×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Black lagoon english or japanese?




Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Anime
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Damius



Joined: 06 Jul 2006
Posts: 79
Location: Montreal, Canada
PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 10:31 am Reply with quote
I want to see this series, but my question is:

I always watch the japanese version with sub for an anime. There is an exeption like Cowboy bebop.

So, is BL an exeption where the people that normally watch the japanese version for all anime watch this series in english?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Deltakiral



Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 3338
Location: Glendora, CA (Avatar Hei from Darker than BLACK)
PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 2:37 pm Reply with quote
Damius wrote:
I want to see this series, but my question is:

I always watch the japanese version with sub for an anime. There is an exeption like Cowboy bebop.

So, is BL an exeption where the people that normally watch the japanese version for all anime watch this series in english?


I think that the English Dub of Black Lagoon is very good although I think that I like it a little bit more then other simply because it's an Ocean Dub and I generally love their work. That said I think that original Japanese is probably better although I think that there isn't anything wrong with English dub. It just doesn't seem like it's one of the dub where it's better then the original Japanese like GITS and FLCL.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail My Anime My Manga
Damius



Joined: 06 Jul 2006
Posts: 79
Location: Montreal, Canada
PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 10:22 pm Reply with quote
thank you
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Key
Moderator


Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18456
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 10:28 pm Reply with quote
From ANN's review of vol. 1:

Quote:
The English Dub, produced by Ocean Productions for Genon, sparkles. Maryke Hendriske, who was probably previously best-known for the much tamer role of Lunamaria in Gundam Seed Destiny, will certainly get much more attention for this one, as she nails the temperament and attitude of her hard-spoken character at least as good as, if not better than, the original seiyuu. Dean Redman, in his debut anime performance, makes Dutch sound convincingly like a big, deep-voiced American black man, which corrects arguably the biggest flaw in the original Japanese dub (seiyuu Tsutomu Isobe, by comparison, just makes him sound like your typical deep-voiced Japanese man), while veteran Brad Swaile (Gundam's Amuro Ray, among many others) succeeds at making Rock sound wimpy and frustrated but with sparks of brilliance. Other roles are, at worst, cast and performed as good as the originals. For as smooth as the deliveries are, the English script sticks impressively close to the original, only adding in the occasional filler line or extra profanity – and a lot of harsh language already carries over directly from the Japanese.


Short version? This is one of the better dubs out there right now. At the very worst, it's as good as the original, and arguably an improvement.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
v1cious



Joined: 31 Dec 2002
Posts: 6229
Location: Houston, TX
PostPosted: Thu Jul 05, 2007 10:59 pm Reply with quote
i love the English dub so far, especially Balalaika's voice. the woman who plays her is perfect. same with Rock.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Tony K.
Subscriber
Moderator


Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 11443
Location: Frisco, TX
PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:35 am Reply with quote
I'm a big sub fan. And as awesome a job as Daisuke Namikawa and Megumi Toyoguchi did, I actually would recommend you watch it in English. Of course, I'm also a big Ocean-Vancouver fan and have been since getting into anime, but the whole language setup is actually very unique the way they wrote it.

You see, in the Japanese track, the implication is that Rock actually speaks both Japanese and English. The BL crew, Balalaika, and everyone else is suppose to be speaking English, and hence Rock speaks to them naturally in "English," but Japanese since the Japanese speak.. Japanese.

However, in the second season, there's actually a language barrier later on when Rock and Revy go to Japan, where the Japanese actually speak Japanese, while Rock is interpreting the Japanese as.. get this, "English." Revy in particular isn't suppose to be understanding a single word anyone says because she's Chinese-American. Same for Balalaika, she speaks Russian and English. Rock is their interpretor the entire time of that arc.

So if you don't want some really bad Engrish come Second Barrage, then I'd recommend you stick with the English dub from the get go.

But let me say, this is by far Brad Swaile's best role I've heard, and the supporting cast is kick-ass. Everyone gets Japanese pronunciations correct, Revy retains most (not quite all) of the proper inflection in her voice, Dutch is actually played by a black guy, and Balalaika has enough of a Russian accent to make you think she's actually Russian (Ocean-Van is good at doing those).

I don't know what Chang or those Yakuza are going to sound like yet, but just from Vol.1 alone, I can say with confidence that the dub matches the already Excellent seiyuu cast very, very, very, very well. I love them both! The only advantage I'd give the dub, though, is when that Engrish stuff comes up later. So there ya' go.

Bottom line: you can't go wrong either way. But I thought I'd let you know the particular nature of the languages themselves, first Wink.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
calawain



Joined: 11 May 2007
Posts: 192
Location: New York, NY
PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:22 am Reply with quote
Yeah I'll reiterate some of what Tony K. said, in the second season Revy does spend a lot of time speaking some really really bad Engrish, espescially swearing in it. I found it really awkward and kind of hard to listen to, so I think personally when I get around to renting the whole set from Netflix when it comes out, I'll be using the dub. The language issues in the second season with the translations and such do get quite confusing at times and struck me as really odd.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
frentymon
Forums Superstar


Joined: 27 Nov 2005
Posts: 2362
Location: San Francisco
PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 12:38 pm Reply with quote
I've never seen the Black Lagoon dub, but from watching the show it probably works better dubbed. The Japanese version had some really painful Engrish, and many English swear words awkwardly situated around Japanese sentences.

Also, you get to really hear some of the badass dialogue for yourself instead of just reading it on the screen.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address My Anime
Zalis116
Moderator


Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 6900
Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:19 pm Reply with quote
Damius wrote:
I want to see this series, but my question is:

I always watch the japanese version with sub for an anime. There is an exeption like Cowboy bebop.

So, is BL an exeption where the people that normally watch the japanese version for all anime watch this series in english?
To be honest, I haven't seen either version of Black Lagoon (series subbed by "that one group" tend to go on my ignore list). But, I don't think you should worry about issues like "Is Black Lagoon one of those anime like Bebop that people thought was better in English?" If you like anime better in Japanese, then watch it that way. Listen to the English dub a little bit, and if you like it, keep watching it; if you don't, stick with the Japanese version. Decide for yourself, don't let other people decide for you.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7994
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:52 pm Reply with quote
I prefer the English for this one simply because it fixes all the swearing so it sounds more natural. The Japanese VAs, when they're speaking English in the series which is offen, are not that great with it either. Not to mention the dub is pretty darn good too.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Damius



Joined: 06 Jul 2006
Posts: 79
Location: Montreal, Canada
PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 11:21 pm Reply with quote
Zalis116 wrote:
To be honest, I haven't seen either version of Black Lagoon (series subbed by "that one group" tend to go on my ignore list). But, I don't think you should worry about issues like "Is Black Lagoon one of those anime like Bebop that people thought was better in English?" If you like anime better in Japanese, then watch it that way. Listen to the English dub a little bit, and if you like it, keep watching it; if you don't, stick with the Japanese version. Decide for yourself, don't let other people decide for you.

Of course, that was exactly what I was intend to do. But I just want to know the opinion of people
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Anime All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group