Fanboys, 4Kids, Naruto Uncut DVDs, and my Fears for the Industry

[HG Revolution]

As we all know, the Naruto dub gets a lot of flack for pretty much no reason whatsoever. It seems as if a lot of newbies wanting to be "hardcore" feel the need to bash the Naruto dub to look good to the longtime anime fans who bashed the dubs of DBZ and Sailor Moon back in the day (and who probably actually consider Naruto's dub very good compared to those 2 shows). Now why don't these people bash dubs that actually deserve it, which in this day and age are pretty much just 4Kids's dubs?

Creepily enough, I think you could chalk it up to 4Kids's Americanization. Lots of people who don't know any better call Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and the like "poser anime" because they can't find any traces of Japaneseness left in the dubs. And because 4Kids tries to hide all traces of their shows' origins (as evidenced by the lack of uncut DVD releases and the recent removal of videos on YouTube), to this uneducated group of anime fans, someone complaining that One Piece was hacked up for America probably sounds about as stupid as complaining Teen Titans was hacked up for America. It may seem odd, but I think the fact that Viz has been gracious enough to keep tons of Japanese cultural refferences intact in Naruto, a show both airing on the same programming block that aired DBZ and Sailor Moon and unable to be backed up as "adult" (the unknowing newbies, however, probably consider the Japanese version "adult", so when the more knowledgable fans call Naruto a "kids" show, the newbies could easily get confused into thinking Naruto was hacked up), has hurt its reputation with these newbies.

Well, for those who don't like the dub, you'd assume Uncut DVDs with the Japanese audio would be an instant buy. Unfortunately, that isn't totally the case. People who have seen all the fansubs a billion times and maybe even gotten the R2 DVDs and don't have any motive to support Viz wouldn't have any motive to buy the DVDs. Some really ignorant fans have even said that they won't buy the DVDs "because Viz is too stupid to just buy the rights to use fansubs and will instead use their own mistranslations" (oh, how ignorant those people are...). Others admit the reason they won't get the DVDs is because they simply won't chip up the cash to buy them. Really, us Toonzoners are a minority in a very lousy internet.

So I'm afraid the uncut DVDs of Naruto won't sell as well as they should. Viz will probably keep making them given how easy they realize it is, but I'm afraid it won't be enough to really prove companies like 4Kids how they've messed up with treating anime.

And then it all goes back to square one...

[Funkmasta Zeph]

Thats a good theory anout Dub hating ********s.
They WANT to feel opressed and rebbelious (like all kids these days) so they make thier own artificial rebbellion, and ***** up a storm over a few nosebleeds.

[Timmay]

It's the same people who believe the Japanese language is something exotic and that the english VAs don't put half the character into their voices.

[Andrew T. Hingson]

Yes it's very annoying when I find people all over the internet saying Naruto is a hack job and that CN butchered it (which is wrong two accounts... Viz edited it and it's NOT a hack job). If they complain about the voices... Okay but I think most are great. Shino and Chouji are the only ones that make me cringe (and Chouji has gotten better so maybe just Shino's voice is bad now). Of all the things... People complain about Iruka's voice. Flynn's acting isn't superb but his voice suits a straight man character like Iruka just fine. He's youthful yet stern.

On the internet your more likely to find people complaining about the few minor edits in FMA's airing on Adult Swim and that Naruto said "Believe it" a lot in the early episodes then you are to find someone complaining about notable changes to good anime. And even when they say... complain about One Piece they don't complain about having 30 episodes cut, the great OST being replaced by drek, that the dialogue is horrible or that the drama is ruined. No they complain about Sanji not smoking, having the blood removed and that the voices are bad (voices being bad is one I'd support). This just further's the stereotype that anime fans just want to see blood, violence, smoking, cursing, booze and boobs. And then no one takes them seriously and it makes the sensible complainers look like bafoons as well.

I too fear that despite how obvious it should be to fans to buy Viz's uncut release those fans wont bother. Naruto's edited discs are moving quite well (and so are those rip-off One Piece DVDs... sigh). I think the uncut sets will sell still because casual viewers will probably look at it as a good bargain.

All I know is I'm buying it three fold. 1) It's uncut 2) It's in sets of 12-13 for a good price 3) The actors have gotten into their roles so the uncut dub should be more in character than the edited one (certainly for the first few episodes). Seriously... what isn't good about these sets? The only thing I don't like is it'll take quite a while before they're all out.

Actually on the first topic... I'd wager it's only the most popular shows in the fan community (and possibly in Japan) that get flack for bad dubs. No one pays attention to a lot of the shows airing in the US like Bo-Bobo, Zatch Bell, DoReMi, Mew Mew, Utlimate Muscle, Mega Man NT Warrior, Knights of the Zodiac, Digimon, Viewtiful Joe, Duel Masters, Rave Master, etc. Shows like DBZ, Sailor Moon, Inuyasha, FMA, Naruto, One Piece, YGO, Pokemon, etc. are the ones that get flack for when some fans consider the dubs bad. In the case of some it's VERY understandable. But Pokemon's dub isn't that awful, Inuyasha's is fine and FMA's is fantastic. I've never had a problem with DBZ either. Sailor Moon I know was bad but enjoyed anyway. GameFaqs is loaded with One Piece dub complainers (I'd be one of them) but without a doubt the show I see getting the most flack online is Naruto.

If Bleach isn't entirely uncut or people don't like the voices consider it black listed as well. Cause the fan community that gave up on Naruto because they think America ruined it have moved on to Bleach.

[Andrew T. Hingson]

It's the same people who believe the Japanese language is something exotic and that the english VAs don't put half the character into their voices.

Exoitc... nah.

But in general Japanese VA's (though many mediocre) put more effort into the character's emotion than most dub VAs do. Dubs have gotten a lot better though. Some are better than the original voices.

This is the way I look at it. A voice should fit the image. Most of the time the Japanese voice can at least accomplish that. Sanji on OP's dub though... good grief it doesn't fit at all. Not only because of how the character looks but also because David Moo never seems to yell even when Sanji is yelling like crazy. If a character looks to be yelling in the animation then the actor dang well better put some oomph behind those lines.

That's my take on that matter.

FTR, I can't hardly stand watching DBZ subbed anymore. I think most of the dub voices suit the characters better.

[GWOtaku]

I disagree, HG. What you're talking about here isn't new, its DBZ all over again. When it was still being released the fans of that show was easily as purist as any given fanbase today. Fansubs existed now as they did then. But when given the choice between uncut DBZ and edited DBZ as it was seen on American TV, consumers overwhelmingly chose the uncut DVD's. Now why would this be the case if fans who got to know it on TV first were "uneducated" and didn't know what they were missing?

If uncut Naruto's success isn't as dramatic it will be because the dub is genuinelly better then DBZ's and more fans are likely satisfied with it--although I don't see that sub/dub preference is related to whether someone would want a show uncut. Either way though, this is profit for Viz.

As for One Piece, I don't buy that there's such a thing as a serious fan that isn't aware that One Piece is hacked up. The fanbase wants a decent release of this show and would go out and buy it in a minute.

I also really don't follow this assertion:


It may seem odd, but I think the fact that Viz has been gracious enough to keep tons of Japanese cultural refferences intact in Naruto, a show both airing on the same programming block that aired DBZ and Sailor Moon and unable to be backed up as "adult"...hurt its reputation with these newbies.

How then do you explain the success of Naruto and One Piece on Toonami? One Piece has more of a following on that block then it ever did on 4Kids, and meanwhile Naruto is the top Toonami show. Obviously, the people that are watching the edited One Piece aren't being turned off by these cultural references you're talking about.

[William C. Maune]

The thing that concerns me about all of this: If companies see that tons of people are going to complain whether they treat a series right (Naruto) or do whatever the heck they want with it (One Piece), they aren't really going to have any incentive to treat a series right. Why bother to try and make the fans happy if you can't make them happy?

There are definitely those of us out there who prefer, say, the treatment of Naruto to One Piece. Unfortunately, that view seems to get drowned out a lot of times.

[Royce]

My biggest fear is, if the uncut DVDs of Naruto don't sell as well as the edited versions, or don't sell well at all, Viz won't make them anymore.

[Conan-san]

I'm saying this much, if the faboys ruin this, there will be hell to pay. This is the first time in ages we've had something that's running pritty much in sinq with the US and I for one would not mind it being screwed over by some pissant fanboys who feel that they must be vindicted for no *******ed reasion.

I hope the afterlife has tones of Oden in store for them.

[Nin-Nin69]

On the internet your more likely to find people complaining about the few minor edits in FMA's airing on Adult Swim and that Naruto said "Believe it" a lot in the early episodes then you are to find someone complaining about notable changes to good anime. And even when they say... complain about One Piece they don't complain about having 30 episodes cut, the great OST being replaced by drek, that the dialogue is horrible or that the drama is ruined. No they complain about Sanji not smoking, having the blood removed and that the voices are bad (voices being bad is one I'd support). This just further's the stereotype that anime fans just want to see blood, violence, smoking, cursing, booze and boobs. And then no one takes them seriously and it makes the sensible complainers look like bafoons as well.
Well I've cried more about the story than anything. No love even for airing any of the filler, TV specials, or getting hold of the movies. Atleast the TV specials were better than the filler. Yet I'm going out on a limb here to say that a majority of anime fans are stupid. Most of their judgement has nothing to do with the Japanese culture and a lot of them refuse to understand it or do any history on them outside of merchandise and food we get sent here or WWII. Even though I have a better grasp on a majority of anime properites out there, the Japanese culture, and how they should be treated, I'm still not going to call myself an Otaku. I have an equal ammount of appreciation for animation across the world and I'm not going to rip someone's head off at a convention to see who can figure out what cool line Goku said in episode 97 of DBZ.


The thing that concerns me about all of this: If companies see that tons of people are going to complain whether they treat a series right (Naruto) or do whatever the heck they want with it (One Piece), they aren't really going to have any incentive to treat a series right. Why bother to try and make the fans happy if you can't make them happy?
You can and it's really simple. Just put the script into english and dub over with the correct translation. Above all don't change a thing. Unless there is a hardcore reference to some ancient Japanese figure that nobody here would've ever heard of, find someone who resembles them within that particular anime universe and touch up that line. Many animes have done it before.

The only thing you could say is bad then is the VA's interpertation of the dialogue. What can fix this is getting a VA that sounds close to the original or better yet, have them actually lissen to how the Japanese VA reacts and use the same emotion instead of the dry desert that Vivi's VA from One Piece happens to cross over.

[Funkmasta Zeph]

So because these Narukids want a slice of drama, the industry will get worse and worse...:(

[Nin-Nin69]

I think the industry is getting better since they've been reaching a larger auidence for over 10 years now. Yet a majority of the fans and espically these newcomers to anime that have stereotyped the old school and smarter fans who grew up with Streamline Pictures dubs and have seen the rare Dragon Ball dub before Funimation did the first 13 episodes make us look stupid. Back when I was a wee little kid the only anime I knew was Dragon Ball, Robotech, Akira, Golgo 13, Vampire Hunter D, Lupin, Speed Racer, and Astro Boy. Now we have a ton of SJ properties here, a bunch of video game spin offs, a spin off of another manga idea that takes place with 6 others, the newest Miyazaki and Otomo flick, and of course hentai up the wazoo. The newer fans are spoiled with DVD releases and can get fan subs easier and faster than before. So these brats want more of the right thing for all of the wrong reasons.

Let me give you an example. Recently I came across this jerky kid who tries to impress others with his knowledge of bootlegging unlicenced anime fan subs which I have done for the longest time. Yet if that was not enough he downloaded the R1 DVD's of FMA and Lupin III '79. Of course I was angry (mostly about Lupin) and asked 'Why the Hell did you bother to download these?" and he came back with "Only an idiot would spent money for this kind of quality." What?! I then explained that both shows are un-cut on DVD with language options and even still he'd stick with the english dub only. Even then he said "It's still not good enough."

It's people like him who I think let Geneom believe that Lupin could be a complete failure.

[Dogasu]

The thing that concerns me about all of this: If companies see that tons of people are going to complain whether they treat a series right (Naruto) or do whatever the heck they want with it (One Piece), they aren't really going to have any incentive to treat a series right. Why bother to try and make the fans happy if you can't make them happy?

The thing is that a lot of the times, not doing a series right take a lot more effort than it would to just translate the damn thing and make the edits necessary to get a TV-Y7 rating. In One Piece's case, I can't imagine how much work it would have taken 4Kids to fabricate the new story about Nami getting the Log Pose so they could skip those Laboon episodes (all...two of them :sad:) when it would have been SO much simpler to just do a straight-up translation of the thing.

[KuwabaraTheMan]

I think people are exaggerating. I mean yeah, there are a lot of people who come down on the Naruto dub(unfairly), but there's also a lot of people who like it. You'll never get 100% opinion on anything(although some people just complain to complain).

I see more pro-dub posts then anti-dub posts at NarutoFan, and that's one of the places you'd expect to be frothing at the mouth.

[Vidfreak]

I think i'm the only person that watches dubs exclusively , i used to perfer the sub track back in the early days of anime but dubbing is so good now that i don't think its necessary anymore. I guess the only shows i still watch subbed are the 4kids animes but the funny thing is that i enjoy the 4kids actors when they do other dubs like for CPM so its not really the actors i have a problem with its the directors.

[Ryan227]

I'm actually not too worried about the release of the uncuts. I think Naruto is something that will make a lot of money for Viz and I think they'll probably try and release it as much as they can to milk it as much as possible. I also think that the dub only DVDs will sell more for couple of reasons, first of all they're much cheaper (they have less episodes but I think when someone goes to buy a DVD they look at the price before they look at the episode count) and also because they're the first DVDs out so someone sees it on TV and they go out and they buy the first DVD they see. Honestly though why anyone would want to buy the TV version at all is beyond me, don't these people have recorders? Anyway I read recently that the dub Naruto DVD was one of the highest selling DVDs in 2006 so far so it is doing well.

I think a lot of people use dubs and stuff as an excuse not to buy a DVD. I've been thinking about it a lot lately, I really hate when people claim to be huge fans of a show and then they don't buy the DVDs because of whatever stupid excuse they can think of. Sure DVDs cost money but if someone can't pull together $20-40 every month or so to support something they claim to love that's really sad, they need to get a job or do more chores or something... somebody must be paying for their broadband internet connection. Heh that's my mini-rant about "fans" :sweat:

Oh people will hate the Bleach dub, if anything the Naruto dub has made it very clear that there is just no way to make everyone happy. There are already people around complaining about it even though nobody even knows anything about it yet!


3) The actors have gotten into their roles so the uncut dub should be more in character than the edited one (certainly for the first few episodes).

Actually I remember reading the the dub was recorded uncut and then edited after so it'll be the same dub. I think this is good because it means the Viz are dubbing the uncuts for sure and they're not wasteing their money paying for the extra studio time like they would if they had to have the actors come back in and redub the whole thing...

[Dark Fact]

HG Revolution, you're seriously jumping the gun here in regards to how well the Naruto uncut DVDs will perform. You're saying that the fanboys won't bother buying the DVDs because they have their fansubs. I say if they're real fans of the show, they will buy the uncut DVDs and I have a gut feeling that the uncut DVDs will sell and sell big.

As for the argument that companies should use the fansub scripts for their legit releases, it doesn't work that way. Whose to say that the fansubber wouldn't demand compensation for use of his fansubs in a legit release? Not to mention it could be reputation risk for the company should they resort to using scripts done in previous "illegal" means.

Sure, we have guys like Steve Simmons and his fantastic sub skills with Dragonball Z, but he's the exception, not the rule. Now, Steve is more than welcome to correct me on this but his sub scripts were made specifically for FUNimation, were they not? In addition, he signed exclusively to work with FUNimation and use a script specifically for FUNimation, did he not?

[Freedom Fighter]

Let's look at the facts: Volume 1 of the Naruto DVD, which is dub only, already stands as the 9th most purchased anime DVD out of all anime released so far this year. It's 3rd when you considered anime series ONLY (behind Volumes 7 & 8 of FMA). The manga series, which is uncut, now regularly lands in the Top 150 of all books sold per week for its first few weeks after release. In fact, the just released Vol. 10 has spent its first three weeks in the Top 100, the last two being in the Top 50 and being the best-selling manga as well! If that doesn't inspire people to go out and by the upcoming first box set with sub and dub next month and in droves, then obviously, that won't be the industry's fault. That'll be the fault of all of those picky fans who just can't be satisfied with anything. If there so picky about Japanese shows not being fandubbed, why don't they just move to Japan? And they can't use the excuse that they don't have enough money... obviously, if they can find a way to download anime for free, they can surely find a way to Japan for free, right?

Honestly, I don't know why I'm still irked by this, because it's not like those people will ever change regardless of how much prodding is done. And what you wanna bet that even if the anime industry dries up in the states, there'll still be people who will continue to download raws from Japan.

[Funkmasta Zeph]

I think people are exaggerating. I mean yeah, there are a lot of people who come down on the Naruto dub(unfairly), but there's also a lot of people who like it. You'll never get 100% opinion on anything(although some people just complain to complain).

I see more pro-dub posts then anti-dub posts at NarutoFan, and that's one of the places you'd expect to be frothing at the mouth.

Oh no no no no no......

Go to Gaia........

[HellCat]

NEO magazine did an interview with Naruto's English VA which I was reading last night. They talk to her about fan reaction and she says early on it was mostly negative. At one point she got a rather nasty e-mail and all the person had heard was about 3 words from the preview promo a few months back.
I'd agree with the notion that this is a problem of fans wanting to look like rebels. They download the shows and manga using their 133t torrent skillz and then suddenly their secret cool word is licensed and available to the masses and so they cause a stink. It reminds me of when I was younger and I had a friend who used to boast his parents let him watch films like Child's Play. Alot of these fans are angry, uninformed posers. They want to believe they've been watching something hardcore and unshared by the masses and lash out when folks can easily see it by nitpicking over the tiniest things, even if not true. It reminds me of what happened when G and SD Gundam aired in the US. A ton of misinformed arguments there, everything from claiming Mobile Fighters were somehow neutered Gundams that couldn't kill (because we all know mass death is key to good story...) to stupid insults like "wats the g stand for? Gay gundam?" and "SD is crap, Gundam isn't for kids!!".

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Oh no no no no no......

Go to Gaia........

Well all I can say is that I go to numerous places where fans have been more positive then negative, and these include the same people who were screaming doom and gloom when it was licensed.

Maybe there are some places of concentrated idiocy out there where everyone complains, but so what?

The people you guys are talking about are the ones who are stupid on pretty much every issue and no one listens to anyways. Who the hell cares about them, they don't represent even close to a majority, just some idiots who don't know what they're talking about.

Naruto's dub has been very well recieved both by casual fans, and in the on line community.

But everything is going to have detractors, and idiots will always be idiots.

[Funkmasta Zeph]

Gaia is the New York City of anime forums.
Its not something that stands on its own or can be brushed aside.
And the smell is awful.

[Master Moron]

Gaia is the New York City of anime forums.
Its not something that stands on its own or can be brushed aside.
And the smell is awful.

I did a search for Gaia on google, and this was the first site that came up: http://gaiaonline.com/

I browsed the forums but I didn't see any Naruto bashing.


FTR, I can't hardly stand watching DBZ subbed anymore. I think most of the dub voices suit the characters better.

I actually just got done watching the Cell Games:Ultimatum DVD and at times I'd flip over to the English audio, and I thought it was atrocious. The dialogue was completely mangled, many of the voices were lifeless, and of course, I can't forgive them for changing the music. I never particularly liked that the Japanese version had a woman playing Goku, but compared to the atrocious dub, it's really no contest. I'm actually surprised that the Dragonball Z dub seems to get so much respect around here. I mean, it's not as bad as One Piece, but it's a pretty awful dub nonetheless. Actually, it kind of proves the point you made here:


On the internet your more likely to find people complaining about the few minor edits in FMA's airing on Adult Swim and that Naruto said "Believe it" a lot in the early episodes then you are to find someone complaining about notable changes to good anime. And even when they say... complain about One Piece they don't complain about having 30 episodes cut, the great OST being replaced by drek, that the dialogue is horrible or that the drama is ruined. No they complain about Sanji not smoking, having the blood removed and that the voices are bad (voices being bad is one I'd support). This just further's the stereotype that anime fans just want to see blood, violence, smoking, cursing, booze and boobs. And then no one takes them seriously and it makes the sensible complainers look like bafoons as well.


I mean, the Dragonball Z dub is awful, but it seems to get a lot of praise due to it being allowed to show blood and violence.

[Funkmasta Zeph]

I did a search for Gaia on google, and this was the first site that came up: http://gaiaonline.com/

I browsed the forums but I didn't see any Naruto bashing.
.

Did you go to the Anime/Manga/Comics forum?:shrug:

[Space Cadet]

Did you go to the Anime/Manga/Comics forum?:shrug:

I can see it. It's like the stereotypical anime forum, complete with over 9,000 posts for a topic about Kurama.

[Andrew T. Hingson]

I really do like the voices of DBZ and I don't think the original OST (while good on it's own merrits) suits an action show. So I prefer the dub.

[J'onn J'onzz]

I honestly am pretty forgiving when it comes to dubs. If they cut out episodes for no reason and give non-fitting voices (*cough* *cough* One Piece *Cough* *Cough*) then they're awful. But, the only dub I've absolutely despised is Martian Successor Nadesico. The voices do NOT equal the characters. Everything about it is just... AWFUL! So I watch it subbed. I like Cardcaptors. I like Pokemon. I dislike One Piece, but can still watch it. I hate Nadesico. I hate Naruto the characer, but like the show overall.

[Ryoutarou]

I can see it. It's like the stereotypical anime forum, complete with over 9,000 posts for a topic about Kurama.
Which again proves that 99% of the members there are teeny boppers.

I must just be going to the wrong places because usually I end up being the only one to defend the dub.

[Undrave]

I'm pretty forgiving of dubs too, especially on TV considering it's free (altough I'm less forgiving of 4Kids but that's more because of their ideology with which I don't agree).

I don't really mind watching my DVD dubbed simply because I don't need to watch the screen all the time and can just put it in the background while I do something else XD the only exeption being my Saint Seiya DVD. I just can't get over the fact that the sound quality of the dub is too great to match the grainy 80s animation! It just doesn't fit and bugs me... plus Shiryu and Hyoga's dub voice get on my nerves... even more so than Shun's annoying 'NEBULA CHAIN' sound clip they keep reusuing all the time.

Anyway... unless I'm mistaken but haven't uncut DVD always sold more historically than cut DVD? Why would it be so different in this case? Plus unless I'm wrong once the first box set come out there will be more uncut episodes available. I can understand the cut volume 1 DVD selling very well, since it's the first one to come out, but I can also see the uncut box sets selling far better.

[Andrew T. Hingson]

Well the market is changing all the time. Naruto is popular in fan circles yes but it could be argue that there are better shows that an shall we say... otaku would buy. Especially since they may have already seen Naruto or have it through other means.

Some fanboys wont buy it because they expect the subs to be bad. It's rediculous honestly. As long as it isn't dubtitled it should be fine. I'm buying these sets for sure (at least up to a point). But I'd be even more inclined to buy say... One Piece. As it stands I rarely buy series or any anime in general. My only box sets are Dai-Guard, Cell Games for DBZ and the first half of Gundam Wing so far. So for me to be saying I'm all for buying a set, means I think it's going to be awesome.

But I'd hate to see ********s ruin this for the rest of us. I don't think we have to worry about the sets selling. The only thing I wonder is if they will sell better than the very well selling edited discs. I mean seriously... 4kids One Piece is selling and not only is it dub only, but it's a bad price for just 3 episodes (for two of the discs at least) and it's selling very well. Could it be the 6 and up anime fans are starting to gain momentum? Probably not that exactly but despite knowing that OP does well with teens I dont' want to consider that those teenagers are dumb enough to buy those rip-off discs of the edited dub.

[Undrave]

More than the fact they are dub only it really surprises me people would STILL buy stupid 3 episode a disc DVDs for THAT price! I mean you can get 4 eps of dub Naruto for cheaper!

Stupid consumers giving reason to 4Kids to keep going like they are now...*grumbles*

I personally love box sets because you can watch it all in one go... I just have trouble finding decently priced ones around here. I got a French dub-only Escaflowne box-set for pretty cheap, Mysterious Cities of Gold, Saint Seiya collection 1, Gargoyles season 1 and 2 vol. 1, two Transformers box sets and Beast Wars season 1. I just wish I could find more anime box sets XD if I was still following Naruto I might be interested in buying the uncut box set, but as it stands I might just buy a dub DVD for the sake of seeing it dub (don't get CN in Canada), I'm curious like that.

This is off topic but hows Dai-Guard btw? I saw the box set for a fairly decent price and it looks interesting.

[Master Moron]

I honestly am pretty forgiving when it comes to dubs. If they cut out episodes for no reason and give non-fitting voices (*cough* *cough* One Piece *Cough* *Cough*) then they're awful. But, the only dub I've absolutely despised is Martian Successor Nadesico. The voices do NOT equal the characters. Everything about it is just... AWFUL! So I watch it subbed. I like Cardcaptors. I like Pokemon. I dislike One Piece, but can still watch it. I hate Nadesico. I hate Naruto the characer, but like the show overall.

The announcer sounds funnier in the dub version of Nadesico.


I'm pretty forgiving of dubs too, especially on TV considering it's free (altough I'm less forgiving of 4Kids but that's more because of their ideology with which I don't agree).

I don't really mind watching my DVD dubbed simply because I don't need to watch the screen all the time and can just put it in the background while I do something else XD the only exeption being my Saint Seiya DVD. I just can't get over the fact that the sound quality of the dub is too great to match the grainy 80s animation! It just doesn't fit and bugs me... plus Shiryu and Hyoga's dub voice get on my nerves... even more so than Shun's annoying 'NEBULA CHAIN' sound clip they keep reusuing all the time.


I really don't understand why someone would pay 20 bucks for a DVD and then only have it on in the background. If it's not worth paying attention to, its not worth 20 bucks.


I personally love box sets because you can watch it all in one go... I just have trouble finding decently priced ones around here. I got a French dub-only Escaflowne box-set for pretty cheap, Mysterious Cities of Gold, Saint Seiya collection 1, Gargoyles season 1 and 2 vol. 1, two Transformers box sets and Beast Wars season 1. I just wish I could find more anime box sets XD if I was still following Naruto I might be interested in buying the uncut box set, but as it stands I might just buy a dub DVD for the sake of seeing it dub (don't get CN in Canada), I'm curious like that.


The uncut DVD will still have the dubbed version on it. There's no point in buying the edited, dub only DVD.

[Andrew T. Hingson]

That is not always the case. There are indeed some sub only release. Though non recently I believe.

Dai-Guard is a fun show. Giant robot fighting aliens piloted by working joes in a marketing department. It's rather behind the scenes showing that the company that owns the giant robot has to pay for all damages and fill out a ton of release forms to even use the robot (every single time). And the robot starts out in pretty bad shape as it hadn't been used in years so it falls apart every now and then. Very entertaining mix of giant robot action and officie politics.

[Undrave]

I really don't understand why someone would pay 20 bucks for a DVD and then only have it on in the background. If it's not worth paying attention to, its not worth 20 bucks.

I do pay attention the first few times, but sometimes there is just nothing good on TV *shrugs* so I pop in a DVD and then start doodling or writing or something else.

[Master Moron]

Did you go to the Anime/Manga/Comics forum?:shrug:

Yeah. On the second page there's a thread titled "Why the Naruto dub is GREAT". All the replies on the first page agreed with the thread starter and two even offered to bear his children. Though, it's a 64 page thread, so maybe after digging a bit more I'll find some of these elusive dub bashers.

[Undrave]

Maybe the Dub Basher were all chased with broomsticks before you came? Which is why everybody was happy to argue with the one who liked the dub??

[AstroNerdBoy]

You know, I find it rather amusing that certain dub fans are as rabid as me when it comes to subtitles. ;)

In another thread, Duke made an interesting point regarding 4Kids Shamen King and the sales of unedited DVDs.

According to 4Kids, the Uncut DVDs were cutting into the sales of the edited DVDs, so they were stopped. 4Kids wasn't keen on the idea in the first place, they only did it at first to stop FUNi from nagging them so much about it.

Slam fanboys all you want, but most of us do buy the anime we love as we have the funds to do so.

As to the argument that fanboys won't buy from Viz or the like because they won't do proper translated (yet readable) subtitles, well that's a simple, cheap fix to make isn't it? FUNimation did it long, long ago and look how far they've come. ;)

[William C. Maune]

That is not always the case. There are indeed some sub only release. Though non recently I believe.

Armored Trooper Votoms

[Nobuyuki sama]

As to the argument that fanboys won't buy from Viz or the like because they won't do proper translated (yet readable) subtitles, well that's a simple, cheap fix to make isn't it? FUNimation did it long, long ago and look how far they've come. ;)
Yes, all of FUNimation's recent success can be traced back to their subtitling... :rolleyes:

[Ryan227]

That is not always the case. There are indeed some sub only releases. Though none recently I believe. Loveless :sad:

There are plenty of sub only releases it's not as big a deal as dub only releases because at least sub only ones are uncut and they're usually not very popular series so no one complains about them. Err by no one I mean not a lot of people :p

[Yash]

In another thread, Duke made an interesting point regarding 4Kids Shamen King and the sales of unedited DVDs.

According to 4Kids, the Uncut DVDs were cutting into the sales of the edited DVDs, so they were stopped. 4Kids wasn't keen on the idea in the first place, they only did it at first to stop FUNi from nagging them so much about it.

Slam fanboys all you want, but most of us do buy the anime we love as we have the funds to do so.
Last I was told it was just PR drivel and the real reason was because of money conflicts between FUNi and 4Kids. I'd like to think that 4Kids was willing to give uncuts a fair chance, but I'd like to think uncut One Piece is coming out soon, but we know how that's going.

Speaking of One Piece, edited DVDs aren't really doing bad, but the fact that they're adding two more episodes onto the DVDs suggests that they're not doing good either. The same happened with the FUNi distributed properties, they'd start out with 3 or 4 episodes per DVD, and as time went on they'd start putting more episodes on them, coinciding with an overall decline in sales. Case in point: The last Yu-Gi-Oh! edited DVD that was released (which was in February) had 8 episodes on it. Sonic X is also being released now in quite literally cheap-as-hell box sets (13 episodes for 16.98 MSRP).

Maybe they'll just skip the whole "Fill the DVD up with episodes" thing with One Piece and just accept it as a failure, but they do have plans established to release at least the first season on DVD.