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From the Gallery - A Need (not preference) for Dubs




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Vigilante024



Joined: 11 Jul 2003
Posts: 578
Location: back. but not really.
PostPosted: Thu May 06, 2004 5:06 pm Reply with quote
I agree alot with this, especially more recently, when I've noticed I've been watching more dubbed anime while I do other things. I just don't have much time to fully give my attention to watching subbed, and with dubbed I don't always have to be looking at the screen to not miss something. Half the time when I watch anime now I'm also doing other things that require some attention too, the attention that normally would have gone to reading the subs.
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4543
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Thu May 06, 2004 5:54 pm Reply with quote
Well, maybe dubs are a need for some, but I've worn glasses since I was about 10 (though not on a regular basis until I was in my late teens) and I didn't start watching subtitled anime on a regular basis until late-summer 1994, when I was a few weeks shy of turning twenty, and my preference is still always for subs, even if I have not-too-spectacular eyesight.

I don't mind watching dubs on TV or at the movies, but, if I'm watching a DVD by myself, I'll only watch the dub in one of four circumstances:

  1. I'm writing a review of it.
  2. Out of curiousity.
  3. If I'm on the computer typing stuff (or it's late at night and I'm lying in the plush armchair with the ottoman strung out on Benadryl, my drug of choice, trying to doze off) and I want to pay attention but not too much attention.
  4. If I'm on the computer and it's one of those DVDs that ignores my DVD player presets for "Japanese" and "English subtitles" and I'm feeling too lazy to press the AUDIO and SUBTITLE buttons.


It's not to say I don't think that there are some good dubs, especially You're Under Arrest, but, if I said there were any instances where I didn't prefer the Japanese audio, I would be lying, and if I'm in a mood wherein I feel like watching episodes of a cartoon in English, I just put in one of my King of the Hill, South Park, or Futurama DVDs.

EDIT: Also, Kodansha, the Japanese licensor for Cardcaptor Sakura, licensed to Nelvana because they were interested in the "big money" from the kiddy TV audience, not the "little money" from the purist niche. As it turned out, pretty much all they got in the end was the "little money" from the purist niche, but it's not the level of profits they were expecting to make even if the subtitled release was successful by purist niche standards. Yes, Pioneer/Geneon would have done a much better job with the dub from day one, but, at best, had Pioneer/Geneon gotten the license rather than just the sublicense, a more accurate Cardcaptor Sakura dub would have been relegated to cable if it had shown up on television at all since Pioneer/Geneon is not really in the kiddy TV syndication game, they just distribute some of the DVDs of the people that are.
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2004 6:52 am Reply with quote
Funny. I could have thought I had originally started this thread but for some reason Vigilante024 has taken that place and mine has vanished. Oh well, Must be the intarnet stumbling into the "TwilightZone" again.
Anyway I'll add (again) that I thought that report was well written. I had a similar arguement with AnimEigo back in 2000 requesting that they dub KOR and UY. But they were still feeling the sting from the "Angst Otaku" over their alleged poor dub of BGC, and flatly refused. Thankfully they have recovered from that set back and have decided to dub UY anyway, and hopefully KOR too in future. I loved KOR, Can't wait for the TV series to get licensed soon.

Last edited by Mohawk52 on Sat May 15, 2004 2:40 am; edited 1 time in total
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Godaistudios



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2075
Location: Albuquerque, NM (the land of entrapment)
PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2004 3:58 pm Reply with quote
Umm... you hope that the KOR TV series gets licensed soon? Confused

It's been licensed (and out on DVD) for awhile by Animeigo, so I'm not really clear by what you meant in your last sentence.
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Sat May 15, 2004 2:44 am Reply with quote
Godaistudios wrote:
Umm... you hope that the KOR TV series gets licensed soon? Confused

It's been licensed (and out on DVD) for awhile by Animeigo, so I'm not really clear by what you meant in your last sentence.
If you mean that it is licensed in the US, I knew that. I ment in the UK. Different market I'm afraid. Crying or Very sad
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Godaistudios



Joined: 12 Jun 2003
Posts: 2075
Location: Albuquerque, NM (the land of entrapment)
PostPosted: Sat May 15, 2004 5:29 am Reply with quote
Ah, I had considered that a possibility, but had to admit I was a little lost there.

I suspect though, that since there was no "test" market for the dub in the U.S. that Animeigo wouldn't consider it to be financially sound for them to make a dub for the U.K. Of course, I could be wrong on this, but I just don't see it happening.
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Sat May 15, 2004 5:57 am Reply with quote
Godaistudios wrote:
Ah, I had considered that a possibility, but had to admit I was a little lost there.

I suspect though, that since there was no "test" market for the dub in the U.S. that Animeigo wouldn't consider it to be financially sound for them to make a dub for the U.K. Of course, I could be wrong on this, but I just don't see it happening.
Well it is a bit tough understanding American but it is still easier than Japanese Laughing

Seriously though and we already get some of AnimEigo's titles through their UK licensee, MVM. He just hasn't got that title series in R2 PAL yet.
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