New Astro Boy series on DVD

[Danny]

Hey Lauren.. I see your point and do agree, but unfortunately when it comes to Sub versus Dub in anime, its not that simplistic.

You see the problem with most anime dubs, and the reaons "eager anime fans" usually much prefer Subs is because for some bizare reason the subs are almost always (note the almost in that bit) more literal and loyal to the original animations dialogue. Also with subs there is no changes to soundtrack at all, so all the voices are the original actors hired to play the roles.

For some wak reason when these things are dubbed an awful lot of changes are made to change the cartoon to be more appealing to the wider market audience. This means that, for the eager anime fan, a lot of the original flavor of the show is destroyed. In some extreeme cases when dubbing (particularly to english, strangely enough) entire stories are changed making the show completely different to what it was in its original form. Three excellent examples of this are "CardCaptor Sakura" , "Macross" and the most insulting of all "Gatchaman".

Now the reason people are kicking up a stink about the new series of Astroboy being released as the Dub rather than the sub is because this series too had quite a few degrading changes made to the original material that makes the dub an inferior show in their eyes to the original work. If the dub was more loyal there would probably be less of a fuss. Unfortunately this is rarely the case when it comes to Anime.

Of course, people who cant read (for whatever reason.. you not reading fast enough, others being lysdexic like your cousin and my best friend) should not miss out on the show, and for that reason a dub is more appropriate. It is just a huge pity that the show you end up experiencing is more often than not far inferior to the original show you SHOULD be seeing.

Personally speaking, I prefer dubs for the less insulting works. However I am constantly peeved that some shows are ruined by the dub, and for that reason I tend to watch "original subs" first when it is an option. I wil be buying the Dub when it is released withought hesitation, however if an opportunity turns up to get the entire series subbed (whih is not going to happen, lets be honest here) then I will get that as well, as for me the dub of the new astroboy is far less insulting than a lot of other works I have had the misfortune to see, and by comparison it is really not that bad at all.

[jeffbert]

I have only bothered with dubs in several cases:

1. My first exposure was to the dub on TV, Cowboy Bebop, Lupin, Big O, etc.

2. I really liked the series, and wanted to try the dub with subs to laugh at the inconsistencies.

3. :angry: Dub was all there was.

4. Sometimes 1 & 3 combined, example: Speed Racer (BTW, volume #2 now available).

5. The thing had AD-VID notes, & I was tired of pushing pause.

[jeffbert]

While there is obviously no connection between the sequence of episodes & the editing/dubbing, I find it unusual that the English version of the DVD will have the correct (original) sequence for the (first 11) episodes. This gives me hope (although not much) that the thing might actually have subs. After all, why produce an English DVD that has a sequence different from that which already ran on TV? (Note that CN & KWB used slightly different sequences for what they presented.

[jeffbert]

I just downloaded "Astro Boy ¾ÆÅè 2003 01.avi" via Overnet, and much to my surprise, it was English audio, widescreen, not edited as was that which was on KWB, & the hero had a cute voice.

I checked for the 1,2 1,2 walking with papa scene that was cruelly cut from the US TV release, & it was there!!

[Atoman]

Thanks for letting me hear some of that on the phone, Jeffbert. The voice of Astro was cute, like in the Japanese version, different than the WB/Cartoon Network version and the episode was unedited. Can't wait to see it. I hope that is what's on the new dvd of the English dub. I heard the dvd is wide-screen too, that's a plus.

[DrFrag]

Is this a whole different English dub? Because the filename is Korean and pretty much the entire series is showing up on eMule with this file naming convention.

I've pre-orderded my dvd pack. Can't wait! (not that I expect a different dub)

[Atoman]

Yes, that is a different English dub. I've heard it and will see it soon. I think the new English dvd might be the same dub, because I saw some info on it that said it was wide-screen, and the one Jeffbert has is wide screen. The WB/CN dubs were not wide-screen.

I just ordered vols. 12 and 13 of the new series from cdjapan, because they contain some cool extra features: vol. 12 has what's called premium episode 1 in English, which to me means the best version, and vol. 13 has the original pilot in English, not just a preview of it like on the Astro-Jp site, but the complete pilot in English. I bet they are the same voices as on Jeffbert's dub and maybe that's what's on the new English dvds. At least we can hope. After all, why would they give it a wide-screen treatment? That kind of treatment usually means it's for collectors.

English dubs are not always bad. Case in point: The new movie Metropolis was only dubed for English speaking audiances, because the Japanese producers wanted them not to have to read subs. so they could see all the beautiful artwork and the dubs were perfect. So maybe the new Astro dvds will have the same treatment.

Hey Jeffbert, was the begining and ending themes of your ep. 1 dub the original Japanese versions or the American Techno versions?

[jeffbert]

This had neither opening nor closing themes.

[Atoman]

Originally posted by jeffbert@Feb 22 2005, 11:12 AM
This had neither opening nor closing themes.

Hmm, that's strange. Maybe they were trying to save space and cut them out. When I get my Japanese dvd with the premium English dub of ep. 1, I'll let everyone know what it's like and if it's the same as Jeffbert's dub.