Forum - View topicJapanese OP's versus American OP's
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Abarenbo Shogun
 Posts: 1573 |
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I've noticed in the past decade or so, American animation has severely turned the iconic opening song into a nonsensical mash of tunes that someone with dyslexia pounding a keyboard hyped up on meth could produce.
I mean, compare Naruto's Japanese opening versus the US TV edit. The Japanese opening, it's grand song intro melds and feels like it fits the story of Naruto. It's almost like it's making you get ready to watch an exciting eposde of Naruto!! The US TV edit? 5 random guitar riffs and some guy grunting out nonsensical Japanese in an attempt to see how many seconds we can shave off to fit some commercial for this POS product i'll never buy: 
I mean, I guess I'm abit bias, seeing that I grew up in the 80's and I was spoiled rotten with such catchy and memorable song openings like the Thundercats or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I think thats one of the reasons what attracts me to Japanese Anime: I get my moneys worth even with the intro song. Am I right in thinking this? Is US OP's really as crap as JP OP's?? |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18435 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Songs used in openers and closers are licensed separately from the anime itself, and sometimes the importing company either can't get the license at all or can't get it for a reasonable price. This is, unfortunately, not an uncommon occurrence; Speed Grapher and Kodocha are two recent examples, but there are many others. And, granted, there are a few cases where the American company just outright decides to change the opener for demographic reasons. Not sure which category Naruto falls into, but I am sure there's others on this site who could comment on that. |
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DKL
 Posts: 1962 Location: California, USA |
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Actually, they used the Japanese intro (or, the song at least) in last night's Naruto.
They probably changed it back since they already grabbed the target audience. ANYWAY, I'd actually like to kinda drive the topic in the direction of adapted OPs (When the credits are translated and flashed in English) ... I really like what Studiopolis (or whoever they outsourced the job to) did with Bleach... It was pretty good (and colorful). ... But anyway, they switched the Naruto OP last night. |
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DemonEyesLeo
 Posts: 844 Location: Japan |
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You do need to remember that the Japanese OP and ED themes are also sold in CDs as singles and full albums, which is why they are the way they are. In the US the OP is used for just one thing: introduce the show. In that sense the, I guess now old, Naruto opening for Toonami accomplished this (and at least it wasn't a crappy rap theme).
Yeah it's also used to allow the show to run in the allotted time frame and allow the ads to run, but that's how the stations make money. I agree that the ads are annoying, but I usually just change the channel. |
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Webki
 Posts: 299 Location: Albany, NY |
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My only complaint is the lack of Karaoke. It's a shame.
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Ataru
 Posts: 2327 Location: Missouri (Strikeman) |
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Karaoke? You mean subtitles for the song, and not BGM music of the theme and you sing the song, right? The kids can't read, remember.
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Lapis Lazuli Lolita
 Posts: 220 Location: The N-Field |
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Did someone seriously delete my post? It was completely relevant to the thread. The Japanese OP to the anime known to the US as "Dinozaurs" wasn't nearly as hilariously awesome as the American OP.
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PantsGoblin
 SubscriberEncyclopedia Editor  Posts: 2969 Location: L.A. |
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Generally, I like Japanese openings better. Mainly because they usually have more effort put into them. I do like some English opening themes though. The Pokemon theme is a classic. And for some reason, I liked the Cardcaptors opening... not as much as the Japanese, but I still liked it.
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DKL
Posts: 1962 Location: California, USA |
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OH YEAH!
The pokemon OP. Billy Crawford is awesome... they should've kept that song. As for me? Uhh... I dunno. I'm trying to think of an opening for US animation that grips me... Oh, the OP to Spongebob is awesome. I think I memorized the lyrics just by hearing it over and over again. |
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StudioToledo
 Posts: 847 Location: Toledo, U.S.A. |
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The need to put theme songs on CD's just never really became a thing at all in the US. There are times when I like to think Family Guy's opening theme could be written much longer if a CD Single had ever came out of it.
Also of note of how much longer Japanese OP/ED sequences tend to be verses the US, as the lengths of anime shown in Japan tend to be anywhere between 24-26 minutes, as opposed to the already-standard 22 we see here. |
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IchigoK90
 Posts: 1634 Location: Scarborough, Ontario |
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Sorry still using a crappy mac keyboard........not that macs suck just that this keyboard sucks. This means no questions marks and comas for me.
I was just wondering what people think of FUNimation and the fact that they translate some of the openings and closings into english lyrics. Examples would be the opening and closing for Tenchi Muyo GXP and the closing for Trinity Blood. I thought that they were pretty good. |
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Craeyst Raygal
 Posts: 1383 Location: In the garage, beneath a 1970 MGB GT. |
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Well, to me a dubbed opening for GXP was just fitting in with the old dubbed openings and closings for the OAV under Pioneer.
Heck, I even daresay that I prefer the English version of Talent For Love! Seems like the ol' Casio was in better tune when they rerecorded with Sharyn Scott. I've also long maintained that Koniiwa Hurricane from Bubblegum Crisis worked just as well in English as it did in Japanese, not losing any of its power or emotion in translation. True, there are some times when a new soundtrack or English version of a song just plain don't work (Initial D under Tokyopop, I'm looking square at you) but otherwise it's a case by case basis for me. And with dual-language DVD's and a remote control, it's pretty easy to click the button and get what I want. Really, in all consideration, an English opening is a courtesy to casual viewers on television and an extra inclusion on a DVD. |
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bahumut75
 Posts: 65 Location: Rochester, NY |
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That's really the biggest thing that I notice between Japanese and US openings. Most anime openings are right around 1:30 ish, but American shows are alot closer to 0:30 (this isnt something I'm trying to push off as a fact or anything, its just kinda of something I've noticed in the shows I've seen). Of course, out of the limited anime I've actually seen on American TV (I usually can't stand dubs  ) the OP lengths are usually the same length. However, I did watch a few episodes of Eureka 7 on AS, and it could just be me, but it definately felt like they just cut the opening short right in the middle of it.
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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The Japanese companies just need to start being responsible about this and liscense the songs for "international distribution within the bounds of the show", so that when they in turn sell the rights to the show to a US company, there's no haggling about picking up the show's music.
American original openings and endings are an abomination, nothing more than a generic rock track or rap attached to an endless repetition of the show's name. The only fairly recent opening that's worth anything is Foster's. |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I don't mind American OPs too much, mainly because I'd honestly rather have a shorter opening than have them have to cut actual bits of the episodes out in order to make them fit the North American time requirements.
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