2007-06-04, 12:43 | Link #21 |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 66
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Oh yeah... I forgot about the "random arrival" box sets of other recent anime.
With fansubs, I usually already know if I'm going to buy the series as a whole or not - but market-wise it certainly makes sense. As far as dubs go... I occasionally have to watch a series 'dubbed' depending on whom I'm watching it with so I'm always going to be crabbing for better quality english dubs. It does seem to be getting incrementally better. I could almost tolerate the english dub of AzuDa... I.M. didn't make me throw up ... PPD sort of got the flavor ... and I almost liked SHnY's english dub More seriously, I just don't think it is too much to ask for decent acting out of voice-actors.
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2007-06-04, 13:36 | Link #22 | |
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Join Date: Jan 2006
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Seriously though, I think some people have issues with *translation* rather than dub; i.e., removal of honorifics, transposing pop-culture references, etc. that also affect the subtitles in many cases. Anime dubs are much *much* better now, getting much better treatment than, say, Godzilla movies or Voltron. And IMO the acting in most recent dubs show as much (if not more) skill and range than anyone I've watched recently in live action. |
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2007-06-04, 18:47 | Link #23 | |
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: New Jersey<_<
Age: 37
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2007-06-04, 20:32 | Link #24 |
Somehow I found out
Join Date: Feb 2006
Age: 40
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Dubs are slowly getting better with time, but I've always been of the opinion that in instances where there are a lot of overtly Japanese elements in an anime, English dub producers are always going to have their backs against the walls. Series where there's very few uniquely Japanese elements or that are set outside of Japanese are far easier to write a dub script for, which is why such series generally have the far better dubs. Hell, in such cases, there's really no excuse for a bad dub anyway.
That's why I think Air is going to be much tougher to dub than Kanon... although I'd be surprised if either series ends up with a top-tier dub. It's not like people are going to be buying these series for the dub anyway... these are niche-audience titles, and are mostly going to sell the greatest among current fans, rather than new fans. Anyway, I think dub directors are almost as much to blame, if not moreso, for a bad dub as the voice actors. Obviously, a good vocal talent is always key, but at the end of the day, voice actors are just doing what they're being told. A good dub director makes or breaks a dub, IMO.
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2007-06-04, 21:02 | Link #25 |
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Lawrenceville, GA
Age: 43
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I haven't watched AIR and the remake of Kanon yet. As for me when it comes to dubs versus subs, I'm pretty neutral on that matter unless problems arose. All of the anime are produced in Japan and keep everything intact from the language to honorifics.
When I watch SHnY I was surprised that the term "moe" was kept in the dub. The American audience wanders what does "moe" mean, but it could be defined and used the wrong way in that episode (it's very rare though). Besides, anime is made in Japan and sounds more natural to Japanese viewers. Here in the US, anime series tend to have to be Americanized or have to be explained through subtitles on the top of the screen or next to certain signs. Writers face the greatest challenge of making the grammar and dialog sound natural. Casting and voice directors also face challenges expecting much from the VAs on how to act and sound during certain moments. This isn't just recording lines and then placing them on the episode with edits as necessary. Directors tell them how to react during those moments. English VAs here tend to have much lower status and rank compared to their Japanese counterparts. |
2007-06-04, 21:41 | Link #26 |
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: New Jersey<_<
Age: 37
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Well people said the same thing about Odin Sphere and how the dub wouldn't be as good, but the VA's perfomance surprised alot of people.
So it's not impossible to match or surpass the Japanese version.
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2007-06-04, 21:51 | Link #27 |
Banned
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The only way there are going to be outstanding dubs is if they hire Voice Actors of Top Notch Calibre like you see in American Cartoons. Since that's pretty much out of the question regarding the fact that hiring even one top notch VA like Dan Castellaneta, Mark Hamill, Billy West, Hank Azaria or Tara Strong would be a huge financial risk, they'll probably always have to settle for the best they can put together from in house.
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2007-06-04, 22:01 | Link #28 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: New Jersey<_<
Age: 37
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You don't really need high profile voice actors in order to have an incredible dub, you just need to have a good ADR director that knows what he/she is doing.
Hell some pretty good dubs contained VA's that work for 4kids, so it sure as heck aren't the voices actors fault if a dub bombs.
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2007-06-04, 22:39 | Link #29 | |
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I would be a bit worried about Kanon and Air to be honest regarding subs and dubs from ADV. Not to worry people, but I've seen first hand how bad they can get. |
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2007-06-05, 17:01 | Link #31 | |
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Join Date: Jan 2006
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Carl Macek, Robotech and Dunbine are a whole other can of worms, but I'll say this. Macek gave us dramatic non-kiddie anime on American TV way way back when all we had was Voltron. How many of us can count Robotech as our first exposure to decent anime? Yes things have changed a lot in the last 20+ years and what he did to create Robotech is no longer desirable, but like it or not he helped us get to where we are today. Haven't seen firsthand how Dunbine got treated, but at least it didn't get the "Ghost Stories" treatment. And whether the rewrite was a good way to make what ADV saw as a dull, potential non-seller interesting is yet another story. Anyway, I think ADV has also shown it can treat a niche title well; in the dub of Nanaka 6/17 they left in Nanaka's cute "hayaya?" and "hawawa?" (so I think "gao" and "uguu" and the rest will survive the dubbing) and they preserved how different characters address each other (classmates by last name, familiars by first name, childhood friend by "<>-chan"), even to preserving how one girl addresses the object of her affections by last name in public but by first name in her thoughts. "Boku" is tougher, but I think at least the scene where Yuichi has Ayu go though boku -> watashi -> ore could be handled by having her English VA deliver those lines in deliberately over the top ways, "ultra-feminine" for watashi, a fake deep "manly" voice for ore wa, etc. (I need to watch that scene again...) Finally, considering ADV timed Air to start releases in August (summer), then one release per month through October, wouldn't it make the same kind of sense to time Kanon's release for sometime in the winter? |
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2007-06-05, 19:31 | Link #32 | ||
Somehow I found out
Join Date: Feb 2006
Age: 40
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2007-06-05, 22:41 | Link #34 | |
Dansa med oss
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Near Cincinnati, OH, but actually in Kentucky
Age: 36
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They may as well leave 'uguu' as it is. You can't translate it, since it isn't a word. I hope they leave it in if/when Kanon is licensed. |
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2007-06-06, 00:20 | Link #35 | |
One PUNCH!
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Join Date: Dec 2005
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Besides, isn't it all in the inflection? countdown to post #1000: 3 |
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2007-06-06, 00:57 | Link #36 |
Retired
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Princeton University
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uguu~ just doesnt soun d right in English but I guess there is no better way than to just keep it
If they really replace with another English word then it really ruins many funny parts in the Kanon remake
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2007-06-06, 00:59 | Link #37 |
Obey the Darkly Cute ...
Author
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: On the whole, I'd rather be in Kyoto ...
Age: 66
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Aye... all the little signatures the girls make are fine... no worse than "phooey" or "bleh" ... some people just make odd noises ... "uguuu" is fine (assuming the voice actress is up to it ).
Looks like it'll be interesting to see what AIR sounds like english dubbed ... but it is inherently more difficult to translate what I'll call intrinsically japanese items like Kanon or AIR (versus an action sci-fi adventure, for example --- say Gurren Lagann).
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2007-06-06, 06:17 | Link #38 |
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Join Date: Jan 2007
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i've seen some of kanon 06, and i've like what i've seen so far... i knew air was licenced already, but thought it was a bit odd that kanon was left out in the cold...
well if it is licenced that's great news... but do we know if it's the original or the 06 version? |
2007-06-21, 00:03 | Link #40 |
Rewrite of the Life
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Dubs are somewhat getting better. The voice actors are better a acting for teir parts, matchups are getting better, but some matchups are terrible still. Then the added or change to a script that may/ or may not be needed.
I would have to say to me a though unless something was very wrong with the Japanese one for some reason. A dub could never truly surpass the original to me. I only hear a dub after I'm done with the series or have already enjoyed it. So hearing it altered is strange sometimes. I just enjoy the sound of Japanese it carries more emotion overall. |
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