Forum - View topicRobotech-Masterpiece Or Massacre?
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Kouji
 Posts: 978 |
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Why do so many anime fans hail Robotech in such high esteem as a classic in anime when it's such a heavily butchered dub? As a fan of the original Macross, I don't understand it. Harmony Gold originally wanted to just dub Macross but it didn't have enough episodes for the kind of U.S. syndicated release that Harmony Gold wanted, so they combined it with two completely unrelated anime series, Southern Cross and Mospeada, re-wrote the plots of the three shows, changed the music and most of the names of the characters, altered characters' personalities, and made cuts for censorship to make Robotech more kid-friendly for American television so that they could get more episodes.
Many Robotech fans consider the combining of three unrelated shows as being a "creative" idea when in reality it was nothing more than a money-making scheme to get more episodes. If Harmony Gold just wanted a longer show, why couldn't they have just created their own show instead of taking somebody elses plot and changing it around to suit their needs? I don't get how taking somebody elses plot and twinking things around to get it to play out how you wanted is a "creative" idea when just about anyone can do that. You don't need to go any further than fanfiction.net for proof of that and Robotech to me is nothing more than a big, animated fanfic of Macross. I also don't get why Robotech is the only edited dub to be considered a classic yet other butchered dubs like Cardcaptors and Yugioh are unfairly bashed by those same anime fans as being bad dubs. I guess it's because I didn't grow up with Robotech in the '80s and didn't start watching it until Toonami aired it in the mid-'90s may be why I don't quite understand Robotech's popularity, but I admit I used to be a fan of Robotech when I was a dubbie. However, now that I've seen the original and most of the sequels, it's hard for me to go back to watching Robotech. And before you start labelling me as a purist, I am not a purist fan. I do support the dubbing of anime and I do like dubs but only when they're dubbed uncut and have good voice artists, so I am not a purist fan. What is the appeal to Robotech? Why is it such a "creative" series? Why is it a classic milestone in anime's North American history? |
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dormcat
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 9902 Location: New Taipei City, Taiwan, ROC |
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It's called imprinting: ducklings calling the first living object they see "Mommy." Google "Konrad Lorenz" for more info. For many Western / American fans, Robotech is an imprinting "Mommy," and one doesn't and couldn't hate his Mom.
 quack
Cardcaptors and Yu-Gi-Oh appeared much later, so don't expect Robotech fans judging them with the same standard. |
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shadow_guyver
 Posts: 307 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
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It's like dormcat said. I started with Robotech, it's one of my earliest memories, no less. And it left quite the impression on me. To this day my favorite anime genre is mecha.
As for the "creative" editing deal, I think that comment has more to do with how they did it rather than that it was done. I certainly never imagined it was three seperate series until I read so. Also, it had some pretty heavy stuff for a show being aimed at kids. Let us not forget the various character deaths. They weren't just injured and wisked away from the battlefileds, oh no. They died. And they weren't just bit part characters either. Harmony Gold could have easily edited out their deaths by adding dialogue saying they weren't dead, but they didn't. They let the characters die. Sorry for repeating that over and over, but I feel this might be one of the "creative" touches people often talk about. Bottom line, Robotech introduced a generation to the idea that cartoons could be very serious. And that heroes could die. |
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Starwind Amada
Posts: 981 Location: Easton, PA, USA |
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This sounds like a complaint from one disgruntled Macross fan who doesn't like what anyone else says.
The truth is, no matter how many alterations were made, it still turned out to be a fantastic series. Unlike Cardcaptors and One Piece, the stories were not changed (just altered) and violence was intact. Slow scenes (such as conversations between Lisa and Claudia) were intact. Character development was intact. Characters died, they weren't "injured" and they didn't "escape in the nick of time". Also, the dub was fairly good (for its time), unlike the horrendous One Piece dub which makes me cringe every time I hear it (except for Marc Diraison as Zolo). And in case you didn't know, ADV is currently in the process of dubbing Macross in its original format. Thirty-six episodes, not 85. Profanity. Hikaru, Misa, and Minmei, not Rick, Lisa, and Minmay. The Macross landing on South Ataria Island, not the then-unnamed SDF-1 landing on Macross Island. Mari Iijima returning to reprise her role as Minmei. Macross's first English dub. Buy it when it's released if you truly loved Robotech (or Macross). |
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remember love
 Posts: 764 Location: Germany |
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All shows were made to make money...So what if that's the reasoning behind them to make robotech...It's the same reason why they bring out Full Metal Alchemist or cowboy bebop they want money... I still concider creative because it's such an unnatural thing to do.
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Nagisa
Moderator
 Posts: 6128 Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh |
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As other have said, Robotech gets off easy because it introduced more fans to anime than...arguably any other dubbed & televised anime series to date. It's not like One Piece or Dragon Ball Z, where it already had a score of fans before the dub to complain about it and stir up like-minded posers. And also, as others have said, it was actually a very lightly-edited dub in contrast to the aforementioned One Piece, DBZ, and also Sailor Moon, Card Captors, etc. At least until it stopped using Macross footage (and really, the Macross bits are all that most people ever remember of Robotech, anyway), things were kept largely intact barring obvious and ultimately trivial things like name changes and the odd drop of blood here & there.
So for the impact it actually had on the North American anime community, as well as the fact that it was actually a really well-handled edit, Robotech typically gets more praise from fans than scorn (and...really, deservedly so). |
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