December 29, 2002

Anime on TV and the Whole Dub vs. Sub Thing

So this coming week, we get the start of TechTV's Anime Unleashed. Starting off the lineup is Crest of The Stars.

As is usual with most anime on US television it is dubbed. My first reaction is 'bleh'. Though, as I think about it more I'm starting to wonder if this is actually necessary as a first step. While anime has a growing audience in America it still doesn't have the pull of US animation (in general). There are also a lot of people who just change the channel the moment they see subtitles. My personal feeling is that once more people start watching shows, there will be more of a demand for subtitling. I know I'd personally love to see them do a dubbed block, then maybe a subbed block really late that I could grab with my TiVo.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this? Beyond just the whole 'dubs are evil, subs rule' type arguments.

Posted by snooze at December 29, 2002 09:16 PM

Comments

subs rule :D
dubs drool :P

there. had to say it.
anyhoo, besides the obvious that if it's dubbed you won't catch me watching it, what really should be done to get the max amount of viewers possible right from the beginning would be something of a block deal.

dub during the day, sub during the night would work best, imo. the sub watching crowd tends to be older and thus a later showing time will work with their availability. by doing dub only though, i think both the anime channel and all others are only hurting themselves.

and oh the pain, my head is already hurting thinking about all the dub watchers who might strike up a discussion with me about their fav/latest watched anime. at which point i'll be "huh?" cause a good 96% of dubs don't match the original subbed version.

person a: blahblahblah
k-chan: *sighs* no they didn't really say that and that is not what happened. instead, blahblahblah... they changed it for the dub, why i know not. ~holds head~ need tylenol.

Posted by: k-chan at December 30, 2002 01:25 AM

heh
Yeah, I feel much the same way. Though I see it more as dubs being a necessary evil to give anime a more solid foothold over here. Once there is more of an audience it is easier to get subs accepted I think. That's one reason I'll push new things like what TechTV is doing, just because I think it's a good start.

Posted by: gregory at December 30, 2002 09:35 AM

aceeptanceshmeptance. dubs are shown in the majority because they always have been, and because US audiences in general are L.A.Z.Y. i should know because i used to watch dubs because i "didn't want to read my anime." all it took were a couple sub only anime tapes and i was hooked. it was all downhill/uphill (depending on how you look at it) from there.

if subs are to ever be accepted or become more widespread then the prejudice/fear against them needs to be addressed. the best way to do that is by just showing them, and letting the viewer make do with either watching the anime or not. a large majority of leery sub watches may discover it's not as painful as they feared.

subs will never be accepted along with the "mainstream" dubs if they are never given the chance, nor the push. i think overall that's what frustrates me the most about how subs are treated when it comes to anything syndication.

Posted by: k-chan at December 31, 2002 08:35 AM

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