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REVIEW: Ghost Stories


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CorneredAngel



Joined: 17 Jun 2002
Posts: 854
Location: New York, NY
PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 11:18 am Reply with quote
My basic take on all of this is that as long as the original Japanese version *is* available somewhere on the DVD, I don't care what happens to the dub. I mean, you don't see people going out and faithfully dubbing foreign live-action movies, do you? - there's the sub, and then (sometimes) there's the remake, and whichever one you're into is the one you end up watching, and the two are not, and are not expected to be, one and the same...
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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 2312
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 11:50 am Reply with quote
For some reason, this sounds to me like the first corporate fan parody. That gets a w00t from me.
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Mach5Motorsport



Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Posts: 38
Location: CA
PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 11:55 am Reply with quote
A free-for-all English dub track for Ghost Stories is ADVs big Otakon announcement?!?!? sheesh....... Confused Guess they'll sell an extra 20 copies now......
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Sir_Brass



Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Posts: 476
Location: Prescott, AZ
PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 11:56 am Reply with quote
I'll place this on my want list, and stick to the dub. There are a few titles in which I prefer the dub to the sub, and it sounds like that this series will be one of them.

I'm mostly a purist, but when the dub manages to make things LOTS better, I'll take the dub (I'm thinking of stuff like the El Hazard OVA, and Shinesmen as examples).
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ChibiGoku



Joined: 29 May 2004
Posts: 686
PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 11:59 am Reply with quote
I actually loved the original...
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Mach5Motorsport



Joined: 05 Jul 2005
Posts: 38
Location: CA
PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 12:06 pm Reply with quote
Sir_Brass wrote:
I'm mostly a purist, but when the dub manages to make things LOTS better, I'll take the dub (I'm thinking of stuff like the El Hazard OVA, and Shinesmen as examples).


That is soooo SUBJECTIVE. Just what qualifies as better? Arguably then, Harmony Gold's adaptation of Southern Cross and Mospeda into the second and third story arcs of Robotech would then be better than their original counterparts.
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Jimmy Balls-O-Steel



Joined: 10 Jul 2004
Posts: 60
Location: The Great White North
PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 12:07 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
And to be fair, this is from Stephen Foster, the man who managed to transform Sorcerous Stabber Orphen into an unrecognizable, incomprehensible head-scratcher.


Question Confused

I may have only seen it in English, but Orphen made plenty of sense to me. Also, is it really that different from the Japanese?
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hikaru004



Joined: 15 Mar 2004
Posts: 2306
PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 12:34 pm Reply with quote
Well I am a purist and I have problems with this if the original subtitle script is not available on DVDs.

If there was a problem with the title being sellable, then ADV could have passed on it.

I thought that we had progressed past this type of behaviour. Completely altering a title to fit a desired demographics is something that I would expect from 4Kids, but not from a major anime distributor like ADV.

CorneredAngel wrote
Quote:
My basic take on all of this is that as long as the original Japanese version *is* available somewhere on the DVD, I don't care what happens to the dub. I mean, you don't see people going out and faithfully dubbing foreign live-action movies, do you? - there's the sub, and then (sometimes) there's the remake, and whichever one you're into is the one you end up watching, and the two are not, and are not expected to be, one and the same...


Unfortunately, alot of people only watch dubs. These people may get an inaccurate impression of this title. They should also state on their packaging that the dub is not a translation of the original script, but an original ADV script.

I liked what they did on The Super Milk-chan Show. I just feel that the original should be available and adequate documentation if not.


Last edited by hikaru004 on Mon Aug 22, 2005 12:47 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 12:47 pm Reply with quote
hikaru004 wrote:
Well I am a purist and I have problems with this if the original subtitle script is not available on DVDs.

If there was a problem with the title being sellable, then ADV could have passed on it.

I thought that we had progressed past this type of behaviour. Completely altering a title to fit a desired demographics is something that I would expect from 4Kids, but not from a major anime distributor like ADV.


The original subtitle script along with the Japanese language track will be on the DVD release.

It says as much in the preview.
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lantis



Joined: 21 Jul 2005
Posts: 23
PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 1:19 pm Reply with quote
Joe Mello wrote:
For some reason, this sounds to me like the first corporate fan parody. That gets a w00t from me.


I would have to say that Shinesman should probably get that title. Although the Japanese is also sort of a comedy, Scott Houle's take on it for Media Blasters is always a big hit at any show and probably doesn't include most of the original script either.

I consider this the most overblown use of marketing I've seen in years.

doug
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antonmonter



Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 45
Location: nowere
PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 1:22 pm Reply with quote
Agree with hikaru004:

hikaru004 wrote:

If there was a problem with the title being sellable, then ADV could have passed on it.


I hope this doesn’t star a new trend among American licensors.
I mean, the “logic” (to call it someway) in the article was “if something doesn’t fit in the mass public taste, alter it until you make it profitable”. So, applying that way of “thinking” paint a moustache in the face on Mona Lisa and all the people that was bored of the old one will come to see the new –bastardized- version. If they wanted to shell an animated comedy aimed to adults, why they didn’t hire animators and a director and did it from scratch?

The most annoying part is that newbies still believe that foreign dubs are better than the original Japanese voice track.

Good that there are a lot of other shows available in the market and that there are better distribution companies that do translations that adapts better the original japanese dialogue, like AnimEigo.
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Coriandria



Joined: 22 Aug 2005
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 1:49 pm Reply with quote
Did anyone else find this article mildly insulting? Particularly this

Quote:
Clearly they have some talent for comedy and it shines more in material written for an American audience rather than the usual eye-roll-inducing Japanese-style comedy so prevalent in other anime.


Are they saying Japanese humor sucks? I like Japanese humor for me that kinda goes with the whole I like Anime. If you're not into japanese humor at all and find all this anime "eye-roll-inducing" I would say to that person clearly Anime isn't for you go watch Family Guy or whatever for American Humor in Cartoons if you want. Maybe I'm being insulting now but seriously I just felt this sudden urge to shout FU when I read that line.

Outside of that. I'm cool with them changing the script for the dub as long as the original is still available for me to watch, which it is.

My first post on these forums hope I didn't screw it up too bad.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 1:52 pm Reply with quote
antonmonter wrote:
Agree with hikaru004:

hikaru004 wrote:

If there was a problem with the title being sellable, then ADV could have passed on it.


So, applying that way of “thinking” paint a moustache in the face on Mona Lisa and all the people that was bored of the old one will come to see the new –bastardized- version. If they wanted to shell an animated comedy aimed to adults, why they didn’t hire animators and a director and did it from scratch?

The most annoying part is that newbies still believe that foreign dubs are better than the original Japanese voice track.


Ghost Stories is not the Mona Lisa. It isn't famous, it isn't a proven property, it doesn't even have a fanbase in the states since the fansubs weren't popular. It isn't that recognizable, if at all. ADV did something risky in order to sell copies of something that's a questionable investment; remember, most anime isn't "art", it's a commercial product, just like The Simpsons or Seinfeld or 24 or what-have-you. It's good and it has artistic and creative merit but it needs to sell, and that's the bottom line.

What bothers me about this is that the people screaming bloody murder wouldn't have bought this show anyway because none of them even knew what it was until this dub hit. To me that smacks of zealotry, blindly defending a "cause" without looking at the circumstances surrounding something.

Use a little logic. The thing has to make money, folks.
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jesspanda



Joined: 01 Jan 2005
Posts: 7
PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 2:01 pm Reply with quote
Honestly, I think ADV did a good job tailoring Colorful for American audiences. Both versions had crude and sometimes tastless jokes, but they converted some of the Japanese inside stuff to more recognizable American references in the dub, but left the original (at least I think) mostly untouched in the sub. It wasn't a complete re-do, because a lot of the jokes were visual, but it certainly made the show a lot less tedious (i.e. not reading snippets about "this reference means this or that").

~Jess~

P.S. I never got past ep.4 of Ghost Stories, but I didn't think it was THAT bad. It was at least something to pass the time in International Marketing class.
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Carja



Joined: 21 Dec 2003
Posts: 6
Location: Shawinigan-Sud, Quebec, Canada
PostPosted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 2:17 pm Reply with quote
antonmonter wrote:
The most annoying part is that newbies still believe that foreign dubs are better than the original Japanese voice track.

Good that there are a lot of other shows available in the market and that there are better distribution companies that do translations that adapts better the original japanese dialogue, like AnimEigo.


Why is it annoying? To me what's annoying is believing that a 'newbie' can't possibly know anything because he doesn't care for the same language track as you. It's just a matter of opinion. Here endeth the soapbox standing...

I'm not a huge fan of slipping in as many popular culture references into a series...it's what made me hate the second half of the Those Who Hunt Elves dub (though Samurai Pizza Cats rule)...but if it helps ADV make a little extra cash on a series that they may or may not have been researched enough before they licensed it, then what's the harm? The more accurate sub is there for those who may have genuinely cared for this series. Since dubs suck, you wouldn't have watched it anyway right? Wink
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