Does the Dub reference the Japanese Version at all?

[Alola]

I really would like to know. How does it work? Looking at these past dubbed episodes of XY, the emotion seen in the original Japanese version is not captured. Not mention the background music. Do the dubbers not watch the Japanese version to see how things are done/get inspiration for certain scenes? Am I the only one that would like to see the effort in the Japanese version mirrored in the Dub as well? Or do people prefer what the Dub offers over the Japanese version?

 

[Yamadora]

They are trying to Americanize the show because American kids can't stand anything Japanese.

 

[sonichilidoghog]

Yes it is.

 

[Karamazov]

Yes it is.

Care to explain?

 

[Gabo2oo]

I believe it's mostly the voice acting style. They do try to emulate the same emotions in the dub (not counting some times where they directly rewrite the dialogue, which don't happen as often now), but the actors just do it differently, and perhaps not as good as their Japanese counterparts. I don't know much about this, but I've noticed that in Japanese animation, they don't care about volume issues. When the characters are whispering, they truly sound more quietly, when the characters yell, they truly yell loud; while in English dubs and animation, it seems like they try to neutralize the volume so they don't whisper too quietly nor yell too loud.

Even though we're not talking about the music here, I still think the fact that the music makes the atmosphere of a scene doesn't help either when they replace it. Some times you can catch better the emotion of someone talking if there is no BGM playing, for example.

 

[Alola]

I believe it's mostly the voice acting style. They do try to emulate the same emotions in the dub (not counting some times where they directly rewrite the dialogue, which don't happen as often now), but the actors just do it differently, and perhaps not as good as their Japanese counterparts. I don't know much about this, but I've noticed that in Japanese animation, they don't care about volume issues. When the characters are whispering, they truly sound more quietly, when the characters yell, they truly yell loud; while in English dubs and animation, it seems like they try to neutralize the volume so they don't whisper too quietly nor yell too loud.

Even though we're not talking about the music here, I still think the fact that the music makes the atmosphere of a scene doesn't help either when they replace it. Some times you can catch better the emotion of someone talking if there is no BGM playing, for example.

Do you think that is all applies to TCPi? Or also when 4Kids had the show up until the Battle Frontier?

I feel as if they did better job to when dubbing, and emulated the original whispering, yelling and silence scenes in respective episodes.

 

[Gabo2oo]

I believe it's mostly the voice acting style. They do try to emulate the same emotions in the dub (not counting some times where they directly rewrite the dialogue, which don't happen as often now), but the actors just do it differently, and perhaps not as good as their Japanese counterparts. I don't know much about this, but I've noticed that in Japanese animation, they don't care about volume issues. When the characters are whispering, they truly sound more quietly, when the characters yell, they truly yell loud; while in English dubs and animation, it seems like they try to neutralize the volume so they don't whisper too quietly nor yell too loud.

Even though we're not talking about the music here, I still think the fact that the music makes the atmosphere of a scene doesn't help either when they replace it. Some times you can catch better the emotion of someone talking if there is no BGM playing, for example.

Do you think that is all applies to TCPi? Or also when 4Kids had the show up until the Battle Frontier?

I feel as if they did better job to when dubbing, and emulated the original whispering, yelling and silence scenes in respective episodes.

Well, for starters, I watch the English dub to compare with the original and be aware of which changes we're going to get overseas, but I started doing so after TPCi took over, so I'm not as familiar with 4Kids' voices for the characters. The only thing I'm certain is that TPCi's music is much more bland than 4kids', and that probably affects the perception of the acting overall as well. TPCi's BGM is improving in the XY series, though.

As of the dub voice acting itself, I've watched both English dubs, but I rarely find one better than the other when it comes to acting (except that James, Meowth, and Oak were better done by their 4Kids actors than Cathcart). Overall, I believe both English dubs lack emotion in comparision to both the original Japanese and, to be honest, a lot of foreign dubs I've watched.

Now that I think of it, in my opinion, the acting style applies to both 4Kids and TPCi, and the impression of 4Kids doing better was mostly because of their BGM being much more expressive.

 

[Meowstic]

I seem to recall a scene where I believe James is reading something and says along the lines of "I can't read this. It might as well be in Japanese.". I might be completely wrong and be thinking of something entirely different but I might be right.

 

[kantoskies]

I think another part of it is that sometimes when the dialogue is translated it's done so in an awkward way so it doesn't actually sound like people speaking. This is much more noticeable in the TPCi dub but it was there during 4Kids' day too. Another part of it is matching the lip flaps; I have a feeling the dub actors would be much better if they could just go in without having to match the flaps (I came to this conclusion when listening to some of Sarah Natochenny's other work). Add in a lackluster musical score and it's really not surprising at all that the dub doesn't convey the same feelings as the original.

Also kind of unrelated (but still related to the topic), but in that Diamond and Pearl episode where in the original Jessie is trying to learn English, it would have been really cool if in the dub it was reversed and she was trying to learn Japanese. When they blasted off she could even have been like "And Japanese was coming so naturally for me" or something like that.

 

[Team Gaara]

I feel like this is more of a personal preference issue, more than anything else. People generally say this kind of stuff about all Anime, not just Pokemon, and that's no matter how good the dub actually is. I've seen countless people rant and complain about dubs not conveying the right emotions even when they're done fantastically. But again, that is my own opinion, as well.

I'll mention that first of all, I don't watch Pokemon in Japanese and really have no desire to, but I will try to answer this question and provide some insight based on knowledge of dubs in general. That all said, of course the dubbers look at the Japanese beforehand, otherwise we'd have a pretty weird-ass and random script. Regarding what you said about emotion not being captured, it's, again, generally a matter of opinion. Past that, there's the issue regarding the differences in the languages themselves. The way a Japanese person speaks is highly different than the way an American does in many ways. So while it may seem the emotion is not carried over, it probably just doesn't seem that way because the performances differ among cultures. It isn't necessarily because they aren't putting in the same amount of effort.

I won't go into music because that's another matter entirely that I can't even begin to try to explain.

In my opinion, the dub does what it is supposed to do. From what I understand, the translation is highly accurate and I find the voice acting to be fine. I've seen a bit of XY in Japanese and don't feel that the dub is in some way not as good as the original for the most part and I think they put a good effort into the show.

 

[Yash]

The way dialogue is written in the dub is pretty embarrassing.

Like I understand that this is a kids' show but it sounds like it belongs on Nick Jr. sometimes.

 

[SammyW27]

To be fair, a large percentage of the dialogue is wordplay/jokes/puns that ONLY makes sense--let alone is funny--if you're Japanese or really know a lot about their language/culture. They kinda HAVE to replace that stuff.

That said, they could still have better dialogue & voice acting. BGM varies (I'm liking a lot of what I hear in XY)

 

[Alola]

That said, they could still have better dialogue & voice acting. BGM varies (I'm liking a lot of what I hear in XY)

The music that played when Viola sent out Bibiyon in the fifth episode was creepy epic.

 

[Dogasu]

Neither Veronica Taylor nor Sarah Natochenny are trying to emulate Matsumoto Rika in any way so why should I give them shit for not doing something they're not even trying to do in the first place?

For sanity's sake I think of Satoshi and Ash as two different characters, Kasumi and Misty as two different characters, Takeshi and Brock as two different characters, etc.

I seem to recall a scene where I believe James is reading something and says along the lines of "I can't read this. It might as well be in Japanese.". I might be completely wrong and be thinking of something entirely different but I might be right.

I think you're thinking of the Sailor Moon dub.

Another part of it is matching the lip flaps; I have a feeling the dub actors would be much better if they could just go in without having to match the flaps

The Japanese actors have to deal with the same thing since, unlike with American animation, cartoons over here don't record the voices until *after* the animation's already finished.

That all said, of course the dubbers look at the Japanese beforehand, otherwise we'd have a pretty weird-ass and random script

Reading a translated script and actually sitting down and watching the show, voice acting and all, are two very different things.

The only dub actor I've ever heard of who actually listened to the performance of her character in the original Japanese version is Maddie Blaustein.

To be fair, a large percentage of the dialogue is wordplay/jokes/puns that ONLY makes sense--let alone is funny--if you're Japanese or really know a lot about their language/culture.

Not really. There are puns and Japanese-only stuff, yes, but there aren't as many as fans would have you believe. One dub joke does not equal one untranslatable Japanese joke.

 

[Team Gaara]

Reading a translated script and actually sitting down and watching the show, voice acting and all, are two very different things.

The only dub actor I've ever heard of who actually listened to the performance of her character in the original Japanese version is Maddie Blaustein.

I know, and it seems to be the case with the dub based on what I've seen. It isn't just Maddie Blaustein.

 

[Sakuraa]

I think the dub is okay. I personally prefer it to the original because, a. I just prefer dubs in my own language and, b. I generally prefer the voices. As for the emotion, I think they're fine. Do they compare to the Japanese version? Well I personally don't see any major differences. Yeah, sure some things here and there have a bit a different feeling based on the version, but nothing I personally would be bothered by. Yeah, I really don't care that much when it comes to voices. I've never had a major problem with any voices or actor's performances at all.