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What do you think makes FUNimation dubs unique?


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SecretJustin1130



Joined: 13 May 2010
Posts: 128
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2010 6:37 pm Reply with quote
Well for me...

They translate the japanese credits to english in the OP/ED of their dubs. Unlike other studios such as Viz Media, in their Naruto DVDs they actually kept the japanese credits in their OP/ED even title cards are kept in japanese even though they were translated in english when they aired on TV. In my opinion Viz Media takes the term Uncut DVD way too seriously.

I personally think that FUNimation can appeal to a wider audience by doing techniques like this.

Also I enjoy their voices actors, Their OP/ED songs in english & other things I can't think of at the moment.
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ArsenicSteel



Joined: 12 Jan 2010
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PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2010 6:55 pm Reply with quote
I don't feel the same way. I feel because they have less VA talent most of their dubs end up sounding the same, unless they really put in an effort to sound different.

The translated credits is just their attempt to put their efforts in front of the Japanese crews. Just like any time I go on Amazon the information Funi submits has their VAs listed first and the ADR listed as the anime director.
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braves



Joined: 29 Dec 2007
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Location: Puerto Rico (but living in Texas)
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2010 6:58 pm Reply with quote
SecretJustin1130 wrote:
Well for me...

They translate the japanese credits to english in the OP/ED of their dubs. Unlike other studios such as Viz Media, in their Naruto DVDs they actually kept the japanese credits in their OP/ED even title cards are kept in japanese even though they were translated in english when they aired on TV. In my opinion Viz Media takes the term Uncut DVD way too seriously.

I personally think that FUNimation can appeal to a wider audience by doing techniques like this.
FUNimation's credits are, at times, atrocious. Take the recently released Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: in the ED they give credit to their English staff. That's cool, they definitely deserve some dap, but not at the expense of not listing any of the Japanese staff in the ED aside from the episode director, storyboarder, scriptwriter and animation director. How are fans supposed to educate themselves about the animation that goes into the shows they love if FUNimation doesn't even credit the key animators? At least when they had alternate angles you could flip over to the JP track, but now you have to go to their streaming site to get the JP credits.

I prefer Viz when they list the kanji credits and have an extra for the English staff. To me, that's the best of both worlds. But when they list the credits in English they always list generic credits, which is an insult to everybody involved. Who is ignorant enough to believe that the same team worked on every episode of any given series?
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PetrifiedJello



Joined: 11 Mar 2009
Posts: 3782
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2010 8:03 pm Reply with quote
SecretJustin1130 wrote:
I personally think that FUNimation can appeal to a wider audience by doing techniques like this.

What the...

Given the majority of US audiences can't read Japanese, I have a feeling this isn't going to hurt FUNimation one way or the other.

But more importantly, how did the topic go from dubs to credits? No one dubs credits.

Oh, wait. One little sentence. I almost missed it.

By the way, there aren't many OP/ED songs dubbed in English by FUNimation. Most retain their Japanese original because translating them isn't easy to do nor is it cheap.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
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PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2010 9:00 pm Reply with quote
What makes them unique is the copious, and sometimes disturbing, amount of rewriting they do of the original script, usually to the detriment of the work, and their stupid little ad-libs and added "jokes" that make me cringe.

On occasion, these techniques have actually worked to the dub's advantage, but it's a crap shoot. Emphasis on the word "crap".
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zgripţuroicǎ



Joined: 17 Nov 2009
Posts: 140
Location: Newburgh, NY
PostPosted: Thu May 13, 2010 9:37 pm Reply with quote
Well, Funi dubs don't totally suck in terms of acting. Rewriting of the script is another issue, and they cast the same folks over and over again. Imagine if every movie you saw come out used the same cast every time. I'll pass and just throw on the Japanese track.
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SecretJustin1130



Joined: 13 May 2010
Posts: 128
PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2010 7:11 am Reply with quote
Well, I agree on this. They need to find more voice actors.

I think they should do this:
Work together with another studio such as Bang Zoom! to make a unique dub.
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egoist



Joined: 20 Jun 2008
Posts: 7762
PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2010 7:19 am Reply with quote
PetrifiedJello wrote:
But more importantly, how did the topic go from dubs to credits? No one dubs credits.

Funimation could hire Sgt. Larvell Jones to do that.
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SecretJustin1130



Joined: 13 May 2010
Posts: 128
PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2010 1:06 pm Reply with quote
I now think that no english dub or anime company is perfect, but the fact that you try is what matters.

braves wrote:
FUNimation's credits are, at times, atrocious. Take the recently released Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: in the ED they give credit to their English staff. That's cool, they definitely deserve some dap, but not at the expense of not listing any of the Japanese staff in the ED aside from the episode director, storyboarder, scriptwriter and animation director. How are fans supposed to educate themselves about the animation that goes into the shows they love if FUNimation doesn't even credit the key animators? At least when they had alternate angles you could flip over to the JP track, but now you have to go to their streaming site to get the JP credits.

I prefer Viz when they list the kanji credits and have an extra for the English staff. To me, that's the best of both worlds. But when they list the credits in English they always list generic credits, which is an insult to everybody involved. Who is ignorant enough to believe that the same team worked on every episode of any given series?


Come to think of it, when was the last time an american cartoon credited the key animators?


Last edited by SecretJustin1130 on Fri May 14, 2010 3:16 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Zalis116
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Joined: 31 Mar 2005
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Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2010 3:50 pm Reply with quote
zgripţuroicǎ wrote:
Well, Funi dubs don't totally suck in terms of acting. Rewriting of the script is another issue, and they cast the same folks over and over again. Imagine if every movie you saw come out used the same cast every time. I'll pass and just throw on the Japanese track.


Once you're able to recognize them, it's just as easy to get tired of hearing the same Japanese voice actors over and over again.

In English dubs, re-using actors is not a problem unique to Funimation. Look at California dubs by Bang Zoom and New Gen -- a lot of the same names show up in a lot of those dubs as well.

braves wrote:
How are fans supposed to educate themselves about the animation that goes into the shows they love if FUNimation doesn't even credit the key animators?
I agree that listing key animators is important and should be done. But how many fans, even the super-hardcore ones, actually pay attention to key animators, or could remember any of them off-hand for a given show?

ArsenicSteel wrote:
The translated credits is just their attempt to put their efforts in front of the Japanese crews. Just like any time I go on Amazon the information Funi submits has their VAs listed first and the ADR listed as the anime director.
ADV did the same thing back when they did translated credits. And how do you know it's Funi who's submitting that information to Amazon? I don't see what's so wrong with putting the English VAs first -- judging by the sub-only release bitching threads, pretty much nobody watches subbed anime on DVD anyway.
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ZenErik



Joined: 22 Nov 2009
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PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2010 4:00 pm Reply with quote
I prefer when the credits aren't translated during the OPs or EDs. I like what Nozomi/RightStuf does by providing a separate credits section that's translated either at the end of each episode or at the end of a disc. Smile
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ArsenicSteel



Joined: 12 Jan 2010
Posts: 2370
PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2010 4:53 pm Reply with quote
Zalis116 wrote:

ArsenicSteel wrote:
The translated credits is just their attempt to put their efforts in front of the Japanese crews. Just like any time I go on Amazon the information Funi submits has their VAs listed first and the ADR listed as the anime director.
ADV did the same thing back when they did translated credits. And how do you know it's Funi who's submitting that information to Amazon? I don't see what's so wrong with putting the English VAs first -- judging by the sub-only release bitching threads, pretty much nobody watches subbed anime on DVD anyway.

Well I must be nobody because my issues with how Funi credits or in this case does not credit people stems from my DVDs I got from Amazon: Darker than Black and xxxHolic.

You can propose that it is not Funi submitting the VAs and ADRs but when I shop on Amazon it is only their products that practice this. Sure there will be some exceptions but most other DVDs will have either the Japanese cast first or a mix of the voice talent.
It is still only Funi listing the ADR as the series/movie director.

Funi script writers get mentioned first as if there was that much writing they had to do with an already complete product.
Also DTB doesn't even credit the Japanese voice talent at the end.

The only ADV title I have on hand is Gantz and the ADV credits go; English voice talent, Japanese voice talent, the Japanese production crew, and then the English production crew.

The way Funi credits the original work is a shame.
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Guilty_Sky



Joined: 05 May 2010
Posts: 35
Location: Ireland
PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2010 5:25 pm Reply with quote
Copious amounts of Vic Mignogna.
You can never have too much Vic Mignogna.
Clearly the selling point of anime is Vic Mignogna.
Even anime not featuring Vic Mignogna sells because of Vic Mignogna.
If I wanted someone to to follow me around and speak on my behalf I'd hire Vic Mignogna.
Actually no, I'd hire Dan Green, but I'd pay Vic Mignogna anyway.
But for my theme music I'd be sure to have it composed by Vic Mignogna.
When I go to conventions I cosplay as Vic Mignogna.
If I was to invent a cereal I'd call it Vic Mignognoes after Vic Mignogna.
So my point is.... Vic Mignogna.

I suppose I should actually contribute to this thread.
Despite my joking I would back the overusing actors side of things but add that it's overusing actors for the wrong roles.
There's nothing wrong with using the same actor or even voice but it's just casting them for the wrong characters.

One would be slow to complain about Tim Burton overusing Johnny Depp in his movies even though he does. Why is that? Because he is always cast as the right characters. I mean as much as I'd like to see it for a laugh you wouldn't give Johnny Depp a Seagal or Van Damme role; as good as he is it just doesn't fit.

Same with anime, trying to make Steve Blum, no matter how awesome he is, fit a smiley happy character just isn't going to happen unless it's a digimon.




Vic Mignogna.
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DerekTheRed



Joined: 19 Dec 2007
Posts: 3544
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PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2010 6:12 pm Reply with quote
PetrifiedJello wrote:
By the way, there aren't many OP/ED songs dubbed in English by FUNimation. Most retain their Japanese original because translating them isn't easy to do nor is it cheap.


I think it's cool when they do it though, like with Blue Gender, Galaxy Railways (I think, maybe?), Kiddy Grade, Shin Chan, Burst Angel and Desert Punk, which even had dubbed insert songs. I think that Beck and Negima!? also had their op/eds recorded, and I know that Speed Grapher had to do something to replace the Duran Duran song that they couldn't use as the OP, but I can't remember if they recorded their own deal or not.

There's probably more.

As for their dubs, I usually like them. I don't throw a fit when they get liberal with their translations, because they usually flow well. It's like their script writers are practicing writing jokes for Conan or something. I like it.
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HaruhiToy



Joined: 15 Apr 2008
Posts: 4118
PostPosted: Fri May 14, 2010 6:48 pm Reply with quote
Is there a summary web page somewhere that lists out which voice actors are associated with which companies? Do they cross-pollinate ever?
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