Azumanga Daioh R1/ep-1 dub-report

[treatment]

Just an fyi for the AzuDai fans here. I posted this at AOD-forum earlier. The Azumanga Daioh episode-1 is included in the dvd of the April-04 issue of Newtype-USA magazine. It includes the english-dub and the japanese-dub/english-subs of the series.

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Well, I finally watched it last nite and boy, oh, boy!

Talk about a surprising, yet disappointing and craptacular english-dubbing for a known premiere anime series.

My thoughts...

I'm not gonna mince words. The english-vocals on Kaorin, Koyomi, Tomo, Sakaki, Yukari and Chihiro were all sucktacular. They were all overacting and total miscasts. Tomboyish Tomo now sounds like a trying-hard-to-be-tomboyish-failing-miserably-at-it. Sakaki and Koyomi sounded like disgruntled fish-vendors who rather not be there. Yukari's was so fake in cynicism. Kaorin and Chihiro both sounded trying-to-be-too-cute-but-just-being-irritating.

On a more positive note, Chiyo's and Osaka's dubs were tolerable-to-ok. Chiyo's need a little more feelings, tho. Having listened to Abenoboshi-dubs before, I was prepared for Osaka's Texas/Arkansas accent and surprisingly was not turned off by the performance.

It's a good thing the Newtype-disc included the AzuDai japanese-dubs and the Comic-Party ep-1, and the fact that I bought Kiddy-Grade vol-2 along with it. Especially Kiddy-Grade vol-2. It helped prevent me from kicking my speakers off my ent-center.

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--treatment--

[ogami]

"Never watch Anime in dubbed form" is very true.

[drifand]

"Never watch Anime in dubbed form" is very true.

Only in one case has the English dub of an anime series been of real value: GASARAKI.

Just TRY watching it in Japanese with 3 double-lines of subtitles in 3 colors running across the screen! 2 are for the political goobledygook being spouted by the main characters, 1 for the unnecessary translation of bakground radio/TV chatter (also about politics). For those super-dense dialogue episodes, I gave up trying to read quick enough and just switched over to the passable English dub track. :-P

[JELEINEN]

Why does Osaka have an accent at all? Part of her weirness is that she doesn't have one. They even specifically point this fact out in the anime.

[maxjenius81]

"Never watch Anime in dubbed form" is very true. 

I dunno, ive been an anime fan for going on 12 years now and I find more and more dubs these days worthwhile. I still prefer subs, but these days there are few dubs i vehemetly object to watching. Part of it is I remember REALLY bad dubs, case in point, the old Macross II and Iczer One dubs...blech. MOre and more Im finding some dub jobs that I actually PREFER over the original Japanese such as Hellsing and even Macross Plus. Sometimes the jokes are delivered better or sometimes even though its a script change, the english line is better. Case in point, Evangelion: While not a TREMENDOUS fan of the voice acting, it was ok a with a few really good performances in it. But one line stands out more than any other as better than the japanese. When Jet Alone goes beserk:

Japanese

Project Head "We would need a miracle to stop it now"

Misato "Im not gonna wait for a miracle"

ENglish

Project Head "It would take an act of God to stop that thing now"

Misato "Acts of men are better than acts of God"

In that case I feel the that one line makes the Eva dub in my mind. It sums up NERV and much of the subplot for Eva in one line.

Other good recent dub jobs: Bebop, Last Exile, most of the Disney dubs, Excel Saga, Akira's redub, as well as most of the new Gundam dubs (save G, we as AMericans havent seem to nail the GETTER BEAM theory of acting yet).

That said, there are still craptacular dubs being made, but I dont think you should rule any dub on the principle that it is a dub alone. At least give it four episodes to grow on you before rendering final judgement. A lot of fans believe that Japanese VAs never suck, but thats new true, there are good, and there are bad, its just harder to tell with a language and culture barrier stuck in the way.

[Pat Payne]

On a more positive note, Chiyo's and Osaka's dubs were tolerable-to-ok. Chiyo's need a little more feelings, tho. Having listened to Abenoboshi-dubs before, I was prepared for Osaka's Texas/Arkansas accent and surprisingly was not turned off by the performance.

I'm surprised. Given how they were treating Osaka's Osaka-ben accent in the manga, I thought they were going to give her a New Yawk accent.

[Apollo Leader]

Why does Osaka have an accent at all? Part of her weirness is that she doesn't have one. They even specifically point this fact out in the anime.

It is thanks to JELEINEN and Relayer that I've been able to see and hear Azumanaga Daioh the way it was meant to be seen and heard.

Does anyone know how accurate the subtitle job is? I've been hearing that the sub's text is the same as the dub's script is.