impossible to not grade it.

When I get Kai on Blu-Ray, I'll merely watch it dubbed. Until then, I'm grading it, because Funimation has to win me over with every episode, given their record.

[Mewzard]

If the dub is good enough, I don't have to grade it.

If it's a Dragon Ball dub, there are expectations, since the previous ones have been so horrible, so it's impossible to not grade it.

When I get Kai on Blu-Ray, I'll merely watch it dubbed. Until then, I'm grading it, because Funimation has to win me over with every episode, given their record.

You should factor in their other dubs, because they've had many good dubs. They're trying on Dragon Ball now, be glad for that.

I typically watch Dragon Ball, because I enjoy Dragon Ball. I rarely grade anything, unless something takes me out of the moment. Blue Popo makes me pull out the gradesheet.

[penguintruth]

I absolutely factor in their good dubs, but this is still Dragon Ball.

Anyway, it's not like I'm only watching to grade.

[GizmoKSX]

If a performance is moving or makes me chuckle for the right reasons, then I can enjoy it without overthinking it. I don't really go in planning to analyze the details, but there have been countless moments in the old dubs that just took me out of the experience entirely. With Kai, I can enjoy the show without worrying about every last inflection being translated. It was more of a problem with Z's lines like "Don't piss off the god of love!" and "Cat loves food," and Sabat's infamous "motivational Piccolo" scene that were impossible to take seriously.

[Duo]

I only watch Kai dubbed, so I'm grading the show against the Manga / Original Anime AND the Dub at the same time. I enjoy doing this because I've read the story to death and seen all of this stuff. It gives me something new to look for. Definitely not the same type of enjoyment one gets from just watching, but I don't mind right now.

[Suupaa Gohan 2]

I've done both with the Kai dub, actually, and I can't really do both simultaneously anyways. As I've mentioned in some other threads, the main reason I've been around so often lately is because I've been sick for a while, which has resulted in many a day skipping school, laying in bed, and watching Nicktoons. And they rerun Kai. A lot. During those times, I'm kinda watching absentmindedly, and not thinking about 'oh they changed this' or 'this performance could be better here' (though the occasional jarring example might jerk me back to reality, like whenever I hear that fucking Kaioh). And that's what has really made me realize how great the Kai dub is, because for the first time since I became wise to the Japanese version, I'm actually watching the dub and enjoying it in English as Dragonball. I'm not watching it merely for the sake of seeing what they'll edit here, or how they'll ruin this scene, like I remember doing during the Cell run on Toonami back in the day.

Then, when I'm watching it with a more level head and analytical mind (IE, not half asleep or doped out on pain meds), I can rationalize and critique things. And even then, I'm realizing that I don't have that much to critique besides vocal performances. There may be a few Nicktoons edits we'll discuss, but really, it's uncut on DVD, so it doesn't matter too much. The script is accurate, the music is the same, and most of the VA's are doing a fantastic job. Sometimes it's like I'm reaching for things to criticize just because I've been so used to doing that for almost ten years. It's definitely not that my critiques are unjustified, but sometimes I feel like I'm repeating the same 3 or 4 complaints over and over, because...it's all I can find.

So yeah, it depends on when and how I'm watching, but I can and am doing both. And I love that I can finally do that after all these years.

However, when it comes to watching Anime adaptations of my favorite Manga series'...I don't think I can ever watch to just enjoy without analyzing how they've changed/ruined everything. It's just unconscious. And that makes me sad sometimes.

[penguintruth]

Come to think of it, I'm grading the Japanese version of Kai, too.

[dbgtFO]

Come to think of it, I'm grading the Japanese version of Kai, too.

!!!Such Controversy!!!!!
If the broadcasters, where I come from decided to finish dubbing DBZ or start all over with DBK, I would probably also be comparing it to the other versions, including the Funi Dub and the Original.
When I first saw it though I didn't, as I was only interested in the fighting, but now that I look back I realize, that it wasn't the greatest dub in the universe, even though it kept the original music and made the dialouge closer to our version of the manga.

[jjgp1112]

I just watch it. For almost every show I watch, I don't bother to watch any other version because I don't give enough of a fudgesicle about those versions to go out and seek them, since I'm happy with what I have now. I could give a sherbert less whether a dub is accurate to the Japanese version because the Japanese version doesn't matter to me anyway. Normally when I watch shows, I don't even think about stuff like quality of acting because unless it's jarringly bad, I don't care. I mean, I'm not a fudging critic, those aspects of the show don't matter to me unless it's particularly conspicuous.

Of course, with a show in the case of Dragon Ball Z Kai, there's another version of it that has the exact same content, so of course I'm going to judge that to see if there's any sort of viable reason for me to be wasting my time watching it over what I already have.

[B]

It's a little of both. As I watch more episodes, and become more satsified, the focus slowly shifts to "just watching."

[Super Sonic]

Grading the dub is what happens with many dubs by US anime fans. Makes me sometimes wish for the old days when you could watch any dub, no matter whether it was bad/didn't age well, etc. and just watch like you do US cartoons.

[penguintruth]

Grading the dub is what happens with many dubs by US anime fans. Makes me sometimes wish for the old days when you could watch any dub, no matter whether it was bad/didn't age well, etc. and just watch like you do US cartoons.

I guess ignorance is bliss, but I'd rather get a good representation of what the Japanese original was when I watch a dub.

[Super Sonic]

It can vary between series, to how much you want to think about it. I think even you if you had a choice between watching DBZ dub and Flying House subbed, you'd pick the former.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

If this was DBZ's old dub I'm giving it a big fat F as it's horrible, I've mainly just been watching Kai.

[Duo]

Ignorance really is bliss, but a lot of the reason people even try the Japanese version is because FUNImation and others fucked up so bad in the old days. If they'd done well from the get go, we could still be ignorant and it would be OK.

Though I guess it would have leaked eventually when people would get hooked on series and watch them as their being released in Japan via the internet.

[penguintruth]

Actually, a big part of why people tried DBZ in Japanese was that fansub tapes of later sagas flooded the fan scene during the long break between the end of the second "season" of the dub and the third.

[Adamant]

Ignorance really is bliss, but a lot of the reason people even try the Japanese version is because FUNImation and others fucked up so bad in the old days.

No, that's the reason people go around spouting "Deebeezee is not real annie-may" or whatever it is they say.

A very large percentage of the online community that talk about how shitty Dragonball is think Funi's old dub is an accurate representation of the series, and base their views purely on that.

[Taku128]

Ignorance really is bliss, but a lot of the reason people even try the Japanese version is because FUNImation and others fucked up so bad in the old days.

No, that's the reason people go around spouting "Deebeezee is not real annie-may" or whatever it is they say.

A very large percentage of the online community that talk about how shitty Dragonball is think Funi's old dub is an accurate representation of the series, and base their views purely on that.

I'm pretty sure most people's hatred of DBZ has more to do with the drawn out staring contests, the power-up scenes that take half the episode, and pretty much everything else that Kai was created to fix. I've never heard anyone say DBZ is dumb because of the dialogue.