 | From: From: Soung Lee (singly2000@aol.com) I just finished reading the section about dubs vs. subs (yes, this may be a little late), but I just had to mention something that all the letters I read had sort of missed, and that is the pure talent of the Japanese voice actor (seiyuu). The Japanese voice actors are dedicated to making the best voices for their characters as possible. Heck, there's even voice acting school in Japan.
Sure, there are some good dubbs out there, I'll be the first to say that. I've found that the best dubbs have been made, not for videos, but for TV. So far, the best dubbing job I've seen is for DIC's release of Sailor Moon. If it wasn't for all the edited scenes, I could almost prefer the dubbed SAILOR MOON over the original. Although no one can really do Sailor Moon better than Mitsuishi-san, the second American equivalent came as close as you can get. DRAGONBALL and DRAGONBALL Z are very well done as well. It's definitely a change to hear Goku's voice actually sound like he looks in Dragonball Z. Out of the video releases, RANMA 1/2 tends to be the most tolerable, but no one can out-perform Megumi Hayashibara. The American counterpart (Sarah Strange I think), as well as she manages doing both the male and female Ranmas, falls very short compared to Megumi. I could never imagine anyone being able to dub the voice of Ai Amano of VIDEO GIRL AI without Megumi as her voice without severely damaging the credibility of Ai as a character and the series as a whole. Her performance is flawless and spectacular to listen to. I even rented Slayers Next without subtitles because Megumi's voice skills were worth the cost of renting the tape alone.
Sure, subs are a pain to read, especially for an anime like FAIRY PRINCESS REN, where your slow motion button still wouldn't be slow enough to catch all the subtitles, but voice acting is an art form in Japan, and the American companies tend to treat it like a bunch of words in a script. Just listening to the true voice talents of Japan are worth the extra money to by subbed videos over the dubs. If you aren't convinced of that, you can do two things, first, take your favorite anime and turn the volume down all the way and watch the pictures move by. Then maybe you'll notice how important the voices are. Second, plug your headphones into your TV and listen to your favorite Japanese language anime, but don't watch the pictures. Just try to imagine what the characters are doing and how they're feeling in a particular scene. Then do the same with your favorite dubbed anime. Then maybe you'll notice that while you may not understand what the Japanese are saying, you can definitely tell what their emotions are. I've bought a few Japanese radio drama CD's and found that even though I didn't know any Japanese, I could still almost see the scene and was able to imagine how the characters looked and acted. I knew when a character was annoyed, when a character was sad, depressed, or joking around. I tried this with a dubbed video I had and instead of seeing the characters in a scene, I just saw a voice actor talking dully into a microphone (The movie by the way was MACROSS II).
Soung, Well, you've certainly made your case. And the other members of the EX staff were quite impressed with some of your observations, especially the idea of just listening to the voices and not watching the pictures. (I'm just sorry we had to edit your letter as much as we did). Perhaps as the anime industry in the United States continues to grow, the dubbing will continue to improve. In the meantime, everyone has their choice of what to watch.
From: Robert Kwong (rk@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU)
Dear EX Magazine, First off, let me compliment you on creating such a wonderful anime "zine" site on the web. Please keep up the good work.
Given that your magazine is devoted to the latest anime/manga developments, I was wondering if you can do an article on the drive to bring the KOR TV series over to the US in your next issue? This effort finally has the endorsement of AnimEigo. I've created an "informational" page to describe all the details of the effort at: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/2143/.
Millions of anime fans across the U.S. and I will be greatly appreciative if you can squeeze in a mention of this purely fan-driven effort to bring a quality anime series over to the U.S. for a new generation of fans to enjoy!
Robert, While there's not really enough information to do an article on it, we've included your letter in this month's letter column so that our readers will be made aware of this effort. ORANGE ROAD fans now have the opportunity to bring the television series over to the United States. Don't let it pass you by.
From: Ron Nery (rnery@ix.netcom.com)
This is definitely one of the cooler exits off the Anime Turnpike!! Not too much flattery (although I do want those DBZ cards), but you got a cool site and I bookmarked it!
With the exception of watching AKIRA a few years back, I have only recently broadened my Anime horizons (and becoming a hardcore DRAGONBALL Z man)! Not being a hardcore fan in the past, I always looked at the large volume of Anime at my local video/laserdisc store and thought that a decent subset of episodes and movies were available. Now that I am really likin' DBZ, I am surprised to find that no commercial stuff is available!
I realize that some DRAGONBALL episode dubs have recently been released (and I got 'em), but my tastes are a little more mature. I don't mean to offend, but I like the improved animation and story complexity of the DRAGONBALL Z series much better!
I guess my question to you Anime experts is: "With all the episodes and movies of this wildly popular series, why aren't any subs or dubs available commercially?"
Ron, Your question is relatively easy to answer. When shows come out on US television, they aren't always immediately slated for simultaneous video release. For example, THE X-FILES has been running for four seasons now and they are only coming out randomly on video. "Cartoons" or children's shows are no different. If you look at what's available for sale in your local video store, you will find very few currently running television series. In fact, there seems to be some sort of taboo in doing a simultaneous video release while the shows are still on television. It wasn't until SAILOR MOON ended its run on US airwaves that the videos started to come out, for example.
The good news is that DRAGONBALL Z has been declared a "hit" and will return next fall for another season. But this is a two-edged sword, for while new episodes will continue to be translated into English, it may mean that fans who want to purchase the videos will have to wait even longer.
Good news, though! I have just learned from my sources that Pioneer will be releasing the English version of DRAGONBALL Z on tape starting in August. We'll have more information as it becomes available.
From: Wolf Darkwood (wolf1031@warwick.net)
Hi, I have a little question for ya. Do you know if the VIRTUA FIGHTER cartoon series is ever going to come to the USA? (Or at least subtitled tapes of the original episodes?) I keep hearing about how good the series is, but I have a feeling that my fellow Americans and I will never get to see it. Well, thanks for your time!
"Wolf," At this point, none of the US companies have announced a release of VIRTUA FIGHTER. But there's always hope. I mean, fighting game anime seem to be the hot new commodity on the US anime market. We already have FATAL FURY, BATTLE ARENA TOSHINDEN, STREET FIGHTER II V, and THE ART OF FIGHTING available here. And there's no shortage of games-turned-anime series in Japan, either, what with the new DARKSTALKERS OVA series just beginning.
From: Chris Smith (csmith@amaranth.com)
I just came to your site for the first time today, and I love it! It's nice to be able to find out release dates and info for import as well as domestic anime titles. I hope that you can continue to do such a good job with it and keep it as professional looking as it is for a long time to come!
I do have a couple of questions and comments as well.
First of all, I thought that it might be a good idea that in future issues you mention the existence of fansubs or fan translations. I do understand they are currently of a controversial nature, but are of great help to fans of various import-only series. Various listings for these can be found through the Anime Web Turnpike and various other sites.
Second, I would like to mention several new works I have discovered through a worker at AIC (Bill MacPhee) and thought you might want to look into. First of all, AIC is currently creating an AH! MY GODDESS Motion Picture, as well as a BUBBLE GUM CRISIS TV series! I'm sure the fans out there would love to hear about it.
Finally, an idea for a new section. I have noticed all kinds of animes that are very popular, that don't exactly go into the limelight. So in other words, a site featuring little known anime hits (import and domestic). I would especially like to recommend 801 TTS AIRBATS, as it has been released by ADVision for some time, but was not given enough advertising to be a hit. Now they have rereleased it with 84 mins of 3 OVAs on a single tape for 24.95 ! Anyone who likes romantic comedy will love it and I'm sure they'd buy it if they knew it was out there.
But anyhow, just a few things I though I would mention... Keep up the good work on your site !
Chris, Thanks for writing. Let's tackle your first point first: fansubs. As you have said, fansubs are indeed a legal grey area. This alone is problematic. For us to endorse them would be like saying you should buy pirated CDs, which of course we can't say. And then there is the problem of fansubtitling becoming something of an industry in itself. I have been to some of the websites of the current crop of fan subtitlers, and I must say that I am more than a little annoyed that they are charging upwards of $8.00 per tape. Nowhere on earth does one tape cost that much anymore. In fact, it is rumored that one group is actually turning a profit from doing this! So at this point, I'd much rather just avoid the whole sticky issue and stick to doing legitimate releases, both domestic and Japanese. Plus, as you have said, information on the fan subtitling groups is available at the Anime Turnpike, so it's not like finding out about them is that difficult.
As for AIC's new shows, I have been talking to Bill myself a bit lately. And while it is true that they are working on a new BUBBLEGUM CRISIS television series, it has been delayed. The new VAMPIRE PRINCESS MIYU series, however, is on schedule and should be appearing on Japanese television in October (perfect timing for Halloween).
Now that we've hit our one year anniversary, we'll be taking a closer look at what we've been doing and how we can improve. So don't be surprised if you see a section devoted to "older" anime cropping up from time to time in future issues.
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