I'm Not A "Real" Fan

[Nekojin]

It's been implied heavily (and occasionally openly stated) on various blogs on Tumblr that you're not a true Sailor Moon fan if any of the following applies to you:

* You don't absolutely worship the English dub
* You don't have every piece of merchandise ever made
* You don't watch the musicals
* You don't watch the live-action version of the show
* You call the characters by their English dub names

That first one would automatically disqualify me as a fan, as I do not care for the English dub anymore. I could never outright hate it because it did introduce me to the series, but now that I've seen the original, I would rather watch an eating contest than watch the dub.

And the second one? I'm collecting the new reprints of the manga and I have all three of the movies. That's it. I don't have any of the old toys or the new stuff that's been released at Hot Topic or anything like that.

Aren't the first and last points on the list directly contradictory? If you worship the English dub, you're most likely going to call the characters by the names from that version...

[AdminAssistant]

I don't know much about the world of anime, other than watching a few series. But don't people generally *hate* English dubs? I thought that was a big anime snob thing. (I prefer the dubs for both Gurren Lagann and Fullmetal Alchemist, because it sounds weird to have the teen male protagonist voiced by a girl.)

[Lace Neil Singer]

^ This. I've seen a lot of hardcore anime fans trash the dubs; if you're a "real" anime fan, you should watch the subs.

I prefer the dubs as a general rule, cuz I find that I tend to miss a lot of the action if I'm reading subs. Of course, some dubs are better than others; there are two Naruto dubs (one normal, one the toned down version submitted to Cartoon Network) and I always hate it if I watch an episode and it's the Cartoon Network dub.

Speaking of Naruto, a lot of the aforementioned hardcores don't consider a person a true fan if they like that show. Well, they can get stuffed; I happen to like watching Naruto; I find it very good watching and entertaining and would far rather watch it than some of the more highbrow animes where it's difficult to work out exactly what the fuck is going on. Tho I've never had anyone attack me for liking Naruto personally; I think it's cuz I like Elfen Lied which seems to excempt me from attacks from the elite, but I've seen quite a few hardcores post biting commentary on the Naruto series.

Yeah, fine, you don't like it. Don't watch it then; just don't badmouth the series for no reason and don't bitch at someone who does like it. Yes, there are fanbrats within the fandom but get this, most of us fans hate those fanbrats just as much as you do, and probably more.

[Dreamstalker]

I'm still on the fence about English anime dubs; generally my thought is if it's done well and the translation is fairly close it's good.

I was once called 'not a real Star Trek fan' because I don't own a uniform (much as I'd like to commission one, I just don't have the money), like the fourth movie, haven't really seen any of them between Generations and the reboot, and don't worship TNG.

[firecat88]

Aren't the first and last points on the list directly contradictory? If you worship the English dub, you're most likely going to call the characters by the names from that version...

The two statements do contradict each other, yeah, but they don't necessarily come from the same fan or group of fans.

In one corner, you have the people who think you're an uncultured Japanophobe if you only use the dub names.

In the other corner, there's the people who think you're a snob, elitist, and/or weaboo if you use the Japanese names and overall prefer the sub to the dub.

But don't people generally *hate* English dubs? I thought that was a big anime snob thing.

I'm not at all picking on you, AdminAssistant, but you've kinda proven my point. XD I'll never understand why preferring the subs over the dubs is considered the ultimate in snobbery. Is it also snobbery to prefer the original Parent Trap movie with Hayley Mills over the newer Lindsey Lohan one? To like certain covers of a song and not like other covers of the same song?

To be clear- There are a lot of dubs I do like. Studio Ghibli's dubs are usually pretty darn good, As are the dub versions of Bleach, Fullmetal Alchemist, and pretty much anything that's done by Viz Media or (as far as their more recent stuff) Funimation. The dubs produced by companies like 4Kids and the long-dead DiC and Cloverway, though, are...not-so-much. And Sailor Moon happened to have gotten the DiC *and* Cloverway treatment. Though I hear Funimation is trying to get the rights to redub the series. Which would be absolutely fantastic, IMO.

[Andara Bledin]

If you want an awesome dub, Hellsing is just as good in English as it is in Japanese.

But most of the time, they change too much. If you want to see what I mean, set the language to English and then turn on the subs and check out how different they end up being. And then realize that the subs are as different from the original dialogue as the dub is from the subs.

^-.-^

[Dreamstalker]

GitS (the movie) is also an example of this. I really haven't watched the series so don't know if that improved, but the dub/sub differences in the feature can be a bit odd.

[Andara Bledin]

My fave example is Sorcerer Hunters. There's a scene with Carrot crossing a bridge. If you watch it English with subs on, you have a whole lot of nothing in the subs (which reflect the original dialogue for the scene), but the English audio has Carrot doing this huge monologue for no reason whatsoever except someone must think that English speakers can't handle someone not talking.

^-.-^

[mikoyan29]

True Anime fans don't need either the subs or the dubs because they can understand Japanese.

Actually, I wish I could remember which one it was I saw but while I was in Japan once, I wasn't feeling well so I went back to the hotel and slept the whole afternoon. I think I may have had the TV on because there was a baseball game and I oculd follow that. When I awoke, there was some wierd anime on and I wish I could understand what they were saying becuase it looked different.

[Andara Bledin]

You wouldn't happen to remember any details other than "looked different," would you?

^-.-^

[mikoyan29]

You wouldn't happen to remember any details other than "looked different," would you?

^-.-^

For some reason, I seem to remember a panda and a dude with a floating head but I might be confusing other anime that I've seen. I was in a pretty odd shape though because my body was 12 hours off.....

[Nekojin]

I used to be a subs-or-nothing sort of anime fan, back when Viz was an upstart young company, barely bigger than an amateur fansub crew (and before that, I watched raw anime!). Subtitles allowed a more direct translation, and could often explain jokes that didn't translate well. This changed around the time that Ranma 1/2 hit its third season, and I was picking up the first season in subs... and one of my roommates, who was mildly dyslexic, wanted to enjoy it, because it looked like fun. So I broke down and got the dubs. For that show, the characters are very hit-or-miss - Shampoo's English VA was decent, but Ryoga's voice was completely off*.

At this point, I don't care so much. I'd prefer subs, but subs require a LOT more attention to follow - you need to be watching the screen constantly, rather than half-paying-attention. So, my preferred choice these days are discs that have both audio tracks and subtitles! =^_^= It can be fun to see the differences in the sub and dub at the same time.

* In the Japanese version or Ranma 1/2, Ryoga's got a fairly dignified, respectable voice, which is a deliberate contrast to the fact that he's a dork. The English dub voice is just plain dorky.

[Hyena Dandy]

I'll never understand why preferring the subs over the dubs is considered the ultimate in snobbery.

I think perhaps it's that a lot of people will insist either subs, or don't watch it. It seems far rarer that someone will insist on watching it dubbed or not at all. Thus, that becomes the snob thing.

[lordlundar]

Dub quality depends on the show and the people behind it. Sailor Moon (at least the early ones aka SM and SMR, S and SuperS were painful) Was relatively well done in the dub department. It was the butchered editing that lowered the quality of it. Other shows seems to have been edited with a chainsaw as well (CardCaptor Sakura is a notorious one for this.)

[Lace Neil Singer]

I think perhaps it's that a lot of people will insist either subs, or don't watch it. It seems far rarer that someone will insist on watching it dubbed or not at all. Thus, that becomes the snob thing.

This. A lot of the anime snobs I've encountered think that anyone who watches dubs is a loser, cuz of course you must watch the original. I've got a set of Elfen Lied DVDs which are perfectly dubbed; when I first watched the series, I watched the sub, and I have to say that I prefer the dub cuz I don't like to miss something on screen when reading subs.

I have also confounded those same anime snobs by pointing out that I was watching anime (Samari Pizza Cats, Ulysses 31) when they were just a twinkle in their father's eye. I also like the Streetfighter 2 anime; tho in that case, it's best to watch the original version, cuz the dubbed version cut out a lot of the film.