It seems more and more companies are making cheaper sub-only releases for anime that they feel have less mainstream appeal. Companies like Media Blasters, Bandai Visual, Right Stuf and Geneon are not including dubs at all for some new titles or dropping the dub in the middle of a series. I think it's an interesting reversal of the situation in the VHS days. Back then, dubs were the norm and sub tapes were more expensive than dubs, ostensibly due to smaller production runs since subs had less mainstream appeal and sold fewer copies than dubs.
Now after a period of tremendous growth, the anime market seems to be plateauing while licensing costs continue to rise. Instead of everything selling like before, high profile anime still does well but middle-tier and crappier anime is less profitable. Some might blame piracy. Others might blame the numerous review sites and blogs acting as filters. Either way, dubs apparently aren't the draw they once were in getting more casual viewers.
It will be interesting to see if these cheaper sub discs do well enough to keep a series going until its end, or do even better. If a sub-only DVD brings in more sales than expected, could that mean that the market is more sensitive to the lower price point than the added value of a dub? Might the casual buyers have become more willing to watch subs since the VHS days? Dubs will probably always be necessary for TV broadcast anime, but I wonder how many more anime will be sub-only releases if these initial bids sell well in spite of a lack of dub tracks.
Dubs can die for all I care. I hate the way dubs are the default settings on all the dvds, and I have to go into the menu to change it every time I play one. -_-
>>2
Sure, you and I might skip the dub tracks but so far it's been the conventional wisdom that you need dubs to sell decent numbers. Those sales are what keep the foreign anime industry afloat and bringing over new titles.
hrmmm... well, Enter the Fansubbers.
I find that subs are always better than dubs, but some dubs are bearable.
I like the dub of Cowboy Bebop better than the sub. This is the only case in which I can honestly say I prefer the dub, though. Maybe it has something to do with growing up with the dubbed version.
Out of my anime collection (pitifully small) the only thing I own that doesn't have a dub track is Otaku no Video. This is definitely one of those DVDs that has limited appeal; the name itself exclaims "I am not for the causal viewer! I am for the Otaku!"
What else do you guys have that doesn't have a dub track?
I think it's wonderful that there are less dubs. Most dubs are so bad i consider them crimes against anime, so I'll be happy if they die out completely.
Maybe it's becoming more profitable to just release subs thanks to the growig otaku population not wanting dubs so there are more consumers who'll be happy buying subs?
>>7 It really bothers me that people refuse to give dubs a chance because the majority of dubs are poorly done. Not all dubs are bad (especially as of late), and when that's the case, you don't lose anything watching it over the Japanese dub. True, watching a program in its native language is fine and all, I feel that the mere preference of subtitles gives an undeserved sense of elitism in the anime community, and as such is the case, I avoid it. Doesn't mean I don't watch shows that are subbed, but if it has a dub, I'll listen to it first, then try the Japanese track if it has one. One can't be considered any less of a fan because they want to watch a show in English. That's all I'm gonna say on that, there's a more appropriate thread elsewhere.
At any rate, the only reason I think these sub-only releases are being released because a) subbing software is possibly becoming cheaper/ easier to use or b) they figure only the most "elite" of the anime/otaku culture who indiscriminately buy anime.
No, no no... Even "good" dubs just don't ring right with the anime.
Here's why:
-All the content that is lost in translation is irrecoverable in a dub.
-The work of the casting director is lost, The Japanese voice acting industry has a much larger pool of talent than in America or the West. It's a rather specialized form of acting, and there are even minor celebrities that come out of that scene.
-Again, The work of the original seiyuu and acting director is lost.
-It's more expensive.
-Frequently dubbed versions change the music, sound effects, and pacing, and some lettering. The worst example of this image editing is for the English special edition of Akira where they re-synced the lips of the characters for the American actors WHEN AKIRA IS THE HISTORIC FIRST ANIME TO BE PRE-SYNCED. OMFG.
-It feels wrong and culturally-confused, linguistic nuances are crushed and killed.
When are dubs excusable? When the show is aimed at children who would be incapable of reading subtitles. No other foreign cinema gets dubbed like this (in USA at least), but otherwise, teen, or adult-oriented animation seems to be a special ecxeption to this rule, why?
And, to be even-handed, note about subtitles:
-Subtitles should not be flashy.
-Subtitles should not be animated.
-Subtitles should not bring attention to themselves.
-I would even hesitate to use exclamation marks in subtitles for the above reason.
-Subtitles should find clever ways of incorporating removable captions and subtitles for untranslatable concepts and text on the screen, perhaps using advanced media containers like Matroska, without breaking the above rules.
That resync of Akira makes me SO MAD. It's like they're imposing a dub on the buyer. I really regret buying that DVD now, shoulda pirated it, but it's hard to find torrents of the original now, since that was the re-mastered edition. fuck.
Shit like this makes me want to boycott all localized anime.
Subtle details like that can be annoying, but stuff like that is nitpickish. I look for things like consistency with the original storyline, emotional cues, and refrain from adding extra material that wasn't in the original. All that extra synching does is allow the dubbed dialog to fit. Otherwise, the voice actors are stuck trying to fit a 7 syllable thought into a three syllable window, ya know? Then the actual acting takes a backseat to making the dialog work into the animation. The street goes both ways, too. Have you ever seen an American show dubbed in a foreign language?
> All the content that is lost in translation is irrecoverable in a dub.
It's irrecoverable in a sub, too, unless you know Japanese. In which case, why are you watching either of them, and not the original R2s?
> -The work of the casting director is lost, The Japanese voice acting industry has a much larger pool of talent than in America or the West. It's a rather specialized form of acting, and there are even minor celebrities that come out of that scene.
> -Again, The work of the original seiyuu and acting director is lost.
I think this is sort of a vicious circle. The talent pool is larger in Japan because anime is a developing industry elsewhere, and a significant portion of fans (generally those same fans poised to offer constructive criticism about dubs, or vote with their money) don't bother with the dubs at all. As long as people don't care about dubs, publishers won't care about doing good dubs.
I've also heard rumors that union regulations make it extremely difficult for U.S. anime publishers to hire qualified voice actors, and they're generally forced to rely on those inexperienced hacks who haven't joined a union yet.
> -Frequently dubbed versions change the music, sound effects, and pacing, and some lettering. The worst example of this image editing is for the English special edition of Akira where they re-synced the lips of the characters for the American actors WHEN AKIRA IS THE HISTORIC FIRST ANIME TO BE PRE-SYNCED. OMFG.
Changing music and SFX is hard to excuse, but I imagine in some cases, the publisher may have had no choice if they were unable to acquire the original audio track sans voices from the production studio.
>>11 covered the rest of this. I prefer resyncs to the alternatives; flappy-lips, or awkward and artificial rephrasing in an attempt to make the English words fit the Japanese lipsync.
> -It feels wrong and culturally-confused, linguistic nuances are crushed and killed.
This is generally an issue with translation, not dubbing.
> When are dubs excusable?
When people prefer them. There are people who are dyslexic, or just don't like having to keep their eyes constantly on the TV screen in order to follow the action.
Ideally, a choice is best; I dislike both dub-only releases and sub-only releases.