Nella-I'm still just impressed that you two have a hobby together like that, where it's a happy medium sort of thing!
The fact that your sister speaks Japanese and will explain the cultural stuff to you is definitely a plus. If I had my own personal translator I would probably prefer subs more too!
Iwa_Hoshi-When I was younger they really didn't play much anime on TV.
I didn't really have an 'after school' schedule with stuff to watch, I mostly consumed cartoons/movies through the video rental place, so I was vastly limited by what they had in stock but I still got to choose what I wanted to try out, which explains the lack of young female leads. I'm not real big on that young, screechy shoujo dynamic (like...a lot of stuff where people just explain it as "moe", yeah, not my thing for the most part). But I've seen enough of it to know that it's a nightmare when they try and recreate it in English, because the VAs sound like they're having a contest to see who can break glass with the pitch of their voice! OUCH!
Yu Yu Hakusho was such an awesome show.
When Cartoon Network aired it in the states I was so happy because it was part of the early anime explosion, like where Dragon Ball Z did really well and they were starting to pick up on the fact that American teenagers and children also liked anime's particular feel and style, so we got a bunch of different series. A favourite nostalgia one is Blue Submarine No 6.
SetsunaKou- Yeah, it may be a different one then I think? I haven't heard of that other company either though!
Isn't it strange though how sometimes the English version can just feel more
right than the Japanese version with some characters? And then of course you have the opposite where you're just cringing and going "WHY!?!" at the English voices!
I like when they try and match them up and have talented VAs do it, like Tobi and Deidara from Naruto. Both of them have rather...strange voices that don't completely go with their looks (it's on purpose though, not a case of miscasting), Deidara looks almost like a woman but his voice is deep and definitely a man's, and Tobi's voice is...well, you have to hear it because there's really no way to explain it!
I was super surprised when the English VAs matched both Japanese VAs almost precisely! Add the fact that the English VAs were every bit as talented and it felt almost like the same VAs were bilingual and doing both versions, it was a really strange, neat little piece of VA work I noticed!
Now I really have to watch Amnesia because...haha, Miyata Kouki definitely doesn't use that kind of voice in Free! He's soft spoken and cute and likes to yell "Senpaiiiiii~!!" because he (has a mancrush on) really admires his senpai Rin.
Oh Setsuna, your customs are so gorgeous as always!! T^T May I ask what bases they're made out of? Are they Volks? I don't think I've seen 1/3 Volks heads without eyeholes? Is that discontinued or something? Argh I can't stop staring! They're all so stunning!!! <33
Qrinta- Haha, One Piece is one of those ones where you need to ask: Which dub did you see? Because 4kids kind of butchered it.
I haven't seen some of the more memorable characters in the Funimation dub version yet but I do know it's going to be weird listening to them when I'm used to the sub voices. Although I completely reserve judgement until I hear the performance itself and see how they handle some iconic lines.
Lamia Of The Dark- When you say "lost in translation", I'm curious, do you mean you speak Japanese?
Actually I find subs tend to cut out a lot of stuff, especially when they start getting into more philosophical discussions, a lot of times the subbers have a hard time putting it into a context that makes sense in English (I proofread stuff that's been translated from Japanese and make it flow smoothly in English so I know how hard that particular task can be!
), so sometimes the dubs actually do a better job because they need to make it sound okay coming out of a person's mouth. XD;
Outlaw Star was an amazing dub I agree! It's even more amazing when you think about when it was made (dubbing seems to evolve really slowly). I agree that there is something very interesting about watching stuff in the native language though.
Live action films bother the heck out of me when they're dubbed!
Something about them feels...really artificial in a way that animated dubs just
don't. I watch a lot of movies in French because my favourite director happens to be French, and I couldn't imagine his stuff dubbed! Eeek!
