The Dubbing of Haruhi Suzumiya

[Kogetsu Shirogane]

Originally Posted by Electric Moon

You do know that Canadians have the same accent as Americans?

Americans don't end every other sentence with "eh?"

[Heatth]

Originally Posted by Electric Moon

You do know that Canadians have the same accent as Americans?

Wait, sorry? Both Canada and USA are big. Just talking "Canadian accent" and "US accent", as there is only one, is silly enough, telling they are all the same sounds ridiculous. I don't know the difference between the accent, but I am pretty sure there are some difference. I am also sure a Canadian could tell then.

(Unless you are saying Canadians have american accent because Canarian are americans. Then you would be correct, but it wouldn't make any sense.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Electric Moon

You do know that Canadians have the same accent as Americans?

No, we don't. We really don't. Kaisos is right about there being an unique Canadian accent.

Edit: In deference to Heatth, there are special accents in both America and Canada. For example, my fellow Newfoundlanders and I have our own unique accent/dialect that stands out from most other Canadians. However, if you compare your average Ontarian to your average non-southern/brooklyn-accented American... there is a slight difference. It's hard to put into words, but it's there.

As somebody who worked in a call center for awhile, and provided service for countless Americans, Canadians do have a different accent than Americans.

It can be very subtle, but you pick up on it over time.

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by Electric Moon

You do know that Canadians have the same accent as Americans?

This is the most uninformed statement I've ever seen.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

No, we don't. We really don't. Kaisos is right about they're being an unique Canadian accent.

The typical Canadian accent is the sort of thing you hear in the Prairies, really.

Ontarians, specifically Torontonians, tend to use a specific kind of slang more than a specific, distinct accent... but it's there, yeah.

Don't get me started on East Coasters.

Out here in the West, though... we all talk like Americans, sadly. It's rather amusing.

So I was suggesting that to make Tsuruya more distinct we'd give her a Prairies accent. But it would sound dumb.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

This is the most uninformed statement I've ever seen.

This is a considerably more...diplomatic response than I expected from that statement.

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

Out here in the West, though... we all talk like Americans, sadly. It's rather amusing.

If you're referring to slang, you might be right, but if my 10+ years of experience listening to Stargate and SciFi Channel bit actors and extras means anything, there is a subtle difference in accent compared to most Americans. At least it's one that I can make out, but I've always had an interest in accents...

Speaking of Haruhi characters with Canadian accents, I still think Kirby Morrow (Inuyasha's Miroku, among others) would have been perfect for Itsuki, accent and all...

[AmyElizzabeth]

...Shall we get back on topic now?

[Jintor]

If someone can get me North American sales figures that would be fantastic. All that comes up is Japanese sales figures.

Man, E8 sold 18000 copies?

[Kogetsu Shirogane]

Originally Posted by AmyElizzabeth

...Shall we get back on topic now?

Well, since you asked...

"the anime adaptation was licensed for North American distribution by Kadokawa Pictures USA division, which then sublicensed production and distribution to Bandai Entertainment, until they lost the rights in October 2009." - From Wikipedia

Is this vandalism or just something that was apparently never reported?

[Jintor]

Who lost the rights? Bandai, or Kadaokawa? Almost certainly not Kadokawa USA... does that entry say 'citation needed'?

[AmyElizzabeth]

I believe in Wikipedia, except when I know they're lying

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by Kogetsu Shirogane

Well, since you asked...

"the anime adaptation was licensed for North American distribution by Kadokawa Pictures USA division, which then sublicensed production and distribution to Bandai Entertainment, until they lost the rights in October 2009." - From Wikipedia

Is this vandalism or just something that was apparently never reported?

KadoUSA effectively folded up shop recently. I guess with no FMP!, Haruhi, or L*S left to market there wasn't much point. AFAIK Bandai still handles the distribution for Haruhi, but I doubt they're printing any more DVDs.

[Jintor]

Holy crap.

[GMT]

Originally Posted by Jintor

Who lost the rights? Bandai, or Kadaokawa? Almost certainly not Kadokawa USA... does that entry say 'citation needed'?

The answer would seem to be "All of the above," since Kadokawa USA doesn't exist anymore, and Bandai was sub-licensing from them. Ergo, only Kadokawa's home office holds the license now. So, even more on-topic, what does this do to the odds that the new Haruhi material will end up dubbed in the English-speaking world?

[Kogetsu Shirogane]

It... probably won't happen. Unless someone ends up buying the rights to everything KadoUSA had, like what happened with Geneon.

[GMT]

Originally Posted by Kogetsu Shirogane

It... probably won't happen. Unless someone ends up buying the rights to everything KadoUSA had, like what happened with Geneon.

True. Even more damning is the fact that Kadokawa in Japan is releasing the new material already subbed. I wouldn't think that it'd be too difficult for them to press non-Region 2 DVDs and Blu-Ray discs and break into the foreign distribution market themselves, or re-license the series to Bandai who, apparently, is already moving towards a predominantly sub-only distribution scheme.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Kogetsu Shirogane

It... probably won't happen. Unless someone ends up buying the rights to everything KadoUSA had, like what happened with Geneon.

I wonder if those of us who really like the Haruhi English Dub should start begging FUNimation to buy the rights to Haruhi...

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

I wonder if those of us who really like the Haruhi English Dub should start begging FUNimation to buy the rights to Haruhi...

I'm not sure that will give you the result you're looking for. FUNimation isn't known for going outside its staple of voice talent very often, and I doubt Haruhi would be any different. They did so for a couple of Geneon licenses they picked up, Black Lagoon Second Barrage and Hellsing Ultimate IV, but the voice acting for both of those was already recorded by Geneon before their licensing arm folded, and we haven't seen any indication that any further dubbed Hellsing Ultimates are forthcoming. Add to that the fact that the original Haruhi dub cast is undoubtedly top-tier (Wendee Lee and Crispin Freeman alone probably each command three times the salary of your average FUNimation voice actor), and I don't think we'd be seeing the same dub cast with a FUNimation-branded Haruhi release. My money's on Bandai picking up the rest of the license and finishing the dub with the same Bang Zoom! dubbers, likely as part of some deal with Kadokawa Shoten.

[Jonbob0008]

Originally Posted by quigonkenny

I'm not sure that will give you the result you're looking for. FUNimation isn't known for going outside its staple of voice talent very often, and I doubt Haruhi would be any different. They did so for a couple of Geneon licenses they picked up, Black Lagoon Second Barrage and Hellsing Ultimate IV, but the voice acting for both of those was already recorded by Geneon before their licensing arm folded, and we haven't seen any indication that any further dubbed Hellsing Ultimates are forthcoming. Add to that the fact that the original Haruhi dub cast is undoubtedly top-tier (Wendee Lee and Crispin Freeman alone probably each command three times the salary of your average FUNimation voice actor), and I don't think we'd be seeing the same dub cast with a FUNimation-branded Haruhi release. My money's on Bandai picking up the rest of the license and finishing the dub with the same Bang Zoom! dubbers, likely as part of some deal with Kadokawa Shoten.

I certainly hope you're right. I actually liked the dub for the most part, and I would love to hear how the English voice actor portray each of the episodes. That, and I'd love to rewatch all the episodes with my nephew (who's also a fan of the series). He can't stand watching subs, so with the dub out, I'll have something to watch with him again.

[quigonkenny]

Originally Posted by Jonbob0008

I certainly hope you're right. I actually liked the dub for the most part, and I would love to hear how the English voice actor portray each of the episodes. That, and I'd love to rewatch all the episodes with my nephew (who's also a fan of the series). He can't stand watching subs, so with the dub out, I'll have something to watch with him again.

I agree, and also enjoyed the dub better than most, but my reasons all involve me being an anal completist bastard that wants all his Haruhi DVDs to be homogenous. I'm still upset over the animation shift... If all the "new" episodes were chronologically after the "old" ones that'd be one thing...

[Jonbob0008]

At least the animation started to return to its original look on the last two episodes of Sighs, which leads me to believe that episodes that come out some time later will likely return to the original style. And the movie will probably look like the old style, too.