Forum - View topicThe List - 8 Horrible Anime Dub Opening Songs
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trunkschan90
 Posts: 592 Location: California |
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No Knights of Zodiac (Saint Seiya) opening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpxrsEAIMT4 
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18395 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Wow, I had never heard that version of the Escaflowne opener before. It's actually not awful, but it suffers by comparison because the original is one of the all-time-great anime opening themes, so I think its place on here is deserved.
And I'll second the vote for a version of this list a few weeks down the road which focuses on the best dubbed OPs/EDs, as some have been done very right. For OPs, Kiddy Grade immediately springs to mind, but I'll agree with a previous poster that Fruits Basket could be at least considered. For EDs, Shin-chan would have to be there, as would Blue Gender. (Please note that the BG one is the song only, as I couldn't find the song with the ED visuals.) |
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sepherest
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Same here. There are some old OP dubs I can't stand to listen to now but I still don't mind MKR's english intros. The Sega Saturn game intro version, that's another story... 
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belvadeer
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Ditto, the Cardcaptors dub opening is actually quite catchy, and still is. The thing is, when these shows were first dubbed, we were all younger and likely didn't think about what the "original opening" sounded like...because "original opening" wasn't part of our thought process when first seeing these shows. We just watched like good little consumer spawn and became slaves to anime from that point on. Come on people, we should laugh at ourselves a little. After all, we're jaded adults now and jaded adults always say, "Wow I can't believe I liked this _____ as a kid." XD As for werewolves, what about that one guy who turned into a werewolf in Slayers and promptly got "rocked" for being too scary? XD |
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Keichitsu0305
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Oh my gosh. The high note at the end was pretty bad but, nowhere near as hilariously awful as the Magic Knight Rayearth opening; I wasn't expecting to choke on my lunch from laughter but, WOW! If you are having a bad day, just type in Unyielding Wish Full English in YouTube and laugh for a good hour. 
The Ronin Warriors just sounds lazy; they just say their elements and some person in the BG is talking about the plot with little to no emotion.
Kero? He sounds like a grown man trying to be hip in order to appeal towards the young audience (wait, what did he say in this scene?) Also, if the script is bad then that means the translators had to edit too much content from the original and, the voice acting was bad as well. Pronunciation is part of the voice acting so, it's still at fault. The Cardcaptors opening is also typical "Let's explain the plot of the series, names of characters, and/or say the title a few times just in case you are too stupid to remember". I'm surprised Sailor Moon's opening isn't on the list since it's bland compared to Moonlight Dentsu. I agree with Key and the previous poster about Fruits Basket; love the show but, the singer (Meredith McCoy) sounds like she's gonna fall asleep. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11555 |
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I have to admit I hadn't heard most of these before, so a couple of things made me wince. "It's hard to save the world when you're falling in love"?? What a great message for little girls.
And did that CCS lyric really say, "the Powers was set free"? Is "Powers" some sort of singular group name, like the United States or something? Does the series then have lines like, "The Powers wants to rule the world so if the Powers is allowed to escape, we're doomed"? (I have no clue about the actual plot  )
I've also never seen more than a few episodes of Shaman King on dvd, but I actually really liked that English OP. Can't say the Japanese version got my attention at all. |
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Surrender Artist
 Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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The 4Kids opening for One Piece is amazing, just the same way as a giant cuttlefish fighting a giant three-toed sloth would be amazing.
When I was in high school, some times I would turn to Cartoon Network on Saturday nights to listen to the English version of Rurōni Kenshin's OP. Its just... something. I was surprised to find that the seemingly incongruous tone, among other things, was inherited from the Japanese original. I like that Magic Knight Rayearth opening. It feels somehow right. This is the first time that I've heard it, so I have no specific nostalgica affection for it, although I understand those whom I know do. Then agan, my favorite vocalists are people like Tom Waits and Captain Beefheart, so my ears might be broken. As many missteps as it yielded, sometimes I miss the practice of making English version of opening and closing songs. Sometimes it was kind of interesting. I think it worked sometimes too. I really like the english version of Key the Metal Idol's opening and prefer it to the Japanese version. And of course there's always Dominion Tank Police. So what if it's repetetive and cheesy? It has a Hell of a lot more personality than the original. Last edited by Surrender Artist on Sun Jul 28, 2013 12:16 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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KazeFuu
Posts: 8 |
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I haven't heard quite a few of these ones but there are a couple that were either translated (Monster Rancher) or used as is (Escaflowne) for the Latin American openings, which are quite notorious on changing the songs to spanish (most turn out ok). At least they kept a female voice for the english version of Magic Knight Rayearth opening, for the latin american version they used a very deep voice guy (I like it, but mostly for nostalgic reasons).
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PurpleWarrior13
 Posts: 2034 |
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I actually REALLY like that opening! It fits in with the 80s feel of the show (even if it is a cover). I do like the Japanese song as well though. |
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TitanXL
 Posts: 4036 |
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I always preferred "Flush" myself. Pretty much anything that sounds cheap-y, lazy, or rap-y. Given how almost all these openings are from hackjob dubs, it shows you just how little effort they put into the opening and how little they care for the property overall compared to the original Japanese companies. I especially hate it when it's just a few words or a phrase repeated over and over like Digimon or Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monster's. I guess that's just marketers pushing for kids to remember their brand name through repetition, or if they just explain the plot of the show through song like One Piece, Cardcaptors, and Pokemon. Again, pretty clear they do that so kids tuning in for the first time know whats going on, because we all know marketers think kids are stupid. Though to be fair you see all this in western cartoons as well so it's hardly exclusive to bad anime dubs .
I always get a kick at how they made a theme to a shounen fighting anime about running away and being scared. That's the total opposite of what shounen heroes do. |
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Myaow
 Posts: 1068 |
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Forgive me Rebecca but this is one point which I must FIGHT YOU TO THE DEATH for! I love cheesy Italian anime theme songs with all my heart, the sillier and power-rockier the better! (The ones you listed are kind of doinky though, I'll give you that!) One of my favorites: Digimon, which lists the main characters' names in the chorus but runs out of room and leaves one poor hero "unsung," yet is still SO catchy!! Some of the anime which ended up on this list got TOTALLY AWESOME theme songs in Italy. Behold Italian Sakura, Italian Rayearth! I know Escaflowne aired on Italian TV but I can't seem to find an Italian theme song-- it may be that they took a gander at Yoko Kanno's work and said "yeah we're not touching that." But yeah. Italian anime music!!!! Sigh! |
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PurpleWarrior13
Posts: 2034 |
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Italian theme songs are my some of my favorite anime themes ever:
DRAGON BALL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKZx_P0tPmA DRAGON BALL Z: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozKql_qd8E4 DRAGON BALL GT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV1vMR2wMNk SLAYERS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yMX62JAz1E SAINT SEIYA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq2UMTJrK9c SHAMAN KING: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obfYJWxytqM ONE PIECE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1PnYXCav5Y DIRTY PAIR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSmObmAqp9M SAILOR MOON: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EJ97S6Uf34 SAILOR MOON R: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8QPClodA6E SAILOR MOON S: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5y4xA3merY SAILOR MOON SUPERS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6wtDif4Uqc SAILOR MOON STARS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0CA1fZfvO4 |
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pachy_boy
Posts: 1335 |
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I realize now I wasn't clear, but I was in fact talking about the full-length version. |
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belvadeer
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Holy crap, thank you for that! I still have the opening recorded on VHS somewhere. |
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EmperorBrandon
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 2214 Location: Springfield, MO |
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Ah, I bought one of those too. Can't remember where. Think it may have been a GameStop... I agree with those who want Cardcaptor Sakura to be license rescued. I bought the original Geneon releases as they came out and am happy with them, but it's my favorite anime series, so I'd love for it to be available in the US again. I'd probably double-dip on it if there's even the slightest reason to do so (new extras, new dub, Blu-ray, etc.) |
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