Anime/Manga - Discuss Japanese cartoons and comics here; NO CULTURE WAR DOOMPOSTING!

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CheezzyMach said:
Depends on the subs though, A-lot of fansubs are guilty of changing dialogue to make it sound more "badass" * making characters swear like sailors *.

Personally I don't mind a dub westernizing certain aspects of the work to make it more understandable to Americans.* giving a Kansai speaker a Texas drawl for example since that's our closest equivalent *
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Bad Fansubs are quite well known among the anime community, though it was a bigger thing when there were actually more groups.

I also don't really mind when there's westernization in dubs in an attempt to make a show more understandable, though they have to be careful with it. Some jokes just don't work outside of Japanese, like ones where the joke is words that have different meanings having the same reading or jokes around pronoun (i.e. Your Name having the joke about the girl using the wrong pronouns when in the guys body) or jokes that rely on cultural context.

When you get shows that are sometimes called "too Japanese" like Joshiraku for example, it's usually because they are so dense with very Japanese jokes/references/visual gags/word play that it would probably be impossible to westernize it unless you rewrote most of the script. I found the notes posted back in the day by the guy fantranslating it and holy is there a lot of notes just for the first episode with some jokes having to be rewritten to make any sense. Interestingly, there seems to have been drama around if it was even possible to sub the series given how Japanese it is (The phrase "you have to be this Japanese to enjoy this show" is associated with it).

If you just translated it wholesale you'd be left with a western audience that is probably going to have a hard time understand the jokes unless they include linear notes for each episode that explains everything. Even someone who has watched a bunch of anime would probably struggle to understand a lot of the jokes without reading through the notes explaining everything. Having said that, Joshiraku seems to have gotten a release in the west but I'm really curious on how they decided to go about subbing it.
That Stupid Fucking Tree said:
While I'm not in favor of most dubs and I'll actively take a sub over a dub anyway, Panty and Stocking's dub is objectively better than it's sub.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=8Z4s0mMD5xQ
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There's some series where I just find a dub fits better especially if it's talking place in a clearly western setting. Stuff like Black Lagoon where it doesn't take place in Japan (for the most part) and most of the characters are not Japanese sounds weird when everyone is talking in Japanese. The dub does have it's problems like the entire Japan arc with there supposed to be a language barrier for Revy is kind of wack but that problem is in both sub and dub.
 
Moguro Fukuzou said:
Bad Fansubs are quite well known among the anime community, though it was a bigger thing when there were actually more groups.

I also don't really mind when there's westernization in dubs in an attempt to make a show more understandable, though they have to be careful with it. Some jokes just don't work outside of Japanese, like ones where the joke is words that have different meanings having the same reading or jokes around pronoun (i.e. Your Name having the joke about the girl using the wrong pronouns when in the guys body) or jokes that rely on cultural context.

When you get shows that are sometimes called "too Japanese" like Joshiraku for example, it's usually because they are so dense with very Japanese jokes/references/visual gags/word play that it would probably be impossible to westernize it unless you rewrote most of the script. I found the notes posted back in the day by the guy fantranslating it and holy is there a lot of notes just for the first episode with some jokes having to be rewritten to make any sense. Interestingly, there seems to have been drama around if it was even possible to sub the series given how Japanese it is (The phrase "you have to be this Japanese to enjoy this show" is associated with it).

If you just translated it wholesale you'd be left with a western audience that is probably going to have a hard time understand the jokes unless they include linear notes for each episode that explains everything. Even someone who has watched a bunch of anime would probably struggle to understand a lot of the jokes without reading through the notes explaining everything. Having said that, Joshiraku seems to have gotten a release in the west but I'm really curious on how they decided to go about subbing it.

There's some series where I just find a dub fits better especially if it's talking place in a clearly western setting. Stuff like Black Lagoon where it doesn't take place in Japan (for the most part) and most of the characters are not Japanese sounds weird when everyone is talking in Japanese. The dub does have it's problems like the entire Japan arc with there supposed to be a language barrier for Revy is kind of wack but that problem is in both sub and dub.
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There have been a few, very successful examples of anime dubs that dealt with that very problem (I think most famously Samurai Pizza Cats). But it usually winds up rewriting the show into something very different and I don't think you could do that today.
 
I feel like for the most part, anything recent is pretty safe to watch. Even if it's not great, chances are it's also not gonna be god-awful and completely turn you off the show.

I used to prefer watching dubs when I first started watching anime (as I'm sure many new fans do) but nowadays I'll always watch the sub by default unless something about it specifically bothers me. For example, with Kill la Kill I switched to the dub after a couple episodes because it's visually noisy with a decent amount of dialogue, so I felt like I was always choosing between paying attention to either the visuals or the dialogue and felt like I was missing out by watching the sub. I also do actually prefer dub Ryuko to the original Japanese, she comes across as more of a punk where the Japanese version sounds more mature and reserved.
 
Kari Kamiya said:
Post your favorite panels.
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Yen Press translated Keiichi's inner monologue as he's plotting the perfect idea to kill Satoko's uncle without being caught, and it's terrifying. Very hard read due to formatting and insanity.

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There are so many I'll probably crash my browser site if I started posting. This manga has a lotta god-tier stuff.
 
I'll watch dubs if its something I don't give a shit about, it has an "english speaking" vibe like Baccano or Black Lagoon, or if it's funny like Golden Boy. Other than that, its subs all the way.
Secret Asshole said:
Nigger, I'm not paying you to get creative. I don't WANT you to get creative. Translate the thing as close as possible. But they don't. Because they're fucking completely obnoxious.
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This, I dont know if I'm simply noticing it more lately or if they're getting cockier, but its annoying. I'm still miffed about how they tried to be clever with the Chainsawman covers.
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FWIW, Japanese comedies can be hit-or-miss when it comes to localization due to wordplay not translating as well overseas, and then there's (pop) culture references that are uniquely Japanese and may not necessarily have an English counterpart. I bet that Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo wouldn't have done as well in America (let alone would've aired on Cartoon Network for as long as it did) had they kept the script 100% faithful instead of heavily changing up the script while still respecting its widget spirit.

It was a seriously ballsy move for the dubbers to even dare dub the show to begin with, and it's a miracle it even worked.

(Not the best example since the translation's not as different lol "fucking" in the subs and it's not as wacky as other moments, but it works in either version.)

 
I like how the parent(s) of the star(s) of a series are always "overseas for work", leaving the house conveniently all to the star(s) for various shenanigans to happen - often harem variety.
 
I’ll add in another show that did way way better as a dub than a sub: Ghost Stories.

That said, I usually go with subs.
 
That Stupid Fucking Tree said:
While I'm not in favor of most dubs and I'll actively take a sub over a dub anyway, Panty and Stocking's dub is objectively better than it's sub.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=8Z4s0mMD5xQ
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It's better in the respect that the dub VAs are whores and terrible people, as are Panty and Stocking. Not to the defend the character of Seiyuu here, I'm sure some are just as bad, like when Aya Hirano either went real nuts or Prince "I want out of my contract" nuts and made sleeping with every member of her band but the bass player public.

For those who don't know, Stocking is voiced by Monica Rial and Panty is voiced by Jamie Marchi. In light of Kick Vic, it's kind of brilliant casting.
 
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Atatata said:
I'll watch dubs if its something I don't give a shit about, it has an "english speaking" vibe like Baccano or Black Lagoon, or if it's funny like Golden Boy. Other than that, its subs all the way.

This, I dont know if I'm simply noticing it more lately or if they're getting cockier, but its annoying. I'm still miffed about how they tried to be clever with the Chainsawman covers.
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At least it doesn't look like complete shit.
 
I got into subs back in high school, back before crunchyroll. When you had all kinds of autistic fansubbers with their own weeb quirks. Pet translator's notes (i.e. One Piece subbers had a fixation on "nakama"), using special fonts/effects for characters calling attacks, etc. Every now and then you'd have memeworthy garbage translations. Fansubbers still exist, but things are nowhere what they were before Crunchyroll. Or maybe they still are and I'm an out of touch boomer
 
Return of the Freaker said:
I got into subs back in high school, back before crunchyroll. When you had all kinds of autistic fansubbers with their own weeb quirks. Pet translator's notes (i.e. One Piece subbers had a fixation on "nakama"), using special fonts/effects for characters calling attacks, etc. Every now and then you'd have memeworthy garbage translations. Fansubbers still exist, but things are nowhere what they were before Crunchyroll. Or maybe they still are and I'm an out of touch boomer
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CR is still doing Memesubs. Just yesterday's episode from Iwa Kakeru used "swole", "Whomst" & while calling the word strong, "string"

At least, fansubs have more class now.
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Return of the Freaker said:
I got into subs back in high school, back before crunchyroll. When you had all kinds of autistic fansubbers with their own weeb quirks. Pet translator's notes (i.e. One Piece subbers had a fixation on "nakama"), using special fonts/effects for characters calling attacks, etc. Every now and then you'd have memeworthy garbage translations. Fansubbers still exist, but things are nowhere what they were before Crunchyroll. Or maybe they still are and I'm an out of touch boomer
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I actually miss the special fonts/colors for attacks in the One Piece subs.
 
So I was on MyAnimeList reading the Higurashi ep. 4 thread. Lots of newcomers who are about to be very confused when Watadamashi-hen starts next week plus old timers having forgotten that Higurashi is all about misdirection and unreliable pov and thus taking everything at face value.

So, interesting that the clinic appeared to be packing up before shit went down plus that nurse at the end.... Also can't wait for Shmion.
 
Dubs aren't universally trash, but enough of them are that taking the position of "I only watch dubs" means that you're going to lose enjoyment of a lot of good shows.

Reading is fun-damental!
 
I think Panty and Stocking works because it more resembles Western animation than anime.
 
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