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Answerman - What Determines Whether Songs In Anime Get Dubbed?


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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 7578
Location: Wales
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 12:51 pm Reply with quote
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Bubblegum Crisis is the only dub I can think of that actually had a cover band produce completely new versions of the songs.

The ED song for Kiddy Grade was a completely new version (possibly the OP as well, but I'm definite about the ED), probably because the karaoke version still has Japanese background vocals in it. IIRC Lance said it was Justin Cook's band, presumable Peach Truck Republic.

One I find interesting is Perfect Blue where they dubbed the idol song, however the one instance where it is playing on a steroe during the show it was undubbed, presumably because that instance was mixed down on the M&E track.
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fryguy81



Joined: 02 Mar 2016
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PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 1:09 pm Reply with quote
The only one I can think of that Dubbed the Op was the Fujiko Mine series, but that was just having Michelle Ruff speak the lines rather than any actual singing.
Not entirely certain that counts.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 1:15 pm Reply with quote
Usually if it's a song that's specifically part of the plot, like Minmay's songs on Robotech, or Rei at the school talent show on Sailor Moon.
Viz thought they "had" to dub Ranma 1/2's theme songs for the OVA's, on the hope of broadcast sale, but it was pretty clear that "DoCo US" wasn't DoCo JP, and they abandoned dubbing themes (even though we still got rhyming lyrics in the subs). Still, that did mean having the dub characters dub the DoCo song when it was part of the "Christmas Party" OVA episode...Not one of the finer moments.
(Even worse, it's either this or music rights that kept Viz from releasing the "Top Ten Song Battle" OVA, which had comedy segments worked in with the character-album songs.)

And, of course, we were just discussing the Slayers Next dub's attempt to deal with the "Idol" episode. ("And now in Japanese!")


Last edited by EricJ2 on Fri May 13, 2016 6:17 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 1:19 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Manga Video occasionally replaced the music to a show entirely, either because no isolated music and effects audio tracks were available, or because they thought the original music made the show a significantly harder sell

"Tank Police! We'll give it our best shot!
Tank Police! Feel the power that we've got!"



Precious, awkwardly-localised memories.
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Gemnist



Joined: 10 Feb 2016
Posts: 1754
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 1:55 pm Reply with quote
I really wish songs were dubbed more often. They're always so damn catchy. YouTube can help with that, but most users are (for literally no given reason) are going the Nathan Sharp route and covering everything to heavy metal instead of the original music or something vaguely similar, and this one YouTube channel that takes said covers and puts them to variants of the openings/endings has been temporarily shut down.

For insert songs, it's a bit of a tougher cookie. Songs in the background may or may not be dubbed for the same reasons they are NOT dubbed, but if the characters THEMSELVES are singing the song, there is really no good reason other than Sony Music being bigger jerks than refusing to comply with YouTube Red. Having the characters talk in English and then sing in Japanese creates a HUGE uncanny valley. One of my particular grudges goes against the Angel Beats dub. For one, there are the songs sung by Iwasawa and Yui, but my reasons have already been explained for them. However, I was particularly frustrated by the songs in the last episode. The lyrics are VERY simple to translate, and since the seiyu sound different from the voice actors, it sounded weird all around. Even worse was that Sentai didn't even translate what was being sung into English subtitles and only gave us Romaji and Kanji sing-along subtitles, forcing me to have to go the sub to get the joke of the song being about eating tofu.
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Jedi Master Kirito





PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 1:55 pm Reply with quote
The best dubbed song has to be Naruto's rendition of the Froggy Song.
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SpacemanHardy



Joined: 03 Jan 2012
Posts: 2509
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 2:53 pm Reply with quote
Funimation these days has pretty much completely stopped dubbing OPs and EDs, but 9 times out of 10 they'll still dub the insert songs. The only times they don't are, in Guilty Crown's case, because Aniplex told them not to. For Show By Rock, they didn't have access to the proper music and sound effects tracks in time for the broadcast dub, but Brina Palencia confirmed that they were indeed going to dub the songs for the home release. And Chris Bevins is planning having Felecia Angelle sing Alex's song in Gangsta if that ever actually comes out.

The reason Sentai never dub insert songs is, honestly, because they're kinda cheap and lazy. Neutral
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MadHi



Joined: 10 Mar 2014
Posts: 188
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 3:10 pm Reply with quote
I don't mind when they do dub the songs but what I hate is when they never release full versions of them. I'd kill to get all the dubbed songs from Bubblegum Crisis, especially Tonight, A Hurricane without the background action. The only dubbed song from that anime I can find in its entirety and uninterrupted is Mad Machine.

I'd also kill for full English versions of Water Evidence and In This Quiet Night from Gundam SEED, Vic Mignogna's Dragon Soul, Snow Storm from Rosario + Vampire, and Unbalanced Kiss from YuYu Hakusho.
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SpacemanHardy



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PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 3:30 pm Reply with quote
MadHi wrote:
I don't mind when they do dub the songs but what I hate is when they never release full versions of them. I'd kill to get all the dubbed songs from Bubblegum Crisis, especially Tonight, A Hurricane without the background action. The only dubbed song from that anime I can find in its entirety and uninterrupted is Mad Machine.

I'd also kill for full English versions of Water Evidence and In This Quiet Night from Gundam SEED, Vic Mignogna's Dragon Soul, Snow Storm from Rosario + Vampire, and Unbalanced Kiss from YuYu Hakusho.


I asked Brina about this when I met her at a con once, and she explained that they never do full versions because they're never provided with the full-length track. They can only dub the truncated version that they're given for the episode in question that they're dubbing. She mentioned specifically that she would have really liked to do a full version of Stones from The Rolling Girls, but unfortunately it wasn't possible.

Whenever Vic does a full-length cover of an anime song, he recreates the music and everything from scratch for the exact same reason.
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itachi06103570



Joined: 21 Feb 2013
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PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 4:39 pm Reply with quote
If that's the case then what about BECK:Mongolian Chop Squad how'd those songs get around to being dubbed over?

Edit: there's also the instance of more recent anime like cross ange that have insert songs that would require dubbing would those fall under this category as well?
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Zendervai



Joined: 06 Apr 2012
Posts: 197
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 5:16 pm Reply with quote
itachi06103570 wrote:
If that's the case then what about BECK:Mongolian Chop Squad how'd those songs get around to being dubbed over?


Probably because that wasn't a showcase. If you listen to the Japanese version, it's really obvious that the Japanese lead actor isn't a great singer. Funimation probably decided to dub it because there were no legal issues and it ultimately ended up working a lot better in English then Japanese.
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ninjamitsuki



Joined: 15 Sep 2007
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Location: Anywhere (Thanks, technology)
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 5:59 pm Reply with quote
Amazingly, Gaijinworks is still dubbing songs for their game localizations, and the Summon Night 5 song actually sounds pretty good.

Even in video games it's kind of a dying practice. Only super mainstream stuff like Nintendo or Square Enix even bother.
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doubleO7



Joined: 17 Jul 2009
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PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 6:04 pm Reply with quote
fryguy81 wrote:
The only one I can think of that Dubbed the Op was the Fujiko Mine series, but that was just having Michelle Ruff speak the lines rather than any actual singing.
Not entirely certain that counts.


I would say it doesn't. There is no singing in the Japanese version either. It's just a narration.
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
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PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 6:28 pm Reply with quote
I absolutely love the "Full Moon Sways" duet on the Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad dub. It's so pretty! It sounds like a lullaby.
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Mr. Oshawott



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 6773
PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2016 6:47 pm Reply with quote
I enjoyed the English version of the ending song Futari wa Wasurechau (二人は忘れちゃう) in Season 2 of School Rumble. The singing was adorable. Anime smile
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