Dubs you wonder why happened

Anyone else feel this way about certain series?

It's not that I want to complain (and I definitely don't want this thread to be about complaining), I just wonder how come some dubs were made, given that it takes more money to dub stuff than do a sub-only release.

Examples would be works that have higher fanservice than western taste finds acceptable, shows with topics more controversial outside Japan and stuff that got dubbed when other generally better regarded works from around the same time. You could also

Examples would not include poor dubs and shows you simply don't like.

I wonder about shows like:

Midori Days: this seems to be an average show all round. I can't claim to have done the research, but if I were an investor I would hesitate before investing in something like this.

Tsukihime: The decay in this anime is evident even to someone not familiar with the series. Given that there was no English released Nasuverse stuff back in 2004 when this got a dub, I don't see where the popularity would be.

Koi Kaze: Given the subject matter... I don't know why this got a dub, and I wonder about it finding a sufficient audience. Not that I think it's unwatchable in the west, but the niche market with a tolerance for incest must be pretty small(?).

And... Ranma One Half actually. I really like it. I can see why you would want to adapt this show and make it accessible to as many people as possible. The humour is outstanding. However, I understand it couldn't be aired on TV. I just don't think there would be a lot of parents willing to let their kids watch it, and I also don't know how the Animation Age Ghetto was faring in the nineties. I find it astounding that all of the episodes of this show (minus the recent anniversary OVA) were dubbed.

So yeah, just a thread of general ignorance. Feel free to contribute your views on why things did or didn't or why things should or shouldn't have worked.

Not to undermine the work, and it is a fantastic show, but I never really saw the need to dub Puella Magi Madoka Magica. And from what little I've heard of it, it's average at best.

I've also never seen the need to dub Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, K On, and Lucky Star (though the dub for this one is one of the best I've heard).

Understand the Funimation Selection Process, which is, in the Oxford Dictionary, "take whatever the Hell someone offers you for a license". They dubbed Full Metal Alchemist, yet they ALSO dubbed 'Space Cat Cuties?! There doesn't seem to be any logic.

As for Bandai Entertainment (... pause, for our condolences...............................), they seemed to adapt the idea that moe shows were going to be the "in" thing this decade, just like it is in Japan. Hate to break it to you guys, but the Japanese have different ideas as to what they consider successful. To the US, cute girls are just..... boring in a cartoon, and I think we are more into action shows. What I find ironic is that moe shows are also, usually, Slice of Life, which makes them MORE boring, and yet I find they're JUST like our own Reality Shows, which I truthfully don't find any better!

edited 18th Jan '12 10:48:37 AM by kyun

ANYTHING 4KIDS DUBBED LIKE YU-GI-OH, ONE PIECE, SHAMAN KING, ETC.

One Piece, I can understand. It's one of the most popular animes in history.

Actually 4Kids' dubs make sense; they want money.

Magikano left me scratching my head. Not bad, but don't know how it qualified for a dub.

edited 18th Jan '12 11:11:45 AM by Spirit

Master Of Martial Hearts, all the way. Funimation actually advertised it a lot, even though the plot wasn't very good and the dub not much better. And that's not even getting into the last episode...

On the other hand, it did give Anita Neukar (the main character's VA) her first role, but she really could have picked a better one.

"I was young and needed the money!"

Ranma One Half was dubbed because back in the early days, anime was primarily released on videotape. And at the time, the general belief in the industry was that the majority of Westerners didn't want to read subtitles. Only snooty elite types who went to independent films and the hardcore fans wanted to hear the original soundtrack while reading a movie.

Therefore, anything intended for a decently wide release was dubbed, with a small number of subtitled videos for the hardcore audience.

edited 18th Jan '12 12:39:56 PM by SKJAM

Well, somehow Ranma did well enough despite only coming out on VHS. It's a good thing I think. And the dub is really good.

And to add to the list of Shows I'm Not Sure Dubbing Is A Good Idea:

Yumekui Merry As per the source from the chatterbox thread - Love the idea, don't mind the characters, think the slice of life parts would make a nice aside to some epic battles... Which it doesn't have.

I'm mostly just worried that the QUALITY will kill this one. I can't really gauge whether many people liked this show though since I didn't watch it when it came out.

edited 20th Jan '12 3:21:01 PM by UltimatelySubjective

These days, a number of series are getting released on DVD and Blu Ray with no dubbed dialogue. Some examples include anything from NIS America, some Section 23 / Sentai Filmworks titles such as Allison And Lillia, and some Aniplex titles such as Blue Exorcist. I assume it depends on what the company thinks will or won't sell.

Regarding SKJAM's comment... If you look back twenty or more years ago, there was a small VHS tape tree scene, in which clubs and college groups would trade Star Trek tapes for n-th generation tapes of vaguely current series like Ranma 1/2. Meanwhile, a few series would show up on North American television, almost always completely rewritten, with anything remotely offensive edited out. These two parts of fandom almost never intersected. (I recall that SKJAM was writing Ranma fanfics in the late 90s. How long were you active in fandom?)

Some time in the 90s, the concept of releasing dubbed and subbed series right to the home video market became popular. Viz, Manga Ent, AD Vision, Pioneer, and Central Park Media all made dubbed and subtitled tapes. Generally, they charged more money for their subbed tapes — presumably the dub VHS sold better. Because the dub and subbed dialogue were relatively similar, fans who bought the products could talk to each other. If you ask me, this was a good thing.

From the 90s through the mid-2000s, there was a lot of money getting thrown at dubs, including experimental and unpopular series. Trying to sell series that don't just feature fighting tournaments and fanservice is a good idea. If this is one of the factors that lead several companies into bankruptcy, then it turned into a bad idea.

It would be nice to see evidence that they are doing their research though.

If the popular threads around here are anything to go by they should be dubbing more Nanoha and some Index.

Although my personal recommendation would be for someone to dub Nichijou.

I thought there were already plans to dub Index.

Bandai Entertainment was, since they were going to release it and Bandai dubbed all their anime, I believe.

But then, you know...

Any particular dub anyone want to scapegoat for the death of Bandai?

Not sure whether you're saying it's fantastic or average...

In any case though, whatever you may feel about its quality, the series has made pretty big sales. I don't see why it wouldn't be picked up by a company.

I think she meant that the dub was average judging from the current clips available.

Well, considering this thread is about dubs for series you don't think really needed them, not for dubs you dislike, I rather hope not.

Although considering that Madoka's popularity stems from it being a play on a genre that isn't all that popular in the Stats, I'm not too sure it needs a dub anyway.

(I recall that SKJAM was writing Ranma fanfics in the late 90s. How long were you active in fandom?)

Since about 1984. I was one of the people who actually saw Warriors of the Wind (the butchered version of Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind) in one of its three theatrical showings in the US, loved the artwork and animation and asked, "where can I get more like this?"

-Double post gone wrong-

edited 21st Jan '12 8:12:44 AM by PrinterThorn

Master of Martial Hearts, full stop! Hate, hate, hate this anime. And what kills me is that the dub is GOOD (even if the dialogue is corny), so I can't even laugh at the cheesiness of it. Why would people put so much effort into this?

I'll have to agree on Master Of Martial Hearts. It's a terrible, trashy, no-name OVA. Makes no sense. None.

And while we're talking about horrible ecchi, Eiken! ...really this usually goes hand in hand with manga/anime you wonder why happened.

Yumekui Merry As per the source from the chatterbox thread

You're welcome. It's probably going to be like Rosario To Vampire — bad adaptation (I haven't seen Merry, but judging from reactions...), good dub.

I see some FU Nimation shows and big sellers being listed...

But FU Nimation dubs everything, and big sellers meet the only requirement companies have when deciding whether to opt for a dub, so I honestly don't get why one would be surprised or questioning them.

You know I am often surprised by some of the dub decisions. For example, Lucky Star (which has a pretty good dub). It's so full of in jokes for the fandom and Japanese word play that I'm surprised anyone felt the need to dub it.

K-On I can understand dubbing because it should have huge crossover appeal to girls in the States. But what I don't get is why didn't they dub the songs? To make the crossover they really needed to dub the songs and they even hired Vee to voice Mio- when I heard that I thought for sure they were going to dub the songs.

It also doesn't surprise me too much that they are dubbing Madoka Magica as Magical Girl anime are actually one of the few hugely visible anime genre over here, plus the Madoka story is actually a very powerful universal story that carries strong Christian connotations. The main problem for Madoka is that casual male fans will probably not buy it because it looks so girly. It's a little on the dark side for little girls, (although I actually think teen girls would love it). So Madoka could be a hit in the States but it will require word of mouth like for Eva.

I do wonder why something like Cross Game hasn't been dubbed since it's a universal story that has a commonality for Americans because of the baseball angle.