The Future of One Piece anime...In America! FUNIMATION TAKES OVER!

[gaara d. lucci]

I liked the idea someone mentioned earlier. The idea of the company (whoever decides to dub OP) to dub a movie in order to test the series out.

[thexcluelessxone]

I know I read this somewhere else before, so it's not my idea, but what if one of the other dubbing companies picks up one of the movies to test out? Then they wouldn't have to commit right away to a gigantic series.

IMHO, movie 4 would be the best choice *if* they go this route, unless Toei does a spectacular job on the upcoming movie 8.


Edit: oops, I type too slow, Gaara beat me to it

[gaara d. lucci]

Yeah, movie 4 would definitely be the best choice. It definitely captures the feel and spirit of the series.

[Impel Down]

I'm just waiting/hoping that Funi or Viz will pick up OP, dodge sues from 4Shame, and make people stop laughing at me when I say I like OP the best.

[TakinawaTonfa]

Doubtful. BZE is very weak on casting and voice direction; Kotomine Kirei is voiced by one of my favourite VA's, Taylor Henry, and his performance isn't all that great in the opening there. In this clip, we have Michael McConnohie, a voice actor who could be identified as GAR, giving a weak performance as Berserker...I've heard his performances in games, other anime and media, and I must say I wouldn't have recognized him in this dub, in spite of all that he was doing was grunting.

I didn't find anything wrong with those clips. I like a lot of Bang!Zoom dubs as well, They aren't my fave, but they do respectable jobs. They aren't worth the bashing that you seem to give them. Ah well, different strokes I guess...

Oh, and because someone mentioned them earlier...

ADV

Voted the best anime company by a poll on ANN, or does that translate to most overrated? Don't get me wrong though, I've seen a few ADV dubs that I like (Evangelion, FLCL) but I've been getting the impression that a lot of people aren't too thrilled about the majority of their titles. I'm in no position to judge though, since there are still a LOT of titles from them that I have yet to see for myself. So as far as overall production, interpret it as you will. In terms of releases though, ADV seems solid in that field. Best-case scenario, we get some good box set releases similar to that of Gatchaman, or maybe even thinpacks a-la Evangelion.

[CosmicDebris]

Yeah, movie 4 would definitely be the best choice. It definitely captures the feel and spirit of the series.

Movie 4 would be good...but I'd like to see how the Arabasta movie turns out. Since that's where OP left off on CN, it would be a good place to pick back up, you know what I mean?

[Malintex_Terek]

Oh, just to make a correction, STUDIOPOLIS does Naruto, not Animaze. Makes sense given Animaze's track record...

I didn't find anything wrong with those clips. I like a lot of Bang!Zoom dubs as well, They aren't my fave, but they do respectable jobs. They aren't worth the bashing that you seem to give them. Ah well, different strokes I guess...

Like all companies, they have a couple of excellent dubs, perhaps most notably Kenshin, but the vast majority of their work (which I have heard in dubbed form) is generic and not all that enthusiastic. The FSN dub is worse than the Dragonball Z dub of FUNimations immediately following the phasing out of Ocean Studios, which a lot of people seem to believe is "terrible" quality (I would have agreed if, in retrospect, I realize now that dub wasn't half bad).

Geneon hires out to Bang Zoom! Entertainment for its second-class shows, or for an extremely expensive show that they can balance out costs through local dubbing. The really upper-tier stuff goes to Ocean Studios, or it's handled by a different California processing studio like Animaze.

I've heard concreretely unanimous criticism of the dub's performance quality, from people on all boars; nothing positive, or at least neutral, until now. As a hardcore dub fan, I wasn't surprised. To dissent would be an indication of a lack of experience with a wide variety of dubs, a deliberate attemempt to troll, or just crude taste.

Heck, even ADV's dub for Tutu, Slayers and Wedding Peach are better than that for Fate/stay night.

[gaara d. lucci]

Movie 4 would be good...but I'd like to see how the Arabasta movie turns out. Since that's where OP left off on CN, it would be a good place to pick back up, you know what I mean?

Yeah, that would be great, but dubbing that movie could take a while since it's not in theaters yet. Still, I'd be all for it.

[CosmicDebris]

Yeah, well, I'm holding off judgement until I actually see the thing, it could turn out to suck.

[firecrouch]

Well, I run the Monkey D. Luffy page on there (www.myspace.com/strawhatluffy) and I've got little over 1300 friends so I could get the word out from there. I wouldn't mind running it too, unless you would rather do that or have something cooked up already mate.

I like what I see. I'd be honored if you could do a "Save One Piece" page on MySpace, so get back to me when you see this or I'll just PM you. I've got some ideas I'd like to share with you, so we [and everyone else] should discuss this.

I'll be off the computer for a while, but I'll be back as always. Later.

[Impel Down]

Well, news from http://www.saveonepiece.com:
Appearently, Toei DOES want the US to have One Piece, which is lucky because everyone at Toei seems like they do opium. They're an odd bunch.

[Strange_One]

PLEASE FUNi.

Their YYH DVDs with their total uncutness, English versions of the original OP/EDs, and two sets of subtitles got me into anime.

[Quexinos]

Well, news from http://www.saveonepiece.com:
Appearently, Toei DOES want the US to have One Piece, which is lucky because everyone at Toei seems like they do opium. They're an odd bunch.

err yeah this whole topic started because of that ;)

[Vauny]

I can make a myspace for "save one piece" if no-one else has yet?
(I think its a really good way to get heaps of fans outside of this community involved)

[Zulen]

Well, the biggest question to me, one that will ultimately detirmine everything is whether or not the dub will be for kids.

[gogoedward]

So... I'll throw in my bit here.

Most of what you guys have already said is great. Original BGM, less/no edits, better VAs... My vote on that is to keep Zoro's, keep Robin's if she dropped the accent, and keep Ace's. I'm sorry to say Chopper's voice always seemed a tad on the nasally side to me...

Something else I'd LOVE to see would be certain unedited attack names and other phrases carried over from the original anime. Terms like 'Gomu Gomu no' and 'Bara Bara' are things I believe should be kept. Since a large percent of the Japanese fan base wants to see an English version as well, many of us would know what's going on with this. Even people new to such terms should be able to figure this out with relative ease, especially considering the fact that with less edits, it'd be geared for an older, and thus hopefully more intuitive, set of viewers. Things like 'yari' could be changed to 'spear' and whatnot, but pistol, bazooka, rifle... All those should stay.

This could go along with literal Japanese to English translations, something else that would have massive impact on the quality of the show.

Attacks called out in languages that were not originally in Japanese should be kept. I really can't think up a good reason for why, as I don't know the reason for their being in other languages to begin with, but I feel as though this should follow through as the original intent. 'Sables Pesado' and other such attacks wouldn't be the same if called out in English, now would they?

Other words that are unique, ones that aren't directly translated when I'm reading fansubs, and even other miniscule little changes, are something I feel should also stay. Den Den Mushi rather than snail phone, nakama rather than friends (though I wouldn't mind that one so much), dials rather than shells, Marines as opposed to Navy, yosh, oi, etc., etc. I feel as though these would make the series feel a bit deeper, not as 'dumbed down' as some changes might make it.

Specific character quirks, laughs in particular, are one more thing I feel should be carried over from the Japanese version. Ener's, Crocodile's, Spandam's... They deserve to be unique as opposed to the generic "Mwahaha, I'm evil!" laugh most of the bad guys get.

So... Anyone agree with me on these things? Or would you guys rather see a new dub with not as many ties to the Japanese original?

This is a mixed bag if you ask me.

Things like Zoro's attacks, and Crocodile's attacks should stay in Japanese and Spanish.

Other things, like terms and devil fruits I think should be translated.


The thing is that a dub, in order to be succesful, should appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Using words like Nakama, Den Den Mushi, and Gomu Gomu no might make people unfamiliar with the series be like "wha?" and seperate them from the show's appeal. One of the reasons alot of people didn't like the 4Kids dub is because it catered to an audience of children. A dub that caters only the fans might be well received by fans, but only by fans.

That being said, ALL tanslations should make sense and fit well. Personally, Gum Gum is fine if you ask me, but things like Tweet Tweet fruit and transponder snail need to go. Bird Bird Fruit, Falcon Model and Phone Snail would work just fine.


And only gearing a new dub to an older audience would be a failure if you ask me. One Piece is best placed in a Toonami style area, where both children AND older people can access it.

[Zulen]

That being said, ALL tanslations should make sense and fit well. Personally, Gum Gum is fine if you ask me, but things like Tweet Tweet fruit and transponder snail need to go. Bird Bird Fruit, Falcon Model and Phone Snail would work just fine.

Gum Gum was always great to me, but it's still really childish as opposed to "Gomu Gomu no". With "Gomu Gomu No", the voice actor can get really into it and make it a fierce battle cry, but you can't really transform "Gum Gum" into anything menacing. I've even tried. No dice.

Also, what's wrong with Den Den Mushi? I never even realized that was Japanese. I thought it was just a creative name. Does it mean something?

[Malintex_Terek]

Rubber Rubber = Gomu Gomu
Section Section = Bara Bara

Both are superior translations to "Gum Gum" and "Chop Chop" in my view.

[RomanGod]

I donno. Rubber Rubber sounds awkward to me.

I prefer Gum Gum.

[Zulen]

It's manly because Gomu and Gum sound alike.

Although, I think, that the dub shouldn't even have names for attacks, save for maybe Robin's. Other than those, Americans would just sound ridiculous.