You can pretty much stop writing fanfiction now...

[robkelk]

It's a decent dub. Not a "You're Under Arrest" really-fantastic dub or an "El Hazard" excellent dub, but also not a (insert any of 80% of pre-"Slayers" dubbed anime here) phoned-in-the-lines dub or a "Those Obnoxious Aliens" you've-got-to-be-kidding dub.
Software Sculptors' policy of selling the subbed and dubbed versions of "Slayers" at the same price for the same episode count with the same release date proved that the sub-dub war had been won by the dub side. That might be the problem a lot of subbed-anime-only fans have with the dub...

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bluemage]

---

thoguh I would hope that the d9fference is more like a well written fic to the troll-spew that started the thread...

---

I almost said that, but reconsidered- the dub, as several people have pointed out, is far from being *that* bad. For the time, it was good. Now, though, it's a lot harder to deal with.
My evaluation of the dub's quality comes from the fact that I first got into anime about three years ago. I like to say that the quality of most dubs are inversely (pun unintended) proportional to their age: as a relatively recent otaku, I've come to expect quality along the lines of modern anime. By that standard, Slayers fails horribly (I can barely stand it for any length of time). InuYasha and BGC are the only two other dubs which I've had this much of an issue with.
Don't get me wrong- there are quite a few anime that I prefer dubbed- for instance, as far as I'm concerned, The Big O was never done in Japanese. I watched the first episode (my first time with the anime, as a matter of fact) subbed: it was decent, but not impressive. Dubbed, though, it's one of my very favorites. I enjoyed the dubbed episodes of FMA that I've seen far more than my subs (so much so, that, shortly after my dubbed collection stopped, I quit watching). Chobits is good in English, and I hear Excel Saga is much improved.
This one got on my nerves: not because of any technical fault, or a problem with the way the dub was done, but because of the voices they chose for some characters. Lina is a girl in her early teens at the beginning of the series, and, somehow, Hayashibara Megumi (long may she live) managed to get that spot-on, while developing Lina's voice so that, by late NEXT (or early TRY), she sounds more like a confident, sarcastic, emotional young woman. Ms. Ortiz doesn't do that, and her voice has a grating tone to it which, I feel, doesn't match the character until *maybe* the end- if ever. Xellos, also, got shafted: he sounds like a stereotype of a whiny nerd, when he's supposed to sound like some fairly normal (physically) guy who just happens to be either a fruitcake or, rarely, mysteriously evil. They aren't all bad- Gourry, especially, got a pretty good voice. Lina, though, speaks more than roughly any three other characters put together, and the first thing that any dub has to do for me is give the biggest characters the best voices.
Xellos is just my favorite character, so I had to whine about him.
Sorry for the rant, but the issue of dubs vs. subs is highly emotional. My earlier comment, which I felt to be relatively acceptable, sparked enough disagreement that I thought it best to clarify my views in a way that would avoid giving more offense than absolutely necessary. I don't want to irritate anybody, nor do I want to see any long, unproductive arguments (as these sorts ofconversations tend to become), so I wanted to make my position as clear and reasonable as possible.
Thank you for reading so much of my opinion, and not (hopefully) hating me for the content and/or quantity of it.Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines...

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[classicdrogn]

Well, the Excel Saga dub is about as good as the oroiginal, objectively, meaning that if you don't speak Japanese and don't have an insanely high reading spead so you can catch all the paniced/manic motormouth action the dub is probably better. I can't rmemeber now of it's the El Hazard or Tenchi OVAs, but one of them the series creator prefers the dub and says to regard as the official version - I can't see it with either of them, myself.
Whatever, somehow the Japanese voice actors seem to be more 'in character' and less aware of being an outside person speaking someone else's words, which is strange in a way because US cartoons don't generally seem to have that problem. You know how a radio announcer's voice changes when they're reading, say, a wire service news report verus talking about something local? That's the difference I mean, and it somehow just jumps right out at me. By that standard, only Amelia and the Bad Guy of the Episode fails in Slayers, generally, which indeed makes it a damn good dub... but there's a reason I say sub-snob dang it - if I can't look down on dubs just for being dubs, where's the fun in it?
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's IST: Holy Sea World
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Bluemage]

Where's the fun in it, you ask?
-Being the voice of reason on just about* every anime forum in existence.
*This one is the exception- the people here are much better behaved (and more intelligent) than average.
-Enjoying, without any trace of hypocritical guilt, the best version of every anime out there.
-Having common ground enough to get along with decent otaku who just happen to like dubs better.
-The ability to do this while, if you care to, still *acting* like a sub-snob, as long as you don't tell anybody.
If I wasn't trying to be so reasonable, I'd default to sub-snobbery, because you're right- it's fun. I can just shut it off when it's *unjustified* sub-snobbery. Guilty until proven innocent, that's my motto.Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines...

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Bob Schroeck]

---

I can't rmemeber now of it's the El Hazard or Tenchi OVAs, but one of them the series creator prefers the dub and says to regard as the official version

---

El Hazard -- the Japanese production crew considers the English dub to be the definitive voices of the characters.
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[Foxboy]

IIRC, Gainax said that Tiffany Grant's Asuka was definitive. Though there is much argument on whether or not Megumi Hayashibara or Amanda Winn-Lee is the definitive Rei.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[HoagieOfDoom]

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El Hazard -- the Japanese production crew considers the English dub to be the definitive voices of the characters.

---

Although I absolutely loathe Ifurita's English dub voice, I do have to say that the dub is funnier and has better scripting.*********
Touched By His Noodly Appendage
www.venganza.org

[Bob Schroeck]

---

IIRC, Gainax said that Tiffany Grant's Asuka was definitive.

---

Really? Very cool.
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

[Valles]

---

Although I absolutely loathe Ifurita's English dub voice, I do have to say that the dub is funnier and has better scripting.

---

"Oh no! Someone else must be out of alcohol!"
Personally, though I've still yet to see EH subbed, I like Ifurita's VA. That harsh quality to her voice seems very suited to a demon god, without being itself unpleasant... which is a large part of why I gave Hikari that trait in my Escaflowne fic.
Ja, -n
(in Portland)

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[HoagieOfDoom]

*blink blink* Harsh? She sounded like a rundown housewife to me.
Actually, that would explain why I prefer the Japanese VA: she makes Ifurita sound threatening in the right places, much more human-like. Yeah, the English voice does sort of suit her, but only in way.
Come to think of it, it's almost two personalities. One blank and robotic, the other more human-like and scary. Hmmm...*********
Touched By His Noodly Appendage
www.venganza.org

[VladimirTherin]

Are you confusing the OVA El Hazard with the TV series?
ENITRELY different incarnations of Ifurita

[Necratoid]

For Slayers... The reason to watch it is to hear the demon lords squeel like a little girl who just had a bucket of live mice dumped over her head, out of the blue.
Xellos never made sense as a normal voice to me, he is a demon who lives off frustration... having a voice that has an edge that increases your need to strangle him at random intervals makes far more sense. Xellos makes a major hobby out of annoying people, his chosen voice makes more sense in English. I just kind of shrug off Lina's English voice myself, its not quite right, but not off enough to except.
For me, the major factor is that the byplay is good. The charicters snipe each other and the way they interact with each other. A good example of this is 'Those Who Hunt Elves', which is kind of boring in Japanese, but in English it's hilarious. One Piece is a mostly entertaining series (minus some filler arcs) in Japanese... in English its something that makes me want to try the English team for War crimes... not just the bad, bad, terrible voice acting... but the military units with cork guns and supersoakers. *shudder*
Sometimes you get good, but different charicters from the Japanese and Englsih casts... For instance in 'Lost Universe' the Canals are radically different. In the Japanese she basically declares Kain her henpecked husband. In English its more of a best friends thing. DarkStar in Japanese answers the question of how long someone has been in Cryo--sleep by answering in seconds... number crunching with a head ache, in your head is just mean... in English it just says the length of time with mulitple useful units... its not the same.
Byplay become event more critical in written works... Why is one of the main reason 'My Immortal' is so bad.

[HoagieOfDoom]

---

Are you confusing the OVA El Hazard with the TV series?

---

Nope. Those were my personal thoughts on the difference between OVA Ifurita's English and Japanese VAs. While I don't like the English one, everyone is welcome to their opinion.
I haven't seen El Hazard TV yet. Is it worth it?*********
Touched By His Noodly Appendage
www.venganza.org

[robkelk]

---

I haven't seen El Hazard TV yet. Is it worth it?

---

That depends.
If you're asking about El Hazard: The Wanderers, then the answer is "probably". This is a 26-episode remake of the series, with quite a few elements toned down (e.g. Alielle's not obviously lesbian in this version) or removed (e.g. no Fatora or Shadow Tribe here). Nanami has a different power. Ifurita has been completely re-imagined - instead of being a statuesque platinum blonde, she's a cute early-teenaged brunette with partial control of her powers at the best of times. The story takes a while to get going, which makes the Bugrom look like idiots for the first half of the series. On the flip side, there's substantially more character development in Wanderers than there was in The Magnificent World - even Afura gets a personality in this version. I liked it.
If you're asking about El Hazard: The Alternative World, then the answer is "probably not". This is a 13-episode Tv series that's a sequel to the two OAV series. It was made on a budget, and it shows. Worse yet, they pretty much replace Miz with Qawoor, a Mary-Sue character of the first water. (Pun intended; being able to make that pun is the only good thing about the character.) Of all the El Hazard shows, this is the only one I didn't bother getting on DVD.

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[HoagieOfDoom]

That's pretty much what I've generally heard about them. Thanks!*********
Touched By His Noodly Appendage
www.venganza.org

[Ayiekie]

One thing that is worthwhile about The Alternative World is that if you're a big Shayla-Shayla or Jinnai fan, the two of them get stuck together for about half the series and make a surprisingly plausible pairing. Also, Rune Venus actually gets a plotline and some character (even if the plotline literally vanished at one point). Otherwise, it's shite, yes, and Qawoor is hateful.

[classicdrogn]

I suppose that's why several of the Ranma-insertions I've seen for El Hazard have "her" end up as Miz's apprentice, then - such an affinity for water, that Ranko has!
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's IST: Holy Sea World
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[VladimirTherin]

"such an affinity for water, that Ranko has!"
Oh god, I dont know that I have seen that before, but its hilarious.
Good to know I'm not the only one who despised Qawoor though.

[classicdrogn]

There was one that I was trading emails with the author for a while, but I can't rmember who it was, or the title - Ranma had picked up the ability to fly as his/her extra power, but Miz got to her first rather than Afura. The only other thing I really remember about it was the snarky comment I made regarding the training program - "You first must pass my trials three, before Roshtaria you see!" - it was ... I dunno, six to ten years ago. Long enough I'm kind of suprised I rmemeber it at all.
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's IST: Holy Sea World
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[robkelk]

---

Good to know I'm not the only one who despised Qawoor though.

---

You mean there's somebody out there who doesn't?

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Ayiekie]

Whoever wrote her clearly liked her.

[A117]

Over 2700 reviews? Who can hope to match that?
You're right. I surrender. I'm even waving my white flag.

[VladimirTherin]

Naughty! Necromancy is bad for you!

[A117]

What's with this Necromancy thing? Was it something I did or what ...

[robkelk]

You posted to a thread that had "died", thus bringing it back to life - that's "online necromancy". Some people hate that; some (like me) don't mind...

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012