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Those were dubbed by Blue Water, which is a Canadian studio.

Thanks for the correction. Though Witch Hunter Robin, a dub which sets the standard for atrocious modern dubs, is most assuredly a Bang/Zoom + Bandai collaboration. (Though there are a fair number of Bang/Zoom dubs that I liked, but they're either older or not done in collaboration with Bandai)

Though those shows still stand against the assertion that I dispute, which is that Bandai is the purveyor of the finest English dubs. We've found the failures of Bandai on dubbing, where then are the failures of the other companies? Once found, are those failings truly worse than Bandai's?

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We've found the failures of Bandai on dubbing, where then are the failures of the other companies? Once found, are those failings truly worse than Bandai's?

ADV has some real stinkers. Looking over my shelf, Battle Angel, Cosplay Complex, Dragon Half, Sakura Diaries and Yumeria are just plain bad. Nadesico starts are really shaky, though it does even out and becomes alright. Tears to Tiara is very...meh; the accents weren't a great decision. And while I haven't seen it in years, people talk about how horrible Samurai X is. And from what I heard of the first episode of Clannad, that is a pretty bad dub itself, but that's just a first impression, so I can't really say much about it.

Now, is ADV's worse dub worse than Bandai's? I don't know if they're worse, because it's hard to judge crap with other crap, but they're at least on par.

Hey, now--ADV also has some damn good dubs. Red Garden, for example.

Bandai has good ones to, but I've never heard one from them that has really wowed me.

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Now, is ADV's worse dub worse than Bandai's?

Yes, if that's what you're comparing to Witch Hunter Robin and the My-HiME franchise. Again, see the ANN article which goes on at length on the objective flaws of the Witch Hunter Robin dub. I liked the show...subbed. It does not seem as though you are an ADV connoisseur with the meager selection you presented, and that combined with your use of specious hearsay and potentially faulty evidence makes at least one participant in this thread wonder about your qualifications to judge this.

Cosplay Complex was awesome. I take it then that you also did not like ADV's Excel Saga? There's just no pleasing some people, especially as you're comparing a 3 episode OVA to full-fledged shows, which doesn't seem proper.

If you want good ADV dubs, dubs that even ANN--a bastion of sub-only purists--have praised, then here are a few for you: Bubblegum Crisis 2040, Le Chevalier D'Eon, & Gilgamesh. Continuing on, I would also list DNAngel, Excel Saga, Chrono Crusade, Blue Drop, Gasaraki, Martian Successor Nadesico, & Kino's Journey. I was also partial to their dubs of Those Who Hunt Elves & Rune Soldier. Ghost Stories and Yugo the Negotiator were surprisingly well done also, though the former is often judged from a less than objective disposition.

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Bandai has good ones to, but I've never heard one from them that has really wowed me.

I agree to that--Outlaw Star being my main example--but I cannot agree that they are the best dub company as it simply is not true. Even if you believe that Bandai beats ADV & Geneon, there is no way that they could honestly be said to have surpassed Funimation in terms of quality dubs. Funimation may have more quality dubs than Bandai has of mere dubs.

Echo_City wrote:

I agree to that--Outlaw Star being my main example--but I cannot agree that they are the best dub company as it simply is not true. Even if you believe that Bandai beats ADV & Geneon, there is no way that they could honestly be said to have surpassed Funimation in terms of quality dubs. Funimation may have more quality dubs than Bandai has of mere dubs.

Woah, woah, woah--slow your roll, hotrod. I never said that I thought Bandai was the best dub company--where'd you get that from? Shocked

FUNi and ADV are my favorites.

Last edited by asimpson2006 on Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:03 am; edited 2 times in total

I will talk a bit about each of the groups:

Bandai I am not crazy with Bandai and their pricing ways, but I do still have a place in my heart for Bandai, no matter how much they mess up.

Funimation While I enjoy Funimation and their releases, I wish they could put more extras in their releases. I could also like to see more BD's from them.

Media Blasters I do like the fact that Media Blasters gets the shows that no one else will get (for better or worse). I do not like a lot of their dubs for the stuff they releases (Duroko-chan is their best IMO), they tend to be the weakest out there.

NISA Only have their Toradora release, so I don't have enough of their stuff to form a full opinion on them.

Nozomi I enjoy their releases even if they are few and far between.

I am putting S23 and ADV separate

Section 23 I do no like S23's wacky pricing for sub only sets. For say a $49.99 MSRP series 13 episode in length, I can buy a similar length show from Funimation with a full dub. They do get some shows that have my interests but they are mainly a company going after mostly B or C grade series.

ADV I enjoyed the releases ADV had since they were chock full of extras. What I didn't like was that they licenses a lot of shows that didn't deserve to be released in R1 market.

Viz I am not a huge fan of the releases from Viz. I think they are bit too pricey for some of the releases.

CPM and USMC: The few releases that I have from them (Patlabor and DNA ^2) I do like what they did released, even if they are t

I'm going to plump for AnimEigo.
Because:

Otaku no Video

Nozomi/Right Stuf. They license some niche stuff, do great subs, do great packaging, and have excellent customer service. I just wish they'd get more stuff, since I would probably buy it all. Mononoke, Library Wars, or Moyashimon? Perfect for them.

Funimation would probably be next, as they get the most stuff, and do blu-ray.

And NISA just for getting Toradora, although I wasn't completely thrilled with their packaging (inconvenient size; first batch of part 1 was defective, though they did replace; disc cases for part 2 was severely wrinkled for some reason. The books included though were very nice, I liked those, and the boxes were good quality, just way too big and ungainly)

Sanosuke_Inara wrote:

Echo_City wrote:

I agree to that--Outlaw Star being my main example--but I cannot agree that they are the best dub company as it simply is not true. Even if you believe that Bandai beats ADV & Geneon, there is no way that they could honestly be said to have surpassed Funimation in terms of quality dubs. Funimation may have more quality dubs than Bandai has of mere dubs.

Woah, woah, woah--slow your roll, hotrod. I never said that I thought Bandai was the best dub company--where'd you get that from? Shocked

FUNi and ADV are my favorites.

I got that from a previous post in this thread(2nd post in), which made that terribly incorrect assertion:

penguintruth wrote:

I've found that the better English dubs come from titles Bandai Entertainment license, but Bandai doesn't seem to care that much about their customers.

(Emphasis added)

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ADV I enjoyed the releases ADV had since they were chock full of extras. What I didn't like was that they licenses a lot of shows that didn't deserve to be released in R1 market.

Funimation is guilty of doing that same thing in recent history, at least, that's how I see it. Does "deserve to be released in the R1 market" award merit to shows based on how well they'll sell in R1, or is it based on the show's overall quality? If it's by the latter, then Funimation is definitely in the last category, but if it's the former, then Funimation isn't as they pump out a lot of lame shows with good dubs that sell well.

asimpson2006 wrote:

they are mainly a company going after mostly because grade series.

What does that mean?

Echo_City wrote:

Funimation is guilty of doing that same thing in recent history, at least, that's how I see it. Does "deserve to be released in the R1 market" award merit to shows based on how well they'll sell in R1, or is it based on the show's overall quality? If it's by the latter, then Funimation is definitely in the last category, but if it's the former, then Funimation isn't as they pump out a lot of lame shows with good dubs that sell well.

If the shows that are not so good come with package deals then nothing can be done about it. I mean yea Funimation has released some shows that maybe are not so good, but ADV was much worse.

Echo_City wrote:

What does that mean?

I mean B or C grade shows. Zac said this on the ANNCast's and for the most part I agree with this.

Echo_City wrote:

Also, Nozomi Entertainment gets praise? I guess I was right in saying that ANN is a bastion of sub-purists as putting out shows sans dub is cheap...and Nozomi's prices for these products aren't. Nozomi released The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye a horrendous show, a rolling hodge-podge of bad anime cliches. Releases like Sound of the Sky undubbed, an overblown Garden of Sinners "bourgeois" set, and Utena do not redeem them for that, especially as The Third actually got a dub from them.

I though Garden of Sinners was released by Aniplex USA not Nozomi? Well I am sure there are fans of the The Third show were happy that it got a dub, or even happy that it got released. Some shows just don't have enough appeal to warrant a dub. Things like Kare Kano deserve a dub, a niche BL show? Not so much.

Echo_City wrote:

]I got that from a previous post in this thread(2nd post in), which made that terribly incorrect assertion:

penguintruth wrote:

I've found that the better English dubs come from titles Bandai Entertainment license, but Bandai doesn't seem to care that much about their customers.

(Emphasis added)

Well, that wasn't my post, so, ya know, still not sure why you came at me with that. Laughing

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Funimation is guilty of doing that same thing [skimping extras] in recent history, at least, that's how I see it.

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Also, Nozomi Entertainment gets praise? I guess I was right in saying that ANN is a bastion of sub-purists as putting out shows sans dub is cheap...and Nozomi's prices for these products aren't. Nozomi released The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye a horrendous show, a rolling hodge-podge of bad anime cliches. Releases like Sound of the Sky undubbed, an overblown Garden of Sinners "bourgeois" set, and Utena do not redeem them for that, especially as The Third actually got a dub from them.

Do you ever know what the hell you're talking about?

First off, I already disproved your little "Funimation doesn't do extras rant", and you're retort of "Well, they aren't shows I'm interested" doesn't cut it. A lot of their shows have lots of extras. Just because the handful of shows you buy don't have extras you approve of doesn't mean jack. The End.

Secondly, sub-only or not, Nozomi does deserve praise. In a time of a declining market, Nozomi is the only company putting out A+ quality releases. Lots of on-disc extras, physical extras, great quality control (clean subtitles and video), good (not great) shows, high quality chipboard, and for reasonable prices considering what you're getting and how that company runs ie releasing the niche of the niche of the niche. $50 for what they do is extremely fair, especially when you consider S23 charges the same thing for their half-assed sub-only releases.

Third, Nozomi didn't release Kara no Kyoukai, that was released directly by Aniplex via their USA branch. TRSI and the Bandai Store were just the exclusive stores selling it to our shores to avoid the hassle of importing (shipping, taxes, etc). Not to mention we were getting it lot cheaper than Japan was.

Also, if you're thinking I'm a sub purist and a Nozomi fanboy, you'd be wrong, AGAIN!

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Nozomi is the only company putting out A+ quality releases.

ROFL! You say that Nozomi puts out "A+ quality releases", but then you say that Nozomi is only releasing "good (not great) shows"?! An "A+ quality release" assessment has to include the quality of the show, if not, it's pointless. To elaborate, how can Nozomi be releasing shows with A+ quality, a statement which is just an alternative writing of your assertion, if the shows are merely good?

Or are you attempting to claim that a "release" should be judged independently of its content(ie the show's quality)? That can not be the case, as you referenced content of the releases when you made this rating, such as subtitle quality. If some of the release's content is used in the process of assessing its quality, all of it must be.

Speaking of extras, who brought that up here? My text which you quoted does not mention anything about extras. The string "extras" is not contained therein. You're putting words into my mouth. To comment on what is now your tangent, you failed to disprove my assertion about Funimation & extras. You merely simplified the essence of my argument to suit your own needs, and won that. Some might say that strays dangerously close to the Straw Man fallacy. After that exercise, I was content to forget the issue. For some reason, you just have to bring it up. The fact that you remember what posts I made, and are making ad-hom attacks against me, is frankly disconcerting. Are you making me an online "rival" of sorts?

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Also, if you're thinking I'm a sub purist and a Nozomi fanboy, you'd be wrong, AGAIN!

There you go again, putting words in my mouth again, only now masking it with the conditional. I have yet to mention any specific thoughts about you. so please do not use me to bolster your inflated sense of self-importance.

As you can see, I tried to retract my ire towards Nozomi before it erupted into this, but I was too late. ANN showed no subsequent posts pre-edit, or I wouldn't have tried. I stand by it, as I said it, but I realized that it might not truly be fair to judge the whole company on the merit (or lack thereof) of that heinously awful show The Third: The Girl with the Blue Eye.

The Good:

Geneon. Geneon was awesome. They licensed a number of my all time favourite shows and a ton of other interesting stuff as well. They put out an excellent product. They did some really outstanding dubs (Hellsing, Trigun, Samurai Champloo). Hands down, my favourite company. RIP.

Bandai 5-10 years ago. The absolute, no holds barred, best source for good anime. The packaging was obviously never something they prioritized although I never found it problematic. Obviously they had some quality control issues in replication but if you got a working copy, the quality was just fine. Some really good dubs as well.

Manga. For such a limited output, Manga puts out an unbelievable amount of great stuff. Yeah, they're kinda one of the old dark ages companies but they've actually done a great job stepping up into the modern era. Their DVDs look okay and their dubs are passable.

Media Blasters 5-10 years ago. Never a major player but put out some excellent stuff. Fantastic packaging on some of their collector's sets.

The Bad:

ADV. Easily the best of the bad. A bit of a pit of mediocrity though. They put out a ton of stuff. Most of it was forgettable. They did have a few gems though like Eva and Rahxephon. Overall, though, they were never a company I was especially impressed with.

Funimation. I have no use for them and I never have. They're obviously a company that caters to the lowest common denominator. Given their sheer market presence these days, it's astounding how little they have that I'm into. They pick up the odd gem (Mushishi, Baccano, Eden of the East) but otherwise, very little. It's too bad because they're otherwise pretty competent. Their prices are good. They're one of the few companies I don't mind buying a release from just to watch it once. I like that they're moving back toward nicer collectors editions too though. That's a nice alternative.

Section 23. Not really a good company. Their releases are all overpriced. It's not in any way justified by nice packaging or extras. They rarely dub. Quality control is poor. There are problems with their subtitles. Of course, none of these things are catastrophic issues and so I was willing to tolerate them briefly when they were picking up some passable stuff for a while but more recently they've fallen back on crap. At this point, they're essentially irrelevant to me.

The Ugly:

VIZ. I can't in fairness call them the worst anime company. They do a competent job putting out their big shounen titles. For those not into those shows, they absolutely blow. They don't seem to care even the slightest about anything that's not Naruto/Bleach and actually seem to go out of their way to piss on other fans. The whole Monster situation anyone?

Modern Media Blasters. A total mess. Rarely gets anything good and when they do they make an absolute mess of the release (Moribito). Super slow to get with the times. All kinds of delays. Pick up stuff and then never speak of it again.

Modern Bandai. Never licenses anything anymore. When they do, it's crap. They've totally gotten away from the kind of good stuff that made them successful originally. They're almost comically inept. They're still dicking around with all kinds of bizarre release formats. (Singles? Seriously?) Plus, there's the delays. In a nutshell, modern Bandai is a company that has no business even existing. I truly don't know how they're not out of business.

Other:
Nozomi. They defy comparison to other companies. What they do is pretty much fundamentally different than other companies. I love what they do though. They do a fantastic job and put out an absolutely beautiful product. Great packaging. Great extras. It's sub only which is unfortunate but clearly a necessity.

NIS. Who? They've put out like three shows. Too early to say.

ADV gets my vote, although Geneon is a close second. My favorite shows were released by them (Le Chevalier d'Eon, RahXephon, Gankutsuou, and When They Cry), and they have lovely packaging and extras. That's enough for me. Razz

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