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Hey, Answerman! [2007-03-16]

TV/Cable/Sat has always been a case of 'majority rules'; ratings determine whether a show continues or is canceled. There have been national TV stations in the past that have tried to air a subtitled show, and as far as I know, none of them succeeded; ratings dropped like a rock and the stations were flooded with complaints about how those watching 'didn't want to read TV' and the like. There are simply not enough sub fans for a company like CN to take a chance on something like this.

While I would love to see subtitled anime on TV, I'm also fully aware that there is simply not enough people out there that would also like that. Rather than rant and rave at the unfairness of it all, I'm just grateful that there are stations airing anime at all. Take what you can get, because sometimes that's all you're going to get.

10円 wrote:

Zalis116 wrote: To clarify, not every hardcore fan is a hardcore pirate; but you can bet that almost any hardcore pirate is a hardcore fan. "Pirate" in the digital/online sense of course. That's almost like claiming a carjacker is a "hardcore automobile enthusiast." Being a hardcore pirate does NOT make you a hardcore fan, it makes you a hardcore leech, and the sooner people stop trying to propagate this sort of illogical nonsense the better.

Here here! I couldn't have said it better myself.

TV/Cable/Sat has always been a case of 'majority rules'; ratings determine whether a show continues or is canceled. There have been national TV stations in the past that have tried to air a subtitled show, and as far as I know, none of them succeeded; ratings dropped like a rock and the stations were flooded with complaints about how those watching 'didn't want to read TV' and the like. There are simply not enough sub fans for a company like CN to take a chance on something like this.

While I would love to see subtitled anime on TV, I'm also fully aware that there is simply not enough people out there that would also like that. Rather than rant and rave at the unfairness of it all, I'm just grateful that there are stations airing anime at all. Take what you can get, because sometimes that's all you're going to get.

As somone who religiously watched the interviews with the Japanese cast as often as the American companies will include them--quess what.
The Japanese are reading off a script. Many admit to not even looking at it until that day or maybe the night before they'll read thru it. Koyasu, Miki, Yamaguchi-all have scripts, turning pages, reading their lines.

Dardre wrote:

TV/Cable/Sat has always been a case of 'majority rules'; ratings determine whether a show continues or is canceled. There have been national TV stations in the past that have tried to air a subtitled show, and as far as I know, none of them succeeded; ratings dropped like a rock and the stations were flooded with complaints about how those watching 'didn't want to read TV' and the like. There are simply not enough sub fans for a company like CN to take a chance on something like this. While I would love to see subtitled anime on TV, I'm also fully aware that there is simply not enough people out there that would also like that. Rather than rant and rave at the unfairness of it all, I'm just grateful that there are stations airing anime at all. Take what you can get, because sometimes that's all you're going to get.

That's true, but I wonder if it's a relative- or an absolute-quantity issue. That is to say, if having n fans willing to watch a dub, and only .1n fans who want to watch it subbed (I'm just picking numbers out of the air here), is enough to have the anime aired dubbed, would having 10n dub fans and n sub fans be enough to warrant starting a second network to air it subbed?

My question for you is just how will CN and YTV do this? Show the American dub in one time slot and the Japanese in another? Perhaps the dub in the afternoon/evening and the sub at night?

But then there will still be people who will be forced to watch the show in a form that they don't want.

Rather than rant and rave at the unfairness of it all, I'm just grateful that there are stations airing anime at all. Take what you can get, because sometimes that's all you're going to get.

But TV Anime is hardly the main place Anime is watched, especially among dedicated fans.

Plus, its not so much that more dubs need to be out there. its that people need to stop whining about them. The more people prefer their Anime dubbed, the more incentive there is for companies to do a better job Dubbing.

ikillchicken wrote:

But TV Anime is hardly the main place Anime is watched, especially among dedicated fans.

Except TV is the main place anime is watched because it's not just the dedicated fans who are watching.

Dedicated fans are, by definition, a niche minority of the total audience.

Quote:

Plus, its not so much that more dubs need to be out there. its that people need to stop whining about them. The more people prefer their Anime dubbed, the more incentive there is for companies to do a better job Dubbing.

On the contrary, people whining about dubs--esepecially within the industry--are one of the reasons that dubs are getting better. When broadcasters consider airing programs late in the evening for a mostly adult audience, they need it to not be utterly laughable. So a series like, for example, 'Paranoia Agent' or 'Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex' needs a good dub to reach its target audience.

If everyone was happy with dubbing no matter the quality, then no, the quality would never have any incentive to improve

You can complain about poor Dubs, but don't refrain from watching Dubs all together.

ikillchicken wrote:

You can complain about poor Dubs, but don't refrain from watching Dubs all together.

Given the inherent limitations of dubbing, no matter the skills or intentions of those involved, I will indeed refrain from watching dubs altogether ... or at least as much as possible.

If you're watching subtitles like I am, it really doesn't matter whether or not the dub track is any good.

If lotsa people take your attitude, wheres the incentive for companies to ever improve their dubs, No matter how good they do the Dub, this bunch of people will still refuse to watch it. If people are at least willing to give a Dub a chance, then therse actually a reason to do a good job.

As far as I'm concerned, given its weaknesses, there's no reason for dubbing to exist at all.

...toward those who do enjoy it

Most people don't take my attitude. Most people are willing to give dubs a chance. Hence those nice TV ratings.

As far as I'm concerned, given its weaknesses, there's no reason for dubbing to exist at all.

But I bear no ill will toward those who do enjoy it ... and I wish you all the luck in the world in improving its quality.

And the people who handle dubbing don't have to worry about the little niche of us fans who don't listen to their work. They've got plenty enough viewers who want them to do a good job at what they do.

I'll fully admit I was introduced to anime via dubbing. But man, was it ever hard to take that English dialogue in 'Akira' seriously. Visually it was the finest movie I'd ever seen at that point, but the audio was the pits.

Even now, I run across dubbing and it's still generally laughable. The 'next episode' promos on Eureka Seven, the aforementioned age gap between the brothers on Fullmetal Alchemist, the fury-free voice of Mugen on Samurai Champloo ... so many examples of the performance being lost in translation ... even in the shows that everyone hails for quality dubbing.

And that's what has helped lead me to believe not so much that subtitles are great, but that dubbing is terribly flawed. All dubbing. So really, there's no incentive whatsoever for me to listen to it at all.