Forum - View topicWhat are you watching right now? Why? (please read 1st post)
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FaytLein
 Posts: 1260 Location: Williamsburg, VA |
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Since I'm in DC for training for my new job, I packed a couple of shows to watch while I was holed up in the hotel. So I'm enjoying Fate/Stay Night right now, kind of sad I never watched this before, since I had it on my shelf for a few years now.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Just watched the first three episodes of X. Tried to watch it dubbed but it was absolutely atrocious, so had to switch. Truly, that Cassandra-type guy was unspeakably bad in the opening few minutes.
Also atrocious was the first episode. Extremely confusing to say the least. Most of the runtime was random upcoming scenes, and through those scenes we got introduced to pretty much the entire cast. Episode two and three actually made sense because they didn't try and throw zillions of characters at you at once. I also notice that it looks pretty dated compared to RahXephon which started airing halfway through X's run. Really, I wish animators would stop treating CLAMP's designs as gospel. I have never got into xxxHolic because of the grotesque designs, and X's designs look so horribly nineties. |
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Kelly
Posts: 868 Location: New York City |
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dtm42, I'm assuming you mean the awful Episode 0. The majority of fans agree with you, and it's too bad you got no advice to skip it in time. It's basically an encapsulation of the entire series, so try to forget it if you possibly can. By the way, have you ever read the Tokyo Babylon manga? One of the eventual major subplots is basically a continuation of it, so you may want to pause to read it if you haven't yet. X will give you the bottom line of what you need to know about the backstory, but I really think the subplot has more impact if viewers have actually read the whole story. |
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The King of Harts
 Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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I did another dub rewatch, but with Punie-chan this time. With this watch, I've now learned that Headline Sound Studios has a problem. Their problem is that they cast good, veteran actors for the lead roles, but get a bunch of people with either limited talent or very small resumes to fill out the cast. The three best performances were Veronica Taylor, Dan Green, and Debora Rabbai. Meanwhile, everyone else was either flat or decent at best. Shocking that three most veteran actors with a lot of work under their belt that keep getting hired gave the best performances. I've also noticed this in To Heart where Debora and Veronica give the best performances and Boys Be where Sam and Liam give the best there. Kare Kano is unique in how it's littered with very good actors, but Chris Nicholas, the least seasoned actor, gives probably the weakest performance.
People can give Funimation and old ADV all the crap they want for using the same actors over and over, but at least they're using (used) good actors over and over again to give usually well-rounded dubs. I'd rather hear the same good actor over and over than listen to a dub where the secondary characters are filled with rookies that are weakening the overall product. Have they never had this problem? No, but they're not as obvious as others. The first time I watched Punie-chan I loved it. This time, though? Not so much, and I feel I have to blame the flatness of the dub, and I hate that since Veronica and Dan were FANTASTIC! I can't say I'm looking forward to Genshiken and Queen's Blade's dubs since they're also done by Headline Sound Studios. |
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asimpson2006
 Posts: 3151 Location: USA |
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^
The dub for QB is mixed at best. It is okay and it is far from unlistenable but not as good as the Japanese dub. Debora Rabbai is one of the standout performances of the English dub for QB. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23753 |
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@TKoH - I may be wrong, but I don't think you'll be unhappy with the Genshiken dub. It's not necessarily that the VAs did a great job, it's just that they sounded "right" for those particular characters, imo. I also didn't have a problem with the QB dub.
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PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
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I had seen Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro received a dub, but was unaware Punie-chan did. A shame, too, because a poor dub will make it very hard to sell this series. It's another I'd recommend, but only to those who like violence as comedy. Rue the day they dub, poorly, Ramen Fighter Miki. As one who probably helped boost sales on this with all my plugging, they screw this up, and I'm hopping in my car to have a "talk" with people. I'm getting very sick and tired of this industry screwing over current buyers on the veiled attempt poor quality restores a few buyers who opted for other services. |
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The King of Harts
Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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That seems to be the impression I get from people. Theron's a big dub fan, but even he said the quality was questionable. I know from searching that Debora and Lisa Ortiz (under a stage name) is in it, but it seems 3/4 of the cast is using stage names, so I can't get any idea of it off paper. Though, honestly, I wouldn't expect a show like Queen's Blade to get the proper time a good dub would need.
I've never been too concerned with "right for the role" as I have been with good acting and writing. Whether a voice fits or not is completely dependent on how good the actor and director are (unless one feels the need to constantly flip between tracks and compare the English version to the Japanese, which I abhor). Looking at the Genshiken cast, I don't know who any of those people are in the main cast, which gives me concerns. The first name I recognize is Rachel Lillis, but she's in the show within the show, not the main show. However, with all that said, I'm not going to go in assuming it's gonna be flat. The Tenchi Muyo dubs consists of people who either had their first work be on that show and/or have it be the only anime they ever worked on, but it's a dub I love. I'm just saying that Headline Studios + Unknown Actors = Not Optimistic. I would not mind being wrong in this situation.
While the overall product is subpar, if you're a fan of Veronica Taylor(I'm a big one), I'd try to find it cheap. Her performance is very amusing and she goes from dark to bright very well. Her acting in the scene where she first meets Paya is fantastic, though it certainly helps that the actor supporting her in that one was another good one in Dan Green. |
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PetrifiedJello
Posts: 3782 |
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*hits ye olde Encyclopedia. I knew this name sounded familiar. Though, what really caught my eye was her voicing Narue (I'd say Ash, but I don't know what version  ).
Truth be told, even if Hilary Haag voiced Punie, I wouldn't double-dip. As odd as this may seem, once I get used to a seiyuu, every dub is... ew. When I was watching Strike Witches 2, I was "hearing" them in the dub cast! I can't watch Squid Girl dubbed. It's ... disturbing. That's why when people mention Rie, I've no idea what she sounds like. Most titles she stars has a dub equivalent. 
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The King of Harts
Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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She's the original Ash a.k.a. The Good One.
It's not odd at all since that's a sentiment shared by many. I can watch a show subbed originally and have no problem watching it dubbed later on, but I'm primarily a dub fan, so that's not really difficult to imagine. Although, I am similar to you in that I pretty much never watch a show subbed after watching it dubbed, even if I watched it subbed on my first viewing. The only time I'll switch over from a dub is if it's bad or if I catch a script change (curiosity of how they handled it). But that's not to say to I can't switch, which is what many, like yourself, seem to have difficulty doing. It's just that if a dub is good, and I'm a dub fan, I see no point in watching the Japanese; it's not a familiarity issue. There was the thing with having difficulty watching Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya subbed, but I think the movies 3 hour length played a bigger part than the language. |
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Gewürtztraminer
 Posts: 1028 Location: Texas - Its like whole other country. |
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I too watched Galaxy Express 999 over the weekend. While initially, I was not blown away, it kept my attention for a 2 full hours. It was what happened next that I think is the mark of a good film. I could not get this movie out of my head! I kept rerunning scenes, and thinking about what the represented for about 2 days straight afterwards. I am really looking forward to a rewatch. I have not watched Adieu Galaxy Express 999 yet. These both can be had very cheaply and are worth owning in my opinion. I also completed Fantastic Children, which marks my longest time between starting a series and finishing it. Luckily I saved a pm from classicalzawa advising me to switch to the sub version in July 2009.* When I decided to switch after 6 episodes, I knocked the series down in priority. When I restarted, as much as it detracted, I stuck with the dub. Luckily the story, while very slow after episode 13, was very good and in depth. Though one gripe, this series may hold the record of closeup shots of a characters face trembling in fear while they struggle for breath. Just about every character in the series gets this treatment at one time or another. Sometimes, it is a group of characters having the same fearful reaction as the camera pans past them. I thought it was a good story though which is getting rare to find as I go back to unwatched series of the past. Ga-Rei-Zero was about as over the top as you can get in the schoolgirls with swords fighting demons category. I had a great time! *after posting I realized this record will be shattered whenever I finish Le Chevalier Deon as I was collecting the singles as they came out, and after volume 2 decided to wait until they were all out. This may go back to 2007. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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So I'm not the only one who wondered what the heck he was getting himself into. Certainly one of the stupider ways I've ever seen an television series opening. Too many character introductions, most of which lasted too short a time to really be introduced to them, plus spoilers ahoy. Maybe with better execution it might have worked, but the whole thing came off as an awkwardly-done fan-made 'trailer' that you see on YouTube a lot. It was bad enough that the episode was messed up, but then hearing Terrence Stone made me want to butcher him with a circular saw. I actually paused the episode and rushed to ANN to see what reviews had said about the dub, and they were ridiculously forgiving. Maybe for Pioneer and the early noughties the dub was okay, but now it is horrendously bad with the opening few minutes being especially abhorrent. And I like watching dubs; so sad. Anyway, I had to switch over. I don't read Manga, so no, I haven't read Tokyo Babylon. |
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asimpson2006
Posts: 3151 Location: USA |
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Most seem to be using stage names or a bunch of new people with this being their first show. It's far from being unlistenable and it not the worst dub that has come out of a Media Blaster release. Just do not set your expectations that high for the Dub and you should be good to go. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23753 |
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Well, you'll certainly have no problem with the Genshiken writing, that's for sure. The show is hilarious. The reason I'm hedging on the VA performance side is that I can imagine somebody not liking some of the perfs, but to me they all worked for those characters. Eh, it's the kind of thing you'll only understand once you see it for yourself - which I encourage you to do as soon as possible. It's one of my favourite comedies. |
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Kelly
Posts: 868 Location: New York City |
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The dub is hit-and-miss for me too. In particular, I wasn't too thrilled with most of the voices of the younger female characters. There are a few good performances though - Dave Lelyveld's devastatingly understated Subaru, a good young man completely wrecked by life who finds a bit of renewed purpose in trying to help a boy not end up like him - is in my opinion one of his best performances, although he's gone on to be better known for larger roles. |
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