Yeah, I disagree big time. Everything she does sounds mechanical and artificial
I do believe Sheh was miscast, though. The problem is they seemed to be casting for an actress with a naturally high register for "accuracy" to Kotono's voice, but forgot that Sailor Moon in classic was supposed to sound cute at times, not just childish and whiny -- and that is exactly how Sheh comes off...as a kid, not as a pretty warrior. Maybe it's the strain of that fake baby voice. I've heard Sheh in other roles; she can act (and there are roles where the baby voice is appropriate), and even her Crystal performance is better because she's not trying to "force" emotion in quite the same way.
Something campy can still be taken seriously.
Callisto from Xena is a serious and tragic villain she’s still campy from the actresses performance to the tone and style of the series she’s in.
Callisto from Xena is a serious and tragic villain she’s still campy from the actresses performance to the tone and style of the series she’s in.
We need Sam Raimi's Sailor Moon. Unlike PGSM, his company would make it cheesy and genuinely funny.
Well, sorry people didn't like it for the reasons I mentioned.
Nobody was bashing the old dub in here, btw. You guys just come in these threads and act like you're better than everyone else for liking the Viz dub.
Nobody was bashing the old dub in here, btw. You guys just come in these threads and act like you're better than everyone else for liking the Viz dub.
Just like how I disagree with your assumption that "silly accents" equals "good acting."
Seriously, what is with the old dub fans acting so rude and nasty to everyone else? You still have it, even if it's not in circulation.
Fans of the original? They were out of luck for the longest time.
Fans of the original? They were out of luck for the longest time.
And you always had the original version. If you didn't, you wouldn't know of what was changed because you'd have nothing to compare it to.
All anime at its core is camp. The over exaggeration of eyes, large expressions, extravagant costumes, the humor. Especially by your definition of camp. You can’t tell me the Sexy Jutsu isn’t camp. Naruto and Sasuke defeated one of the strongest villains by transforming into a group of naked boys. That’s camp, mama.
If someone 7takes Titanic, removes all the sex/intimates scenes between Rose and I forgot his name, takes the story in Russia, renaming them Masha and Andrei, present them as let's say cousins, rewrites the dialogue accordingly and hires some actors to read the dialogue in Russian, would you consider it a Russian dub of the film?
However, if you believe that changing it so far makes it a transformative work (and I also agree that it does), then, much like a RiffTrax it should be allowed to stand on its own merits without comparing it to an original version.
I feel like That's the the thing you're not understanding. Sailor moon was Campy with certain characters and had it comedy moments but SM is not a campy show, I think your DIC nostalgia has you blind to how SM really is cause the japanese VA's were hardly campy and over the top some were but overall SM was the setup for the magical girl aspect that focused romance and being a teen girl trying to save the world.
Viz's redub was not perfect but like Purplewarrior said they captured the tone of the original Jap version and like said all the Va's improved as they went along
Viz's redub was not perfect but like Purplewarrior said they captured the tone of the original Jap version and like said all the Va's improved as they went along
Again, it comes down to accuracy vs precision.
Pretend on the left is the DiC/Optimum dub and the right is the Viz dub. Many people will say the one on the right is more accurate...but it isn't. It's just more consistent. The DiC dub, as off the mark as individual aspects were, is more accurate. Why? Because while the plots are scattershot...they're closer to the target on when each point is taken as an average.
The Viz dub, on the other hand, is focused on getting everything "just right" and is miles more consistent...and "on point." It's just the wrong point. It loses sight of its own goal. It's trying to be perfect and progressive while forgetting that localization and cultural translations are a part of the process, too, and that this show about preternaturally pretty girls in high heels and magic powers isn't the same as a Studio Ghibli film.
Now, in this case, it's clearer the first attempt graphic is more accurate (once you understand accuracy vs. precision)...but what if you can't see the target as in the case of subjective cases like these? Then you assume the DiC dub is worse because it's not as precise...which is dangerous.
I'm old enough to remember when a big knock against the DiC dub was that it actually toned down down the vocal performances, and that the Japanese version had more emotional voice acting...and I'll give an often overlooked instance I will agree the old dub failed to match the original version in terms of emotion.
In "Secret Garden" (dub), when Serena comes over to the aliens' apartment, Alan greets Serena in a rather standard, if pleasant manner with maybe a little excitement. In the original episode when Seijuro hears Usagi's voice, he lets an out "USAGI-SAN!" that lets you know that in spite of his stolid stance, he's very glad to see her. Guess which delivery Viz chooses for its dub. Yep, back to the "mildly surprised and happy" delivery.
This does ruin an important nuance of the original version that both dubs miss out on -- and this is coming from someone who loves Dub!Alan-- The animation shows Seijuro/Alan to be a standoffish and reserved, but the vocal performance reinforces that he's not "above it all" but posing as cooler than what he actually is. This also ties into his immaturity which is a significant plot point near the conclusion. By contrast, both English dubs really downplay his childish traits in performances.
However, leaving DiC out of it, there's an easy way to compare the power of the original version with the power of Viz dub...Moon Animate Make-up 2.
Unlike the first Moon Animate Make-Up, which was based on the DiC dub dub, Moon Animate Make-Up 2 was based off the Japanese version. I watched it and while I don't think it was as good as the first one, it still worked. It's forgotten than in such a serious episode that the animators re-animated, Episode 68, there is still a LOT of campy humor and performances and the animators poked fun at in spades.
I then listened to the new dub synced up to the same visuals and it just came across as lacking in emotion, where the animation did not fit the new dub at all. For instance, Luna's trolling of Usagi's potential bedwetting, completely over the top in the original version, was just bland and unnatural here. If you were to sync up the Viz audio, overall there are other points where the English-language performances falls flat, and this is just in one episode.
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