42 replies to this topic

[some_weirdGuy]

DBZ US vs DBZ Japan... there's no comparison honestly. The US version is quite a bit better. The recently released recuts are a lot better in terms of voice acting, and the US DBZ OST is so much better. Bruce Faulconer is fucking amazing. Most dubs I've heard aren't usually all that bad,

Oh my god yes, Bruce Faulconer's music is AMAZING, so much better than the original japanese music. I was nearly heartbroken when i bought the DBZ collection and it had 'revised audio', which i found out meant english dub with japanese music. Thank god i found out that you could change the audio back to US broadcast stereo, meaning it had Faulconer's music.

Where you're watching some epic fight scene classical style music with trumpets and stuff just doesn't cut it...
Also, DBZ funimation dub is the only way to go, Ocean group's isn't as good.

Also a lot of the dubbing sounds incredibly immature or has poor lip synching or just terrible accent.

I've never watched an english dub with bad lip sync (not that I've watched a great deal), I've actually seen more unsynced japanese voices than unsynced english dubs. Also, as i said, i usually find the japanese voices to be the terrible ones.

I mean, again using Dragon Ball Z as the example, compare:

Japanese:

(skip directly to 10 seconds in for goku's voice)
(and 39 seconds in if you want some further ear-rape from gohan)

English:

(for the exact same Goku yelling bit skip to 20 seconds in)
(and 44 seconds in for the same bit from gohan, this time without the ear-rape)


English dub is by far the better of the two (In this case. Having not watched every anime out there i can't exactly vouch for all of them)

[Allied General]

not reading a goddamn book. I'll get subbed animes since most of the really good shit doesn't make it outside of Japan

Kind ironic though since a lot of good anime are adapted from mangas but ok fair point that english dub in some circumstances can work. Howls moving castle comes to mind or anime which have a basis in a western setting for example and isn't realiant on you knowing japanese culture.

But heh maybe dubbing has improved but I'm just sick of walking into stores with ovepriced DVD box sets of like 7-10 year old animations which are like 1st season or you know are missing loads of episodes because you saw the fan subs years ago. But the issues around this concern more about economy, anime still being niche (the amount of lame people dress as Naruto/Bleach characters or saying omg kawaii type comments) is enough to make my mind explode.

Coupled with censorship edits because lets face it western animation has hardly evolved from the 12 and unders bracket (I mean in terms of tackling darker issues and not nessecarily sex or violence) and thus anime to a western perspective is a kids cartoon.



Also DBZ movie the fewer words said the better ¬_¬

Oh a fav for summer 2010, HOTD (High School of the Dead) based off a manga its like school drama, ecchi comedy meets zombies, horror and blood. My first thoughts were Battle Royale meets Zombies.

Its been shown late night, with a USA showing as well

[Beowulf]

Kind ironic though since a lot of good anime are adapted from mangas but ok fair point that english dub in some circumstances can work. Howls moving castle comes to mind or anime which have a basis in a western setting for example and isn't realiant on you knowing japanese culture.

If I want to read, I'll read the manga. I watch animes to not have to read anything; that's sort of the point since they're animated.

But heh maybe dubbing has improved but I'm just sick of walking into stores with ovepriced DVD box sets of like 7-10 year old animations which are like 1st season or you know are missing loads of episodes because you saw the fan subs years ago. But the issues around this concern more about economy, anime still being niche (the amount of lame people dress as Naruto/Bleach characters or saying omg kawaii type comments) is enough to make my mind explode.

I guess they don't sell as well in the UK as they do here. I can go to Best Buy and grab complete seasons of older, and newer, animes for around $50 and even less. Hell, I order shit online for good prices. Amazon is great for this sort of thing since you can easily snag entire animes on DVD for about $20, which is a goddamn bargain. Specialty shops are a rip though, I will agree. I got buttfucked when I bought Azumanga on DVD for $90. It's was $45 at Best Buy. I was so pissed.

Coupled with censorship edits because lets face it western animation has hardly evolved from the 12 and unders bracket (I mean in terms of tackling darker issues and not nessecarily sex or violence) and thus anime to a western perspective is a kids cartoon.

That's not quite true here, especially with Adult Swim. There is a lot of uncut anime being aired weekly. You won't see any nudity, but there's plenty of blood, violence and swearing. People in the US know that a lot of anime is not for children and treat it as such. I dunno how the UK handles it, but it's different here if, say, Geneon gets it. I'll agree when 4Kids manages to get their grubby paws on a series. They ruined One Piece so badly. But short of cuts to air on afternoon TV, most anime here is shown uncut to the extent rules allow, and our DVDs are 100 percent uncut.

[Allied General]

Well for me if I find out the series has manga I am tempted to read it if I found the show good and in some cases the original source is much stronger content wise e.g. GTO for example but yes I can understand anime just being something to watch and enjoy on its own merit.

Also not trying to insult your intelligence or anything but not everyone understands english or indeed can hear and so in that context subs are essential. Also I think reading improves your understanding of the content at the time for example translator notes, I mean from my own experience I've gain speed reading.

Heh I saw Azumanga DVD set for like £20 here, the special edition, in a 2nd hand exchange shop of all places. From my experience a lot of the japanese trading shops how gone down under following the recession.

Well yeah I've heard of AdultSwim but thats pretty much the exception and in terms of adult content as I have mentioned adult does not nesseciarly mean violence, swearing, breasts, otherwise all those kids on MW2 would be "adult" I mean treating anime as a respected art like how real movies, novels are taken and with a variety of issues explored instead of western sterotypes.

The biggest surprise for me of times changing was the airing of the Haruhi movie in USA like a actual theatrea few months ago - http://www.otakunews....php?story=1600 (yes its a popular series but overated, no pun intended is a overated term)

[Beowulf]

Well for me if I find out the series has manga I am tempted to read it if I found the show good and in some cases the original source is much stronger content wise e.g. GTO for example but yes I can understand anime just being something to watch and enjoy on its own merit.

I take the anime as the anime and the manga as the manga. It's inevitable that the anime diverges from manga content at times so I take animes following a manga with a huge grain of salt. At least that way it doesn't completely ruin the experience. I read the Love Hina manga well before I watched the anime and the anime diverged so badly, but it was still good in its own right so it wasn't entirely ruined.

Also not trying to insult your intelligence or anything but not everyone understands english or indeed can hear and so in that context subs are essential. Also I think reading improves your understanding of the content at the time for example translator notes, I mean from my own experience I've gain speed reading.

That's true too but there are dubs in other languages. I've seen quite a few in Spanish, French, German and even Dutch! The particular series just has to be popular enough to get a dub in other languages besides English. However, subs do provide enjoyment for people who don't know English or are deaf; they should be allowed to enjoy it too. But that doesn't mean we should stop English dubs on the sole point of that alone.

Speed reading is an absolute necessity anyway. It's not that I can't do it, but I prefer not having to read.

Well yeah I've heard of AdultSwim but thats pretty much the exception and in terms of adult content as I have mentioned adult does not nesseciarly mean violence, swearing, breasts, otherwise all those kids on MW2 would be "adult" I mean treating anime as a respected art like how real movies, novels are taken and with a variety of issues explored instead of western sterotypes.

Anime is currently the animation equivalent of video games. Some people love it and consider it a form of art, but plenty of people scoff at it and say it's ridiculous. And it will likely continue that way for some time.

The biggest surprise for me of times changing was the airing of the Haruhi movie in USA like a actual theatrea few months ago - http://www.otakunews....php?story=1600 (yes its a popular series but overated, no pun intended is a overated term)

The US is slowly beginning to accept anime as an art form. It's very, very slow, but the change is taking place. Though I hate Naruto, several of its movies have been shown in theaters across the US.

[duke_Qa]

FMA:Brotherhood is available in Europe on Youtube, although i prefer the eclipse sub myself.

I'm more a last decade anime fan really, but there's plenty to be had of any sort. Gurren Lagann; good hot-blooded epic post apoc action.

Ghost in the shell Standalone Complex is the one I've watched through the most, I really enjoy those series and movies.

Black Lagoon, Gun-ho hollywood action-movie parody in a modern pirate setting with plenty of fanservice. Highly recommendable if you can leave your disbelief at the door and look at it as what it is.

Detroit metal city is hilarious fun, black metal vocalist/main guitarist really wishes to play soft romantic songs and get together with his favorite girl while keeping his black-metal role hidden from her and the family. the trip back to the home farm and teaching his younger brother/DMC-fan that helping out on the farm is METAL is hilarious("all dark metal gods know how to plow the fields!" zooms in circles with tractor around little-brother who is awestruck by the sudden appearance of his idol)

Also, Durara ain't too shabby, slice of modern urban life with some supernatural weirdness and strange agents around. Eureka 7 was a pretty good series in my opinion, although not for everyone. Darker than black season one and two are in the Ghost-in-the-shell mindscrew area but with Stalker-like reality warping stuff.

also, Studio Ghibli for your artistic nirvanas. Totoro, laputa/castle in the sky, Princess Monoke, Howl's moving Castle. Ghibli make fascinating movies because they don't have big-bad villains from hell in them and the detail levels are insane.

And from other (non-comedial) Anime/Manga I would definitely recommend (Van) Hellsing.

well, I wouldn't say that is without humor. besides, its pretty gorn and takes refuge in audacity when it comes to it. Monster is probably as serious as it gets in anime, and the dozen episodes I've seen as of yet of that was of pretty high quality.

edit:
Anyway, Highschool of the dead looks like it will make blood rush through veins, IN MAH PANTS . But eh, the manga apparently has gotten good grades so it might be good. I've yet to watch Sengoku Basara and Sengoku Basara 2 is on its way, and its by Production I.G, so I have to get to that.

Edited by duke_Qa, 08 July 2010 - 03:34 PM.

[Taralom]

Naruto is a fine anime too, though they found the best way to ruin a fine anime in the latest episode (Shippuden 167). There are some moments where i thought I was watching the looney tunes.

[Beowulf]

Naruto suffers heavily from the DBZ Effect... even more so than DBZ itself.

[Allied General]

Fillers - enuff said

[some_weirdGuy]

Naruto suffers heavily from the DBZ Effect... even more so than DBZ itself.

which DBZ effect are we talking about?

Do you mean the filler that makes 'Planet will explode in 5 minutes!" last several episodes effect?
(never watched naruto so i don't know what problem it has)

[Taralom]

which DBZ effect are we talking about?

Do you mean the filler that makes 'Planet will explode in 5 minutes!" last several episodes effect?
(never watched naruto so i don't know what problem it has)

No, he means the effect that can only be expressed in the following dialogue:

#1: Aha, I am far stronger, for I ate enough steroids to feed an army!
#2: Dammit, gimme a minute.
*one minute passes*
#2: foolish fool! I have become even stronger, though a few episodes before it was said that that was impossible!

Get where that is going?

[Beowulf]

which DBZ effect are we talking about?

The one where story arcs drag on way too damn long.

[Taralom]

really?
was that the one we were talking about?
Never mind my last post, then.

But still, you find that disturbing? I myself like it when a story goes on for a while. Makes it worth watching.

[{IRS}Athos]

OVER NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND!!!

I've read a couple of really crazy manga. One of the few that I really got into reading was .hack, but I couldn't find any copies at the library. Anyone know if there's an online version of it? I'd really love to start reading it again.

[Allied General]

One of the few that I really got into reading was .hack, but I couldn't find any copies at the library. Anyone know if there's an online version of it? I'd really love to start reading it again.

http://www.mangafox.com/ or any other google searches for manga online

Also not sure if you know but .hack ending this year

http://rpgland.com/h...to-end-in-2010/

[Beowulf]

But still, you find that disturbing? I myself like it when a story goes on for a while. Makes it worth watching.

Disturbing? Never said that. It's just annoying. 95 episodes for the same story arc is a few too many.

[Taralom]

Disturbing? Never said that. It's just annoying. 95 episodes for the same story arc is a few too many.

Oh, sorry, my bad. You're obviously exaggerating, but I get what you mean. I've watched Naruto on internetsites, and when doing that, the story progresses quite quickly. Yet, if you had to wait a week for a new episode, I can understand that you feel a bit letdown after one of those episodes. Not much happens in those 20 minutes.

[MCV]

So, are you looking for Japanese animation that other people think is good, or Japanese animation that we think you'll like? Because I can't give you much for the latter but I have a selection of the former....

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, which is a neat two-season series which concerns the efforts of a para-military secret police unit with AI-controlled spider-tanks to fight cybercrime in transhumanist Japan. Well-animated and, in my arrogant opinion, intelligent as it deals with things like meme theory and alienation and decides to kick xenophobia in the balls. Unfortunately, it takes the main character 19 episodes to discover the existence of pants. The Japanese special edition of this series is the English dub.

Serial Experiments Lain, which is a series about the Internet and the separation of the real world and cyberspace, told from the perspective of young 16-year-old girl as she gets a new computer. Beautiful, creepy and fucks with your mind, tying drug use, the Omega Point, conspiracies, memetics, the development of computers, the MEMEX protocol and surreality into the narrative. None of the VAs in the dub are very emotionally engaged, but that just ups the creepy. (Warning: series known to give grown men nightmares)

Neon Genesis Evangelion, which is a series about a young boy who is called upon to pilot his fathers giant robot against alien invaders from space. He lives with a stunningly beautiful military commander who teases him sexually and a German redhead who pilots another giant robot alongside him. There's also a blue-haired girl who pilots in a third giant robot. The series is old and it tried to make the most out of it's budged, so the animation can be disappointing and boring in places. Promises lots of fanservice. The dub is meh. (Oh, I forgot to mention; nothing is happy in this series. Nothing.) I especially recommend episode 25 of the series.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which is the only un-ironic entry on this small list. It's a genre-defying series about a hyperactive, callous girl who seeks out the weird and abnormal, and her snarky, sardonic male companion. She forms a school club and invites a bunch of other students (a taticurn bibliophile, a petite well-endowed meek senior, and a transfer student) to join her in her search. Not everything is as it seems, and the series likes to play with conventions. Usually watched in a non-chronological order, but despite what madmen tell you, it's not that bad when watched chronologically either. Can get a bit repetitive at times, but is really funny and enjoyable. Dub is well executed. (You might actually like this one. All the other suggestions were jokes.)

[Allathar]

Serial Experiments Lain

Never heard of this one, but sounds very intriguing. Think I'll check this one out.

[Speeder]

Episode 25 of NGE? I preferred the alternate ending in The End of Evangelion.

25, 26 was Gainax trying too much at being deeep.