Really terrible voice acting!

[CrimsonKissaki]

Well obviously we all have our pet peeves when it comes to great anime being degraded and shamed with terrible voice-overs. Needless to say we can't go haring off with pitchforks and torches to take out these heathens (the judge was nice enough last time to give me a warning instead of a sentence, he was a fan of the series too), but we CAN rant and rave and verbally castigate them! Let 'er rip!

[madsniper]

M***er f***ing 4Kids. That's all I can say at the moment.

[CrimsonKissaki]

ROFL. I havent even seen that series. any good?

[madsniper]

Nah, the dubbing company known as 4kids. They specialize in the murder of good anime. They're the ones responsible for what happened to One Piece and Naruto.

[CrimsonKissaki]

lol. <looks sheepish> i called that new store downtown, "Pitchforks and More: your unruly mob headquarters". I can get us bulk discounts ...

[Poofiemus]

Excellent! Let's go kill Pioneer for ruining every female in Chobits!

[madsniper]

Whoever is directing the voice acting of Avatar the Last Airbender should take over the translation of all anime. Seriously. The acting (and casting) of that show is flawless.

[Poofiemus]

XD You'd kill the poor guy!

I'm starting to think, though, that casting in and of itself isn't the only issue. Yes, casting choices often range from poor to downright awful, but I wonder how many decent people they can get that are actually willing to do non-feature dub work. Someone on the FMA thread brought up that the Pixar films have good voice acting, but then again, they are REAL ACTORS who were paid a crapload of money to do a single film that they knew had a high chance of being a hit. I don't know what dubbers get paid, but I don't think it must pay very well, at least when you're starting a series. So then the GOOD actors who know they're worth more don't even consider the job...

I think if they need new voices they should maybe try out theatre schools and the like. You know, new people who need a kickstart in the industry who actually KNOW how to act. Seems like a win/win to me.

[martiansushi]

Hmm... sounds like a good idea. I recall, though, that a number of the dubbing actors for Hal's Moving Castle were actually well-known. They probably managed to get them because HMC is a Miyazaki movie, and he's pretty big. The point is, they had good actors and they still managed to completely screw up the vocal tones. As I mentioned before, Calcifer went from being very soft-spoken to a hard-knocks New Yorker, accent and all. It's that sort of thing that really gets me irritated with dubs... translation issues aside, of course

[Poofiemus]

True; I think that Howl's also got better actors because 1) it's a feature, so no long-term commitment and 2) it was liscenced by Disney, a company that has more money than god but less tham Microsoft. And also, Disney wanted it to be palatabe for a wider American audience, so they messed with the characterization a bit for that reason. I HATE it when they try to soften material for us stupid Americans, I really do.

[sunsamurai]

The only reason I like English ones is because I can understand it better! Lol but it is true! I am a BIG fan of Anime and manga so I think I now what is good and bad! So yeah ...

[madsniper]

poofiemus said:

XD You'd kill the poor guy!

I'm starting to think, though, that casting in and of itself isn't the only issue. Yes, casting choices often range from poor to downright awful, but I wonder how many decent people they can get that are actually willing to do non-feature dub work.

Well, part of it is casting. The director of voice acting doesn't do that though. The guy who directs the voice acting is largely responsible for how the acting turns out, telling his actors how to inflect certain lines. Take Star Wars for example. The guy who played Obi Won (sp?) in the new episodes is a great actor. But he was directed to make very specific deliveries with certain lines. Because of that, his acting comes off as ... well, I thought he sounded stiff and fake. And it's not because he's a bad actor.
Some cartoons will record the voice for one character for the whole show first (usually the main character), and then when they get the other actors in there to record them, they play for them what they already have recorded. That way, the actor can make sure that how they are sayng the lines makes it sound like they are actually responding to the prerecorded lines. Watch Ayashi no Ceres in dub for a great example of voice direction that did NOT do this. It's repulsive.
The best voice acting comes from studios that are willing to take the time to allow their voice actors to take another try at lines that sounds wonky. Of course, taking the time also means spending more money.

[Poofiemus]

Yes, you're absolutely right about the directing. But again, it comes back to the money issue. It seems that good directors and good actors KNOW what they're worth, and that the studios disregard how much more the shows would be worth if they actually had DECENT acting. >.< So you've got all the crappy actors, casting directors, and main directors willing to go in for crappy pay, and then you've got all the good ones going in for feature-only work, IF THAT. OH, the PAIN of the Mangled Anime Conundrum!

[Poofiemus]

(Oh, quick note to SunSamurai: I suggest that you watch the dub and the sub in succession in your case. My mom's a slow reader and so can't keep up with the subs if she watches them cold, but in the end enjoys the subs more. Basically, she just watches the dubs to get the gist of the dialogue/plot, like an extended sum-up. And the more subs you watch, the faster you'll read. Maybe one day you can forego the dub entirely!)

[sunsamurai]

^ Thanks!

Okay guys can I ask you guys something ... what is your top three anime shows while we are on the subject ...