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Hey, Answerman! [2006-09-22]

Naruto, in the other hand, should had someone to coach these actors in Japanese prounication because the butchering of the names were one reason why it made me turn away from it. The other reason were that Naruto's penchant to say "Dattebayo" changed to "Believe It" making it sound like a bad catchphase.

I know of at least one anime director (who shall remain nameless) who absolutely refuses to cast "big name" seiyuu in his anime because they "just can't act."

jsevakis wrote:

I know of at least one anime director (who shall remain nameless) who absolutely refuses to cast "big name" seiyuu in his anime because they "just can't act."

*Cough*

And I was wondering why no one has mentioned this director. I'll keep it a secret -- for now.

"We can neither confirm nor deny anything about that particular series at this point in time."

Is it just me, or who cares?? If you don't like the dub, buy the DVD's and watch it with Japanese audio and subtitles. I've never understood why bad dubs get under people's skin when there is a superior alternative to it on the DVD already. If you prefer to listen to dubs, go for it, I could care less, but why complain if you don't like it when there is always an alternative. Either that or just don't watch it at all.

I don't see the problem with his statement. Even if the idea that the Japanese put forth more effort into voicing than their English counterparts is flawed (and I imagine this would be rather hard to prove one way or the other), it is certainly a perfectly acceptable to form the opinion that the Japanese do a better job.

They're using Soul Reaper because that's the way Kubo wants it said in English. simple as that.

As for the language thing. If you barely understand a lick of it, of course it's going to sound exotic and nice compared to what you'lve been speaking your whole life. But once you learn and get used to it, the language becomes boring and any flaws become much more apparant. Happened to me with Spainish and French. If I mastered Japanese then I will probably start seeing seiyuus in a new light (though I think it's silly to put them on some pedistal of perfection)

lazy or uncaring directors

In order to properly judge Japanese performances (or at least to claim ridiculous, unfair, unprovable things like "the Japanese care more and work harder at voice acting"), you'd need to be fluent in the language and immersed in their culture and familiar enough with what native speakers think a "good" performance is. As it is, you're an English-speaking American (I think) who's taken a few courses and watched a LOT of anime. That doesn't qualify you at all to make any sort of informed, educated and honest opinion about a Japanese performance. Sure, you can like it on a surface level, and appreciate the cadence and flow of the language (something that happens to lots of people who encounter exotic things) but to make the kind of statements you're making, you're totally underqualified. Hell, I took 4 years of Japanese and I've watched anime for like 8-9 years here and I don't consider myself to be knowledgable enough about Japanese performance to make serious, in-depth comments about quality. Especially not ridiculous things like "oh they work harder than English VAs, I just know they do!!". That's just blind Japanophilia, and it totally slams the legion of hardworking, sincere American VAs.

I mean, in my reviews, if the dub sucks, I'll say "watch the Japanese version, it's better." Is that because the Japanese performances are better? No, not necessarily. It means the dub sucks and you're better off watching it in a language you likely don't speak. Likewise, if the Japanese voices are shrill or annoying or have some quality I can actually judge, I'll tell people to watch the dub, unless it's really bad. But that's all I consider myself qualified enough to say about the Japanese performance. Something tells me you're not any further ahead on the issue than I am, so why in the world would I take the over-the-top statements you've made about Japanese performance seriously at all?

Also, something tells me you've never heard American VAs talk about their work or spent any time around them in person because a few minutes in to any conversation it will become abundantly clear to you that those people absolutely love what they do and care deeply about their work.

Cadence and flow? Japanese people tend to have a hard time understanding the cadence and flow of English. So excuse me if I don't believe for a second that you can understand the cadence and flow of Japanese without speaking a lick of it yourself.