They Killed it

[wizzel]

Umm... I guess we just broadened the topic on general anime dubbing, reasons why it's not that good, and experiences with it. Hehe. I'm still all for it since it helps me get my hands on stuff from my fav series without travelling to Japan (not that I would mind going to Japan- just need someone to pick up the bill for me...).

I sort of liked nerdy!Inui- isn't that pretty ic for him? *g* Guess I just can't imagine a highschool-age mad professor...

I find it amusing to discover what adults a generation older than me (most translators are over 30, I believe) think teenagers/young adults speak like. Mostly it results in a bad mixture of stereotyped ghetto kid slang and pseudo-cool bits and pieces floating around highschool TV series. Btw, in case you overlooked it, "kiddification" of anime was one of our discussion topics as well. Those responsible for the production and release of anime dubs have IMO only caught onto the true age of their customers in the last year or so.

Cowboy!Momo... now here's a fitting description. I'd like an icon for that... Momo with that Billy Cassidy-character's hat and "I'm dubbed a cowboy!" on it. Meh.

[saro]

Thank you Wizzel. The lack of capital letters and use of racist terms almost made me flame. @,@

[yoshikochan]

*pat* La la la ~ I stopped watching dubs back in high school. But I still remember, when I just started watching anime, I actually preferred dubs over subs... that's because I still couldn't read fast enough so, as dub-fans will argue

'subs destroy the artwork!' (or something like that)

it's not true actually, once you read up to speed you can watch and read the subtitles ... people who are newbies can't read them fast enough so they have trouble watching the animation. But once you get used to it (which is really, really really fast) it's soooo much better...

anime seiyuu have serious professions, but here, anyone dubbing anime is someone pulled off the streets. Seriously! A friend of my sister was telling us how someone in her work asked her if she wanted to do anime dubbing. T__T And they will take their own staff (and I mean technical/administrative) to do the dubbing if the voice 'fits' or so the director proclaims.

[Shloe]

haha. yep. that's what happened to me. >_>

wow....that's pretty crazy. o___o I suddenly have a great respect for the Seiyuus with bad voices. =___=;

[p00h]

Wow, no wonder the dubs are so........horrid (for lack of a better word).

[ashkah]

Out of the regulars voices I've been able to capture so far....

1.)Kaidou's isn't gruff enough, and it makes him sound like he's trying really hard and failing at being sultry. >_<
2.)Oishi's is okay overall. It's just a normal voice, and Oishi's was generally just normal anyway, so I can't say it doesn't fit just because it doesn't sound like the original Oishi, because oddly, it kind of does fit.
3.)The softness of Fuji's voice is gone ;_; , but there is something in it, the tone I guess, that fits Fuji very well. It may not be soft anymore, but it does have that element that makes you wonder what he's thinking, and that's Fuji in a nutshell.
4.)Kikumaru's is waaaaay too deep for him. I will forever cry at the lost of the genkiness whenever I hear him speak, because Kikumaru isn't bouncy without the genki voice attached.
5.)Inui's voice... I don't know. One of the qualities about Tsuda-san voicing Inui is that it actually sounded like he knew what he was talking about and that most of what was being said really was coming from his mind and not a textbook, even though the explanations were textbook quality. With the english VA, it just sounds like he's reading from a script. There is no depth or sense that the character really knows the material he's spouting off. And there is none of the creepiness that Tsuda-san did so well.
6.)Momo's takes some getting used to, but it does become tolerable after watching a full episode. I'm actually going to risk being flailed with a rat on a stick by saying that his and Ryoma's casting were probably the best out of the bunch.
7.)Speaking of Ryoma, I have no problems with his voice overall. They tried keeping the fem quality to it, which is great, and the disinterest is definitely there in the voice tone. It fits him quite well. I just think the VA is going to have a little problem conveying the irritation when it comes up in his character.
8.)Tezuka's voice... slightly too high. Perhaps if they had switched his and Kikumaru's voices, I think it would have fit a little better. Plus, already there is way too much emotion in Tezuka's voice. The only reason the name 'Cardboard' can stay is because the editors can't change facial expressions. >.>
9.)Taka's NORMAL voice sounds fine, but since we haven't seen or heard him in Burning Mode yet, the overall effect of Taka's voice still hasn't come into play and therefore can't be correctly opinionated on.
10.)The girls need a complete overhaul, and that includes Shiba and Ryuuzaki-sensei(who sounds too young for her age).
11)Inoue's is tolerable, and normal, which fits.
12.)Nanjirou's needs an overhaul.
13.)The Trio is overall tolerable, and takes some getting used to. Horio still isn't self-centered enough.

Other than that. the generic voicing is just that, generic, so there isn't much to say about it, and Arai's fits for the idiot that he is.

Now if only they'd get the pronounciation of the names right( I-NUi ... ;_; ). So far we haven't had a problem with name reversal syndrome, like saying Syuusuke in place of Fuji, etc. the introduce themselves in name reversal, but that's as far as they've gone so far.

My main concern now is translation of the the moves: Hametsu e no Rondo, Fuji's counters, and the translation of Atobe's favorite phrase: Ore-sama no bigi ni yoi na, Ohtori's: Ikkyu-nu-kon, and Hiyoshi's: Gekokujou.

[tessa]

The only thing with the catchphrases is that, and especially Atobe's, can't really be translated to English. And do you really want to hear the beloved Ore-sama no bigi ni yoi na butchered?

I thought not.

[ashkah]

tessa said:

The only thing with the catchphrases is that, and especially Atobe's, can't really be translated to English. And do you really want to hear the beloved Ore-sama no bigi ni yoi na butchered?

I thought not.

No, but they could easily just keep the most popular fan translation of "Be awed by my prowess(sp?)."

[wizzel]

I tried mouthing that to "ore-sama..."- it actually works out if you're careful with the timing. Therefore, hope remains
"One shot with all my soul" is a stretch, but it is possible, IF the voice actor manages proper inflection and timing. Ikkyu-nyu-kon has more hard consonant sounds in it... the English sentence would have to be spoken in a rather harsh, concentrated and slightly strained voice to make it fit.
Fuji's counters? Perhaps there are proper tennis terms for parts of them... I have no idea. "Bear drop" doesn't really sound all that intimidating

I started with dubs on TV because I had no idea that there was such a thing as bittorrent and fansubbing. Germany was/is several years behind in internet technology (we only got glass fibre connections over the last year!) and DSL speed was expensive, dial-up didn't work most of the time and was VERY expensive as well (no gratis local calls for Germans!), and it took up until the turn of the millennium until ISDN tech took hold... Anyway, once I cottoned on that there was a whole world of unexplored anime out there (and Dad got fed up with dial-up ) I rapidly moved onto direct DL, then BT, then IRC, then back to BT because IRC was so virus-riddled it wasn't fun anymore. I never had a problem with reading the subtitles (even though there are virtually no German subs out)... OK, perhaps if they were in Italian, but whenever a longer sentence came up I'd simply hit pause, read the translation, and watch on. The good dubs stuff was on after midnight on Mondays- impossible for a school-age kid. It's only after the anime boom of the last three-four years that interesting series are released on DVD in dubbed and subbed versions.
I guess that's why I'm pretty tolerant when it comes to dubs. Sure, I grouch and grouse over the voices and the (lack of) talent in the voice actors, but I'm one of those who had to put up with virtually no access to anything anime related and am thankful that I can now get my hands on practically anything I desire within the space of a few days or weeks.
The more people watch anime, the more potential fansubbers are out there, the more anime will be imported, the more fun for me and countless non-Japanese speakers out there. *g* Plus, it's fun watching dubs of series you like with your fellow crazies, mouthing off the sub texts of your best-loved episodes and breaking out in a fit of giggles whenever a particularly weird sounding translation comes up.

ashkah: I second the motion for a "girl overhaul". GAH!
I don't mind the name changes so much since they actually show some level of thought IMO. Afaik, there is familiarity in the way the regulars adress each other, and in English (or most Western languages) this is equivalent to calling each other by first names or even nicknames (in the case of Momo)... but I'm no expert, not by far! It's just the pronunciation that's... strange. But then, the Beast guy from the American team in the Japanese version promises to beat his opponent "frat", so... ack. I just put up with it, I guess.

[saro]

ashkah said:

1.)Kaidou's isn't gruff enough, and it makes him sound like he's trying really hard and failing at being sultry. >_<

I misread this as 'failing at being slutty'. Now that would make the dub very interesting... Actually, it would be great, even if the voices didn't match at all, if the dub was so ridiculously horrible/cheesey that it suited PoT well. XD

[Astyrian]

Yosh. They indeed butchered most of the pronunciation of Japanese words. "Tezooka" and "O-iishi" and..Well..Do I need to continue? And Echizen lost his catch phrase..That was the most dissapointing. But Horio's voice doesn't shatter my eardrums with it's nasal-ness. Beginning theme-terrible. And they don't say Inui Sadaharu, they say Sadaharu Inui, as Inui is the family name, or "last" name. Which I suppose is how we say names though..And, the sounds they make whilst they play, are much less believable. "Uhnn.." Is pretty much what they say..And it sounds like they're snoring or something..And Fuji sounds like a guy...Zomigosh. And Eiji doesn't have his little kitty voice..To bad. And..The pronounciation of the "R" is incorrect..Rather lame, Echizen saying "You still have a ways to go." And Kaidoh doesn't "Fshuuuu." Ohemgee..

..But..If you ignore all that, it's okay. I just don't want to hear what Mizuki's voice or Atobe sounds like..I might die. xD I prefer reading little subtitles..