Cartoon Network Serves Up More Anime

E-Rock-23 writes "Anime News Network has the scoop on more Anime series Cartoon Network plans to bring to the Adult Swim block next year. Witch Hunter Robin (2) has been confirmed for a February run. On the "Probably" list are Wolf's Rain in April and Ghost in the Shell in July, though they didn't specify if it'd be the Mamoru Oshii film or the Stand Alone Complex TV series. Either way, the latter will most likely have to be rather heavily edited for TV. Looks like I have a few more reasons to stay up past my bedtime..." Or get a tivo. Witch Hunter Robin & Wolf's Rain are both really excellent shows- it's very cool to see them hit mainstream TV.

Re:Little bit o' the inside scoop

[truenoir]

The Tachikomas are like that in the original, which is similar in turn to the original manga. There's even a series of shorts that were made with just the Tachikomas sitting around postulating about various things.

Re:I just want to know...

[Beardydog]

Dup translations have to worry about mouth movements. Even the best will have to be selective at some point jsut to prevent overlap of lines. Subs can translate directly if they want to, no worries.

Most anime on US TV is censored....

[escallywag]

Even in slots deceptively called "Adult Swim"....

Who wants to watch raped versions anyway ? Just stick to the original DVD's for the true anime experience.

Re:I just want to know...

[Mononoke]

God I really freakin' can't stand this old complaint. The subtitled text is interpreted into our language just as the dubbed dialog would be, so no matter what, unless you speak the native language of the show, you're getting an interpretation of it in english.

God I really freakin' can't stand this old excuse.

Dub scripts are always edited to match the mouth movements of the animation. Dubbed vocal inflection is always ruined by attempts to make the words fit the mouth movements. Subtitles are not subject to these limitations.

Subtitle scripts are limited only by the talent of the translators. Dubs are limited by the casting directors, voice directors, and actors.

Another essential difference in the voice acting quality: Japanese voice acting is an honored craft. Those that get hired do so because they are the best among many. In America voice acting is what you do when you can't get hired as a real actor, in most cases.

Re:Hands across the Tivo

[Issue9mm]

I'm blowing my mod points by replying to this, but I just wanted to point out that Time Warner is not rolling out Tivo to their subscribers, but a DVR solution crafted by Scientific Atlanta. I sold my Tivo and switched, and it was the worst mistake of my life (only slight exaggeration).

The Tivo is nice, solid, and bug-free, whereas the TW DVR crashes frequently, forgets recordings, and has a host of bugs that nobody at TW seems to care to correct.

-9mm-

Adult Swim has not been editing some shows

[cyranoVR]

They have been showing Blue Gender [adultswim.com] with minimal editing and FLCL [adultswim.com] with virtually none (just one word in episode 6).

And let's not forget the latest season of Inuyasha is uncut [animenation.net]...gory demon deaths abound...

It is called ADULT Swim after all.

Re:I just want to know...

[Kassiopeia]

Dubbing does have its sides, if it's done right. If you're from a culture where dubbing is the standard (say, Germany), subtitles would be horrible. Sometimes the dub even gets better than the original Japanese audio, but that's usually if the series doesn't take place in Japan per se (example: Cowboy Bebop).

If you're from a smaller lingual area of influence, say, Finland, it's far more likely that you've grown up watching foreign TV series subtitled. Therefore it feels much more jarring to see people who are supposed to be Japanese speaking any other language than Japanese. Of course, Finland is still in the stage where animation is considered a medium for pre-teens only, and children films are often dubbed here, so things can get complicated. The local DVD release of Spirited Away has Japanese sound and Finnish subtitles, fortunately.

As far as I know dubbing outside animation is somewhat popular in the US, plus people's literacy can be weaker, which is completely understandable as English for English-speaking people is more difficult to grok than Finnish for Finnish-speaking people. Then again, it might be because Finns grow up reading a lot even when just watching the telly...

Anyway, dubbing shouldn't be dismissed off-hand. Anime has been a niche market, so dubbing work has been quite poor, resulting in some prejudice. I'd never watch dubbed anime if I'd a choice though.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Standalone Complex

[DavidBrown]

- He said that the producers of these (non-US) releases don't release the last DVD until they release the whole series as a boxed set. Their plan is to force all the fools (like myself) who bought the single DVDs to buy them all again in the boxed set in order to get the last episodes.

Can anyone confirm or debunk this theory?

I've seen where the producer will release either the first DVD (too many titles to name) or the last DVD (FLCL) in a box designed to hold all of the DVD's in the series.

Re:Standalone Complex

[tuffy]

I think they aren't bootlegs, but I suppose I can't really be sure. Here's the info:

Region-free DVDs with chinese subtitles are bootlegs. Legitimate import DVDs are rarely region free, never have chinese subtitles and are always quite expensive.

On a related note... GTO on Showtime!

[May Kasahara]

The anime show Great Teacher Onizuka (better known as GTO has been picked up to air on SHO Next [awn.com]. If you've never seen GTO, it's a hilarious show about a former street punk who takes on a job teaching high school.

Re:I just want to know...

[dr00g911]

Dub scripts are always edited to match the mouth movements of the animation. Dubbed vocal inflection isalways ruined by attempts to make the words fit the mouth movements. Subtitles are not subject to these limitations.

Always is a pretty harsh term. Sometimes the dubbing house gets stuff right. Like, say, Cowboy Bebop? Big O? (pretty much the same US voice cast).

I'll have to agree that for the vast majority of anime, I've always preferred subbed vs. dubbed versions. Something about Bebop... I actually preferred the dubbed version over subtitles. The characters' voices seemed better matched to me -- and the acting was good enough to make me cry like a baby during the final episode.

I have a theory: the more anime becomes mainstream in the US (ever look at the anime aisle in Best Buy?), the more likely we are to have good dubs vs. the Speed Racer / Pokemon dreck. Meaning that the dub houses are going to spend time and energy getting them right.

But, you have to admit, if it's going to be shown on a network -- you've got your 99% chance of it *needing* to be dubbed. Cartoon Network, especially. You're dealing with a) kids and b) people who rent Crouching Tiger and take it back because they've gotta read and c) people who treat the material a little more seriously.

We're part of group C, but the minority.

It is changing, though. Slowly.

Full Metal Panic 2

[chendo]

I've finished watching the subbed versions, and I have to say this is one of the most hillarious anime [animenfo.com] I've ever watched.

It's just the original Full Metal Panic [animenfo.com], without most of the serious stuff. For those who doesn't know, the original Full Metal Panic had Sagara Souske, a professional solider/teenager (with absolutely -zero- common sense and social skills) assigned to protect Chidori Kaname from the Russians because she is one of the 'Whispered', people who are born with 'Black' technology. Sagara is part of Mithril, a self-appointed military division.

Sosuke Sagara is an elite soldier who belongs to an independent special force named "Mithril". Mithril is a self appointed military force that fights terrorism across the globe. With technology that is far superior to that of normal nations, Mithril intercedes on behalf of justice. Sagara, a Second Lieutenant under Mithril's command, is assigned to the duty of protecting a girl named Kaname Chidori, who attends high school in Japan. To accomplish this task, he pretends to be a transfer student attending at Kaname's school. As Sagara settles into his new role as classmate, a massive plot unfolds beginning with the kidnapping of Chidori. What is Chidori's role in the conspiracy? Why does she seem to be born with knowledge of technology that has only been recently invented?

(Taken from animenfo.com)

Full Metal Panic 2 (Also known as Full Metal Panic : Fumoffu) is more about Sagara and Chidori than about the whole Mithril thing. I mean, he blows up his shoebox with plastic explosives because he found a hair in front of his shoebox and thought that someone sent him a mailbomb, when in fact it was a love letter.

One of my favourite episodes was the Rugby one (ep 10), and it was aired just before the World Cup started. Turning a team of pansies into killers... bwahahahahahhaa

Anyhow, FMP2 is a great series and I suggest you check it out while it's still unlicensed. Also, FMP3 is rumored to be in the planning and will focus more of the military-side of things. Which I find very interesting as well. And if I didn't mention it eariler, FMP contains mecha called Arm Slaves (AS), and Souske is a good pilot of it. FMP2 contains a mechanized teddy bear costume named 'Bonta-kun' [deviantart.com], that Sousuke made himself after he stole the costume from a theme park, and he absolutely kicks ASS!