Lost in Translation

By: Allen Divers
Date: Tuesday, April 09, 2002

Well, after a two-week absence I got another column up last week, and low and behold a new Forum Buzz went up! Nothing like a bit of rivalry to keep things fun! Of course, I feel there was one important fact missing from Sean's column. That would be the number of times a topic with the title "Disagreement with this week's Lost in Translation" shows up following the posting of a new column. Let's see what we can do this week to rile up the natives!



It just didn't sound right the second time...



This week, we'll take a look at something I'm sure we'll see quite a bit on this column. Next to poor casting, the next big thing that rankles most dub fans is the changing of a dub studio for a series. First off, why does this even happen? The first cause is the fact that most anime properties are sold in pieces. TV, OVA and movie rights are often split up and sold individually. Because of the volatile nature of the anime market, a company will often pick up one of the three, instead of all of them to save money. If it works out with the one, they will try to pick up the others later.



Sometimes the companies protect themselves by having the option to pick up the other properties. In this case, what can prevent someone from picking up the rest of the series if they hold an option? If the original anime company wants to capitalize on the success of a series they may raise the asking price. Some of the smaller distributors might not feel that the price justifies continuing the series, so they move on. Another company with a larger buying budget may then come along and scoop up the property.




Now it comes into the dub arena. All anime distributors in North America have particular studios they work with for translation and dubbing. Some of these relationships are exclusive in nature, while other studios work on a freelance schedule. To save money, it's obvious that a company will want to work with a studio they have an established relationship with. Going to another company could cost extra money, as well as hoping they have an open schedule to accommodate its request.



Regardless of the reasons, it happens that a popular series ends up with a different dub cast for parts of that series. What's the overall affect on the fan base? Well, judging from the various questions and comments I get on a weekly basis, it affects them quite drastically.



Last week I got this email:



Hey

I'm a big Kenshin fan I love the dub for the TV series but when ADV decided to but out the Movie AKA Samurai X (ick) the motion picture all the charters especially Kaoru. So when I hear that ADV was picking up the second OVA I cringed at the thought of another bad dub under the hideous Samurai X name. I thought of writing a letter to ADV but I don't think they would listen to one man so my proposal is to protest to ADV to use the English voice cast for the second Kenshin OVA and it wouldn't hurt to ask for revisable covers again.



If you would please stand with me for the little dub watching Kenshin fans all over or at least give me some tips on how I can get ADV's attention I would be very grateful.



For the love of all which is dubbing.



thank you for taking the time to read this



Damon



Damon here is asking on how we can get their attention. In recent weeks, ADV announced their intentions to use the same dub cast for the upcoming You're Under Arrest specials and movies that Animeigo uses for the TV and OVA dub of the same series. Forum user 'tablesalt' set up a petition and made the rounds of AoD's forums. This is probably the most civilized manor to do this in. This worked in the case of YUA because ADV hadn't begun production of the series yet. Kenshin/Samurai X falls into a bit of a different category because ADV has already produced an English dub using their studio.



I've been asked many times to comment on the merits of the two Kenshin dubs, and the big reason I've been dragging my feet on this is the fact I haven't heard either of them. Being the poor freelance writer that I am, I pick carefully the anime I buy every month. Most of the time, my purchases are based on having seen screeners of various series, so that I know will like the series. I just haven't seen any of the Kenshin stuff to decide. Also the fact that the TV series is on vol #20 makes it kind of a stumbling block of a series to jump in on.



In my first couple of weeks of writing this column, I received the following email. My apologies to Mike, since I took so long to use it. Mike shared his opinion on the dubs and compares the lead actors of both dubs.



... I'd like to hear your opinion on both versions of the Kenshin dubs, haven't heard one yet. Who plays the man better, Richard Hayworth in the Anime Works versions, or J. Shannon Weaver in the ADV versions?



I know I have an opinion though. I think that Rika Takahashi has done an excellent job with the TV series and is able to give the right dialogue for Kenshin and Hayworth handles it excellently. He handles the goofy parts well, and he handles the dramatic scenes well. I notice more strain in his voice during those scenes. Kind of a reflection of how the years have taken its toll on Kenshin.



J. Shannon Weaver I think is okay though. His voice fits that of a younger Kenshin, good for the OAVs, I am not quite sold on the movie though. Perhaps because of the comparison to Hayworth. He sells me as the Battousai, not the Rurouni.



My "girlfriend" who is Japanese had her opinion of the TV series dub too. She says that Kenshin, Saito (Sparky Thorton), and ShiShiO (David Lucas), were all excellent, especially in the screams and grunts. She wasn't much for the other voices though. She really didn't like Sanosuke's (Lex Lang's) voice. Yuji Ueda's Edo accent sold the role in Japanese but its tough to do for English. She hasn't heard Tae's (Georgette Rose) voice yet, but judging how she reacted to Cho's voice...her opinion wouldn't be good. I for one was a big fan of how Yahiko (Elise Floyd) came out btw.



- Mike



Well, sorry I couldn't give my opinion on this one for you Mike. When I finally get around to watching either of these, I will definitely do a column about it.



For most people, the dub they prefer tends to be the first one they hear. This falls inline with the idea that people that actually see and hear a show in Japanese will prefer that version to any dub that comes out. I made a comment a few columns back about preferring the Saber Marionette J dub to the Saber Marionette J Again. The J Again dub was actually the first one produced, but having seen the show in its proper order, I had seen J first. This was the dub that embedded itself in my mind. Companies are quickly learning that if another company beats them to the market with a different dub, they will have a harder time selling their dub. This might be the reason behind ADV using the Samurai X title for the OVA and movie as compared to using the original name.



This is obviously a topic we would actually like to see less and less in the future. A company only stands to gain when they use the same cast when continuing a series that another company put out. Most of the time, when a company picks up a series that another company was working on, they feel it will make money so they should put out that extra effort to ensure that it's a success.



Questions and Answers, not necessarily in that order



Hey Allen, whattup?? I read your column and I think its cool. First of all, I'm one of those who likes dubs, good dubs that is.. If a dub is bad, and a majority of them are, I dont watch it, but if its good, I do. I just wanna ask you about your opinion on the Ranma 1/2 dub. A lot people dont like the dub which really really suprises me. Do you consider it a good dub? As for me, I think its one of the best dubs ever in the history of dubbed anime. The voices are perfectly fit for each of the chracters and their delivery is natural and spot on. Ok thanks, and more power to your column.



Bakafool



I've always enjoyed the Ranma ½ dub. It was one of the first series I got into when I really started getting heavily into anime. The acting was always good, voices matching the characters and after all the bad things I had heard about anime dubs, this was actually a lot less scary than what I expected (this was 1994). So why do people dislike the dub for Ranma? A lot of it has to do with Viz and Ocean studios. Viz has developed a poor reputation for sub-par releases, mucking about with continuity of episodes and swapping out opening and closings. Don't forget the 2 episodes per tape (pre-DVD time) and people grew tired of it real quick. Poor handling for fan favorite titles such as Video Girl Ai and Maison Ikkoku also have lead to this bad reputation. Ocean has a bad rep for creating some poor dubs. Most people point to their overuse of the Wordfit system as the major cause.



Recently, the dubs for Ranma ½ have seemed rather lazy in nature. The cast just feels tired at this point. The amount of Trishisms seems to have increased as well. (Trish Ledeoux is the primary translator/writer for Viz and often has a unique view on translating.)



Thanks for responding to my last letter about DBZ...I really appreciate it! Just a quick question. Do studios have a group of voice actors that they lend out for the same company. This is because after watching Ranma 1/2 (By Viz), I notice a lot of the same voices in Fatal Fury (Also by Viz). Also what the heck happened to Ranma's voice? It's terrible! Do voice actors quit? Or do they get replaced?



Joe Shapiro



(wow, 2 Ranma questions!)



Actually what happens is there are groups of individual studios that companies like Viz go to for dubbing. For the most part, companies stick with a small group of studios, while others go around to different companies as necessary. Each of these studios has a stable of actors they work with. Some actors will work for different studios, depending on their schedule. (Let's face it, voice-over work is much like freelance writing, you have to have a bunch of little jobs to get by.)



As for male Ranma's voice, a new actor took over with season 4 (by Viz's count). Ranma's first voice was done by Sarah Strange. Sarah did the voice for the first 3 seasons, the OVAs and the 3 movies. After Sarah left, Richard Cox took over. Female Ranma's voice was replaced as well. I'm not sure when the Venus Terzo took over from Brigetta Dau but this one was not as noticeable as the male changeover.



What is the official reason for some dubbing studios not listing the actors names alongside their characters? Animaze is the main one who doesn't list the actors' roles.



David



There really is no official reason why the studios don't list actors' names with the character they portray. Some of it is a SAG/Non-SAG issue as you mentioned in the rest of your email, other times it's a space issue. Often companies are required by license to display all of the Japanese credits (translated into English). This often does not leave enough space to display the English credits so certain time/space saving techniques are used such as listing all the names in a big block. Most studios I approach are willing to give out the names and identify the role they play in a particular show.



The issue of pseudonyms seems to be more complicated. At this time I've gotten no clear reason on why people use pseudonyms. About the only thing I've been told is that some actors have left the industry due to being outed (their real name being identified with a role that they were using a pseudonym for.) Some of this could also be a tool for a studio to mask the small number of actors used in a dub. No one is really speaking out on this, but as I learn more I'll share as necessary.



Re: Osaka South of Tokyo



I disagree with the statement; I thought it was more along the lines of west of Tokyo, not south?



I wouldn't know though otherwise, but I spent one shinkansen ride staring at GPS and at moving dot on the map and it seemed to go mostly westwards ;)



-Markus 'I really need a life'



Looking at a map of Japan, Osaka is more west-southwest of Tokyo, so in a roundabout way we're both right. The point I was trying to make was Osaka shares the same connotation with Tokyo that Alabama shares with New York.



I SAW THE SECOND VOLUME OF VANDREAD AND THE DUB IS GOOD BUT ONE THING I DONT UNDERSTAND IS THE EPISODE "WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD" THE SONG Of THE SAME NAME IS CANGED TO SOMTHING ELSE. PIONEER IS DOING A GOOD JOB DUBBING THIS BAD ASS ANIME SERIES AND THAY CANGE THE WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD SONG, THE EPISODE TITLE HAS NO MEANING IF THE SONG IS CANGED



- NeonFox



Music is always a strange thing when it comes to dubs and translations. Most of the time incidental music is left unchanged. A song that actually has words for the most part will remain unchanged as well with subtitles translating it. In a few instances a company will translate and sing the song in English. This depends on the studio and the importance of the song to the plot.



As for changing the song title, well, that's left up to interpretation. The episode focuses on Meia and how she grew up to be what she is. In the end its left up to her to decide if this is a wonderful world. The changing of the song doesn't really go out of its way to change the impact of what happens.



First off i would like to say I have been enjoying your column for a while now. So here is my question why are so many people against the Dub for Love Hina? I've watched the first volume and i was going in expecting to hate the dub and was expecting it to be the worse dub ever, but i noticed it wasn't that bad. the only voice i constantly cringe at is Kitsune and Su but she grew on my a little bit. Sure there was some miscasting but each charecter did the best the could with what they were given. But maybe i am easily pleased. I hope you can enlighting me on why people hate it.



Ryan



Love Hina had a tremendous amount of fan anticipation, so it was eagerly awaited. Of course, how did this series have such large fan anticipation? A lot of it comes from the amount of fansubs that were circulating for this series. People built up expectations based on those fansubs, and they were looking to critique this series. The problems with Love Hina come on multiple levels. First off is the script used for the dub. For the most part, it suffers from the expectation of eventually making it to TV. So, the script is watered down to make it cleaner for TV. A sample of this is the scene when Keitaro meets Naru for the first time. After knocking him across the hall, Keitaro comments about the power of that girl's punch. In the original version, Keitaro says, "pink." In case you miss the joke, he's commenting on the color of her panties since he saw them as he flew through the air. Changing lines like this removes a lot of the flavor and color that is Love Hina.



The next big no-no is the casting. Poor casting choices seem to abound, compounded by poor acting done in terms of Kitsune and Su: Both suffering from horrible accents. Considering the talent involved and the experience of the ADR director (Wendee Lee) its almost a train wreck of a dub.



Apart from "Akira", what other dubs have been re-dubbed on a later release. Hopefully the Original Dirty Pair movies (previously Streamline), will have the same VAs as the OVAs.



Richard



I'm not sure what ADV has done for the Dirty Pair movies or the OVAs. This is another series that I haven't had the opportunity to pick up yet. As for other dubs redone, the only others I can think of are Nadia: Secret of Blue Water and Dragonball.



Warning, Blatant Plug Ahead



For those that love behind the scenes thoughts, head over to http://www.kylehebert.com. Coming out this week is a 9 part interview with Justin Cook, ADR director of Yu Yu Hakasho. Justin has been with FUNimation for 3 years and worked his way up the ranks. He's also the lead voice, Yusuke, for Yu Yu Hakasho.



End on a high note



Ranma ½ : For the Love of Akane



Rounding out Viz's season 6 of Ranma, this release continues the nutty adventures of a boy that changes into a girl when splashed with water. After nearly 7 years of acting, some of the cast is sounding a bit worn out. The acting is still good, and the cast feels comfortable with each other. Overall, this is a comfortable release staying consistent with the standard level of humor expected of this series.



Yu Yu Hakasho: Yusuke Lost Yusuke Found and Artifacts of Darkness



Coming out next week from FUNimation, these 2 releases set the groundwork for this series. This third series from FUNimation continues to show their growth in the world of Anime. Good acting, decent scripting keep the energy up in these releases.



Lupin III: Twilight Gemini



A tremendous release for FUNimation. Lupin mixes in comedy, action and drama to form a well moving 90 minutes of movie magic. FUNimation's dub brings a lot of the feel of this popular series remaining very true to the original Japanese script.



Yu Yu Hakasho and Lupin III will both be getting a more thorough in the coming week. Both are excellent examples of FUNimation's commitment to the anime industry.



Well, that's it for now. As always, send those questions to boxie@azraelproductions.com!



Thanks!

Allen