You'd watch Senran kagura before Fate/Zero? I totally respect your choice, but I just don't think I'll ever really understand it
Nah, never said that, it's lumped in there, one or the other could come first, depends on how I feel, or maybe Tatami Galaxy may come first, see how it all goes.
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Again, I'm not knocking Tatum. He put a lot of work into the script and performance for Steins;gate, and I'm grateful for that. He's a great guy. I'd totally switch teams for that guy if you know what I mean. Now that i think of it, is it ironic that he plays a lot of romantic roles with lead females?
I don't find it strange, I see what you're driving at, but he's a great actor, he gets the job done, if his voice can convey that chemisty, well, that's why we have a great Spice & Wolf dub- that's all that matters.
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* The art choice was very deliberate. The first thing anyone ever hears about Madoka is that its a "z0mg dark subvershun", but way back when it was just promo art and trailers, we had no idea. That contrast is part of what makes Madoka memorable for a lot of people, I think. That and Shinbo is weird as &^%$. Just look at Bakemonogatari.
I was just talking about the character design, the backgrounds don't bother me all that much, the contrast between the colors and the backgrounds during the "battle" scenes worked out well. I just found, the characters, particularly their heads looked like, well, their great great great grandfather was Stewy from Family Guy.
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* Honestly, no. Madoka is a twist on one of anime's most beloved and iconic genres: magical girl anime. Part of its hype is most definitely related to that. It still would have been a great story, you yourself said changing genders would have little effect on the plot. But it probably wouldn't have sold nearly as well.
Yes, I know I'm right, plot would not be affected, however I'm sure from a revenue standpoint it would've done as well, but what I'm getting at is that do you think from a critical standpoint it would've garnered as much positivity? I would like to think so, but I'm a bit of an optimist. It could've been wizards fighting Warlocks or wahtever they want to make up, I still would take the stance of saying it was good, but it didn't blow me away.
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* Well it is a magical girl show. So yeah, I kinda think would have been a completely different show. Escpecially considering Japanese gender politics. Boys, even young boys, are simply taught different lessons about behavior and expectations of them. That's what shounen is. And a dark subversion about the consequences of being a shounen action hero already exists, it's called Hunter x Hunter.
And I'm glad I'm not a young Japanese man, some of what I'm hearing these days is quite undesirable - look up; "grass eating boys." Let's just say, after my gender studies courses, mind you, they were actually done from an objective standpoint ( we had a lot of pissed off girls - I'll leave it at that), I'm waking up to a many realities about gender politics overall - and they're not what you think. Let's just say I believed a lot of myths, and now I see things from an entirely new perspective. I no longer need to feel ashamed of what I am.
Hunter x Hunter - well, guess another to add to the list.
I'm a sub purist, my reasoning would be closed to your first friend who "just enjoyed hearing the Japanese voices".
There are several factors, the sound of the Japanese language itself, the ability of the Japanese writers to use the language, quality of the voice actors as well as variation, and how well nuances of emotion and meaning are used. Of course these are all subjective, and some times you'll have one area of the English dub that is better then the Japanese dub, but overall I always pick the Japanese.
You'd watch Senran kagura before Fate/Zero? I totally respect your choice, but I just don't think I'll ever really understand it
Nah, never said that, it's lumped in there, one or the other could come first, depends on how I feel
If I could perhaps influence your decision, go with Fate/Zero first. It's a very gritty series, but damn, it was amazing. Even though there is no English dub, the voice acting is superb and really can't be bested.
I like both but I tend to watch more subs since most of my watching is through streams. If I buy the sets I'll watch the show again with the dub (if it has one). I used to not watch any subs, but once I started watching them I adjusted pretty quickly. It definitely just takes time; how long varies person to person.
I only have one issue with the Stein's;Gate dub; episode 15, there is no "I am mad scientist, it's so cooooooool, sonofabitch!" I seriously thought they should've kept it that way, the scene still would've worked. can't have it all I suppose.
He actually said that? :D I only watched the dub, but I saw that part in a review video and I thought they made it up.
Well I guess if there's anything I've learned from this is you can't just stick to one without really missed out on something in the other. I'd probably do what Firefly said. I do watch a lot of simulcasts, and if I really like the show I'd just buy the English release version on DVD when it arrives, which by then I'd probably want to watch it again, and it also supports the industry a bit more.
I guess it all depends on the dub/actors...but alotta the times if a dub is really THAT BAD, it's still watchable for a good laugh at least. In either case, I mostly watch my anime dubbed.
As a matter of principle (and listening enjoyment and preference I suppose) I almost always watch anime in sub format. However I said ALMOST always, not 100 % of the time. In my humble opinion, it really must be judged on a case by case basis where the same show just sounds vastly better in one format versus the other. The most obvious case the the majority of people would likely point out is Dragon Ball Z. Epic English voice dubs, whilst the Japanese version... well let's just say some of the characters sound emasculated. There are others that I believe sound better in English too though:
Rurouni Kenshin - Simply put, Kenshin sounds way too much like a chick (probably is played by one) in the Japanese version and that's just not cool.
Gantz - You just don't feel the same rawness without the English voice actors.
Project Arms - Pretty much the same reason as above.
Initial D - for some reason I just couldn't get into the Japanese version don't know why.
Now of course there are those that I just absolutely hate dubbed, they even make you cringe:
Naruto - if you have seen it dubbed at all you know why.
Bleach - not feeling it, and Byakuya's voice was like wtf that's bad.
Blood the Last Vampire - wow.. talk about bad voice acting...
The list goes on, but as I said it's neither black nor white, and I'm not entirely sure I'd really call it gray either. I doubt there will ever be total agreement when it comes to this subject. People have their opinions and that's likely the way it will always be. I for one, however, feel that my line of thinking is a fairly logical and accurate one.
I'm gonna agree with 7Jaws on this one, it just takes getting used to. Take Katsuyuki Konishi's Kamina in Gurren Laggan for example. He puts way more over-the-top bravado into his performance than Kyle Hebert. It's very noticeable. Or Mamoru Miyano's Okabe in Steins;Gate, if you can't tell the emotions of his character, you just aren't listening.
I think that's called "overacting" (not that I didn't thoroughly enjoy Miyano's Okabe).
Given the choice, I'll take the English dub 9 times out of 10. Unfortunately, it's coming up on a year since I last was able to purchase anything on DVD/BD, and I believe that title was Redline, which is a dub I'd pass on in favor of the Japanese. I've mainly been sticking with streaming/simulcast titles in that time, so I've gotten even more used to subtitles than I was before.
I think the best argument I've heard in favor of English audio for an English speaking audience is that, 95% of the time, the anime was produced with the intention of being understood aurally in the audience's native tongue, but, of course, this won't stop someone from going with their preference. That's not to say there aren't any Japanese actors or performances I don't enjoy (as above, Okabe, and anything Miyuki Sawashiro has done, even against an English track), but I still often cannot match an actor's name to a performance. On top of that, I have somewhat poor vision, which can make certain subtitles difficult to follow (I dropped K, mainly because it didn't interest me much, and Viz used a minuscule, yellow font for their subtitles that it was just too difficult to watch).
neonwalrus: You still haven't seen Tatami? I suggest you watch that, right now.
Sehjiro wrote:
Initial D - for some reason I just couldn't get into the Japanese version don't know why.
I'm gonna guess it's the terrible, terrible artwork.
The most obvious case the the majority of people would likely point out is Dragon Ball Z. Epic English voice dubs, whilst the Japanese version... well let's just say some of the characters sound emasculated.
Um...are we talking about the same show?
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Rurouni Kenshin - Simply put, Kenshin sounds way too much like a chick (probably is played by one) in the Japanese version and that's just not cool.
Now, that's not my problem with Kenshin's Japanese dub. Kenshin is supposed to be effeminate enough to be mistaken for a woman (as was his historical inspiration), so I don't mind a woman voicing him. That said, I think they could have gotten someone more convincing (Megumi Ogata for example, who played him in the drama CDs), but Mayo Suzekaze does eventually grow on you.
No, my big problem with Kenshin's Japanese dub is Kaoru's seiyu. Put simply, she cannot voice-act. Whether she's comedically beating up Yahiko or held hostage by a psychotic killer, she always has the exact same tone of voice. It's really irritating.
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"Of course you realize, this means war!" -- Bugs Bunny
Nah, never said that, it's lumped in there, one or the other could come first, depends on how I feel, or maybe Tatami Galaxy may come first, see how it all goes.
I don't find it strange, I see what you're driving at, but he's a great actor, he gets the job done, if his voice can convey that chemisty, well, that's why we have a great Spice & Wolf dub- that's all that matters.
I was just talking about the character design, the backgrounds don't bother me all that much, the contrast between the colors and the backgrounds during the "battle" scenes worked out well. I just found, the characters, particularly their heads looked like, well, their great great great grandfather was Stewy from Family Guy.
Yes, I know I'm right, plot would not be affected, however I'm sure from a revenue standpoint it would've done as well, but what I'm getting at is that do you think from a critical standpoint it would've garnered as much positivity? I would like to think so, but I'm a bit of an optimist. It could've been wizards fighting Warlocks or wahtever they want to make up, I still would take the stance of saying it was good, but it didn't blow me away.
And I'm glad I'm not a young Japanese man, some of what I'm hearing these days is quite undesirable - look up; "grass eating boys." Let's just say, after my gender studies courses, mind you, they were actually done from an objective standpoint ( we had a lot of pissed off girls - I'll leave it at that), I'm waking up to a many realities about gender politics overall - and they're not what you think. Let's just say I believed a lot of myths, and now I see things from an entirely new perspective. I no longer need to feel ashamed of what I am.
Hunter x Hunter - well, guess another to add to the list.
I'm a sub purist, my reasoning would be closed to your first friend who "just enjoyed hearing the Japanese voices".
There are several factors, the sound of the Japanese language itself, the ability of the Japanese writers to use the language, quality of the voice actors as well as variation, and how well nuances of emotion and meaning are used. Of course these are all subjective, and some times you'll have one area of the English dub that is better then the Japanese dub, but overall I always pick the Japanese.
If I could perhaps influence your decision, go with Fate/Zero first. It's a very gritty series, but damn, it was amazing. Even though there is no English dub, the voice acting is superb and really can't be bested.
I like both but I tend to watch more subs since most of my watching is through streams. If I buy the sets I'll watch the show again with the dub (if it has one). I used to not watch any subs, but once I started watching them I adjusted pretty quickly. It definitely just takes time; how long varies person to person.
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He actually said that? :D I only watched the dub, but I saw that part in a review video and I thought they made it up.
Well I guess if there's anything I've learned from this is you can't just stick to one without really missed out on something in the other. I'd probably do what Firefly said. I do watch a lot of simulcasts, and if I really like the show I'd just buy the English release version on DVD when it arrives, which by then I'd probably want to watch it again, and it also supports the industry a bit more.
I guess it all depends on the dub/actors...but alotta the times if a dub is really THAT BAD, it's still watchable for a good laugh at least. In either case, I mostly watch my anime dubbed.
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As a matter of principle (and listening enjoyment and preference I suppose) I almost always watch anime in sub format. However I said ALMOST always, not 100 % of the time. In my humble opinion, it really must be judged on a case by case basis where the same show just sounds vastly better in one format versus the other. The most obvious case the the majority of people would likely point out is Dragon Ball Z. Epic English voice dubs, whilst the Japanese version... well let's just say some of the characters sound emasculated. There are others that I believe sound better in English too though:
Rurouni Kenshin - Simply put, Kenshin sounds way too much like a chick (probably is played by one) in the Japanese version and that's just not cool.
Gantz - You just don't feel the same rawness without the English voice actors.
Project Arms - Pretty much the same reason as above.
Initial D - for some reason I just couldn't get into the Japanese version don't know why.
Now of course there are those that I just absolutely hate dubbed, they even make you cringe:
Naruto - if you have seen it dubbed at all you know why.
Bleach - not feeling it, and Byakuya's voice was like wtf that's bad.
Blood the Last Vampire - wow.. talk about bad voice acting...
The list goes on, but as I said it's neither black nor white, and I'm not entirely sure I'd really call it gray either. I doubt there will ever be total agreement when it comes to this subject. People have their opinions and that's likely the way it will always be. I for one, however, feel that my line of thinking is a fairly logical and accurate one.
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"Murder is the only art a swordsman can practice. No ornamental words can change this."
Yes, Kenshin is played by a female seiyuu. You can hear it the most when he says "Oro?"
Given the choice, I'll take the English dub 9 times out of 10. Unfortunately, it's coming up on a year since I last was able to purchase anything on DVD/BD, and I believe that title was Redline, which is a dub I'd pass on in favor of the Japanese. I've mainly been sticking with streaming/simulcast titles in that time, so I've gotten even more used to subtitles than I was before.
I think the best argument I've heard in favor of English audio for an English speaking audience is that, 95% of the time, the anime was produced with the intention of being understood aurally in the audience's native tongue, but, of course, this won't stop someone from going with their preference. That's not to say there aren't any Japanese actors or performances I don't enjoy (as above, Okabe, and anything Miyuki Sawashiro has done, even against an English track), but I still often cannot match an actor's name to a performance. On top of that, I have somewhat poor vision, which can make certain subtitles difficult to follow (I dropped K, mainly because it didn't interest me much, and Viz used a minuscule, yellow font for their subtitles that it was just too difficult to watch).
neonwalrus: You still haven't seen Tatami? I suggest you watch that, right now.
Um...are we talking about the same show?
Now, that's not my problem with Kenshin's Japanese dub. Kenshin is supposed to be effeminate enough to be mistaken for a woman (as was his historical inspiration), so I don't mind a woman voicing him. That said, I think they could have gotten someone more convincing (Megumi Ogata for example, who played him in the drama CDs), but Mayo Suzekaze does eventually grow on you.
No, my big problem with Kenshin's Japanese dub is Kaoru's seiyu. Put simply, she cannot voice-act. Whether she's comedically beating up Yahiko or held hostage by a psychotic killer, she always has the exact same tone of voice. It's really irritating.
"Of course you realize, this means war!" -- Bugs Bunny
"Here we gooooo!" -- Mario