Why Anime, why, must you skip dialogue?

Cafe Society
1

I have recently become obsessed with Anime. It all started with ‘Hana Yodi Dango’ (I have a crush on Domiyogi), continued with ‘Ceres’, ‘Spirited Away’ and the movie versions of ‘Cowboy Bebop’ and ‘The Slayers’. At times a small voice inside me wonders if I should have started down this path as my obsessive self has taken over and it wants MORE. And, alas I’m now at a point in my life in which buying up all the Anime I see is an option. (But not necessarily a healthy option from a social point of view!) :smiley:

Sure, my husband may say ‘What!? MORE?’, but a quick reminder that he married me knowing I was someone who hates clothing shopping but loves all things bright and shiny (as in computer games – not diamonds) usually takes his complaints away.

After doing massive searches about Anime on the Straight Dope I decided my next purchase would be ‘Fushigi Yugi’ and so to Amazon.com I went.

But, wow, even though I am prepared to pay what I must – the complete first season was very expensive. Until I saw the ‘buy used’ button on the right side. Following that link I found an affiliated person that was selling new versions of what I was seeking for much, much less. I’d never used that side of the site so I jumped to the logical reason: ‘Someone must have bought it and not watched it! Maybe their husband is more of an Ogre than mine, and is forcing them to give it up.’ I thought ‘Yay for me!’ I paid Amazon and they worked with this person who promptly sent me my DVD’s. All seemed good in the world.

But, the version I’ve received is different than the other Anime I have. It has Kanji on the box cover and on the DVD itself. Also, the subtitles are horrible – it skips whole sentences and misspells the characters names themselves. This is not a big deal – I fell in love with a Manga I couldn’t even read – I’m used to not always understanding everything.

However, I have to ask – is this just the way Fushigi Yugi is set up? Or, is this just a different version than the normal Japanese version? If it’s NOT the Japanese version, are the people who made it getting money for this? I’m not for cheaper Anime if the artistic creator’s are not getting their pay. If I choose to try again – going the ‘used’ route of the ‘buy used’ button this time – how do I know it’ll be the real thing – a once beloved but now no longer wanted copy originally purchased from the Anime creator’s themselves?

Also, it could just be my copy of this Anime – but why have they switched the main characters? Clearly, Yui - who is cute, sweet, smart and does not possess a voice and personality that made me wince should be the heroine! Of course, I’m only two dvd’s in so this mix-up could be fixed as I progress through.

Thanks for any help that can be provided! :slight_smile:

Oh! And though I’ve already done many searches – any recommendations for Anime that is similar in feel to Hana Yodi Dango and Ceres would be appreciated! :wink:

Lady

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You know, I just realized why my dvd has poor subtitles (I should really do google searches and not just sdmb searches). Typing in ‘bad anime subtitles’ gave me a few links that answered my questions. Well, at least I am a more informed shopper now!

A mod can delete this if they would like! :slight_smile:

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Before the thread is closed, I’d like to add that badly subtitled animes can be hilariously bad. I got one called “Naked Nurses” about a mysterious hospital run by a fellow whose mother is a vampire. It had voiceover and subtitles, and neither was like the other, and neither made any sense. It was hilariously bad. And that’s not always a bad thing.

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I simply must have ‘Naked Nurses’ now. Darn my curious mind!

5

Here try reading this website based on the manga Inuyasha. It a good site it explains all the cultural references and you can compare it with the actually animated cartoon. You can see why changes were made - it’s hardly a kiddie cartoon. :eek:

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Sorry! :stuck_out_tongue:

Here try reading this website based on the manga Inuyasha. It a good site it explains all the cultural references and you can compare it with the actually animated cartoon. You can see why changes were made - it’s hardly a kiddie cartoon. :eek:

7

Did you get a fan sub?

I’m new to anime too, and I generally like to turn subtitles on when I’m watching DVDs, just so I don’t miss any dialog. I’m noticing that the text doesn’t actually match what they are saying. Usually it’s close. But last night I watched Ghost in the Shell and I mean, it was like entirely different sentences! And this is all on legit copies of stuff put out by the studios. It’s kind of weird. I’ve never noticed it on non-animated discs.

8

Yeah, but with anime the subs aren’t subs of what you’re hearing, they’re of the original Japanese soundtrack. So they won’t match up completely since things had to be changed in the dub–sometimes it’s just that they’ll say A then B in the jap, but B then A in the English. Other times things were changed completely, say to take out cultural references that an American audience wouldn’t get, or because they couldn’t fit the mouth movements otherwise. And sometimes it’s just because the companies doing the dub are morons. (4Kids, I’m looking at you).

Also, are you sure that was legit? It could have been a bootleg fansub, those things float around.

9

Personally, I suspect the OP’s DVD’s are bootleg. Are there fewer discs than the amazon page says there should be? Is the box kinda cheap-looking?

I’ve got a couple of bootleg series, and one is completely not-understandable because the subtitles are so bad. Unfortunately, the series is a mind-screw to begin with, and the subtitle problem gets worse as the series progresses. Another came in a cheap case that’s falling apart.

I love some cheap anime, but you get what you pay for, I suppose.