Five years ago, anime releases in North America without an English dub were anomalies reserved for a Satoshi Kon film or two. Until this year, it was starting to appear that the anomaly would become the matter of course for anime released in North America. Fewer people buy anime these days and selling a number of units to recoup dubbing costs is more difficult. Selling fewer copies makes sense if it means reducing costs enough to turn a profit. This would seriously reduce the number of anime I’d watch any given year. I enjoy watching anime dubbed into English, or at least having that option when I’m paying for a disc. I don’t normally watch anime subtitled and sometimes just won’t. Not everything is as compelling as a Satoshi Kon anime or where specific dialog isn’t all that important like with Strike Witches, where you can understand what’s going on without knowing what’s being said much of the time, or something like Escaflowne where the English dub is ruinous.
When Section23 Films announced that they would have Seraphim Digital produce English dubs for a selection of their releases, it was positive news interrupting a steady stream of doom and gloom for anime. I don’t know if this move makes any financial sense. Their sister company wants dubbed anime for their channel, so I’m hoping that’s enough cover for this move to dubbing survives.
These new dubs are rumored to be low budget, which is probably true. The smaller the budget, the less time there is for retakes to smooth out performances or rework the dialog. I’ve watched Clannad, Canaan, and Xam’d dubbed by Seraphim. It’s good thing that they were able to retain a relationship with much of the veteran talent they used from their former incarnation ADV Films, actors who at least have a chance of making something with the limited time they’ve got. It’s a small step back from the dubs during the heights of the North American anime market, but I’m glad it’s here and that someone, along with Funimation, is still trying to serve a broader range of fans.
Really? Surprising. Personally I care not one bit for dubs and prefer subtitles. This also applies for regular movies and series when I do not master their original language (enough).
Personally feel it’s best to watch something in the original language it was created in and reading subtitles shouldn’t be an issue for anyone over about 14 years old so shouldn’t affect the viewing audience.
The European country I live in has a long tradition of subtitling all foreign (language) series as a result the average person here more easily and commonly masters more than one language or at least has basic notions. Neighboring countries like France who dub everything in contrast you see that most people only know their native tongue.
The move to only subtitle box set releases making their price more appealing I think is a good move.
I agree with you for live action where the actor is actually on the screen.
With animation, the character is a conglomeration of effort, so I don’t see the origin issue as being important due to the modularity of the numbers of interchangeable people involved with representing the character on screen. Particularly with anime, which has Koreans animating much of what’s a Japanese created and designed character and it seems to be okay that Koreans represent the Japanese character on screen. I see the actors in a similar way, the Japanese actor might have been the first to vocalize that character, but with the modularity there isn’t much of a fidelity of origin issue to me since the production of that character seems to think pure Japanese-only effort in representation of that character doesn’t matter either. For fun I’ve been re-watching Fighting Spirit with the Spanish dub and English subtitles (to help with my very basic Spanish comprehension).
Short Answer: I often would rather not read.
Although the majority of new anime I watch are subtitled, there are English dubbed shows that I really prefer over the Japanese actors. Like Cowboy Bebop, Ghost In the Shell (movie and series) and Black Lagoon to name a few….even stretching it out a way to the Streamline English dub of Akira back in the 80′s. When I do go back and watch the anime with the Japanese actors I try to keep an open mind, but it’s not the same.
Having said that my ratio to subbed and dubbed is overwhelmingly subbed. I couldn’t stand watching something like Lucky Star or Haruhi past one episode…but now and again, english actors (like those on Black Lagoon) surprise me and there’s no going back.
A lot of people have Cowboy Bebop as one of their exceptions to their mostly subtitled viewing habits. I think for many of those it was seeing it on Cartoon Network that forms their preference there, but the other thing is even a decade later it was one of the best dubs made for an anime. It’s just a shame that anime doesn’t do enough numbers to provide enough of a budget to dub like that all the time.
I’m a dub fan myself, and while there are certain lamentations for some anime not getting dubbed (biggest one for me being Victorian Romance Emma), I think I’m grateful we’re getting anime on DVD still. I’ve also come to appreciate some Japanese voice actors, like the very talented Rie Kugimiya in Toradora. After watching it subbed, I don’t know how I’ll feel about a dub. Still would like one, though!