The Shrine

Given that this is a Japanese production, I doubt US law matters much. And Japan is not about to crackdown on fansubbing. It's their lifeblood for the American market. Without fansubs, they would have to resort to making sure Adult Swim and FOX Kids gives them their exposure.

Cartoon Network, if they're smart, won't actually crack down on DB or AonE as long as they're doing free fansubs aand not actually making money off of it. They wouldn't have had a market (and TV Tokyo wouldn't have gotten it's licencing fees) if it wasn't for these groups. Let them keep the hardcore's happy 'cause they're still (most of them, anyways) gonna buy the DVDs and watch it on TV when it comes out and they'll ensure that everyone they know who's been too damned lazy to get in the show (or who don't like to read) to actually get into it. It's the best marketing they have.

I am going to buy the DVD's on two conditions.

1) They have to have a japanese w/ subs option. I have never been impressed with VIZ dub jobs (anyone remember what they did to Ranma?)

2) They dont do to the anime what they have done to the manga.

As long as I dont see those happening, I will defidently buy the DVD's when they come out.

I don't buy anime DVDs, or any TV series DVDs, simply because they rape you for your money. I'm not paying $5 a episode for a 200+ episode series.

Also, Viz probably did not screw up Ranma. They only did the soundtrack and licensing. Ocean Group did the ADR production, and given their track record for fucking up dubs sometimes, I wouldn't doubt that they did the same here. (Ocean Group isn't actually listed as the Adaptation on ANN's record, but most of their voice cast appears to be from the Ocean Group.)

Ocean Group is really really hit-and-miss (hey, look at Gundam Wing), but fortunately, they aren't involved with Naruto. Unforunately, ShoPro/Viz (they have merged) haven't really picked a dubbing group, and since both Viz and ShoPro have picked OG a few times, there is a chance that they may pick them again.

Naruto seems to be one of their few major titles that they've picked up. The only others I've seen are Hamtaro, Inuyusha, Zatch Bell, and Ranma. Viz does a shitload of manga, but only a few TV shows on their belt. I hope to fucking god that they pick somebody like Animaze/ZRO Limit or New Generation. On the chance that they pick OG or themselves (they've done Inuyusha themselves with mixed results), I've give them a 50/50 chance of pulling it off.

Popularity doesn't seem to encourage picking good dub groups, but American dubbing seems to have gotten better over the past few years. Kenshin was actually dubbed by a fucking Asian company (Animax South Asia, the same company that brought you .Hack's crappying dubbing). FUNimation actually fired OG for their dubbing of the first season of DBZ to do their own, and if FUNimation's dubbing of FMA is any indictation, they may be becoming an excellent force in the dubbing world. (Unfortunately, FUNimation only dubs their own stuff, so no chance for them in Naruto.)

In any case, this is all speculation, and we don't know who is going to be dubbing for Naruto. All we know is that somebody has picked it up, and we can only go by their track record on who is going to actually do the dubbing. Fortunately, we have avoided the worst case scenario. (A few WCSs, actually. I could watch a OG dub without too much cringing, but I can't stand a full episdoe of Kenshin's dub.)

Well actually, one thing I should mention is that Funimation actually wasn't the group that did the first 2 seasons of DBZ in the states. Those were brought to the states by Pioneer.

I am not hugely knowledgable about American dub groups, simply because 9 times out of 10, I just dont feel that the dub is as good as the sub. The reason why is this. Japanese voice actors actually care about the characters they are portraying. As a result when they try to show emotion in their acting, it sounds very real. American voice actors arent like that though, and it shows in their work. At least that is my opinion.

I've had this discussion before, but what it comes down to is that there are American groups that care about their dubbing and those will grow as anime gets more popular here. I try to honor those groups and pay attention to their progress, since they need to get the respect they rightfully deserve, especially in this hostile "sub over dub" world. (I never watch subs when there's a good US dub elsewhere.)

There's a lot of good Japanese dubbing groups because anime is insanely popular over there. Their voice actors are about as renowned as their movie actors. The US is getting better with this, and with examples like FMA, GitS, Cowboy Bebop, Hellsing, etc., it should be introducing more people to anime, since they aren't shunned by bad dubbing.

Japan guys own the copyright for all translations, and that includes fansubs. They obviously did not give the right to translate to some random guys on the Internet. Currently, it looks like the Japanese just don't care about exports in general which is why the fan community so far has a free reign, but I won't expect that to last.

And no it's not because fansub is free popularity. And yes Anime is way too expensive here or there. I'm not the one to advocate wholesale stealing of copyrighted stuff but the Anime guys really need to look at their pricing scheme of 2 episodes @ 22 minutes for $19.95 or whatever they charge for. Everyone knows you obviously don't need to sell at that price to break even (and if they really need to sell at that price they should rethink about how much they're paying).

As for the dubbing versus subbing, we're not exactly in the Stone Age of Anime anymore. US dubbing is quite good. Now if you think someone saying things you can't comprehend must sound better that's up to you. I remember one of the key Cowboy Bebop thought the US Spike sounded way better than the Japanese one, probably because she can't understand the US one while the Japanese stuff is just old hat to her (at least to me they both sound about the same). I actually find the Japanese actors overly dramatic.

I found the US Spike to be no problem and it fit the character. I've never heard the Japanese version, and I don't want to. If the dubbing works and fits the character, it's automatically better than the Japanese version.