Smeg, this is weird...

I actually thought the English version was pretty good. Maybe I should try to find my CD:s again and see if the polish version is worth it, simply because the original version is almost always better than the dubbed one, even though you can't understand shit.

 

Michael Bell has been in so many games it's not even funny.

I know Crispin Freeman through his game work too, as I stopped watching anime at about the same time I got through puberty and the hormones stopped freaking out every ten seconds. He's in some of my favourite games, though, and he voices Delsus in Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana, my all-time number one favourite game. (Arcanum is number 2, and Baldur's Gate II is number 3, in case you're even remotely interested.)

 

You all are madmen with your obscure knowledge of voice actors. I am impressed!

 

The only thing I like dub in is Cowboy Bebop, and that's because it was dubbed when I first saw it, so now the Japanese voices sound too... meek, for me.

 

While in games the best voices for me are the English ones* (being usually the default ones), in anime there's nothing worse than English voice actors**. The actors there always sound so blatant and one can hear how they're are simply trying too hard. Instead of enjoying the show, all I can think about when hearing them is "Ugh! Shut up! Don't talk like a 13 year old acting like an idiot!". I'm not sure how to catch the reason, since Japanese can be as explicit as clamorous as English in tone, yet it was there first. Apparently the rule of the original applies, even when it means seeing something the first time in a different language and it becoming the original for the said unit, such as Cowboy Bebop for DF.

* Personal exception - Ghost Master. The Polish version was simply outstanding, when it came to voice acting (pitty the translated names sounded way more childish compared to English).
** Personal exception - Cybersix, although than anime was English in original, so it's reasonable.

 

DF: I like Bepops dubbed also, but prefer the subbed.

Generally I’ll take subtitled over dubbed. Although there are some descent dubbes out there, they are hard to find. Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime) was a decent dub. I think the most horrible dub I’ve seen (heard) was Photon: the Idiot Menace. He’s supposed to be an eight year old boy. In the Subbed, that’s exactly what he sounds like. So when he he’s lost and nuzzles up to the breasts of a sleeping woman and goes to sleep, you understand it to be a nurturing, safety, comfort thing. Then it gets dubbed and Photon now sounds like a 30 year old midget. It adds a certain creepy factor to the previously mentioned scene.

Some of the problems with dubbed (outside of horrible voice acting) are the attempts to ‘Americanize’ the conversations. This can be done well. For example Princess Mononoke the original line is ‘This soup tastes like water.’ Which in Japan is a grave insult (or was) and it just wouldn’t carry the same wait in English. It was dubbed to ‘This soup tastes like horse piss.’ It didn’t change the story and kept the weight of the insult. Unfortunately, most attempts at this are poorly thought out and can even change the story line.

That’s another pet peeve I have. When you dub the Anime, stop changing the story line just so you don’t offend the overly delicate American sensibilities! There are two, count them, two lesbians in Sailor Moon. Not in America though. They’re just close friends. All dialog and scenes that would allude to this have been changed or removed. CardCaptor Sakura was change to appeal to the 10-12 year old market when it was originally meant for the next higher demographic. Then they air the episodes out of sequence*, so that she has cards you haven’t seen her catch yet and then catch cards you’ve already seen her use.

*The same thing happened to Firefly. Series was aired out of order. My gods, they didn’t even air the pilot until the end of the (already canceled) season. It was either a severe case of stupid or deliberate sabotage.

 

.....I like your points, but the whole thing was ruined when you openly admitted to watching an anime series primarily targeting 10-12 girls.

 

Well, to be honest, I have watched about half a dozen or so episodes of both Sailor Moon and CardCaptor. I haven’t pursued the series because they are geared to folks young than me. The points I stated using them as an example have almost wholly been gathered from articles in anime magazines and talking to people at the Cons.

Besides, I do watch things that are geared below my age range but enjoy them quite a bit. Such as Bugs Bunny, Wiley Coyote, Daffy Duck, Power Puff Girls, Dexter’s Lab, etc. Why should it be different for anime?

The best ‘kids’ cartoons/anime have something in them for adults to enjoy. They almost have to since the adults are going to watch it with the kids. My Neighbor Totoro is a kids anime movie, but I’d watch that over any episode ‘24’. Going old school, I’ll also mention Rocky and Bullwinkle, Super Chick, George of the Jungle. All kids cartoons, but there is humor there that will fly past the kids and smack the adults in the funny bone. Almost forgot to mention Danger Mouse.

 

You caught me off guard with the last two words of your post, and I liked what you were saying even before then. Now I simply like the way you think a whole lot more.

 

My mum and I used to love watching Rugrats when I was an ickle kiddie. I loved it because it was cute and silly, and my mum loved it because a lot of the humour was actually quite understated and aimed at adults, something I'm only now coming to appreciate.

I normally hated/hate dubs in anime, but I will admit to being pleasantly surprised by the English voices for Ouran High School Host Club. (Don't judge me! It's funny shit! And the only anime I've been exposed to in about five years that didn't make me cry from sheer disgust.) They didn't dumb it down or anything. The girl who gets mistaken for a guy has a voice that would actually work on a character of either gender. They even kept the borderline sexual innuendo between the twins, which actually really surprised me.

 

Minuos: Danger Mouse? I loved DM!
I seldom find anyone who knows who he is.
DM: Penfold?
Penfold: Yes, DM?
DM: Shush.

Xaio: Hmm. I’ll have to look up Ouran High School Host Club and see what it’s about.


Villian: If you don’t behave we’ll have to disarm you.
DM: Please don’t. They keep my shoulders from fraying.

 

I'm just giving you a hard time Papa_dog, one of the things that surprises me about myself is that even though I get older and move on in stages in life, I still find many of my hobbies and pursuits from my younger years to still be amusing.

I mean, shit, I still watch cartoons and stay up way too late playing video games.

 

DE: I'd pay good money to visit that alternate reality.

Papa Dog, I do believe I'd love you if Vorak's recent comment on my sexuality was at all accurate. For the moment, I seem to have some nostalgia to force upon google.

 

Hide and seek is fun though...

 

Do it! It's funny as hell. Just give yourself the entire first episode to deal with it, because at first you're gonna be all 'WTF are these people smokin'?'.

*cackles at the ol' Danger Mouse quotes, she'd forgotten how much she loved that show!* While I'm thinking of it, anyone remember the old Darkwing Duck cartoons?

 

I thank you all for digging up classics I recall growing up to. DM, Darkwing Duck, and The Rescue Rangers were three I recall pretty well.

It could be worse, I suppose, than watching shows for 12 year olds. You could be a huge Love Hina fan. >_>

 

*shudder* Love Hina is what finally stopped me going to the local anime club. They finished the first season of Slayers!, and I thought 'Oh! They must be showing Slayers! Next soon! What could be better than Xellos smart-arsing on a fifty foot screen?' (Answer: Not much!)

And then they started playing Love Hina. *gag*

 

I do remember these series, just like the classics Transformers, GI. Joe, Alf, Bionic Six, M.A.S.K, Blackstar, Bravestarr, The Real Ghostbusters, The Ghostbusters, Challenge of the Gobots.