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Sunday, August 31st, 2003

NEW EDITING REPORT: INITIAL D While we've known that TOKYOPOP was planning a heavily edited English dub and possibly video to go with it, the final result is worse than Initial D fans could have predicted. While the original video and Japanese audio are available uncut, the subtitles do appear to tone down one controversial relationship in the series. The English dub is heavily changed, including the use of totally new music and sound effects. Read the editing report HERE or find it in the 'Full List' link.

Greed.

Two years ago, TOKYOPOP had a hot property in Initial D that could have made them a nice profit. But then they started getting interest from networks about a possible TV deal. Instead of actually getting a deal with the real Initial D, they decided they had to turn it into an animated 'Fast and the Furious' for 7 year olds. They even edited the manga in anticipation of that TV deal.

Fortunately, that TV deal never happened.

Unfortunately, TOKYOPOP can't admit they made a mistake and release a proper DVD with a proper dub and accurate subtitles.

Please avoid TOKYOPOP's INITIAL D products. Only then will they get the message that editing doesn't pay.

TV EDITS: Shaman King and Knights of the Zodiac Add Shaman King to 4Kids' list of edited for TV dub-only releases. Also, remember that DIC's heavily edited Knights of the Zodiac that recently started on Cartoon Network can be seen unedited on DVD as Saint Saiya from ADV.

Tuesday, August 26th, 2003

UPDATED SAILOR MOON EDITING REPORT Now that ADV is releasing their subtitled DVD boxsets of the first two seasons of Sailor Moon, I've updated the Sailor Moon editing report with current info. Unfortunately, it contains the bad news that the subtitled DVD boxsets from ADV are not uncut. In addition to not containing ANY of the next episode previews and having the 'today on Sailor Moon' previews in the wrong location, ADV was not able to obtain episode 67 to release in the US. This means that this missing episode will likely NEVER be released in the US. Read the updating editing report HERE or find it in the 'Full List' link.

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2003

NEW EDITING REPORT: Ai Yori Aoshi With information provided by Kyle Thomas Pope I've put up an editing report for Pioneer's release of Ai Yori Aoshi which had a different song in place of the familiar 'Happy Birthday to You' song that was sung in the original Japanese audio. Read the editing report HERE or find it in the 'Full List' link.

UPDATED RANMA 1/2 EDITING REPORT Now that Viz has just about finished releasing the Ranma 1/2 anime on VHS and DVD, I've updated the Ranma 1.2 editing report with the final order of the episodes as released by Viz. Unfortunately, they did end up reordering a few episodes in the final season to avoid splitting the Cheerleader story, so they still earn a big raspberry from me. Read the updating editing report HERE or find it in the 'Full List' link.

Tuesday, June 10th, 2003

AN Entertainment and the Risky Safety Dub In a thread on Anime on DVD's forum, there have been discussions about AN Entertainment (Animenation's new anime production division) and how they are approaching the English subtitles and dub for their first release: Risky Safety. Read the thread HERE.

Sadly, this toning down/dumbing down/sanitizing of dubs isn't new or limited to AN Entertainment. What's a little disturbing is how their response (included below) tries to tap dance around what they're doing. While we will have to see the final product before we know if the changes are major or minor, I can't say the response makes me think better of AN Entertainment and their views of English dubs.

As I've said before, if you want to release an anime title that's suitable for 'all ages', then license a title that was intended for 'all ages'.

Re: Risky Safety dub "softening" of harsh language 06/10/03 11:41 AM

As part of our commitment to presenting English speaking viewers with the most faithful and accurate possible version of imported Japanese animation, we are confident that both subtitle and dub watching fans will be pleased with the English translation of Risky Safety. We believe that Risky Safety is a series suitable for viewers of all ages, but the series was based on a manga intended for young adult males, and was originally broadcast on late night Japanese television during Anime Complex, a program targeted primarily at young adult males.
The official Risky Safety English language subtitle translation is the result of an original fan produced translated script revised with input from several professional translators and comparison to both the original Japanese recorded dialogue and the original Japanese language shooting scripts. The AN Entertainment staff is confident that the Risky Safety subtitle translation will be among the most accurate and faithful subtitle anime translations available on any official American release anime DVD.
The Risky Safety English dub translation was designed to be accessible to viewers of all ages, races and sexes. In certain relatively infrequent instances Risky uses adult language including the words "damn" and "bastard." When these terms were deemed integral to the dialogue, they were retained in the English dubbing. Yes, the dub version of Risky Safety does include a handful of instances of adult language. This content may offend some viewers, but we don't consider 2 or 3 singular "swear words" uttered within 80 minutes of animation significant enough to warrant a mature language warning or adjustment to our recommendation of suitable viewer age. In occasional instances where Risky may have uttered a spontaneous obscenity that wasn't an essential expression, the dub script left out this utterance. For example, Risky may have said in the original Japanese, "Hey! What are you doing, damnit! Let me go!" while the English dub will say, "Hey! What are you doing? Let me go!" We do not consider omissions of this sort "censoring" and we do not believe that this translation alters the meaning or expression of the original dialogue in any way.
In response to recent speculation that the official English translation will be censored we can respond only by reiterating the statement of policy that AN Entertainment has stood by since its first day of operation. AN Entertainment is committed to presenting English speaking viewers with translations of imported Japanese animation that are accessible and appealing while compromising as little of the artistic and cultural integrity of the original artwork as possible.

Jeff Grose
AN Entertainment

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