Damn amrikans! Always screwing with Jap TV!

[SomethingBig]

Hearing "AW FUGK THEM DAMN USRAMRIKANS R SCRIWIN WIT MAH FAVRITTE ANEMEY11!" is really annoying, especially when they hardly ever change the anime or any other Japanese show.

Example 1: Ringu and The Ring.
I've seen both and I think they're equal? Why? Because they're the same damn movie. I found very many similar lines in both movies. Everything, save of course for the actors, the setting, and the music, is the same. I, however, found the US version of Samara to be scarier.

Example 2: Dragonball Z
I can't think of a better example. For years, people have complained "BLAST U AMRIKANS MESSN WIT OWR DRAGINBAWL!1!". They editted out male nudity scenes and some blood. Otherwise, Funimation stayed true to the story and the voice actors were decent and tolerable. Or would you guys out there prefer to see penises and hear a Japanese man with a high-pitched voice scream at the top of his lungs?

Bottom line, the US does a fine job with its anime transitions and movie remakes. Just look at FMA, Inu-yasha(though it has a terrible script), and the soon to be Get-Backers.

[DMKA]

You don't know how wrong you are, actually.

http://www.dbzoa.net/dbzuncensored/ = site that shows all the various changes made to Dragonball Z. It was a hell of alot more than some nudity and blood.

And up until the birth of Adult Swim, I'd like to see an anime series that was shown on American television and not drastically changed, other than maybe Pokemon and Digimon.

[TheAbominatrix]

In recent years, yes they have improved. This has not always been the case, however. They've grabbed Japanese shows and turned them into completly different things.

For example: Gatchaman. A ground-breaking anime from the 70's, first dubbed here as Battle of the Planets. They cut out so much footage they had to make a completly new character, a 'guardian robot' that watched over the team.

Some Japanese media has been butchered beyond belief... it really is just a hit or miss deal.

[Vyk]

Good examples however. But despite that, nobody cares what DBZ fans whine about. Its the newer animes that are getting butchered. And personally I think Fox 4kids does more damage than Funimation. Plus Funimation will give you uneditted versions. People just bitch about Cartoon Network/Toonami/Adult Swim (which by the way is national television) because they show highly editted anime. Though a lot of stuff has to be editted, granted they do kinda go overboard. But that's probably due to paranoia. Plus Cartoon Network doesn't say "edit this more". They just air what they'er given. Its Funimation and the other companies that are doing the editting. But still, like said, if you want to buy them, you can watch uneditted or less editted versions.

[SomethingBig]

You don't know how wrong you are, actually.

For what, Ringu and The Ring? Or in general?

In recent years, yes they have improved. This has not always been the case, however. They've grabbed Japanese shows and turned them into completly different things.

I didn't even know they brought Gatchaman to the US. And I was really talking about recently, as the US's obsession with the Japanese began no more than 10 years ago.

I'll admit, I probably should have put "the US does a fairly good job with blah blah blah."

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Dragon Ball was never high art to begin with, but the abominable voice acting and rewriting put forth in the American version made it unwatchable. And if that weren't enough, FUNimation took out all the original background music and replaced it with a single thumpin technorock track that played monotonously throughout entire episodes, regardless of the intended tone of any particular scene.

It's true that anime geeks are quick to regard the most benign alteration to a show as a criminal act of mutilation. It's just that Dragon Ball is a bad example of that phenomenon, since it really did have a number done on it.

[DMKA]

Well being a Sailor Moon fan I've kind of got a permanent spite against it...cause well...anyone who's see the original and the dub knows.

[TheAbominatrix]

Gatchaman has been dubbed in the US three times. Once as Battle of the Planets, once as G-Force, and once as Eagle Riders. The first two dealt with the first season, Eagle Riders merged Gatchaman II and Gatchaman F.

Eagle Riders, being an anime dubbed within the last 10 years, suffers similar problems. For example: there is one major villian under Sosai for each season. In II, it was Gel Sadra. In F, it was Egobossler. The dubbing, however, lead us to believe that these two were the same person in different 'moods'. Which was not only dumb, but took away Dr. Pandora's relation to Gel Sadra.
<img src="http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b293/SavageAshley/GelSadra00.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">
<img src="http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b293/SavageAshley/Egobossler00.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

Another example. Sailor Moon. One of the biggest influences on the influx of anime into America... the last two episodes of the first season saw the deaths of the Inner Senshi, Tuxedo Mask, and finally, Sailormoon herself. At the end, of course, they were restored by the Silver Crystal and all was right with the world. However, in the dub, the two episodes became just one, and every Senshi didnt die... they were 'captured' by the "Negaverse".

Still, there are some very good dubs, even from before the major importing began. Yoroiden Samurai Troopers, dubbed as Ronin Warriors, was translated almost completly perfect. The only changes I can think of offhand were the names, but even then they worked to keep them sounding Japanese or mystic (Touma became Rowen, Shin became Cye, Shuu became Kento, Nasuti became Mia Koji), even keeping the family names of the characters for the most part (Nasuti's was changed, probably because of pronunciation issues. Yagyu is a strange name).

So yes, definitly hit or miss. I'm impressed and pleased by the way things are heading, especially since, being an anime fan for most of my life, I've had to deal with some craptastic dubs.

Oh, one more example I want to hit on... whoever <i>subbed</i> Magic Knight Rayearth. They subbed the honorifics as the stupidest things. Hikaru refers to Umi and Fuu as Umi-chan and Fuu-chan... in the subs that's translated as Umi-ster and Fuu-ster.

Ugh!

[Necronopticous]

I fully and completely disagree about the Ringu remake, The Ring was a butchered interpretation of Ringu. The Grudge, however, I felt was a great remake of Ju-on... Same with Dark Water, really.

[Winter Nights]

Wow.. Considering how NONE of the backstory told in Ringu made it the US version, I find it odd that you see as such a direct translation.

[XxSephirothxX]

It's funny, I always knew DBZ was edited, but I've heard so much talk about it recently that I'm beginning to want to go back and watch some unedited episodes of the series, despite how bad a show it really was. :P
Anyway, some of my favorite series, in my opinion, have extremely good English translations. Cowboy Bebop, RahXephon, and FLCL all have great voice acting, and the first and last weren't edited too badly when played on Cartoon Network.

[Vyk]

I fully and completely disagree about the Ringu remake, The Ring was a butchered interpretation of Ringu. The Grudge, however, I felt was a great remake of Ju-on... Same with Dark Water, really.

That's kinda sad since I hated The Grudge and kinda liked The Ring. Maybe I should watch the originals and compare for myself...

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

Gatchaman has been dubbed in the US three times.

Four times. They finally <a href="http://www.animejump.com/index.php?module=prodreviews&func=showcontent&id=648">got it right</a>.

[TheAbominatrix]

Well now you know what to get me for Christmas, Kishi. :skull3:

[Sasquatch]

Sorry, I'm not big into cartoons.

And I've never seen Takeshi's Castle, but I doubt it could be as good as MXC.