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Answerman - Why Are Adapted Dubs Still Being Made?


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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8459
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 12:05 pm Reply with quote
If you have to replace the soundtracks and invent dialogue for an English dub to make it sell, the show obviously never should have been licensed to begin with. It's deeply disrespectful to the original work to take so many liberties.
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CRUZINFORIT



Joined: 22 Oct 2012
Posts: 38
Location: Albany, NY
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 12:09 pm Reply with quote
And this is why we have crap like "glitter force" *shudder* being made, instead of a proper english dub of Smile precure. And of course, they are cutting out more than 8 episodes worth of content too. I hate this crap.
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13224
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 12:19 pm Reply with quote
I personally enjoy most Americanized dubs. Some have even gotten me to check out the original versions.

Besides, it's a simple matter of just ignoring the dub and just keep watching the original japanese version.
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RaylenCypher



Joined: 03 Mar 2015
Posts: 138
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 12:22 pm Reply with quote
To give weight and to show the numbers to this: http://www.someanithing.com/series-data-quick-view

That entire table shows all shows produced from 1998-present. Click on the Total twice to list it so the highest selling starts at the top to bottom to see. Bakemonogatari has sold over 100k while everything else has yet to reach that kind of number (Newer shows is what I'm looking at).

Btw, Neon Genesis Evangelion was produced before 2000 and has sold total well over 175k or higher.


Last edited by RaylenCypher on Tue Nov 10, 2015 12:35 pm; edited 1 time in total
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johnnysasaki



Joined: 01 Jun 2014
Posts: 925
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 12:23 pm Reply with quote
CRUZINFORIT wrote:
And this is why we have crap like "glitter force" *shudder* being made, instead of a proper english dub of Smile precure. And of course, they are cutting out more than 8 episodes worth of content too. I hate this crap.


and what's worse,it's for Netflix,the last place you would think they would need to do this...
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Ashen Phoenix



Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 2907
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 12:23 pm Reply with quote
Harsh but true.

I'm thankful for series like FMA that can be adapted with as little changes as possible to the original content, but that said, if it weren't for Saturday morning "cartoons" (oooh, there's that word) like Cardcaptors, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh! I never would've taken a closer look and learned anything about these shows' origins and about anime at large.

Yes, some of the edits are ridiculous--even as a kid I knew a "jelly doughnut" didn't look like that--but in many cases the core themes of the show is unchanged. If the children that adore Pokemon games and YGO cards grow up and want to experience the shows unedited they can track down the subbed versions.

I wish more quality anime sold in higher numbers, but to get to the level of non-fan recognition the likes of Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and (to a lesser degree), Naruto, and Dragonball Z have achieved is just not something I can see happening. Those first two are powerhouses precisely because of their product-first mentality and collectible appeal.
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CaptainAvatar



Joined: 28 Aug 2006
Posts: 381
Location: Saint Louis, MO
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 12:23 pm Reply with quote
My all-time favorite westernization adaptation came in the original Pretty Cure dub where Takoyaki became donut holes! Laughing
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Animeking1108



Joined: 26 Apr 2011
Posts: 1244
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 12:30 pm Reply with quote
It could be worse: we could still be having dubs that edit multiple separate shows together like "Robotech" and "Voltron."
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PurpleWarrior13



Joined: 05 Sep 2009
Posts: 2024
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 12:36 pm Reply with quote
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Mewzard



Joined: 30 Oct 2014
Posts: 186
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 12:42 pm Reply with quote
Adapted Dubs don't have to be done anymore.

Look at Dragon Ball Z Kai. It was a huge when it aired on channels/programming blocks for kids, and outside of a bit of changed dialogue and the occasional violence censorship, it was able to run fine.

Another important aspect: Why can't these shows get uncut dubs and DVD releases with both that and Japanese subs? Release an edited release as well if you want (DBZ did so in the 2000s), but give us an option, that's all we ask for.

I want to be able to buy Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Zatch Bell, etc uncut and with both dub and sub. This shouldn't be an issue in the modern age.

There is no reason both the young and old fans can't be catered to in terms of releases.
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ChibiGoku



Joined: 29 May 2004
Posts: 676
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 12:48 pm Reply with quote
There is another angle that that wasn't brought up and I figured it would be worth mentioning: The changes to the background music is done for monetary reasons, simply so they can collect royalties with the music that they produced, which is something they can't do if they simply used the Japanese music. This is why a number of dubs produced for children markets tend to do this.

For the record, I don't entirely agree with the "Western" sensibilities with the music angle. A number of countries outside of Japan in the west have not actively replaced the music in shows, unless the countries themselves were co-producers on the said projects, which recently happened with the new Lupin the Third series (which even the Japanese audio track that aired on Italian TV had a different OST). Regardless, the United States (and Canada to a degree) is really one of the few countries that actively replaces the music in their shows. Most of the other countries just don't actively do so, for one reason or another.

For that matter, the United States is one of the few countries that actively heavily modifies their shows significantly to suit an audience, not counting some countries in the Middle East and the like, of course. It's something I don't actively understand. For a place where we're such a diverse culture, we tend to be xenophobic to other cultures being represented in our media. I really just don't get that. For the record, this is not even talking about the censorship angle for violence and sexual content, but rather culture related material that tends to get re-written or cut out entirely.

Also, something else I want to point out: Yu-Gi-Oh! has been struggling for a long time on US television. More recently, Nicktoons has been treating the property horribly, having gone back to the beginning of Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal several times. Ultimately the series finished online on Hulu, but it remains to even be finished on television. To top that off, last time we got ratings data, the show was only pulling in around 200K or show on the network, sometimes less, which while not the lowest the shows can be on the said network, it's still a far cry from when the series was at it's most popular. To further stress this point, Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V has made it to several countries on television, but the actual property has yet, to this date, to air on US television, suggesting trying to find a home for the series hasn't been easy. I'm not even sure what they can do at this point for this series.

Actually, that brings up another issue I want to point out. Most third party children content has been struggling to get on US television in general. The three networks that used to show some interest in these properties have largely fallen out in favor of producing original content. And the stuff that is on television has been mostly treated like shit. One notable exception is Nick's treatment of Alvinnn!, which has been doing very well for them. They play the crap out of this show, compared to say Power Rangers, which largely does not have a rerun slot outside of their smaller network, Nicktoons. Cartoon Network regulates most of their third party content to just early morning hours, with the occasional Pokemon marathon (which I suspect is probably paid by the rights holder to promote the movie at times).

As for Disney XD? Doraemon has been off the schedule and Yo-kai Watch hasn't been entirely doing that well. Not sure how well Monday's episode did, but it's not been doing all that great. It's been, largely restricted, to just 5PM on the weekdays.

Most parties are now looking at different solutions to try and reach their audience, with Saban going to Netflix for shows like Popples and the dub of Smile Pretty Cure, Glitter Force. However, whether or not these endeavors will be successful, remains to be seen.
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Touma



Joined: 29 Aug 2007
Posts: 2651
Location: Colorado, USA
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 12:53 pm Reply with quote
PurpleWarrior13 wrote:

That is very interesting. I did not know that.
And that was just the singles for first half of the original series. I wonder what the sales for the second half and "The Final Act" and the later season sets are.
I think that the manga sold very well also.
But still, Inuyasha was never a huge merchandising machine like the two shows mentioned in the article.
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bleachj0j



Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Posts: 923
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 12:53 pm Reply with quote
Naruto is probably the better example instead of Inuyasha, Attack on Titan and FMA. Naruto was huge when it was on Cartoonetwork. They couldn't get enough of the thing and it was successful with kids with an intact dub and most of violence kept.

I think a show like Yugioh could work with a more intact dub. Instead of picking and choosing what Japanese names are fine and which aren't. Arc-V's dub keeps "Yuya Sakaki" but finds "Yuzu" too hard for kids. That's honestly just dumb.
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Ian K



Joined: 18 Dec 2008
Posts: 250
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 12:58 pm Reply with quote
johnnysasaki wrote:
CRUZINFORIT wrote:
And this is why we have crap like "glitter force" *shudder* being made, instead of a proper english dub of Smile precure. And of course, they are cutting out more than 8 episodes worth of content too. I hate this crap.


and what's worse,it's for Netflix,the last place you would think they would need to do this...


I think people are being WAY too harsh on Glitter Force. In fact, it might be one of the most important anime releases of the decade.

Lots of anime fans first watched heavily edited/westernized shows like Cardcaptors or Robotech as kids, before they knew what 'anime' was. Those much-maligned kids shows laid the foundation of the fandom we are a part of today. However, anime is disappearing from the airwaves, and that avenue for introducing kids to the medium is being lost.

What Netflix is doing, releasing a sanitized version of an anime in their squeaky-clean 'Kids' section, is introducing children to anime again, in a way that won't upset parents. They literally trying to create the next generation of anime fans.

Of course it still sucks for the adult Pretty Cure fans that they don't get a faithful physical release. But if this succeeds with the actual target audience of little girls, it could benefit the anime fan community as a whole.


Last edited by Ian K on Tue Nov 10, 2015 1:05 pm; edited 1 time in total
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switchgear1131



Joined: 14 Mar 2013
Posts: 219
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 1:05 pm Reply with quote
bleachj0j wrote:
Naruto is probably the better example instead of Inuyasha, Attack on Titan and FMA. Naruto was huge when it was on Cartoonetwork. They couldn't get enough of the thing and it was successful with kids with an intact dub and most of violence kept


When Naruto first came over it was as heavily edited as this like Pokemon
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