What DON'T you like about the English dub, exactly?

[saturncrystalkiss]

Ok so this is for people that don't like the English dub, people who kind of don't like it, or only like it a little. You get it. :love:

My question is, what exactly don't you like about it. Like specifically?

I personally LOVE the English dub, but obviously there are many things I don't like about it.

:love: REASONS :love:

1) :love: This reason mostly applies to the Cloverway dub. Sometimes the music and sound effects are REALLY low, so scenes can seem less lively or lame. For example, in the Japanese dub of an S season episode (I forgot which one) Sailor Uranus uses World Shaking and you can hear the sound effects of the ground smashing and all of those magical sounds. You can also heart the Outer Senshi theme loud and clear, which makes the scene very epic.

However, in the English dub, when Uranus uses World Shaking, the sound effects are really low so you can't hear the energy rushing or the ground smashing. Also the music sounds SUPER low compared to he LOUD voice, which really takes the feeling and excitement out of the scene. In some episodes, the sound effects and music are nice and clear, but in some other episodes, they are just TOO low.

The DiC dub had good volume control, with the music loud enough for the audience to hear. But the sound effects were usually muted or replaced by DiC's very own sound effects. I don't mind this though.

2) :love: SOME of the voices. Ok well not really. I really don't mind any of the voices in the English dub. So think of this as a part 2 to reason 1. This reason is also a little bit related to reason 1 and how the English dub voices can sound way too loud compared to the music and sfx.

I used to hate some of the voices, such as Linda Ballantine as Serena. I used to hate it but now I think it's super cute and funny. She also sounds very good in emotional moments. Although, I sometimes find her most annoying when she's too loud and the music is too low. If she's going to yell, they should set the volume of her voice lower or at least have the music at the same level and not low. This problem isn't in all episodes though.

3) :love: Inconsistencies and bad lines! Sometimes in the English dub, Amara/Haruka would say to Serena, "Heyy Moonface." That literally sounds as if she knows Serena is Sailor Moon. They could've chosen something else.

Also Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto's transformation phrases kept changing from "Star" to "Planet" power. In one SuperS episode, Mercury even said "Mercury Star Power" instead of "Mercury Crystal Power"! WUT???

Some scenes were just stupid. Like in episode 124 when Sailor Uranus kills Germatoid with her sword, she says, "Uranus!" Nothing else. Could've she just have grunted or said something like "Haaa!" or "Take that!"

Another example of this is in episode 1 of SuperS. When Sailor Moon destroys the first Remless/Lemures, she says, "Moon Super Moon Target!" Why would she say moon twice? Also in the original version she just yelled and said, "Haaa!" which sounded much better.

:love:

And so, those are my reasons.

:love:

For some reason no one points out the volume levels when they take about why they dislike the dub. For them it always seems to be about the voice actors and how they sound.

So, for those who don't like the English dub, or those that only like it a little, what exactly DON'T you like about it? Is it for these reasons? Or for other reasons? You tell me.

Also sorry for writing so much, I just have a lot to say. But when it comes to actual essays for school I really can't make it that far

 

[FatherOuranos]

I'm actually pretty forgiving for the Dic Dub, a lot of the changes they made werent just to take over the nationality of the show as to what Al Khan did with 4Kids. The Dic Dub director explained that they were limited with the times and had to appropriate it to fit for American Audiences. Its no different than what Hollywood does if not anywhere near as bad as what hollywood is willing to do.


The only thing I don't like about the dub is just the dialogue, and some actor miscasts but not for it being inaccurate but for it often at times being very cringeworthy nearly ALL the time. Like they were trying too hard to intergrate it that they completely missed the idea of a balance. It went so far that it felt like a self-parody. It was like going Pizzacats/Metabots direction except without the LOL-factor.

The music though I think is where most of the effort actually went into, they even made the effort to actually keep the original melodies of the show into their remixes, that I respect even if it was unintentional. The iconic marketed tune was at least kept. The only down side were the other BG tracks that were original, most of which were played to death and almost predictable in placement.

The actors I think get an unjustified level of hate for no real reason. The script wasn't within their control, they were just hired to do what they were told. Most of the cast itself for the main cast was pretty good for who they were, more often than not they proved to at least be genuine and honest with it about themselves and their presentations as the characters were more natural than a lot of the "professional" dubs I hear today.

 

[Neo Queen Serenity]

I prefer the Dic dub over the cloverway one.

At least Dic had a good voice cast.

Cloverway had a few especially Stephanie beard.

I liked the orginal sound effects, but the attack names were wacko at least Dic kept familiar ones.

I liked the music and I like amara and Michelle's vas.

I hated the treatment of the homosexual characters, but it was 20 years.

I liked how they kept nephrite's death intact.

 

[Neo King Rose]

For me it's the editing and missing episodes

-joining two eps into 1

-making Rei seem even meaner than the Japanese version

-turning Haruka/Michiru into cousins

-filling in dialogue during scenes that were silent in the original version

-some name changes including attack names though there are some dub attack names I do like better.

-I get some of the reasons for why they did it but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

-I like both dubs but I always enjoyed Dic's version of Classic, the Ali-en eps of R and Cloverway's version of S [despite some issues] and the last ep of SuperS [Linda did great on Usagi/Serena in this episode]

 

[Magus]

Linda Ballantyne. I'm sure she is a great voice actress, but she was trying waaaaay too hard once she took over the role of Sailor Moon in S.

Other than that, the inconsistencies with the writing was the next big thing. I think if it had been an accurate translation, the voice acting would have really accentuated that.

The production felt as though it was rushed. It seemed like vocal talent contracts weren't fully negotiated which is why there were revolving roles later on. The bad writing/translation also lends itself that it might have just had a bad production team.

Also, keep in mind I still kinda prefer the dub over the sub just for nostalgia reasons--I'm not trying to bash it, these are just my honest opinions.

 

[Daisy]

We should rename this subforum Dub vs Sub

 

[Caleb]

Linda Ballantyne. I'm sure she is a great voice actress, but she was trying waaaaay too hard once she took over the role of Sailor Moon in S.

Other than that, the inconsistencies with the writing was the next big thing. I think if it had been an accurate translation, the voice acting would have really accentuated that.

The production felt as though it was rushed. It seemed like vocal talent contracts weren't fully negotiated which is why there were revolving roles later on. The bad writing/translation also lends itself that it might have just had a bad production team.

Also, keep in mind I still kinda prefer the dub over the sub just for nostalgia reasons--I'm not trying to bash it, these are just my honest opinions.

It was terribly ironic how CWi was a Toei branch, but at least they were trying better than DiC was, in spite of inconsistencies and some other poor decisions, though. And if I remember correctly, Cartoon Network was the actual reason why production value was rushed, so they could pour in new S episodes for the summer season on Toonami at the time. If they hadn't been rushed or anything, maybe there would've been room for improvement at least? Who knows?

 

[NJ_]

It was terribly ironic how CWi was a Toei branch, but at least they were trying better than DiC was, in spite of inconsistencies and some other poor decisions, though. And if I remember correctly, Cartoon Network was the actual reason why production value was rushed, so they could pour in new S episodes for the summer season on Toonami at the time. If they hadn't been rushed or anything, maybe there would've been room for improvement at least? Who knows?

It's even more ironic because usually with dubs done in Canada, they're made with YTV & other networks in mind since they would guarantee a TV airing there most of the time. The fact that the S & SuperS dubs were made & rushed specifically for Cartoon Network in the states is both funny and sad if we really think about it.

 

[magic713]

Well, sometimes the dubbers' attempt to censor certain episodes made some events confusing for me. Such as in the combined finale episode of the first season, they have the Sailor Senshi "captured" instead of killed, but I still got the impression they're killed. I just wondered how they were captured when it looked pretty clear they were killed.

And in Rubeus's final episode, they cut out any shots of the Senshi hanging on crucifixes, and I am wondering in the whole episode where they are on the ship.

 

[Neo Queen Serenity]

I hated dub Rei, too mean.
I didn't like the missing episodes.
But, everything else was good.

 

[MariaTenebre]

I mainly did not like the censorship and senseless changes. Like for instance the changing of the LGBT characters to be straight. One other change I did not like was how mean they made the Inners especially Rei. Now while Rei and Usagi had their spats they really made Rei alot worse then she was. It was particularly wrong at how they changed in that one episode where Usagi gave Rei the Moon Stick and Silver Crystal so she wouldn't be tempted to give it to the Dark Kingdom in exchange for the Silver Crystal to where Rei simply took it. One other big issue I have and this ties in to the censorship is how whole episodes were skipped including Sailor Stars.

 

[onesurvive]

I prefer the Dic dub over the cloverway one.

At least Dic had a good voice cast.

Agreed.

 

[Caleb]

I hated dub Rei, too mean.

Something tells me that DiC got some wrong impression out of Rei from the Japanese original about her being a "mean girl" due how she bickers with Usagi quite a bit. Guess they passed up on how Rei actually cares for Usagi, which could've lead to how they altered the one important episode out of Classic about their friendship into something...belligerent.

I didn't like the missing episodes.

The big reasons for the missing episodes:

• - Not wanting to deal with censorship (especially with ep. 2)
  - To rush into the storyline more to reach Mercury and Mars' debut.
  - Also thought any episode, such as ep. 20 and 42 (which was real important for Minako's character dev), that didn't involve the Dark Kingdom wasn't worth showing at all.

 

[ShineAquaIllusion]

Another example of this is in episode 1 of SuperS. When Sailor Moon destroys the first Remless/Lemures, she says, "Moon Super Moon Target!" Why would she say moon twice? Also in the original version she just yelled and said, "Haaa!" which sounded much better.

She's actually saying, "Mmmh! Super Moon Target!" You need to hear it for yourself rather than rely on SM Uncensored, which is what a lot of English dub to Japanese original comparisons do. Like, I'm not denying anymore that the Japanese original is superior to the English dub, since I'd be lying if I said otherwise. But if you were relying on firsthand information, then please excuse me.

SM Uncensored actually missed a lot of interesting changes. In the ballet episode of SuperS, Fisheye has a fake name that sounds like "fee." It might be Fi, short for Fiona, or Phoe, short for Phoebe. I think the Fiona one is more likely, since my guess is that Fi comes from the first two letters of Fisheye.

And in the piano episode of SuperS, the little student girl was named Victoria, which was interesting, since the last unnamed unimportant character to get a name was Kenibayashi, ("Kenny Bayashi" as SM Uncensored claims, I have reason to believe it's Kenibayashi though.) whose name was clearly Japanese-sounding. None of the other unimportant characters' names were localized in this episode either.

One of the dumber ones, that SM Uncensored didn't catch since they were too busy pretending to have "seizures" and shouting death threats at Cloverway, Optimum, its staff, and the voice actors working on the projects, was this scene in the part two of the birthday episode.

Episode 102, "The Pure Heart Stolen! Usagi's Biggest Crisis". This is the second half of Usagi's birthday two-parter...

---

Tuxedo Mask has been encased in glass by Kaolinite's daimon Cenicienta, Kaolinite has the Cosmic Compact, and she takes off with both of them to Tokyo Tower. Usagi decides to go alone without her celestial protector, and gives pursuit. Just outside, Usagi runs into Haruka and Michiru, who give her a ride and talk to her about and ask her opinion on the philosophy of people using other people, oftentimes discarding them in the process. Of course, Usagi believes she could never discard someone just to better her own self, as she tells the two of them; if everyone worked together, she claims, there wouldn't be a need to sacrifice anyone for anything.

After some hijinks, the compact is reclaimed, Tuxedo Mask is saved, and it's the Inner Guardians, Tuxedo Mask, and the two Outer Guardians versus Kaolinite infused with Cenicienta's powers. Tuxedo Mask is wounded, Sailor Planet Attack fails to defeat Kaolinite, and all seems lost... until Sailor Uranus uses World Shaking, causing the glass powers to backfire and taking out Kaolinite.

The Inner Guardians turn to thank Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, but they're gone.

So far, name changes aside, everything holds true in Cloverway's Sailor Moon. But then they really screw up with Sailor Uranus' line.

---

[Uranus and Neptune are on the stairs; Uranus is holding her shoulder in pain from an attack by Kaori Night. Jupiter, in the previous scene, has just pondered aloud, "I wonder why they decided to help us... at the very last moment?"]

Neptune: You know... I can't help but wonder why you helped them, too, Uranus.

Uranus: Something came over me, really. I saw Sailor Moon and remembered her views in the car about people working together, so I tried it. [She looks back up at Tokyo Tower with a small smile on her face.]

---

...Um, what? This implies that Amara already knows Serena's identity. Sure, one could argue that Mina's disguise didn't fool her one bit, but there's still the big reveal seven episodes later. Amara even says, "I don't believe it...!" after Serena transforms in front of Doorknobder, Eudial, Michelle, and her. As an English dub lover--one who firmly believes there's way less "stupid dialogue" than Sailor Moon Uncensored claims--I'll be the first one to admit this is a very strong example of it.

---

For reference, here's the Japanese scene.

[Uranus and Neptune are on the stairs; Uranus is holding her shoulder in pain from an attack by Kaolinite. Jupiter, in the previous scene, has just pondered aloud, "Why did those two decide to help us, in the very end?"]

Neptune: Really... what kind of whim was that?

Uranus: Don't tease me. For some reason, I thought Sailor Moon... looked a bit like bun-head. [She looks back up at Tokyo Tower with a small smile on her face.]

I really hated that change.

I also disliked the entire Fractious Friends episode in the English dub, the one where Usagi and the Guardians try to convince the Dark Kingdom that Usagi has defected. It makes Rei look like a huge bitch for no reason, when her entire spat with Usagi was just resolved in the episode right after the Moon Princess reveal. I always skip Fractious Friends when watching it in English for this reason...

 

[SSB88]

I prefer the Dic dub over the cloverway one.

At least Dic had a good voice cast.

Agreed.

Yeah they had a good voice cast but their BGM was horrible. Im not a fan of both dubs really but i take the cloverway one due to the fact that there was less editing and they kept the original Japanese BGM

 

[ShinyVoir]

I don't like how the dub is so cheesy. I also don't like the fact that they censored so much.

 

[Laura_Moon97]

I prefer the original, because I don't like how they changed the names of the characters in the English dub. Sailor Moon's real name is supposed to be Usagi, NOT Serena, for example. They did the same in the Swedish dub as well. They named her "Annie". But the Swedish dub is not really worth talking about, because they didn't put much effort into making it. Maybe it's necessary for the languages, I don't know, but I like their original names better.

I also think their Japaneese voices fit the characters more. There is even some changes in some of the lines, which could have been dubbed better, like when Chibiusa returned and they recieved the letter from future Sailor Moon. In the japaneese dub, the misstake with the letter was that it had no Kanji characters. In the English dub they said it was all in Japaneese so they couldn't read it. Really? Couldn't they just have said that the writing was pretty careless, so it was difficult to read?

That's some of my opinions.

 

[SSB88]

I prefer the original, because I don't like how they changed the names of the characters in the English dub. Sailor Moon's real name is supposed to be Usagi, NOT Serena, for example. They did the same in the Swedish dub as well. They named her "Annie". But the Swedish dub is not really worth talking about, because they didn't put much effort into making it. Maybe it's necessary for the languages, I don't know, but I like their original names better.

I also think their Japaneese voices fit the characters more. There is even some changes in some of the lines, which could have been dubbed better, like when Chibiusa returned and they recieved the letter from future Sailor Moon. In the japaneese dub, the misstake with the letter was that it had no Kanji characters. In the English dub they said it was all in Japaneese so they couldn't read it. Really? Couldn't they just have said that the writing was pretty careless, so it was difficult to read?

That's some of my opinions.

I believe they said funny symbols from what i can recall

 

[worldo_shaking]

I'm pretty forgiving of the Dubs cutting out some of the violence because they were made close to two decades ago and were aimed at a young audience. I do not get why the LGBT stuff had to be changed other than guessing that DiC/CWi assumed that it would put parents off (totally backwards thinking that ENRAGES me personally, but we are talking about 199X United States here. Ditto on all points as far as eliminating some of the religious subtex ie: Rubeus' crucifixes, the Devil cards in ep. 2, etc).

Some of the BGM is cheesy in retrospect, but looking back, the dub was OK for what it was and I'm glad we got it. That being said, I'll never watch it again

 

[Laura_Moon97]

I prefer the original, because I don't like how they changed the names of the characters in the English dub. Sailor Moon's real name is supposed to be Usagi, NOT Serena, for example. They did the same in the Swedish dub as well. They named her "Annie". But the Swedish dub is not really worth talking about, because they didn't put much effort into making it. Maybe it's necessary for the languages, I don't know, but I like their original names better.

I also think their Japaneese voices fit the characters more. There is even some changes in some of the lines, which could have been dubbed better, like when Chibiusa returned and they recieved the letter from future Sailor Moon. In the japaneese dub, the misstake with the letter was that it had no Kanji characters. In the English dub they said it was all in Japaneese so they couldn't read it. Really? Couldn't they just have said that the writing was pretty careless, so it was difficult to read?

That's some of my opinions.

I believe they said funny symbols from what i can recall

Ah, now when I checked it again, your right! It looks like it has been changed or something. Or else, my memory has been playing a prank, but I was extremly sure that they said "It's all in Japaneese" first.