At Nekocon this weekend, there were a lot of fans out there. And like most conventions, there are quite a lot of cosplayers roaming the halls. This year saw some very common themes among the cosplayers, with Bleach and Naruto really being the most popular ones to work with. There was a lot of variety outside of that, but every time you’d turn around there’d be another member of the Soul Society walking by or someone from the Akatsuki. There’s also the usual large number of cosplayers from smaller shows, ones that are licensed and unlicensed in the US as has been the norm for years and years now.
One of the panels that I attended was the Greg Ayres panel entitled “From Ouran to the Hospital” in which it was a very fun and engaging open panel about anything that you wanted to talk about with him. Greg has been around for quite a few years now and has made a name for himself with some high profile properties and more colorful characters than can be properly listed. Suffice to say that he is one of the big guys out there and has done an immense amount of work in anime and for anime and fandom, especially in how easy he is to approach and have a dialogue with and the things he does at conventions like spinning for the raves.
So it was definitely very disappointing but not unexpected to hear him talk about the fact that he’s essentially semi-retiring from voice acting and looking for more regular work elsewhere while doing dubs as they come along and fit into the schedule. The gist of the conversation was that the dub industry is essentially dead, and by extension to me you can make the nod that the domestic anime industry is going to be pretty close to that for awhile to come. As any fan can tell, there are a continually dwindling number of releases in the schedule across the board and of those the number of dubs is getting smaller and smaller as well.
Bandai Entertainment appears to only be dubbing its truly high profile properties and they don’t exactly have a lot of those left at this point, at least from known licenses. Media Blasters tackles a couple of shows here and there but dubs all of its hentai. Sentai Filmworks hasn’t dubbed a single thing nor are they likely to have any new dubs for the foreseeable future. Manga Entertainment doesn’t put out enough in general though they do get a dub in here and there. Viz Media continues to dub all their works, but they have the support of such titles as Bleach and Naruto, though both of those are doing far less than they used to. And FUNimation of course continues to put out dubs for all their shows, but it really wouldn’t surprise me to see them dabble in a trial run or two somewhere, sometime with a low selling property just to see how it will go.
The death of the domestic dubbing industry is something that is definitely very troubling and saddening. It’s a natural extension of where the market has gone in the last few years due to the economy, changes in distribution both online and in brick and mortar as well as fandom itself. As more and more people come into anime fandom, they’re coming into it solely with the view of digital distribution and they’re going to be harder and harder to shift over to a physical format that you have to buy. I spent some time this weekend with a bunch of seventeen year old female anime fans and that does help to offset my pessimism about all of it. Though they simply can’t afford things, they desperately want to own them and they’re big fans of voice actors having rented shows and seen things on Anime Network. But like a lot of them, by the time they’re going to be able to really join into the market and contribute, there won’t be anything there I think when it comes to dubs.
I don’t believe the domestic anime industry will die. There will always be someone out there finding a way to get some releases into fans hands, someone who will make some money because they love doing it and don’t mind that they’re not a huge megacorp. That is, after all, exactly how this industry really started. I don’t think we’ll see a revival of the dubbing industry though and that has for a long time really concerned me. While I’m not a big dub fan myself, I have always advocated it as a part of a very integral piece of a healthy anime industry. The industry is alive at this point and it is kicking, which is evidenced by the continual stream of half season and full season box sets that inundate me every week. But it’s lacking a vitality that it once had, one that I think came from the exceptional enthusiasm of dub fans.
The death of that strikes deeply into all of this and hearing Greg talk of it this weekend only reinforced that. There are many voice actors who will continue to work, continue to make excellent dubs and provide enjoyment to the fans. To them, and to all who have come before and those that are now leaving, thank you very much for enriching my passion in anime and providing more entertainment for many fans than you may ever truly know. This industry would not be what it is without all of you.
Being an anime fan and buyer for over 10 years(still have VHS anime) I am kind of upset with the lack of Dubs lately. I spend $1500- $3000 per year on anime shows. I will not buy sub only shows. Hell I can watch fansub's if I wanted to. So companies that put out Dubbed shows will get my $$$$. The others with Sub only not likely.
Well... When the lot of the anime nowadays are about how much young guys suck, "what goes around comes around." So hey.
I think the article comes off as a little too negative.
Is this the "death" of the anime dubbing industry as we know it? Perhaps. Gone are the days when anything brought to America would get a dub. While that's probably a good thing (financially speaking), it also leaves open the possibility that some good titles (like Clannad or Emma) could remain sans-dub (which would bad). Is this the "death" of the anime dubbing industry as a whole? No. As Hectotane once said, according to a Funimation poll, 75% of people watch their anime dubbed (as for whether or not that would translate to increased sales, I'm not sure). If Sentai Filmworks were to hold a poll, I'm sure they'd get similar results (but they probably won't, since if those same poll numbers were reflected in Sentai's survey, it would be an indictment of their business strategy).
Plus, bear in mind that Amusement Park Media (Neo-ADV's in-house dubbing studio) was recently given the contract to dub the Halo anime anthology (the exact title escapes me at the moment). If this doesn't help kick-start anime dubbing, then something else will.
(I'm not throwing in the towel until Bang Zoom and Ocean Studios go belly-up, and even if that should happen, I'm still not giving up hope.)
In many respects, dubbing is what's keeping the industry from folding in on itself entirely. It's the one key component that helps prop up the legal licensing and distribution circuit. Without localization/reversioning with English tracks, younger viewers whom have grown up in the digital era may find themselves hard pressed to opt for the physical copy when unauthorized subtitle translations are so rampant.
There are a lot of great dubs out there, and similarly a lot of great voice-over artists, but it gives me a headache to think that such an integral function of the anime business has become such a thowaway.
-insaneben even if FUNi's poll is accurate (which no one knows due to the flaws that exist in online polls) if 40% of that 70% buy only 1 DVD a month (which I admit I am making up), then the number looks skewed versus sales. As you say, it might not translate into extra sales, as a sales increase of even 150% (to make up a number) may not balance out the extra cost a dub creates. There can't be a lot of people who buy every title that gets a dub versus those who like dubs and then choose what to buy (or rent, or watch a legal stream etc.) based on whether they have interest in the title as well as the presence of a dub.
-abynum 5 If that were the case that English tracks equaled sales, more companies would be dubbing. It is just as easy for those same sites to buy a copy of the DVD and throw it on their site and that same generation has no more problems with just downloading the English as they do a sub that is available. I don't think too many see the dubs as a throwaway but the economic reality is it doesn't allways pay off.
Throw in the fact some studios may be having trouble getting the funds in advance to be able to make a dub in the current environment and that may have a bit to play in these decisions for some companies (Sentai) as other factors-such as Best Buy's decision to cut it's anime offerings in many of it's stores earlier this year.
The decline in dubs has honestly lessened my overall interest in anime in the last year or so. I just can't get into subbed anime. I've given a few sub only shows a try (mainly stuff like Clannad that I just couldn't go without seeing), but I honestly just don't enjoy the experience. I can't justify supporting sub-only shows anymore though. As it's just not worth the price when I don't enjoy watching it. I find myself doubly supporting Funimation lately though, as they're one of the only licensors left that actually give me what I want. And I'm very glad to see Media Blasters giving shows like Genshiken 2 dubs, and I'm all too happy to give them my money for it to show my support.
While it is sad to hear that Dubs are on thier way down, it doesn't really surprise me. I have alot of anime titles that I don't even watch in english, though they do have the option. I watch everything sub'ed. After a bit of getting use to, I found I like it alot better, you can tell more of the persons relationship, and there is just somethings that makes it even funnier to watch. But in truth for a while I wouldn't watch anything subed, it had to be dubed. It took a bit like I said to get use to it. And I feel that anime sells will drop here in the states do to this factor. That and alot of new fans will be turned off. I do watch alot of fansub, but if I truly enjoyed the show I buy it on DVD to own in my collection. So I hope, for the sake of the industry, that dubs don't go completely under. Cuz it would really stink to have to order all my anime from overseas :( I like walking into a store and seeing what I want, and browseing other titles to buy.
If that were the case that English tracks equaled sales, more companies would be dubbing.
For anime titles with a high and obvious projected return, yes, English voice-over tracks do equal sales. For this particular argument, it's worth mentioning that not every licensor/distributor of Japanese animation has the capacity to acquire titles that fall into such a category.
It is just as easy for those same sites to buy a copy of the DVD and throw it on their site and that same generation has no more problems with just downloading the English as they do a sub that is available.
The point I'm kind of trying to make is that the availability of subtitled anime inherently outweighs that of anime with English ADR. For those western anime fans devoted to media of an illegal type, their reliance is on subtitled content and not dubbed content. As a result, a sort of backwards-thinking can develop where official subtitled home video releases are seen as a duplicate-necessity, whereas dubbed content is not. (That's my primary point, I suppose. A secondary point, though not the subject of the editorial above, would probably be the function of ADR as a marketing tool.)
Echoing the comments of several people above, I think there's definitely some truth to this article, especially in the fifth paragraph: We are in the middle of a global economic recession, media distribution opportunities continue to evolve, and fan expectations have changed from what they once were.
However, I think we all should consider the personal experiences of the person at the center of this article - Greg Ayers - and take the article's conclusion with a grain of salt.
Greg is well known as one of the most vocal and vehement critics of fansubbing and illegal distribution of anime in the United States. Also, last year his company (ADV) got hit with not only the general effects of the recession, but also the consequences of its own legacy costs and several major business deals gone bad, ultimately resulting in that company's breakup this summer.
Not to say that any of the specific points Greg made at the Nekocon panel were wrong. It's just that, if a person tries to look at the industry through Greg's personal lens, because of his personal experiences, a person needs to realize that they're pretty much seeing the world in the most pessimistic light possible. A person who has been working at Funimation in the same timeframe, the company reaped most of the gains from ADV's losses, is going to have a much different perspective.
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Yeah it's true that only Viz and Funimation are the only two anime companies that continue to release Dubbed shows. It really is sad to see that more and more titles are getting subtitle only releases even from companies like media blaster.
I for one love anime dubs I do watch an ocassional sub if one catches my interest but they are far and few between. I honestly don't think funimation or viz will let go of dubs at this point. I think they know that english dubs are what's keeping them alive. The occasional anime fan is more than likely to only buy titiles with dubs in thme and most die hard otaku I have talked to say that even they are dismayed about the lack of dubs that are being released.
I doubt dubbing will completely die. Once the economy gets better I'm sure more dubs will apear again. until then fans who want dubs in thier titles will have to hold out hope that the series that they want to see released will have a dubb track with it. If not they will just have to do without.