Okay, imagine yourself a few years back. You’re about seven years old, and suddenly something flashes before your eyes as your watching T.V. It’s new, it’s hip, and by God they have cute little animals fighting each other! By now I’m sure all of you know the show I’m talking about, and if you don’t, then by all means you need to smacked until your face turns blue. I’m talking about Pokemon, the show that swept nations upon nations of little children every where! This new and fascinating show had everything a little kid only dreamed about! The hero was a child, just like you, and he was doing things that adults did! You enjoyed the show to its fullest. You didn’t care about trivial things like if someone’s name wasn’t like the Japanese name, or if some dialogue was a little different from the original, or even if Ash’s voice sounded a little funny and Gary sounded like a prick.
Why can’t it be like that now?
Why is it that now that we’ve gotten older, we feel that if our anime is slightly different from the original that we’ve been cheated in some way? My first example is Naruto. Fans after fans have complained about what I personally thought a fantastic dub. People complained that Naruto sounded too whiny, and that his voice resembled that of a girl’s. Well I have news for you guys, in the Japanese version, whether you like to believe it or not, it’s higher pitched, just as whiny, and is voiced by a girl. And not only that, but you can’t understand it! Why?
Cause we’re not Japanese.
Unless you’re Japanese or are completely fluent in Japanese, you really don’t have a clue on what the characters are babbling about on your computer screen. You just read the subtitles and listen to babble. While I personally don’t see anything wrong with watching subbed episodes, to suddenly now go and say that the English suck and that the Japanese versions sound better is a little whack. Here’s why I say that: if you go to school and actually listen to people’s voices, you’ll find that not one of them (unless they’re Asian, and even then, not all of them sound like that since they’ve been raised in America) sound like any Japanese version. So subbed versions aren’t natural to a person’s ears! So how can they match the voices better when actual Japanese people don’t look anything like anime people? (If anything, they look more American!) One example is in Yu-gi-oh with Bakura’s voice. Many didn’t like his slight British accent that he had and many liked the Japanese better. But guess what? Bakura is actually from England! (*gasp*) So wouldn’t that mean that he would have a British accent? (*even bigger gasp*) Another voice that many find displeasing is Ayame’s from Fruits Basket. But if you take a moment and think about it, it actually fits. Ayame is what? In this early to mid thirties? To you really expect him to have a high-pitched voice? (Even in Japan, puberty will eventually hit.) Plus, Ayame is a comical character and his deep voice only adds to his personality. It wouldn’t be as entertaining if he had this “OMG!” kind of voice only because it would be expected of a flamboyant man. (Plus, his deep voice probably attracts the ladies.)
Another thing that has bugged anti-dub people is the changing of names. In Sailor Moon, Usagi’s [Bunny] name is changed to Serena. While at the time nobody cared, now it seems to be the worst thing since Suncoast jacked up their prices of Pocky to five bucks a box. Everyone whines and cries how the name should have been changed and how it ruins the show. But I don’t believe that’s the case. For one, the name “Serena” is a lot more kid and "newb-friendly" than “Usagi”. And two, does anything really change? Doesn’t Serena still triumph over evil just the same as Usagi? Doesn’t she still fall in love with Tuxedo Mask the same as Usagi? She’s still just as lazy and fails in her classes, and some how or another deals with her annoying future daughter? The answer to all of those is yes, she still does. So honestly the name game doesn’t make too much of a difference to the actual character. It’s like the controversy in Final Fantasy VII with “Aeris”. Nobody knew any different than to call her that, because honestly, it’s a correct translation (if you don’t believe me, look it up, because I have spent time and effort on this topic before). It wasn’t until later that people realized that the translation could also be taken as “Aerith” and everyone felt cheated or wronged. It was like “how dare they change the name”! But her name still doesn’t change the fact that she dies trying to save the world, and that her and Cloud had a close relationship. And if everyone was really concerned about pronouncing names like the Japanese do, then everyone should pronounce Cloud like “Cloudo” and Barrett “Barretto” because in the Japanese version, there is no sound for “t” or “d” (once again, if you don‘t believe me, then watch Final Fantasy VII Advent Children in Japanese).
And my last point to make is the lack of appreciation that these people seem to have. Because if it wasn’t for 4kids, many wouldn’t have been introduced into anime. I know people that like to chime in saying that they saw another show later on cartoon network because a friend told them to watch it. But you know what? If it wasn’t for 4kids, I bet that friend never would’ve known the other anime, and you know what else? If Pokemon hadn’t been such a hit, (along with DBZ and Sailor Moon) I could bet anything that cartoon network wouldn’t have been playing shows like Gundam, or Yu Yu Hakusho, or any of the others that came out later if they didn’t think that it would spawn the same kind of attention that Pokemon brought.
And that’s the end. I thank all of you who read my essay, and I would like to make it noted that I’m not in any means trying to say that there aren’t any bad dubs. (Card captor Sakura taught me otherwise.) And I’m not saying anything bad against subbed episodes, I just want people to realize that just because something is dubbed and doesn’t sound like the Japanese, doesn’t mean it’s bad. I mean, just imagine it, an American trying to sound Japanese. Yah, not a pretty picture.
Twink out!
Haseo
