Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I'm back I to anime again.
Rewatching MHA In dub. That was fun.
But I'm finally watching Gurren Lagann
I'm also following Darling in the frankxx, dubbed of course,but I feel like the show is gaking the bed.

I still liked Darling 23. My only real complaint was giving them matching weapons and them being thrilled about it. Like no, your whole point was you were all unique individuals.

Looks like Fate/Extra's anime adaptation is finally out, but damn I forgot how cheesy the plot of that game managed to be (not to mention how Hammy Saber is)

I love how the Sub and Dub of MHA are both different, but both keep to the tone and ideals of the story. Like, they did a fantastic job of making sure the Dub translated properly to American, instead of just doing a direct translation. Even the whole Deku thing (which really, really doesn't work in English).

Anvildude wrote:
I love how the Sub and Dub of MHA are both different, but both keep to the tone and ideals of the story. Like, they did a fantastic job of making sure the Dub translated properly to American, instead of just doing a direct translation. Even the whole Deku thing (which really, really doesn't work in English).

Yeah. It's a farcry from how dubs are in cheaper productions, although in a way we've lost some of the culture don't you think? How many memes were born of bad translations?

I’ve only watched the subs. Explain the Deku thing to me.

In essence because of how the Japanese language work deku sounds like and insult but can also sounds like "you can do it" so he chose deku to reclaim the insult
In the Dub he takes it cause ochako finds it cute and to claim the insult.

Ok yeah, he also referenced Ochako when he took the name in the sub as well. I’m sad I miss so many good puns in One Piece as well because they don’t translate well.

It's one of those things that comes about because Japanese has multiple written and spoken languages that're all still 'Japanese'- like, we might start running into it with emojis, if they don't die out.

For example, if I were to write "eggplant water-droplets" it's not really funny. But if I were to write it in 'emoji' it'd be... well, still not funny, but slightly more amusing, in any case.

You run into that all over the place in Anime.

A couple more specifics on the Deku thing- the characters you use to write "Izuku" can also be pronounced as "Deku" which means... apparently "Wooden Puppet" which is I guess a colloquialism for someone who can't achieve anything. But then Ochako claims that "Deku" sounds like "Dekiru" which means "To be able to do" or "I can do it".

Then there's Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, the iron kid. Who's name, when read, means "Ironiron Ironiron", but is actually 4 different symbols which mean iron, clear, pierce and an old one for iron. Yay jokes.


You see something like that in Speed Racer, actually, only multilingually. See, the Japanese word for '5' is 'Go'- and so the car is called the Mach 5, or the Mach 'Go'- and to go is to move in English, and etc. etc. there might actually be another layer or two to that pun, I think.

I kinda love it, honestly. Though yeah, it does make a lot of the translations very confusing.

There's also Shoto Todoroki:

Shoto's given name contains the kanji for burning (焦?) and freezing (凍?). Todoroki is a common Japanese surname.

So when he just uses his name as his hero name it's also a pun.

Actually, on the concept of localized translations- does anyone know if Bakugo's nickname for Shoto is the same in Japanese? He calls him "Icy-hot" in the dub, and maybe the sub. And I find that hilarious.

I don't know, his nicknames are all over the place. He also calls him "half-and-half bastard", or just bastard, although "icy-hot" is my favourite one. I think there's a difference between sub ("round face") and dub ("pink cheeks") when he addresses Uraraka before their fight.

I don’t know about that bit specifically, but I do know the subs and dubs Are different in general.

I prefer duns because I can understand them. And I can appreciate the whole show, and not just watch 1/10 of the screen.
Even if I did understand the jokes/pums on an intlley lvl, I can't on a cultural lvl, it will forever be lost on me.
Subs themselves are different shows from what aired in Japan. , Because even then we are adding something most of us can't understand trying to add something.

In a lot of cases, I like the Japanese voices. That's something that ends up changing a lot, actually- for instance, many Japanese characters will have this super-deep booming voice; the long vowels and emphasis on word length that the Japanese language has allows for a very resonant performance by the actors. However, the American VAs generally can't match that, partially because of how much more consonant focused English is, partially because of shorter words.

A good memey example of this is the "Omae wa mo shinderu" "Nani?" thing. The nani especially- that works in Japanese when it's extended, letting you do a "Naniiiiiiii" in almost any type of voice without it sounding odd. However, in English..."WhaaaaaaaaaT" doesn't have the same impact, especially certain voice types.

It means that you lose a lot of the initial acting with dubs.

Going back to MHA- the "Oh my, oh my, oh my... GOODNESS!" thing- they didn't do that in the Dub, because it would have just sounded odd coming from an American voice- but it perfectly fits the humorous, overly-boisterous side of All Might in the Japanese version.


Actually, that's an interesting difference I noted. In Japanese, All Might is almost a comedic character. He's got his moments of seriousness, but most of the time he's goofy and silly- even the blood throwup is commonly used as and treated as a gag in the subs... But in the Dub, he becomes much more dramatic, much more of a tragic, melancholy character. The moments of goofiness are the exception, not the rule.

At least, that's how I read it.

Anvildude wrote:
In a lot of cases, I like the Japanese voices. That's something that ends up changing a lot, actually- for instance, many Japanese characters will have this super-deep booming voice; the long vowels and emphasis on word length that the Japanese language has allows for a very resonant performance by the actors. However, the American VAs generally can't match that, partially because of how much more consonant focused English is, partially because of shorter words.=

Weird. I find it the opposite much of the time. Especially for younger male characters. They often have ridiculously high voices.

Like Goku? Yeah.

It works, though, for them. I mean, a lot of the time they're meant to be young teens (13-15) and so the higher voice and overt enthusiasm works better than the gruff, attempted badass voices they give them in the dubs.

Also, I think the Japanese VAs are more enthusiastic and 'into' it than the American ones. They put more emotion into their acting.

It's also a case of regional preferences.

Japanese 11-15 year olds want their media heroes to be the same age as them to better project themselves onto the heroes, while Western Teenagers want "grown up" and "mature" heroes.

Well my issue is it is often on characters who are 17-25 that should have at least gone through puberty.

 BaconCatBug wrote:
It's also a case of regional preferences.

Japanese 11-15 year olds want their media heroes to be the same age as them to better project themselves onto the heroes, while Western Teenagers want "grown up" and "mature" heroes.

There's also a tendency to cast female VA's for main heroes, to project youthfulness.

 LordofHats wrote:

 BaconCatBug wrote:
It's also a case of regional preferences.

Japanese 11-15 year olds want their media heroes to be the same age as them to better project themselves onto the heroes, while Western Teenagers want "grown up" and "mature" heroes.

There's also a tendency to cast female VA's for main heroes, to project youthfulness.

In fairness, western animation uses female voice actors for young children characters too.

 BaconCatBug wrote:

 LordofHats wrote:

 BaconCatBug wrote:
It's also a case of regional preferences.

Japanese 11-15 year olds want their media heroes to be the same age as them to better project themselves onto the heroes, while Western Teenagers want "grown up" and "mature" heroes.

There's also a tendency to cast female VA's for main heroes, to project youthfulness.

In fairness, western animation uses female voice actors for young children characters too.

Sure, but not for post-pubescent males. Its just not right for a young adult male lead to sound like a 5th grader.

 BaconCatBug wrote:

 LordofHats wrote:

 BaconCatBug wrote:
It's also a case of regional preferences.

Japanese 11-15 year olds want their media heroes to be the same age as them to better project themselves onto the heroes, while Western Teenagers want "grown up" and "mature" heroes.

There's also a tendency to cast female VA's for main heroes, to project youthfulness.

In fairness, western animation uses female voice actors for young children characters too.

Oh I'm not ragging or anything. It's the way the business and the culture of it work, but for those of us in US hearing Goku with a really childish voice can be kind of bizarre. Fortunately his English VA Sean Christian Schemmel is pretty good.

Dragonball is pretty much the only anime I can’t watch the subs for. Goku’s voice is just so bad to me. I tried with Super, but I just couldn’t do it, I have to wait for the dubs.

FLCL season 2 just ended anyone see it?
It was not what I was expecting, the storytelling was odd, seemed to me. Season 3 started 8 September I think.

I don't think FLCL 2 had the same story type as the first, but I think the final episode managed to pull everything together nicely. I don't think it was bad, but I don't think I liked it as much as the original.

 Wolfblade wrote:
I don't think FLCL 2 had the same story type as the first, but I think the final episode managed to pull everything together nicely. I don't think it was bad, but I don't think I liked it as much as the original.

I agree. The finally kinda switched the perspective a little. It was strange seeing that side of Haruko. I am not sure I cared for the characters realizing and explaining what they "needed to do". But I want to watch it again for sure. I really enjoy the first season.
I've seen the first episode of the 3rd season and that feel to me more like the first, more than the second but that's all I have seen so far. really excited to see the rest!
There's a spicy ramen scene that's brilliant. (I think it was ramen, not sure.)

I’ve only caught the first couple. I’ve been lazy with it. The first episode of season three they showed awhile back looked a lot more interesting.

 AduroT wrote:
I’ve only caught the first couple. I’ve been lazy with it. The first episode of season three they showed awhile back looked a lot more interesting.

I think so too. I'm looking forward to seeing it in English but I'd also like to see the second season in Japanese just to see if that changes what I think about it. I have the first on digits but I don't know if it's also in Japanese or not. I should check. The second is worth a watch but kinda odd compared to the first season.

 warhead01 wrote:

 Wolfblade wrote:
I don't think FLCL 2 had the same story type as the first, but I think the final episode managed to pull everything together nicely. I don't think it was bad, but I don't think I liked it as much as the original.

I agree. The finally kinda switched the perspective a little. It was strange seeing that side of Haruko. I am not sure I cared for the characters realizing and explaining what they "needed to do". But I want to watch it again for sure. I really enjoy the first season.
I've seen the first episode of the 3rd season and that feel to me more like the first, more than the second but that's all I have seen so far. really excited to see the rest!
There's a spicy ramen scene that's brilliant. (I think it was ramen, not sure.)

That's how I felt, FLCL 3 felt closer to the original, but I don't think either will have the same presence as the first. I don't think either will be seen as bad (although FLCL 2 will be remembered as average I think).

 AduroT wrote:
I’ve only caught the first couple. I’ve been lazy with it. The first episode of season three they showed awhile back looked a lot more interesting.

Season three looks a lot better. Season two felt very disjointed overall, but somehow the final episode managed to bring it together decently.