[US] Sailor Stars Viz English dub, DVD & Blu-ray thread

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Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
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I wouldn't see anything wrong with their taking five years to complete their dub....if they were using that time to turn out something good. The original dub was rushed and definitely would have benefited from more time for continuity checking the scripts, giving the actors more time to prepare and do more than 1 or 2 takes, and editing the episodes, but even being as rushed as it was, it still managed to have charm. The Viz dub has had all the time in the world, and yet it's almost entirely lifeless and much of the (mispronunciation-laden) dialog sounds like it's fresh out of Google Translate.
 

Masquerade

Solaris Luna
Nov 22, 2016
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Would you rather them repeat the original dub's schedule of recording 65 episodes in four months followed by 77 episodes in about two? I think that dub could've turned out much better if it just had more time.
No, nobody would want that. But the fact that a previous dub took little time to finish recordings doesn't excuse a dub taking too much time.
 
Likes: Starlight
Apr 6, 2010
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So have we discussed how the dub took out all the anti gay and hetro normative lines in epsode 178. Not only did they change Noroko calling Yaten gay to afriad of girls. But Usagi telling the girl with the love letter that is much better to be in love with a boy that is not in the dub, which I think is the right call, at least Usagi hetro normative lines. I think they could have kept the Noroko gay line.
 
Likes: ChibiBoi
Sep 13, 2009
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I could see that. It's not "anti-gay" for someone to feel offended for being accused of being an orientation that they are not.
 
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blondibear_17

Lumen Cinererum
Mar 3, 2017
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So have we discussed how the dub took out all the anti gay and hetro normative lines in epsode 178. Not only did they change Noroko calling Yaten gay to afriad of girls. But Usagi telling the girl with the love letter that is much better to be in love with a boy that is not in the dub, which I think is the right call, at least Usagi hetro normative lines. I think they could have kept the Noroko gay line.
It messed with the scenes in my opinion like it makes Luna look totally psycho when she lashes out at Noroko for bullying Yaten.
 

Masquerade

Solaris Luna
Nov 22, 2016
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So have we discussed how the dub took out all the anti gay and hetro normative lines in epsode 178. Not only did they change Noroko calling Yaten gay to afriad of girls. But Usagi telling the girl with the love letter that is much better to be in love with a boy that is not in the dub, which I think is the right call, at least Usagi hetro normative lines. I think they could have kept the Noroko gay line.
This is pretty stupid. If fans are sensitive enough to get offended at this as Viz apparently believes them to be, then they shouldn't watch 90s anime to begin with. I wonder how they are gonna deal with Yaten bullying Haruka for "not liking popular men" in Usagi's house.
 

Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
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I mean... Why needlessly perpetuate hateful, harmful ways of thinking? A dub should be taken as an opportunity to fix flaws that exist in the original, and the anti-gay dialog in that episode is definitely a flaw. I'm happy to hear Viz had enough common sense to change it.
 

sapphire91

Stella Nova
Jul 6, 2018
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I mean... Why needlessly perpetuate hateful, harmful ways of thinking? A dub should be taken as an opportunity to fix flaws that exist in the original, and the anti-gay dialog in that episode is definitely a flaw. I'm happy to hear Viz had enough common sense to change it.
A dub is a mean of translation and shouldn't alter the original intent ( I thought America finally realized that) . This is a Japanese show and it doesn't care about American sensitivities. Other countries dub American shows all the time without altering them to fit whatever they deem appropriate. It is a 90s show and people should keep that in mind. I doubt somebody would have been that offended as most people have already seen it subbed anyway.
 
Sep 13, 2009
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Other countries dub American shows all the time without altering them to fit whatever they deem appropriate.
Oh, honey, Japan has definitely been guilty of altering American shows in the Japanese dubs before, too.

I tell ya, the American animated series Beast Wars from 1996-1999 was a rather seriously-toned show in its original English version with drama, character development, and higher-minded themes for a kids show. But when it came over to Japan, the Japanese dub turned it into a comedy, with the additions of adlibbing, fourth wall-breaking jokes, pop culture references, Looney Tunes sound effects, character personalities rewritten to be sillier (to the utter detriment of the characters' original personalities) and an overall farcical tone given to what was originally a pretty compelling and cool series in the English version.

The only female member of the good guys was even gender-swapped into being male for some reason.
 

Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
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A dub is a mean of translation and shouldn't alter the original intent ( I thought America finally realized that) . This is a Japanese show and it doesn't care about American sensitivities. Other countries dub American shows all the time without altering them to fit whatever they deem appropriate. It is a 90s show and people should keep that in mind. I doubt somebody would have been that offended as most people have already seen it subbed anyway.
The Viz dub has already removed or downplayed problematic elements in past episodes, so it's consistent that they'd do that with this episode. It doesn't radically alter the original intention of the Japanese episode; it fixes a few problematic lines of dialog that should have never been in the original version to begin with. It's not an "American sensitivities" issue; I'm sure there are Japanese fans bothered by those lines, too. Dubs are adaptations and routinely adjust content to make the show or movie in question more appropriate for the new audience. Pixar movies routinely do this. A 100% faithful translation is nice, but it's not my personal preference. In any event, had Viz left that episode alone, that would have been fine; I wouldn't have been offended by that (just at the Japanese version). But I am glad they changed it (even if I don't care about the Viz dub in general).
 
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blondibear_17

Lumen Cinererum
Mar 3, 2017
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It just seems weird to me that people want to lobby so hard for a totally faithful dub this time around except for when it comes to the problematic elements or stuff that is not up to date with the politically correct culture of today. Sailor Moon was already way ahead of it's time when it came out so it's laughable to me that are being picky about some minor things like that. Even if you change the dialogue for the dub it's still in the subs.
 
Sep 6, 2014
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It seems even more weird to me that people want to pretend Viz’s dub is 100 percent faithful to the sub aside from the erasure of problematic elements. Ignoring the added punch up dialog or changes in general (Japanese/English conflict in the S episode obviously couldn’t and didn’t carry over in the dub)

Viz getting rid of some homophobic Usagi lines (that didn’t jive with manga Usagi to begin with) is bad. But Umino quoting a dated internet meme or Viz’s obsession with Mamoru’s clothes is totes peachy.
 

Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
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The Viz dub generally tries to be faithful to the original to a fault (e.g. the clunky, unnatural dialog and the way they handled the aforementioned S episode), and I think simply by virtue of being a complete and uncut dub and not being the Optimum dub, a lot of fans just assume (or have convinced themselves) that it's a completely faithful dub, overlooking, as you said, the fixes to problematic aspects (e.g. the weight loss episode), the innumerable try-hard jokes they've shoehorned in, the occasional character name change, and the character names the pronunciation of which they changed to make them "correct" (e.g. Jadeite, Helios). The Viz dub has long been a dub with an identity crisis, probably because it's so paint-by-the-numbers it has no personality. If they'd just had the common sense and talent to actually adapt the show so that it works in English, has charm, and has its problematic aspects minimized, it could have been fantastic. Instead, they still think subjecting us to Stephanie's shrieking is a good marketing strategy.
 

sapphire91

Stella Nova
Jul 6, 2018
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At least it is not Linda Balentie looney tunes meet heavy chain smoker craziness. But yeah, some scripts could have been better. Overall most fans that are going to buy the show would watch it subtitled anyways.
 
Likes: MsImagination
Sep 6, 2014
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At least it is not Linda Balentie looney tunes meet heavy chain smoker craziness. But yeah, some scripts could have been better. Overall most fans that are going to buy the show would watch it subtitled anyways.
I’m sure most of the people in the general buying the dvds and blue rays are watching the English dub. A lot of people grew up with the series but haven’t bothered to keep up with it after it disappeared off the airwaves in 2004 probably assume it’s the same show they watched on Toonami
 
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julayla

Lumen Cinererum
Feb 9, 2018
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Yeah, despite trying to be faithful, there are still problems with the Viz dub I still can't try to get into. And it doesn't really help the show sometimes.
 

sapphire91

Stella Nova
Jul 6, 2018
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The writers are not good, even I as not a native speaker can say the script is weird at times. Some of the voices sounds so similar if I just listen to it I have trouble saying who is talking. As a foreigner I can say English has a big advantage - the most difficult stuff to translate are already in English. And yetthey fail with regular dialogue. I don't like English dubs in general with the exception of Ouran Host Club. This was amazing dub. Viz dub is not perfect, but it is servicable. I was way more upset with the horrible quality for the first three seasons and their pathetic lies about it. Hope they actually re-release the first three seasons with the much better Toei upscale. Toobad Madman were forced to switch to the upscale as they had the best quality, using the Italian masters.
 
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ChibiBoi

Aurorae Lunares
Jan 2, 2010
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Honestly, I didn’t like them changing the homophobic line in Yaten’s episode because it made Luna’s reaction pack less of a punch. I remember hearing that line when I was younger, thinking “OOP!” and I missed that in the dub. However, I do appreciate Viz getting rid of general homophobic remarks coming from main protagonists of the show, and I actually laughed quite a bit during most of the jokes that Viz threw in the dub.