Tough point. I pretty much think so myself. And people wonder why I give them advice to check what their kids are watching. ^^
Those Turtles really creep me out
!!
Anyways, I just finished listening to the first ep of english-dubbed FMA (friend of mine taped it and sent it all the way to europe for me. YAY!) and after laughing my *ahem* off because of the "strange and unused voices" I found it not all too bad.
I certainly can not understand what all the bickering is about. 'Kay, there are some lines in there that sound as if plain read from the paper, but I've seen worse. It's not as if the original was perfect either. ^^
(But then, most japanese seiyuu are pretty good since they're often either famous actors or singers. We often get the "No-name" actors and/or those that speak in several cartoon/anime/TVshow series. No offence meant, but a professional education and years of experience can only do good... and the jap. actors are famous for it.)
Imho, it just takes some getting used to hearing the same show with different voices, especially after having watched the O-version for some time. I think the biggest problem is the downright different sound of the languages. That goes for nearly every dub, btw. (Whenever a new anime starts on german TV I go WTF??? for the first few episodes and then grow accustomed to it - cause the language is a lot more "hard" in the flow. - Same goes for french TV. Or dutch.)
The time of airing is probably chosen due to the attitude of lots of American parents. You know, those that cry out if a *KIDS*-show so much as *hints* some chara in the buff or put Harry Potter on the Black List because of the EVIL occultism. Companies tend to avoid the argument with them. (Though I do SO not understand why at the same afternoon time there are these certain Talk-shows that use far worse vocab and no one seems to be disturbed by that...)
Think positive: Aired this late you can doubt that there will ever be a hype of the show - or would you rather think of 10 year olds running around playing alchemist, because the show is so freakin KEWL and please, I wanna have some automail, too...
Of course, a Kiddie-hype would come along with even more censory and re-editing of dialogues. *shivers* (I've seen it with YuGiOh! No need to repeat that!)
Still, I think, a dub is better than nothing at all, and if it happens to be *really* crappy we're free to go back to the memory of good ole fansubs... or hope there'll be the DVDs sometime in the near future.
Be glad you have it! I'll probably never get the chance to watch it here.
(Although I'm very tempted to imagine how it sounds, with all the names spelled and pronounced *correctly*
)
In fact, I think a DUB is good because it's easy to get in your language, you don't need to pay so much attention (Yupp, I use to iron the laundry while watching TV) and you can be sure to understand all of it.
The last point is my favorite. I like to point out that I'm watching a show because of it's content, not because of how a voice sounds. 'Kay, if everything comes in a particulary nice package, I'm delighted, but if not, then... well. It happens.
And if I'm totally pissed off by the bad job of dubbing, I don't watch it. No point in argueing here. ^^
Jā nee!