Voices^^;;

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#21
quote:
Originally posted by perigee:
[That doesn't really follow. The quality (or lack of) English dubbing doesn't influence my purchase of anime. Since I rarely listen to the English soundtrack, I wouldn't even notice any improvement. Listening to the original Japanese adds to my enjoyment of the work, even if I don't understand the words. The tone and inflection of the voices convey emotion. Besides, I can slowly acquire a few Japanese expressions as they gain familiarity.

See my thinking is this, if you don't listen to it in effect it is a lack of support. If these companies think maybe they can save a few bucks and only bring over subbed some might only start coming over as subs.

If it is known that people listen to and enjoy the dubbed it might be possible to get good VA's into the English dubs because they will know they might get the kind of fan and cult following the Japanese VA's seem to have over in Japan. If they know there is no interest why would those with possible great talent go to something like a VA's job, unless everyone tells them they have a great voice and face for radio/VA roles?

Some is assumption but it is not entirely out of the realm of possibility.

Also the older ones I think are a different case, by the fact they are older.

[This message has been edited by SCDawg (edited 05-30-2004).]

#22

I support the product when I buy the title. Distributors don’t really care whether I listen to the dub as long as I buy their DVD. If the anime itself doesn’t interest me, I won’t buy it, regardless of the dub.

I can only think of one non-hybrid English title I’ve ever bought, My Uncle Totoro - before the Disney release. I wanted it simply because I appreciate the quality of Studio Ghibli animation. Similarly, I got the R2 release of Nausicaa because it does include English subtitles. Give me a good anime where I can follow the story and I’m happy.

I don’t think you have to worry about the popularity of dubs. All anime broadcast here is dubbed because distributors know it’s the only way to get a significant audience. Saying we should patronize titles with better English voice acting is like saying we should support Western animation. Don’t hold your breath. The quality of Japanese work is what sets it apart, including the voice acting.

[This message has been edited by perigee (edited 05-30-2004).]

#23
quote:
Originally posted by perigee:
Saying we should patronize titles with better English voice acting is like saying we should support Western animation. Don't hold your breath. The quality of Japanese work is what sets it apart, including the voice acting.

I can agree with the Japanese animation being better and I don't think that what this is, is a patronizing of the titles. See I am sure if you go back far enough a lot of the Japanese VA's were total crap as I am sure at one time Western animation surpassed that of Japanese animation, but just as anime is gaining a huge fan base worldwide, the VA's built up a fan base, got those considering acting to see it is something they can go into and be known for doing and thus you get great VA's eventually.

The company might not care but the VA's might care and can easily tell if they have limited following for their work. I just think this market in terms of have excellent VA's that might equal that of the Japanese deserves the chance to do so but cannot truly do so long as people continually ignore the dub, which might not be going on but is my interpertation of what is going on at this point.

#24

When I watch anime it’s either subtitled or raw. I don’t enjoy watching dubs and it’s not because of the dub quality. The dubs could be very well done or not so well done, but that’s really not the issue. I am a pretty big anime fan, having bought over 200 anime DVDs last year. I just love anime. Anime is made in Japan and the language of anime is Japanese. Therefore, when I watch it I want to see it the way it was made. Maybe some anime have bad Japanese VAs but that’s how it is. Even if it’s bad, that’s how the characters voice is supposed to sound. Dubs have a very important purpose of gathering new anime fans. Most non-fans would instantly change the channel if they saw an anime broadcast in the original language with subtitles. But over time many people begin to admire the anime itself. Anime is from another country and that’s something that die hard fans embrace instead of covering it up.

#25
quote:
Originally posted by bishounen_blue:
Anime is from another country and that's something that die hard fans embrace instead of covering it up.

I am not saying I do not understand this view but why only anime? Why not have this with movies made in other nations too? Some movies come over subtitled many just dubbed. Why does it seem that of those that apply this idea a majority only do is when talking about anime?

#26
quote:
Originally posted by SCDawg:
The company might not care but the VA's might care and can easily tell if they have limited following for their work. I just think this market in terms of have excellent VA's that might equal that of the Japanese deserves the chance to do so but cannot truly do so long as people continually ignore the dub, which might not be going on but is my interpertation of what is going on at this point.
Don't kid yourself. Actors are happy to record dogfood commercials, if it helps pay the bills. The Pretear DVDs include extensive interviews with the English voice actors. Some of them seemed very interested in the genre, but others had never even seen the original anime or read manga before taking their current roles. Studios hire those they like and use people under contract who are available locally. All ADV artists apparently reside in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and considered their primary careers to be small theater. The prevailing attitude seemed to be "it's just a job until I get my breakthrough on stage".

If the industry does generate name English voice actors, I think that's fine, but to paraphrase bb, anime is a Japanese art form and must be embraced as such to fully appreciate it.

#27
quote:
Originally posted by SCDawg:
I am not saying I do not understand this view but why only anime? Why not have this with movies made in other nations too? Some movies come over subtitled many just dubbed. Why does it seem that of those that apply this idea a majority only do is when talking about anime?

The anwser for this is pretty obvious. It's because you are on a bishoujo game BBS. Bishoujo games are directly related with anime and anime fandom. That's why you hear views like mine. But I assure you that this is no special rule just for anime, as if it were not the case for other things. Any die hard fan of any kind of foreign film will surely tell you the same thing. Fans of French opera enjoy it even if they don't speak French. So no, this is not a special rule for anime. Any sub-fan who gives the same argument that I gave and then turns around and says something else for other forms of media would be very two-faced. People in other countries watch American TV shows that have been dubbed into their language. That's similar to Americans watching dubbed anime on TV. They enjoy it and it's something to watch, but they are not hardcore fans that really love what they are watching.

[This message has been edited by bishounen_blue (edited 05-30-2004).]

#28

Question: How many peoples are like to watch japanese voices with English subtitles? Also, how many peoples are like to watch dubs? For me, I like the Japanese voices with English subtitles because it is easy for me to understand. English voices is kind like weired… From the anime it won’t match with characters^^;; Anyway, if you like to learn Japanese I prefer Japanese voices with English subtitles.

#29

As stated in another thread, I prefer dubs.
Japanese voices are nice, but they make me feel like an outsider, making it harder to immerse myself into the story.

[This message has been edited by Benoit (edited 06-06-2004).]

#30

Given a choice, I will almost NEVER choose a dub. Largely because I don’t trust them. THere have been many, many cases where jokes are written out (“It wouldn’t make sense in English!”) personalities and plots are changed, etc… A lot of this is because of children’s-show issues, either censoring things they don’t think kids should be exposed to (alcohol and homosexuality in Sailor Moon) or trying to make it “more appealing to the market” by giving perfectly sweet kids an attitude problem and playing up the male character (Cardcaptors).

But even without dreadful stuff like that, subbed versions are far more likely to tell you what they actually said (and even throw in some extra text to EXPLAIN what they actually said) than a dub.

ISTR watching some special where Gaiman was talking about Mononoke Hime and how he’d changed some line about “This soup tastes like water” (horrible insult in Japanese, apparently) to “This tastes like donkey piss”, because it got the point across better in English and it matched the mouth flapping. Which is all well and good, and Princess Mononoke was the best dub I’ve ever seen, but I still LIKE picking up bits of strange Japanese culture, and if calling soup water is a strong insult, I want to know about it!

So, even without heavy censorship and bad voice acting, I’d still really rather watch a sub. But I’d like the OPTION of really good dubbing, for nights when my eyes or head are too tired to stare fixedly at the screen and read all the text.

#31
quote:
Originally posted by Computermania:
For me, I like the Japanese voices with English subtitles because it is easy for me to understand. English voices is kind like weired....

But for any format that can be dubbed where the "characters" can be seen, anime is one of the "easiest" to pull it off. It looks less weird if not normal since you just have a mouth flap, as I have heard it once called, rather then those old dubbed 1970's or so Kung Fu type movies where the lips are moving long after the words stop and are still sometimes joked about, for the dub jobs done on them, within other movies.

I know just don't lip-read, but with the dub this is perhaps the easiest to make look like it was never in any other language then say, English, Spanish, German, French, or the original Japanese.

So I like the Japanese version and seeing the changes made between Sub and Dub, but that said the dub is preferred since I think the VA's for English, are getting better for the most part.

#32
quote:
Originally posted by papillon:
Given a choice, I will almost NEVER choose a dub. Largely because I don't trust them. THere have been many, many cases where jokes are written out ("It wouldn't make sense in English!") personalities and plots are changed, etc... A lot of this is because of children's-show issues, either censoring things they don't think kids should be exposed to (alcohol and homosexuality in Sailor Moon) or trying to make it "more appealing to the market" by giving perfectly sweet kids an attitude problem and playing up the male character (Cardcaptors).


Voice Acting is improving and censorship is not the fault of the dub, you want that to change knock some sense into the advertisers, and parents of kids, many who seem to think all they have to do is pop the kids out then hand their "safety" over to others that can tell the parents what is and is not good for the kids.

Or alternatively blame it on the culture which, at least in the U.S. is rather filled with hypocrisy about wanting to protect children form ideas of alcohol use and homosexuality, but one day suddenly expect them to just accept those concepts (for ill or for will) when it is possible they have not been exposed enough to accept them from the misplaced ideas on how to protect them.

Once again though jokes have to change, heck there are jokes I hear in the Southeastern U.S. that friends up north don't get, they almost have to change them to be jokes even in the sub and my thinking is entertainment does not need to be explained. If you have to take time to explain to the audience the meaning and conceptual possibilities of engaging in Temporal Displacement, you have already lost most of their interest by the time you return to story even if it takes only a few seconds to explain.

Even the ones that I see, which are explained within the dub with the additional the need for a sub, in anime such as Steel Angel Kurumi, I think a smart person could figure out that an Abiki (sp) had something to do with love as she is making "kissy faces" and the following dialogue that occurs after the word. It was nice to have the meaning given but was it neccessary to explain the word, no not really.

Also, don't ever, in my opinion, blame censorship, changing of jokes, etc. on the dubbing process but on the people and culture they come from that will bitch if things are not changed "for the good of the children" or to make jokes funny without having to explain the punch line. As I said too I think voice acting is improving tremendously since the days Speed Racer was aired on television.

[This message has been edited by SCDawg (edited 06-06-2004).]

#33

Count me as a sub watcher. I almost always watch my dvds with japanese audio w/english subs. Although I usually don’t mind english dubs when I’m watching Anime on TV. Which reminds me TP really needs to higher better voice actors for their dub of Rave.

#34
quote:
Originally posted by Benoit:
As stated in another thread, I prefer dubs. [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/smile.gif[/img]
Japanese voices are nice, but they make me feel like an outsider, making it harder to immerse myself into the story.

[This message has been edited by Benoit (edited 06-06-2004).]


But you just get use to it.. For me it just opposite from that...you know what I mean...

#35
quote:
Originally posted by papillon:

ISTR watching some special where Gaiman was talking about Mononoke Hime and how he'd changed some line about "This soup tastes like water" (horrible insult in Japanese, apparently) to "This tastes like donkey piss", because it got the point across better in English and it matched the mouth flapping. Which is all well and good, and Princess Mononoke was the best dub I've ever seen, but I still LIKE picking up bits of strange Japanese culture, and if calling soup water is a strong insult, I want to know about it!


I saw the mononoke hime on japanese version and it was great. But how was it in english version? Also, their is new movie called "sprits" by Hayao Miyazaki-san I should watch on japanese version...Anyway, I don't trust that much of english transation...
#36

Thanks for the disucussion. yeah…most of the information I need to know is the similar to me so I understand very well. Anyway, from here or next centry…english voice actors wil be better…so thay might intersted more…

#37
quote:
Originally posted by Computermania:
Also, their is new movie called "sprits" by Hayao Miyazaki-san I should watch on japanese version...Anyway, I don't trust that much of english transation...
Do you mean Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi), the all-time highest grossing theatrical release in Japan, 2001 Academy Award winner for "Best Animated Feature", and winner of other film awards too numerous to mention? Actually, that work is several years old now. Miyazaki's latest project is Howl's Moving Castle (Hauru no Ugoku Shiro). Mamoru Hosoda had been selected to direct it, but he unexpectedly left the project and Miyazaki came out of retirement to assume the director's role. It's scheduled to be released this Fall.


#38