Forum - View topicShelf Life - X Hits the Spot
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erinfinnegan
ANN Columnist
 Posts: 598 |
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...don't forget hairy! That guy is my favorite American stereotype in anime.
Evil Fuuma was totally hot!
I think Funimation listens to fan input. Whether or not they act on that input is another matter, but I believe they listen.
Hahaha, maybe that's not the best way to get a company to listen to you. Clearly the best way to get a company to listen to you is to write a country music song about it. |
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CCSYueh
 Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Funi doesn't care. Right or wrong, the opinion I've formed of Funi is they really don't care or maybe even resent the original Japanese. Title after title, they skip crediting the Japanese cast. Some of the script changes in Case Closed make no sense (one guy changed from a cop to a reporter when his being a cop related to the story) I have come to assume they are infatuated with the idea they are better than the original. They can write a better script. They can act better on the dub. Their proof is they're number 1 so they must be right. I assume their take is the "Japanophile" fans will only listen to the Japanese & are appealing to everyone else. |
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rinmackie
 Posts: 1040 Location: in a van! down by the river! |
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Actually, Funi does care... about "widening the demographic". While they do care about the hardcore fans, they also want to appeal to their more mainstream, casual fans; who are a lot less anal and have a greater tendency to buy stuff. Instead of, you know, boycotting their products over a dub they don't have to use with a sub track that's faithful to the original script ( at least in the case of Hetalia). And no, I don't think they resent the Japanese, especially since they wouldn't exist without them.
Personally, I think titles like Hetelia either shouldn't be licensed or be sub-only. I think it is too niche and probably won't sell too well, regardless of the dub. |
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CCSYueh
Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Actually, Funi feels more as though their localizations come from the old "run roughshod over the original title" in more ways than not. When one hears the Bang Zoom guys or Crispin Freeman talk about casting someone who is a dead-on match to the original Japanese VA vs someone the director feels is perfect for the role, one knows the localization crew has taken the time to examine the original.
On the other hand, Funi has always seemed more like the ADV commentaries where the VA's commented they were not allowed to watch the original show or they were not allowed to read the entire script, just theirs. Or the Maze dub where they brag they paid no attention to the Japanese dub-any similarities were pure coincidence. They seem more like Astro or Kimba where the Japanese original has no bearing on the localization script. (Cardcaptors for that matter. So they cut as many as 3 eps into 1 to make it work) Who's boycotting? I just happen to believe I shouldn't consider Funi actually listing the Japanese voice cast to the extent they list the American cast as a fortunate bonus because Funi doesn't seem to feel they're important. They gave us all those extras on Baccano of the Japanese commercials which advertise the main voice cast as a plus for seeing the title, yet Funi couldn't bother to give us the Japanese voice credits? Sonny Strait has all sorts of praise for the Japanese voice actor of Usopp, made the comment that it's like a challenge to top the performance yet there are One Piece sets where Funi doesn't bother to include Japaense VA credits? (For that matter, is it that hard to learn the VA's name if one finds him that impressive? I doubt Kappei Yamaguchi really cares squat who dubs over him, but he IS acting against other talented VA's & wants to come out well. The director of Samurai Deeper Kyo commented they hired a bunch of established VA's with the idea each one would do their best to outshine one another & he'd get a great performance out of everyone & the VA's on SDK do rock. The script had issues, but the voice cast was incredible in Japanese) I have lots of Funi dvds. I just tend to listen in Japanese a lot because Funi often has workable dubs, but not impressive. I'm in the middle of Wallflower right now. I'm following One Piece (one of their better English dubs & I do spend most of my time listening in English unless it's an impressive Usopp scene. Chopper(Ikue Ohtani) is also worth listening to sometimes). It'd be nice to see more Sgt Frog (Kururu is Japanese only. Sorry) Hetalia is on order. If I hate the dub, I'll listen in Japanese. Funi's getting my money whether they dub these titles or not. |
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rinmackie
Posts: 1040 Location: in a van! down by the river! |
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Sorry, I didn't mean to imply you were boycotting. I'm talking about the Hetalia fans. It's not unusual for comedy anime to have an altered dub. Unless, maybe it involves a lot of slapstick, most Japanese humor is incomprehensible to most Westerners or too gentle. I know in the Princess Mononuke dub, the insult about the bad-tasting soup was punched up a bit. I mainly follow dubs so to the best of my knowledge the only dramatically altered dubs are comedy anime, older anime, and those meant for kids. As for the whole credit thing, I wouldn't know since I usually don't pay attention but in most of the anime I can remember watching have both English and Japanese credits.
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CCSYueh
Posts: 2707 Location: San Diego, CA |
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Ragnarok, Baccano, some One Piece sets (the Alabaster cast list seemed to be a mess for a few sets & finally just stopped listing Japanese. Don't think they ever properly credited Kusao as Kohza which is sad considering how much Trunks has done for Funi), Case Closed, Wallflower gives us the main cast on every ep (about 7 names-no episode characters). I know there's more, but those come to mind.
Case Closed & Baccano have Yamaguchi if they bothered checking (plus he was InuYasha). In fact, if they paid attention to the Japanese cast, they might have a clue to to their own casting issues such as their comment in One Piece that some characters return. I know they cast 2 different actors as the rich girl (Serina?)'s sister's boyfriend apparently without knowing it in Case Closed. Boycotting is also an excuse not to spend money after having downloaded the fansubs. If you love the show to be so fanatically devoted, don't you think it's a good idea to buy it when it's licensed so some money goes back to the people making it so they might be able to make more of it? So the dub sucks. God, Gravititation was one of those amazingly cast titles in Japan--the American cast really didn't stand a chance & I really can't listen to it, but the actors got paid, those who insist on a dub get an English dub & I have Koyasu, Yamaguchi, Seki, Miki, & Okiayu sounding wonderful. Can't ask for better. It reminds me of "Singing in the Rain" & the stuff about the silent stars' voices. At least we have the Japanese track to fall back on most (not all) of the time. |
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