Forum - View topicWhy do people overhype Cowboy Bebop's English dub?
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ReverseTitan
 Posts: 109 Location: Hong Kong |
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I mean, it's been outclassed for several years and people still think it's the best dub of all time, when it's not. People also say that the director said the dub was>the original, when he never said that. In fact, I heard that when he was in the UK, he specifically chose the viewing experience to be in Japanese, because that's what Watanabe himself said, so even if he did care for the dub, which he most certainly does not, he still obviously prefers the original track. Dub fans of this show tend to bash the Japanese original/other dubs saying that they suck, when any other anime with Hayashibara, Yamadera and Ishizuka would never get this. Blum is good as Spike, but Yamadera is better. He makes Spike sound like a cocky, cool guy, while Blum isn't as laid back. Hayashibara has a better delivery than Lee, though Lee is still fine and Beau's Jet is not consistent. The only Bebop crew member which is arguably better is Melissa Fahn as Ed. The script takes a lot of liberties and a scene was even changed in tone, which kinda messes it up. The script isn't close to literal. It borderlines on liberal-accurate.
As for dubs which outclassed it, I can think of many. Akira Pioneer: Dubbed by the same studio, yet has a tighter script and the voice acting seems more natural from Bosch and Seth, compared to Blum and Beau. Death Note: The script is tighter and Swaile is dead on as Light. His laughs give me chills and the supporting cast such as Cathy Weseluck, Brian Drummond and Kirby Morrow give more energy to Death Note than the cast of Bebop. Black Lagoon: Sharper voice acting and follows the Japanese script better. Novice VA Dean Redman sounds more natural and black than Beau and never falters. Revy's voice is moderately inferior to the original, but still captures her essence and personally nigh perfectly. Chang's VA is perfect and does what Blum didn't do. Big O/Big O II: Blum sounds more focused than he does as Spike, due to more experience and VAs like Jamieson Price, Lia Sargent, Crispin Freeman all give their characters charm and personality. Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex series/Innocence: The script for these shows are better and Blum's Laughing man not only shows some of his range, it is better delivered than Spike and shows some irony there. Crispin Freeman's deadpan Togusa and Dave Wittenberg's cool Saito, not to mention Mary McGlynn's serious and focused Major and Richard Epcar's aggressive Batou all make this dub great. Also, the Japanese don't care for this dub either. People need to stop thinking Japanese fans of CB even care about this dub. One person said that it was surprising that CB's dub wasn't on the JP BD, due to its "reputation" or whatever. Well that "reputation" is limited to the United States, since the Japanese honestly do not care about the dub and they never have as a matter of fact. Not Watanabe and not regular fans. I never saw Lee win any prizes for Faye in Animage compared to Hayashibara in 99 and 00. I love the dub, but it's not the best on a voice acting level or a script level, so why do people still think that the dub is Ichiban, when it's not even Sanban? |
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getchman
 He started itPosts: 9134 Location: New Hampshire |
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why do you care so much?
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KyuuA4
 Posts: 1361 Location: America, where anime and manga can be made |
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Overhype? Bebop's Japanese VA work was so bad - such that I never ever listened to it.
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Darksorrow29
Posts: 412 Location: United States |
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^ What makes the Japanese VA work so bad? I prefer it over the English.
To the OP... you have to consider how many people have WATCHED Cowboy Bebop vs every other show you mentioned. Yes you also mentioned extremely popular shows, but for a lot of people Bebop was their first anime or the first thing they saw on Adult Swim back in the day. |
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Wrathful
 Posts: 372 |
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Never really liked Cowboy Bebop enough to really appreciate dubbed version. However people loves to put universally praised shows in a high pedestal for a very long time even though there are other shows as good as the former came out. Must be something to do with at the time of the release, it was really hard to find the dubbed anime in the same quality as Japanese version.
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Looneygamemaster
 Posts: 192 |
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I think that's pretty much the case. At a time when most English dubs were either hackjobs, clever hackjobs or half-hearted attempts to play it straight, Bebop's dub showed everyone that an English dub could be not just good, but the preferred viewing choice. |
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SpacemanHardy
Posts: 2511 |
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One of the main reasons Bebop's dub is so hyped and well-thought of is because of it's impact on anime as a whole. Like mentioned above, before the show came out, you either had really terrible dubs, bland, mediocre dubs, or a few fairly good dubs that changed a lot of the source material.
Bebop came out and proved to the world that not only could you make an English adaptation that stayed true to the source, but that it could be well-acted and competently directed as well. Basically, there were dubs before Cowboy Bebop, and there were dubs after Cowboy Bebop. Is it still considered "the absolute best dub of all time" in this day and age? Many still think so. Others not so much. But the impact that it had on anime culture here in the West was so great that even if you don't like it, you still have to respect it. For many, like myself, it was their first big stepping stone into the medium. Without Bebop, there's a good chance many fans would've never taken anime seriously, thinking of it as nothing but stuff like DBZ and Pokemon. It was the show - and by extension, the dub - that made me an anime fan. And that's why it will ALWAYS be my favorite. 
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Chiibi
 Posts: 4829 |
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Everything about Bebop is over-hyped, if you want my opinion. :p
*people throw things at her* |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18459 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I can easily see why more recent anime fans might find CB to be overhyped: because it is hard for them to appreciate just how much of an impact the show had and how far beyond the normal scope of anime viewership the title reached. Even people who aren't anime fans still watched it and appreciated it, and it was, without question, one of the biggest "gateway" titles of the early 2000s. It also has a cool factor to it that many anime titles only wish they could aspire to and one of the all-time-great anime OSTs.
As for the voice acting, to each his own, I guess, if you prefer the Japanese dub over the English dub, but this is one of the few anime dubs that even people who normally won't listen to dubs will make an exception for. (And really, has an English dub ever been made that fans will universally agree is better than the original? Hell, some people even prefer the awful original dub of Speed Grapher over the immensely better English dub.) I have always found it consistently well-acted and appropriately-cast, with Blum's performance of Spike being one of the iconic anime performances. While even better dubs may have come along later (and yes, I'll agree that Black Lagoon is one of them), it's definitely one of the top - if not the top - dub of its era. |
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Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6901 Location: Kazune City |
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What it comes down to, to snowclone from the formerly-useful tropes site, is "First audio track wins." And for many people, Cowboy Bebop's English dub was the first version people heard. Same with other well-regarded or grudgingly-accepted dubs like Pokemon, DBZ, Trigun, Outlaw Star, Inuyasha, etc. Dubs that got widespread exposure on US TV are often favorably regarded as "the only good dubs out there" by people whose first exposure to most shows is the Japanese version, even though those dubs were hardly made in a vacuum. I'm not declaring those dubs to be good or bad, just that there's a reason they get a lot of hype. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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All your ranting aside, this is where you really lose me:
Swaile's inferior performance changed Light's personality into something far less impressive so it is impossible for him to have been "dead on" as you claim. The rest of the cast were middling at best, Brian Drummond being one of the worse performers in how he took Ryuk from being a scary monster to a mere guy dressed in an unconvincing halloween costume who needs to clear his throat more often. |
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Or, ya know, it could be that a lot of people just genuinely find it really excellent. This whole thread and most of the posts in it seems very silly to me. I mean, if certain people feel that the Bebop dub isn't as great as most people think I can totally respect that. I think those people are wrong but that's fine. They evidently had a moderately different reaction to it than I did. But when those people start blabbing about how others think it's great because most dubs at the time sucked, or because the show is super popular, or because of whatever stupid reason they put forth that others don't actually simply find it great...well that's the point at which I just roll my eyes. |
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Sohma_Curse
 Posts: 512 Location: New York |
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Personally, I think School Rumble has the best English dub of all time. Luci Christian and Brandon Potter give two hilariously sharp performances as the male and female leads, Chris Cason is equally as insane as Hanai, and the rest of the supporting cast are perfect in their respective roles. The English script is absolutely hysterical and well-written too.
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Looneygamemaster
Posts: 192 |
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 Did...I ever say otherwise? I was just trying to speculate on the impact it had.
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Chiibi
Posts: 4829 |
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Actually, I didn't like it and I don't know why. o_o I should. Luci is one of my favorites. But when I watched the first ep, I was like "meh". The best dub of all time? Nerima Daikon Brothers Yes. Trust me. All other dubs should bow to it and weep. :'D |
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