Forum - View topicREVIEW: D.Gray-man DVD Season One Part One
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thaberkorn
Posts: 13 |
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Okay, guys - I've addressed the accent thing at panels and such, and its the biggest issue I deal with next to the casting of Kanda.
I tried episode one with an accent and my line producer said that Allen sounds less likable with an accent - so, we dropped it. I agree, he should have an accent - especially considering all the exotic locales, etc. However, consider this - if we're going to stay true to the geography of the show and give Allen a British accent along with the locals - then, you have to stay true to the language 'rules' with Miranda and others...Miranda, being in Germany, wouldn't have a German accent, she's speak German. Colleen Clinkenbeard doesn't speak German and we certainly don't have production time to teach her all her lines in German. Also, Narain in the later episodes is in India...he wouldn't be speaking with an Indian accent - he'd be speaking the native tongue. When you start going down this road, you realize that there are a lot of different languages we'd have to incorporate into the show. So, to avoid that and to avoid a Tom Cruise Valkyrie thing regarding accents and languages, we went neutral. Having said that, does the show's plot line change? Do we really stray that far from the translation? No on both points. The essence of the show is there along with all the drama, comedy, and suspense that was created by the Japanese. With that in mind, we aim to do our very best with the show every hour of every day of recording. Thank you for those that support us in the industry and I hope you keep watching 
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posterior_praiser
 Posts: 296 |
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I wonder why people always complain about the lack of accents in eurpoean situations. It's not like a french/russian/german/whatever accent in english is any more french/russian/german than someone speaking japanese. Plus, why make somene force a probably very bad British accent, when they could speak naturally and sound better?
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vulcanraven01
Posts: 677 |
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Sadly I have to agree that the dub is not one of the best I've witnessed from FUNi.
Like someone pointed out, it just felt like they got together anyone who was available at the time due to the huge list of licenses they have to get through. Lots of the main castings just didn't fit for me or stay true to the original characters personality. Allen and Kanda are prime examples for me. Both VA's just didn't fit the characters and showed a lack of flexibility by simply bringing forward past roles to the table rather than adjusting to meet the needs of the characters they were playing. As for accents, it wasn't a must for me, but the fact the majority of the cast sounded overly american is probably what brought this issue to my attention, along with everyone else. A slight tint in each characters speech would have been enough for me, as it'd help bring forth the idea that these Exorcists are brought from locations all over the world, uniting to fight the Akuma. Instead there is little distinction, and everything just sounds so generic. Then you have VA's who can't even probably pronounce stuff like 'Akuma', 'Komui' etc. Overall, I felt the dub was a huge let down. None the less, I'm not going to completely blame people in charge such as thaberkorn, but instead FUNi as a whole. If they would at least space these releases out and calm down on the licensing front, more time and effort could be put into their dubs like the old days, unlike now where the majority of their stuff is decent at best. |
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doctordoom85
 Posts: 2093 |
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Beck, Baccano, School Rumble, Ghost Hunt, Darker than Black, One Piece, etc., I would hardly say these dubs deserve to be labeled "decent at best". |
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Mr. Toto
 Posts: 139 |
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I'm cool with the lack of accents and voices. I saw the couple of episodes On Demand, and I liked the dub. There are so many characters in the series from different countries--it's either give everyone in the series an accent derivative from their country or make it neutral. The former, considering that not everyone is good at imitating an accent, would look a little silly. Although if done right, it could have been interesting.
Unfortunately, my problem with the D.Gray-man anime series is the animation itself. The palette used seems really washed out, and movement isn't anything special. Not to mention, something about Katsura Hoshino's style is lost in TMS's adaptation. |
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MRLN
Posts: 14 |
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I don't watch dubs, anyway. It's too difficult to catch what's happening and the subs don't have to match up with the faces, so there is more room for a better translation.
However, it is apparent that my taste in things are totally screwed up, as I really like the D.Grey-man anime. Allen's backstory is spread throughout the whole thing, and these random "monsters of the week" are helpful in getting to know the characters. And as for the "art style," if everything looks normal, that's fine by me. Again, my tastes are amazingly backwards, so don't bother trying to change my mind or anything. |
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Labbes
 Posts: 890 |
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It's interesting that you mention Valkyrie, because I didn't think it was handled very well there (only saw parts, though, Fair Use and such). However, British English is still as English as American English, as opposed to German, so I don't think your comparison is a very good one. I do get what you mean, though, and not using accents is definitely going a, for me, okay safe route, avoiding all the "how many accents/languages should we use?" kind of questions. |
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thaberkorn
Posts: 13 |
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I appreciate your point of view on the dub...I'll address your points, so you don't have to be in the dark about them, but actually know the situation. -I didn't cast just anyone who was available in the major roles. Out of almost two hundred auditioners, I chose the best of the bunch. True, you see a lot of people that are in most of our dubs, but there's a reason for that - they're some of the best voice actors we have and have proven themselves in numerous dubs beforehand. -in regards to the casting of Allen and Kanda: I tried several actors before having to go with Travis on the role of Kanda. It came down to finding someone who was fluent in an action role and someone who could, again, do the job well. I do think his voice was a little deep and old for Kanda, but we're not going to be able to please everyone. As for Allen, I'm sorry you aren't happy with my interpretation of the role - I tried to stay true to how I envisioned the character based on the research I did. All voice actors are going to bring similar personality traits to the characters they do after a while...I mean, we all can't do thirty plus different voices...and also, the roles we get cast for are going to play to our strong suits. For me, it seems to be gearing towards the young hero type. Perfect example is Keith David - he's done tons of voices...but, if you look at what he's done - he's used a pretty similar voice in multiple roles: Goliath in Gargoyles, the covenant creature in Halo, etc. -The accents were addressed earlier, but no one intentionally put on an 'overly American' accent...they just stuck to their normal voices and got into character...I'm not sure what you mean by a slight tint...but, I think they distinction that shows that everyone is gathering from different places is already done by having different actors play the various roles they play...by that alone, you're showing distinction. -As for pronunciation...its not that we don't know how to pronounce japanese terms...we hear them in the videos, we have people that have been working on japanese dubs for 10 years plus, and we have people that are japanese at Funimation and who speak it fluently. I chose to pronounce things the way they are pronounced because that's my prerogative as a director making a stylistic decision. Again, we can't please everyone. -As for rushing to get things out the door...I'll admit, we are getting pressure from the higher ups to move on this stuff as quickly as possible. But that's because we're trying to adjust to the changing anime market. Fans don't want to buy single disc releases anymore - so, we have to move even faster so we can release more discs per property and at a lower cost. Because we're selling discs at upwards of 40% less, we have to produce more to make up for the profit loss because we're responsible for the employment of TONS of people. Our profit margin is smaller, but our staff isn't and we have to adjust by trying to sell as many shows as possible. Another reason we're rushing is because fans complain that we release shows too far from when the show came out in Japan - so, we're trying to address that as well. But don't think we disregard quality in an respect. Everything still goes through numerous levels of inspection from head writers and line producers, to directors and the quality control department...because at the end of the day, we care about what goes out there. For example, me and the other professionals that worked on the first volume of d. gray man wouldn't have put literally hundreds of hours into the show if we didn't care about it being good. I welcome your thoughts on the show and I hope I was able to answer your concerns. If you continue to watch the show, thank you. If not, I hope that future releases are up to snuff so we don't lose your support. Thanks, Todd |
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thaberkorn
Posts: 13 |
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Sorry - here's what I meant by the Valkyrie comment... if they were going to be true to the time period, Tom Cruise would have been speaking German. Along with any other nazi soldier during that time period. Same with K19 - that Harrison Ford movie...they wouldn't be speaking with Russian accents, they'd be speaking Russian. |
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EdoRocksMySocks
 Posts: 56 Location: Kentucky, USA |
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Dubs try accents, they get bashed for sounding 'fake'.
Dubs don't try accents, they get bashed for not 'trying'. I swear, English dub companies never get a break. They're trying to make the best dub they can in the amount of time they're given and no one seems to appreciate it. English voice actors do what they can. They play the role like an actor would in a movie. It's not about changing your voice, it's about acting, the believablity behind the voice and if you feel that voice suits the character, ignoring the twang it might have. I'm from Kentucky, so maybe that's why Allen's voice didn't have an accent (American) to me. I thought he sounded fine (well, he sounded almost like a younger Watanuki, but oh well  ) and the voice suited him. I mean, no one said anything about the Japanese voice actor having a British Japanese sound, did they? I wish people would give the American voice actors the benefit of the doubt instead of hitting them up with problems every time a dub comes out. Geez.
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2633 |
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I didn't watch the D-gray man dub so no comment on that specifically (I watched a few episodes of the series when it first aired and it just wasn't for me).
But my general rule of thumb is I dislike fake accents. If they got real British actors that would be one thing but I think it is smart to leave fake ones out. I always think it's more important for dubs to stay true to the characters' personalities then to be authentic to the characters' origins. And speaking of fake accents this is one of the reasons I am not too fond of the Baccano dub. |
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Fujikira
 Posts: 6 |
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The dub itself isn't "terrible", some of the voices I enjoy (I rather not play favorites), but the only one that bugs me is Travis Willinghams Kanda.
Don't get me wrong he's a very good VA IMO, but if he just put his voice up a bit, and out of that deep tone I would like it much more. I heard Jerry Jewell had originally recorded all the lines for the first set as Kanda, but that was were Travis came in.
Liebrechts Lavi is almost perfect if he could let his Train Heartnet voice be at it's full potential, but I can understand if recording for The Earl can strain his voice in a way. Todd's Allen is handled okay, as seeing as he tried to get accents It makes me feel more better that Funi tried rather than not considering it at all. Brad Hawkins (This being his first big role) pulls off a excellent Tyki Myki.
The story has it's flaws, but also has it's goods. It has cliche elements, but also has enjoyable characters, and parts of the story that keep me watching through it. Although i'm curious as speaking of accents how the VA cast of Baccano! handled doing accents for thier characters respectively. |
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hikaru004
 Posts: 2306 |
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And yet the product still got a "not so encouraging" review. If it continues, your profit margin becomes less as you antagonize your customers to the point that they don't buy the product. "Quality over quantity" still rules in the end. |
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doctordoom85
Posts: 2093 |
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ONE poor review (that basically criticized the dub's lack of accents, and nothing else. Seriously, as far as we know, he would have loved the dub if the show had been in America. And I'm sorry, there's just something wrong about saying "the sub can be forgiven" for that. Why? If it's inaccurate, it's inaccurate, simple as that), and suddenly Funi has made a mistake? You got to be kidding me. I know certain people on this forum have to criticize the anime industry over the tiniest things, but now we're grasping at straws. And besides, at least there IS a dub, which isn't a guarantee for any other companies these days save Viz Media. As far as I'm concerned, Funimation is still putting quality over quantity. Don't let the naysayers get you guys down, Funi, just keep on rockin'.
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KabaKabaFruit
 Posts: 1871 Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba |
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Compared to how the rest of the season plays out, Season One, Part One of D.Gray-Man is actually one of the stronger parts of the first season. After this, the whole series goes through filler with a bit of canon thrown in for good mix. It's not until season two that the show finally gets back into the manga full throttle and I fear that the show will be too ostracized with its lack of canon pacing for FUNimation to get that season licensed.
But then again, D.Gray-Man has a pretty big fanbase so it's possible that it can still keep on truckin'. I wonder...why was Todd Haberkorn named director for the dub of this show anyway? |
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