Now That Another Group is Dubbing the Animé...

[Solar Crimson]

Now That Another Group is Dubbing the Animé...

...Do you think that TAJ Studios, or whatever they're called, is gonna keep and dub the Japanese Openings. Or do you think that we'll be treated to another atrocity of an opening like with Mastermind of the Mirage Pokémon?

I hope for the former, but deep down, I think that the latter is gonna happen.

 

[CyberCubed]

They may keep the openings exactly the same as the original, but the lyrics will be different...obviously.

Anyone who thinks we're going to hear theme songs in Japanese in the dub needs to have their head examined.

 

[TwilightFacade]

I seriously doubt that we will get a brand new opening. I am certain we will have clips from Spurt!. However I pray that we do not get one of those atrocious raps as the theme song. I will have to mute my TV during each of the intros if that is the case.

Edit: Hooray for my 100th post!

 

[Yamato-san]

I wonder.... has Nintendo of America ever localized some game that used a Japanese vocal song? Aside from Donkey Konga, which I'd pin more on familiarizing western audiences with existing pop songs just like the Japanese version used existing music (I don't think the game uses any original vocals), as well as Pokemon Channel having an option to view the episode (and therefor, Nyaasu no Party) in Japanese, which I'd see as being little more than a bilingual bonus.

I guess if there aren't any examples, we have no clue what Nintendo of America's policy is on foreign lyrical songs. Though they're pretty big on Americanization, they don't seem to be one to completely b*stardize the fact that other cultures exist (not near as bad as 4kids, in any case).... but given the target audience, there is a good chance there'd be lyrics that the common viewer could sing along to (Jirachi Wish Maker is a baffling case, but it probably doesn't matter since NoA wasn't in charge of it).

 

[halloweenghost]

I'm hoping they will not edit the opening, but a new song would be ok to me,..as long as it isn't horrid.

 

[Captain Brain]

Maybe if Pokemon stays on CN we'll get lucky and get a good ending. ;025;

 

[Faerie]

I've been wondering about that too. That would be truly awesome, but I don't know if that's gonna happen. It's not too late to write letters to PUSA asking (or begging, if you're a begging sort of person) for them to play the Japanese openings/endings in the show. But I'm not so sure they'd do that, what with all the Americanization that's being dumped on dubbed anime like sweet and sour sauce on chicken.

But 'cha know, people, they're not gonna start with Spurt! and Watashi, Makenai! if they do play the original Japanese themes. They're going to start with the ones that match the episodes. We'd be getting Battle Frontier and Pokemon Kazoe Uta (a.k.a. "the poor man's Pokemon Ondo"). Happily for me 'cause I love Battle Frontier. I know, I know, I stated the obvious...

Umm...The openings with original footage and tune, but with English lyrics?! That would be wrong on SO many levels. First off they wouldn't match the tune very well. Remember Type: Wild and how insanely fast Rika Matsumoto sings in the beginning? Well, I've heard it dubbed into English and and the fast singing is gone because there are way to few syllables in the translation. It shmucks. Just thinking about Spurt! in English scares me.

Of course, if we're really, really we'll get someone like Utada Hikaru. But, like DPT, I've got a feeling that we're just gonna get weird raps like in The Mastermind of Mirage Pokemon.

*sniff* But no matter what, the dub will never ever see Soko ni Sora ga Arukara...

 

[Chris]

You know what I wished when 4Kids was dubbing the anime? That they returned to making GOOD openings. From the first to all the way to the first Johto season, they had GOOD openings and fantastic music.

Anyone else remember the US soundtrack released years ago when the series was gaining popularity? Back when 4Kids actually put effort and thought into music? Yeah, stuff like that was great.

Now..the series' music lost its touch greatly with the start of Master Quest's theme. Just doesn't have the same feeling. Not to mention, some of the openings even matched with the feeling of the original openings. "A Whole New World" was absolutely the best dub opening I ever heard made. And it matched so well in capturing the same feeling that "OK!" did, even if they sounded WAY different from eachother.

Here's to hoping TAJ Productions tries this old formula.

 

[Dogasu]

The thing with dubbing the Japanese openings is that they're all too long; roughly a minute and a half apiece. That's a good 30 seconds longer than most networks want to allow for something like an opening theme, so PUSA, like 4Kids, is going to have to come up with an opening that's shorter. And making a brand new song may end up being much easier than trying to edit a Japanese song down to 60 seconds.

 

[Yamato-san]

if the next season of Pokemon ends up on Cartoon Network, though, wouldn't that not be a problem?

 

[Dogasu]

It wouldn't, but they've probably already prepared a 60-second intro just in case they end up on a network that would require more time cuts.

 

[pookachu]

The thing with dubbing the Japanese openings is that they're all too long; roughly a minute and a half apiece. That's a good 30 seconds longer than most networks want to allow for something like an opening theme, so PUSA, like 4Kids, is going to have to come up with an opening that's shorter. And making a brand new song may end up being much easier than trying to edit a Japanese song down to 60 seconds.

Why? Our Dragonball GT dub (different to Funimations it was the Canadian one) mananged to cut it down to about a minute with Dan Dan the Japanese opening and even though it wasn't as good as the original at least it wasn't terrible.

 

[Kamex]

You know what I wished when 4Kids was dubbing the anime? That they returned to making GOOD openings. From the first to all the way to the first Johto season, they had GOOD openings and fantastic music.

Anyone else remember the US soundtrack released years ago when the series was gaining popularity? Back when 4Kids actually put effort and thought into music? Yeah, stuff like that was great.

Yeah, I miss that stuff. They actually put a lot of work and effort into everything then.

Now..the series' music lost its touch greatly with the start of Master Quest's theme. Just doesn't have the same feeling. Not to mention, some of the openings even matched with the feeling of the original openings. "A Whole New World" was absolutely the best dub opening I ever heard made. And it matched so well in capturing the same feeling that "OK!" did, even if they sounded WAY different from eachother.

I liked "A Whole New World" a lot too, very unique and fitting. I think Eric Stuart started singing the opening themes after that one. Having perhaps opening sung by him would have been enough, but he seems to sing all of them now (I bet they would have given him the Battle Frontier one, too, if he was still working on the dub).

 

[Faerie]

You know what I wished when 4Kids was dubbing the anime? That they returned to making GOOD openings. From the first to all the way to the first Johto season, they had GOOD openings and fantastic music.

Boy, I miss that too. The English openings were actually really good for a while there, and they were worth listening to day after day of watching the series. Whole New World was such a good song. I've heard anime with a lot worse dub music. But now they've just given up on that.

Really makes you wonder what's going to become of the show and whether the dub's going to change for better or for worse.