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NEWS: Happy Science Organization's New Dragon Heart Film Screens in U.S. Theaters on June 6


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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 16417
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2025 12:00 pm Reply with quote
Not to be confused with the 90's Sean Connery movie, Dragonheart. Laughing https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonheart
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FireChick
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Joined: 26 Mar 2006
Posts: 2765
Location: United States
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2025 12:01 pm Reply with quote
Why are these still being made? Why are these even being dubbed? Do the actors and ADR staff even know these are cult movies made to recruit people???
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Emerje



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 7548
Location: Maine
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2025 5:11 pm Reply with quote
FireChick wrote:
Why are these still being made? Why are these even being dubbed? Do the actors and ADR staff even know these are cult movies made to recruit people???

Took the words out of my mouth (keyboard?). Of all the shows that go without a proper dub why make one for this cult propaganda film?

Emerje
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 6222
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2025 5:20 pm Reply with quote
Riding the the tail coats of mainstream anime and making money. Bet you it wasn't hard to license this movie. A dub makes it more profitable.

Money talks, everything else walks.
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merr



Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Posts: 515
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2025 5:40 pm Reply with quote
Pretty sure the cult is financing the dub and international distribution. The question remains why anyone would agree to work with them, though.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
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PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2025 6:49 pm Reply with quote
Dang, Zach Aguilar!?
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RickyTheRat



Joined: 02 Jul 2023
Posts: 40
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2025 7:20 pm Reply with quote
FireChick wrote:
Why are these still being made? Why are these even being dubbed? Do the actors and ADR staff even know these are cult movies made to recruit people???


merr wrote:
Pretty sure the cult is financing the dub and international distribution. The question remains why anyone would agree to work with them, though.


A job is a job. I'll never understand how English VA culture got so gatekeepy and toxic. It's such dangerous thinking to side-eye anyone who works on anime you personally don't like.
I'm glad I don't see any of this harassment going towards the Japanese VAs of these works.
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Nionel



Joined: 08 Sep 2004
Posts: 632
Location: Nebraska
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2025 7:49 pm Reply with quote
Wow a Happy Science film is getting a theatrical release and a dub? That's wild. From what I've heard about them, I'm actually kinda curious to see this just to see if it truly is another recruitment film in the vein of their previous work.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 3037
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2025 7:52 pm Reply with quote
MFrontier wrote:
Dang, Zach Aguilar!?
Dang! Wendee Lee! BTW, this isn't the first Happy Science Epic she as been in, see Laws of the Universe Part 0 etc...
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Primus



Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 2909
Location: Toronto
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2025 8:01 pm Reply with quote
FireChick wrote:
Why are these still being made? Why are these even being dubbed? Do the actors and ADR staff even know these are cult movies made to recruit people???


They get paid and move on. Happy Science isn't very well known outside of Japan. I had never come across any of this stuff IRL until I saw a subdway ad for a lecture Okawa held and a Facebook promo for one of the movies.

Many of these actors have no issue working on Chinese projects, even though you'd think otherwise after that one dev replaced a bunch of them for acknowledging Taiwan's sovereignty. Who knows what'll set off the CCP next and how that might trickle down to you.

Nionel wrote:
Wow a Happy Science film is getting a theatrical release and a dub? That's wild. From what I've heard about them, I'm actually kinda curious to see this just to see if it truly is another recruitment film in the vein of their previous work.


Most of the Happy Science movies have gotten English dubs, going back like 20 years now. The more recent ones have received very limited theatrical releases - likely paid for by Happy Science themselves.
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TsukasaElkKite



Joined: 22 Nov 2005
Posts: 4197
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2025 10:21 pm Reply with quote
Do the English VAs know that they’re working on cult propaganda?
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Lizuka



Joined: 27 Jul 2018
Posts: 430
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2025 10:44 pm Reply with quote
I'd imagine most of the people involved in the dubs of these just don't know what these are, it's not like Happy Science is super well known.

That said I do think if you do know what they are then you do absolutely deserve scorn for working with them.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 8234
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2025 10:59 pm Reply with quote
Ah Happy Science and their political party offspring, the Japanese quasi-equivalent of Scientology (is that a fair comparison?). I mean this organization is indeed a fringe cult with a outlandish right-wing ideology and some part of Happy Science reminds me of Scientology.

ANN article wrote:
Happy Science has come under scrutiny for its practices and coercive recruitment tactics in the past. Through its political party, the Happiness Realization Party, the group has advocated for nuclear deterrence, and has called for the amendment and removal of the pacifist Article 9 of Japan's constitution. The group has also repeated common Japanese right-wing rhetoric, such as the denial of the Nanking Massacre, the Imperial Japanese Army practice of taking comfort women, and the assertion of the Japanese state's de jure ownership of the Senkaku Islands. The group has offered spiritual "vaccines," which it claimed could cure COVID-19.


And don't forget their political party praised Putin for invading Ukraine, and also demonized President Zelenskyy (yes, they did that) just like Trump did back in March.

Lizuka wrote:
I'd imagine most of the people involved in the dubs of these just don't know what these are, it's not like Happy Science is super well known.


Even if they didn't know, I would've expected several VAs like Wendee Lee would've done their research on this organization like I don't know use Wikipedia on Happy Science or even stumbled upon this NYTimes article that interview the son of the late founder of Happy Science who denounce his father's/founder of Happy Science and has become the biggest critic of this cult.
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Farhanawesome



Joined: 31 Dec 2020
Posts: 338
PostPosted: Sat May 10, 2025 3:23 am Reply with quote
Its a shame that Japanese Animators, JP VA and EN VA work with this heretic organization even if it just doing their job. I mean Just look at ANN description on their activities like

Quote:
the group has advocated for nuclear deterrence, and has called for the amendment and removal of the pacifist Article 9 of Japan's constitution. The group has also repeated common Japanese right-wing rhetoric, such as the denial of the Nanking Massacre, the Imperial Japanese Army practice of taking comfort women, and the assertion of the Japanese state's de jure ownership of the Senkaku Islands.


I think it's gone too far
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merr



Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Posts: 515
PostPosted: Sat May 10, 2025 4:33 am Reply with quote
RickyTheRat wrote:
A job is a job. I'll never understand how English VA culture got so gatekeepy and toxic. It's such dangerous thinking to side-eye anyone who works on anime you personally don't like.
I'm glad I don't see any of this harassment going towards the Japanese VAs of these works.

There’s a difference between something “you personally don’t like” and a cult. The cult in question has zero problem forcing other authors not to publish works it doesn’t like, btw: animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2022-04-11/shueisha-removes-web-manga-about-children-born-into-religion-following-alleged-backlash-from-happy-/.184438

EDIT: And can you clarify how you believe anyone involved in this project is suffering harassment?
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