Forum - View topicHey, Answerman! 2010 SUPER EDITION
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
Author | Message | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
poonk
Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
|
|||
The To-Love-Ru issue though seems a bit trickier because of the wordplay involved. I think I would avoid any situation where I had to say it outloud (fortunately not difficult for me). *Besides, what if someone thinks you're talking about Benson? |
||||
giascle
Posts: 157 Location: Denver |
|
|||
This. I know Higurashi is licensed as When they Cry, but I've always despised that translation, and just call it Higurashi. Conversely, it's far easier to remember Fullmetal Alchemist than Hagane no Renkinjutsushi. It comes down to a balance between which sounds better, and which is commonly being used. As for To-Love-Ru, the pun makes no sense in English, so just say it as it's read. |
||||
gridsleep
|
|
|||
The anime v. cartoons argument always reminds me of a TV on the street interview wondering why British TV shows (mostly the ones shown on PBS like Mystery!, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, Sharp's Rifles, I, Claudius, and the like) are so much better than American TV shows. To which the English people being queried explained that only the best of the best English shows are exported to the US, and most English shows are so bad that they make mediocre American television look great. Hence the popularity of Baywatch worldwide. I suspect the same schism applies to anime. Has anyone watched all of the tens of thousands of titles listed here in ANN? Only a relative handful have been reviewed. I would venture a guess that the larger portion of all this anime might not be considered worth a second glance, if even a first. Only the best anime gets imported, remember. I doubt there are a lot of Nipponese viewers watching old Huckleberry Hound cartoons on Saturday morning. Or Scooby-Doo, for that matter.
|
||||
maaya
Posts: 976 |
|
|||
Well, from what I see on the japanese books etc. that english title is already on them, so probably the japanese creators invented it. (I think it's a fine title btw ^^ )
+ which you can pronounce. I don't mind people using japanese titles if they want to ... I do mind if they don't know how to pronounce them though Fortunately on the internet that's no problem ^^ |
||||
Ryo Hazuki
Posts: 363 Location: Finland |
|
|||
Nope, only the most marketable or just plain the anime that can be licensed. Robot Carnival, Galaxy Express 999, Space Pirate Captain Harlock, Future Boy Conan, Anne of Green Gables and Layzner are some of the best anime I've seen and although some of these were shown in some European and/or Middle Eastern countries or released as VHS, there really isn't any current official English language releases for those (I don't count region restricted streams). |
||||
hissatsu01
Posts: 963 Location: NYC |
|
|||
The bizarre pronunciation here is the standard English one, mainly because of English's totally nonsensical orthography. In just about any other language written with the latin alphabet (and the original greek word), "eureka" would be pronounced far more similarly to the Japanese pronunciation in Eureka 7. For example the Spanish pronunciation of the word is nearly identical to the Japanese. That said, they probably should have just have kept the standard English pronunciation of the word in the dub, if only because it's the pronunciation most would expect to hear. |
||||
Dante80
Posts: 218 Location: Athens Greece |
|
|||
Nope, there is a difference (a subtle one though) between "the best" and "most marketable". One can argue that if a show (made to produce money) can't make money, then its not a good show anyway. But that point can be easily shot down, if you factor in some of the reasons certain shows can't make money (even in their country of origin)... |
||||
maaya
Posts: 976 |
|
|||
You mean it has a nonsensical pronunciation or rather the orthography wasn't adapted to what is called the great vowel shift. |
||||
doctordoom85
Posts: 2093 |
|
|||
In terms of the Japanese vs. English titles, I prefer the English titles almost always, and do get a little irritated if talking and someone uses the Japanese title. There are exceptions, such as When They Cry/Higurashi, since the Japanese title was also included with the English title on the DVD and manga covers, so people who only buy DVDs/manga and never download know what they're talking about when they hear "Higurashi". Granted, I prefer the English, since "When They Cry" is actually relevant to the show and seeing the English subtitles to the OP immediately allows it to make sense in context, whereas I'd have to pay pretty close attention to make sense of "Higurashi" by remembering both the English and Japanese subtitles for the OP being played at separate times.
I'm fine with either Case Closed or Detective Conan, since the latter has the main character's name so hardly any confusion there. Not so much on the FMA and Haruhi's Japanese titles. Haruhi isn't quite as bad, since it does have her name in it, but I consider the "Melancholy" part to be fairly important, and FMA's Japanese title is misleading for obvious reasons. |
||||
Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
Posts: 2611 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
|
|||
You certainly helped clear things up for me - I had always been under the impression that josei was quite popular in Japan. I agree with the answerfans response that it could do well here, though I think that the fact that more women are supporting themselves could help, not hinder, sales. Using myself and my sisters as examples, we are all single women with no one to support but ourselves and our cats (and dogs, in my case:)) with the disposable income to spend on books. We are ten years gone from high school and while we still enjoy shoujo romances, they don't really have any relevance anymore. Titles like Kimi wa Pet (or Tramps Like Us, just so I don't spark any debate there),Suppli, and even The Name of the Flower (which I know is technically shoujo, but the heroine's not in high school) are much more interesting and relevant. And we don't have to rely on Mom and Dad to pay for our books - as single working women, we can buy them ourselves without worrying about school lunch. Now, maybe the fact that I live in Northern, rural, New England is a factor here - perhaps things aren't the same for a self-supporting woman in a big city, though I'd assume pay would keep up with living costs. But I really feel that too many publishers are overlooking a good market. |
||||
hissatsu01
Posts: 963 Location: NYC |
|
|||
It's not just the vowels being a mess, it's the consonants as well. The "ghoti" (fish) example is pretty representative of a broken orthography. There are 5 written vowels, but around 15 actual vowel sounds in English. There are more consonants than exist in written form as well, yet we have written consonants that are totally superfluous in terms of actual use (c, x). Between the vowel shift you mentioned, Norman introduction of French spellings, and thousands of loan words borrowed from just about every language, it's a bit of a mess that makes learning written English difficult for non-native speakers - certainly the Japanese never seem to get a handle on it. |
||||
RDespair
Posts: 244 Location: California |
|
|||
That's my point. Setting aside quality, if its biggest claim to fame was that it was popular on Adult Swim for a while, it's not mainstream. Adult Swim is about as niche as they come. |
||||
DavidShallcross
Posts: 1008 |
|
|||
It is called soccer. To distinguish it from rugger. Do you have only one form of football in your country? On another subthread, I try to accept any of the various names given anime series, English or Japanese, as synonyms, but use the English (since I don't speak Japanese) except in cases like Urusei Yatsura, where the pun doesn't translate well, or if the English name has been associated with a particularly extreme case of localization. Finally, I would say that late-night cable television like Adult Swim is fairly niche, but not as much as it used to be, given the decline of broadcast television. There are a lot of more extreme niches, such as local-to-Hawaii-or-Southern-California-only, for example. |
||||
sena_h_dei
Posts: 32 Location: Nova Scotia, Canada |
|
|||
Ocean Studios is a Canadian company, not American. (Yes, I know we're part of North America, but American is commonly accepted to mean the USA, not North America as a whole. Just sayin.)
I'm also glad someone else mentioned reasons for dubs. The sight impaired is a good reason, and dyslexia is one I'd like to mention. Some people simply CAN NOT keep up with subtitles. |
||||
Jih2
Posts: 403 Location: East coast |
|
|||
Yes, it did not explode into popularity and I'm not typing this on a FLCL special edition Mac laptop but it did get consumed by a ton of people who weren't just anime fans. People who are now about 17-21 will probably still know what this is. Adult Swim as niche as they come? I point to Family Guy. |
||||
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
||
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group