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An Anime That Deserves An English Dub


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getchman
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Joined: 07 Apr 2012
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Location: Bedford, NH
PostPosted: Sun May 28, 2023 10:49 am Reply with quote
the only song in Beck that was changed was the Beatles song that Koyuki sings near the end. I'm gonna assume you understand why. All the other songs remained the same and any changes made were for correct grammar.


Funi/CR have released dubbed shows with no dubbed music so I dont believe rapping is the reason why Hypnosis Mic was released sub only
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Blood-
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Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Sun May 28, 2023 10:55 am Reply with quote
@ getchman - I don't think those other examples apply. I mean, if you didn't dub the rap stuff in Hypnosis Mic there literally wouldn't be much non-rap dialogue to dub. A bit of an exaggeration, but not much. In any case, I'm sure the sheer volume of rapping eclipses other examples where Funi dubbed a show and just left the singing in Japanese audio.

eta: the other factor that might be mitigating against the creation of a dub is the sheer number of voices you'd need, all of whom would have to be at least half decent at rap. There were four main groups and each group has 4 rappers, so right there that's 16 rapping voices you need. Funi might have considered how expensive that would be to dub and decided the additional expense didn't justify whatever extra sales they might get.
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getchman
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Joined: 07 Apr 2012
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Location: Bedford, NH
PostPosted: Sun May 28, 2023 11:07 am Reply with quote
ah, didn't watch it, so i was not aware how much singing the show had. would you say its about the same as Healer Girl, if that's something you watched, or more?
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Blood-
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Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Sun May 28, 2023 11:15 am Reply with quote
Sorry, I dropped Healer Girl after one episode so I can't really compare. And actually, I was wrong, there are only three members per rap group, but that's still 12 main voices so I think my point still stands with respect to expense.
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Snomaster1
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Joined: 31 Aug 2011
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PostPosted: Wed May 31, 2023 4:10 am Reply with quote
If everyone will forgive me for asking this,what is "Healer Girl?" I've never heard of it before. I hope someone will tell me what it is.
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Alestal



Joined: 22 Apr 2005
Posts: 605
Location: Dallas, Texas
PostPosted: Fri Jun 02, 2023 4:44 pm Reply with quote
Tony K. wrote:
Didn't FUNi change most of the songs in BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad from their original context? I sampled the dub just once when the first North American DVD came out, but couldn't stand the singing after five seconds, and just never bothered to listen to anymore. Dubbed songs have always bugged me, except for a very small handful.

I know BECK's original JP audio is full of really bad Engrish, but I feel it had charm and was actually a pretty integral part of the story. If you're changing lyrics in songs, most of which I also thought were important to the tone of the series and its characters, then it teeters the line of revisionism. At that point, you might as well just make up your own songs from scratch, instruments and all, and not even bother dubbing over the original or using any of their musical elements.

Yes, I believe they did. I had watched the subbed version 3 times before watching the English dub. While I do not speak Japanese, I found that the grammar “corrections” really changed the music and vibe. A lot of music is ambiguous and vague, the dub versions felt more literal in comparison and in my opinion did lose some of their charm. Side note, I also really don’t think Greg was the best choice for Koyuki…*sigh*. I wish Funimation went with the direction Nana chose and kept the original music. It’s more authentic when you’re telling a story based in Japan and it was damn good.

I’d like to see Ocean Waves and REC receive dubs. Those see two stories with universal themes I can see carrying over in any language.
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Snomaster1
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Joined: 31 Aug 2011
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 05, 2023 5:04 am Reply with quote
Well,Alestal. I've never seen "BECK" so I don't really have an opinion for you on it or not. Also,unlike with "Healer Girl,"which I've never heard of,I have heard of stuff like "Ocean Waves" or "REC." I also hope they get dubs someday and I hope they do that. I'd also like someone to tell me what sort of anime "Healer Girl" is,so I hope someone tells me what it's about. I'd really like to know,since again,I've never heard of that show before.
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Nobuyuki



Joined: 22 Mar 2004
Posts: 536
PostPosted: Thu Jun 08, 2023 12:46 am Reply with quote
Snomaster1 wrote:
I'd also like someone to tell me what sort of anime "Healer Girl" is,so I hope someone tells me what it's about. I'd really like to know,since again,I've never heard of that show before.


Oh, if only there was an encyclopedia or something on the site... anime#24352

P.S- you’ve been here 12 years, you should know how to look this up on-site.
And there’s still Google. Razz


Last edited by Nobuyuki on Sat Jun 10, 2023 3:16 am; edited 1 time in total
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InfiniteJest



Joined: 22 Apr 2023
Posts: 136
PostPosted: Thu Jun 08, 2023 6:58 am Reply with quote
Hey to be fair this site and the forums operate a bit different from most sites so some
Stuff isn’t immediately clear when you jump in casually to comment or ask questions. The simple fact that it’s all done through an old a school forum is “different” by todays standards. I didn’t realize all the indexes and the encyclopedia info out there at first.

Will be interesting to see how it eventually gets updated into an app in a year or so. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Snomaster1
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Joined: 31 Aug 2011
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 09, 2023 6:23 am Reply with quote
Well Nobuyuki,thanks for telling me about this. Perhaps one day,"Healer Girl" will get an English dub. Not today,but maybe one day. As for you,InfiniteJest,I'm just grateful to get an answer to my question. Your comment is appreciated,even if it wasn't really on topic.
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TheFanCon



Joined: 14 Jun 2023
Posts: 48
PostPosted: Thu Jun 15, 2023 9:45 am Reply with quote
I may potentially be mentioning the obvious here, but here's what I think based on a few observations:
The main problem with the dubbing side of things is that they really can't be a convincing equivalent to the JP side for numerous reasons, ranging from areas like casting diversity and the size of talent pools to choose from, to the kind of training and skills the actors & actresses get (like singing and more).
Needless to say, the JP side takes these aspects a lot more seriously, and doesn't overuse the same cast lists in the same kinds of contexts (an actor or two may feature frequently but they don't have the whole cast from certain shows be basically the same).

In other words, the culture is just really different in general. And it seems like that gap won't be bridged.

(Aside from that, I also find that dubs have rather lower quality audio mixing as compared to the raw counterparts, even good ones.)

EDIT: Also, why bother dubbing something when the time has long since passed to do so?


Last edited by TheFanCon on Fri Jun 16, 2023 11:48 pm; edited 1 time in total
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InfiniteJest



Joined: 22 Apr 2023
Posts: 136
PostPosted: Fri Jun 16, 2023 8:07 am Reply with quote
Out of my depth here but I just watched a video with some training for anime
Voice actors in Japan. And I watched a couple of episodes I’d things I watch first in English then in the Japanese.

Still I have a few observations

1. Bad voicing is bad regardless of the language

2. Unless you speak Japanese you are getting the words through an inexact translation regardless of if it is visual or auditory.

3. Modern differences in translation are often overstated. This is anime which is not the same as reading poetry or philosophy (in most cases).

4. Japanese voice acting does have a larger talent pool than the English voice pool and the variety is appreciated.

5. There is too much repeated use of the same voice actors (and there are some amazing ones)

6. The training for Japanese voice actors can also result in a lot of similarities in performance which can diminish the value of their wider talent pool.

7. Japanese voice actors seem to exaggerate some expressions for comedic effect while English actors do the same but differently. A great example of this is the Lord Roswaal in Re:Zero.. I watched their dinner scene in Japanese then English a couple times and have to say the English voicing choice is more exaggerated to the point of being distracting. At the same time I think the English voice for Subaru matches the characters look better.

8. English dubbing is getting better. Way better in the last 10 years.

So there you have it. My novice take. One style is not inherently superior unless you know Japanese. But there are benefits to each voicing style and also issues that may or may not bother you based on what you are used to and where you come from.

I needed something to occupy my mind today while I ate breakfast so there you have it.
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Snomaster1
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Joined: 31 Aug 2011
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 18, 2023 7:52 am Reply with quote
I got a couple of interesting responses that I'll get to. First,TheFanCon. For me,I don't know why some older anime will get dubs and some don't. Since I tend to prefer dubs,that's what I tend to go for. While I am surprised that sometimes an older show will suddenly get an English dub for whatever reason,I don't really have a problem with it. Just the fact that it's getting one in the first place isn't going to bother me in the least. It's getting an English dub. I'm not going to look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth simply for that reason.
As for you,Alan45,I did hear that there's a much more professional pool of voice actors in Japan as opposed to America. It's just a guess on my part but for years,voice acting in American cartoons tended to be an amateur's game. If you were a reasonably good actor and had some talent and a good voice,that meant you were in. For a long time,live action work tended to have a lot more prestige than doing animated work. So,that was one way someone could reasonably expect to get the foot in the door of the entertainment industry. Also,since animation also tended to be seen as largely a kids medium for a long time,that also contributed to this.

That might not explain the different reasons why that might be,but I think that might be some of the reasons for it. It's far different in Japan than it is here,I can tell you that.
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InfiniteJest



Joined: 22 Apr 2023
Posts: 136
PostPosted: Sun Jun 18, 2023 5:23 pm Reply with quote
I did some more Re:zero back to back English vs Japanese’s. I still far prefer Subaru in English but far prefer Amelia in Japanese. REM is a bit of a wash with a slight preference for the English sound. But it goes to show how variable it is.

I know some people doubt me in this but I think within at least Older un dubbed anime will be a thing that gets addressed by automated AI tech. At the least there will be programs that allow views to get a live dub translation (maybe inferior to voice actors) that they choose. And it won’t be robotic voices.

There are shows I really want to watch like Bakemonogatori that will probably never receive English voice actor treatment so I’d be willing to take the dive.
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Alan45
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Joined: 25 Aug 2010
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Location: Virginia
PostPosted: Sun Jun 18, 2023 6:51 pm Reply with quote
@Snomaster1

I think you may have confused me with one of the other posters. I have no opinion as to the quality of Japanese voice actors vs. US voice actors. I haven't commented on that issue. I don't listen to the English language dubs so I can't tell if they are any good or not. I can't say that I've heard any Japanese voice track that I have a problem with.

Even though I don't use English language dubs, I think they are a good thing for a couple of reasons.

They increase the size of the available audience. The current size of the audience is why we get so much here right after it is put out in Japan. I'd hate to go back to where we had to do with only a few titles each year.

They lower the bar to getting into anime. It is hard enough to get adults to try an animated show. It is even harder to get them to watch a subtitled one.

Some people for a variety of reasons have difficulty in following a show with subtitles.

A lot of people simply like dubs better. I see no reason they shouldn't be accommodated if it is feasible. Again, a larger audience is a good thing.

As I said in my first post in this thread. The decision on making a dub or not is purely dependent on if the licensing company thinks it will be profitable. Providing anime to us is a business, not a public service.
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