You are currently viewing archive for September 2005
Naruto debuted on last night on Cartoon Network with the airing the first two episodes of the series in back-to-back timeslots. Enter: Naruto Uzumaki!, and My Name is Konohamaru After watching a fansub of Naruto earlier in the week, I was really looking forward to this release.
It's been a long time since I was this disappointed with a release.
I can imagine the stunned silence from my regular readers now. Simply put, I don't waste my time watching things I know I might not like, and I have yet to pan anything on Animation Unlimited. Sure I take a risk from time to time, but (and there should be little surprise here) much of what I watch has been sufficiency vetted so that I know what I am getting into. I just don't have time to waste on garbage, and that includes writing about it ... so I don't.
Naruto on the other hand, is a glaring example of everything that can go wrong in a dub. Ok, that may be a little harsh, but it's not far from it. This treatment really ticks me off because the source material is so good.
So, I'm going to make this very simple .... here is my list of Top 3 things wrong with the Naruto dub.
1) Acting - It may be too early to tell, it sometimes takes a few episodes for a VA to "find" a character, but I feel that Maile Flanagan as Naruto may be miscast. Sure, it follows in the tradition of the original to have a female play Naruto due to his age, but she seemed to be forcing the horse boyishness of his voice ... and I could not stop thinking that it was a woman playing Naruto. That thought truly never crossed my mind in the original, proving that Junko Takeuchi really "owned" the character. For the record, I was not thrilled with the other choices either, the voices just did not jell with the characters as I know them from the original. It's a shame too, they have some vets on the VA team.
2) Editing/censoring - Too much blood has been removed. I know I predicted it when I watched the original, but I don't think I realized the extent they would do it. Why in the hell would they bother removing the "pervert's nosebleed?" It's a standard convention in Anime and a running gag throughout the entire genre that, if a guy has naughty thoughts about a girl he sees, he'd get a nosebleed. Call it the equivalent of hairy palms for wackin'. They freaking took out the nosebleeds in every episode, and that ruins half the sexual gags. And I'm sorry, but if a guy gets a 3 foot shooting star stuck in his back there should be more than just a little blood. Hell there should at least be SOME blood. I know they are going to try to appeal to kids to some extent, but they are showing it in a 9:00-11:00 pm timeslot. Naruto should be at least TV PG-13, but they took it down to a PG rating. The series is going to suffer for it.
3) Theme song - It's a pet peeve of mine, but I really feel that if you are going to change the theme song of the series at all, it should at least be in the same spirit as the original. I'd rather it not be changed at all. I personally feel that the U.S. audiences have matured enough to take a little J-pop with their Anime. The original Naruto theme has a lot of emotion and feeling to it. The American one just doesn't have anything, it conveys nothing about the series. I think it is a loss.
On the bright side, the translation is good and they use the honorifics better than most.
Bottom line, I'm really not impressed with the American version of Naruto. The last dub that left such a bad taste was Record of Lodoss War .... and that is going back a lot of years. I'm really disappointed because this show has SO much potential and so much appeal, it could really be great. I'm going to give it a few more weeks before I abandon the Cartoon Network version for the fansub forever, just because I feel the series deserves it. But, I'm more than a little concerned that time is not going to change my opinion.
Feel free to discuss more in the forum.
-------
Update 11/2/2005
OK, OK, it's not as bad as I first feared. Please read Redemption: Naruto Dub Review (Episode - Kakashi: Sharingan Warrior)
It's been a long time since I was this disappointed with a release.
I can imagine the stunned silence from my regular readers now. Simply put, I don't waste my time watching things I know I might not like, and I have yet to pan anything on Animation Unlimited. Sure I take a risk from time to time, but (and there should be little surprise here) much of what I watch has been sufficiency vetted so that I know what I am getting into. I just don't have time to waste on garbage, and that includes writing about it ... so I don't. Naruto on the other hand, is a glaring example of everything that can go wrong in a dub. Ok, that may be a little harsh, but it's not far from it. This treatment really ticks me off because the source material is so good.
So, I'm going to make this very simple .... here is my list of Top 3 things wrong with the Naruto dub.
1) Acting - It may be too early to tell, it sometimes takes a few episodes for a VA to "find" a character, but I feel that Maile Flanagan as Naruto may be miscast. Sure, it follows in the tradition of the original to have a female play Naruto due to his age, but she seemed to be forcing the horse boyishness of his voice ... and I could not stop thinking that it was a woman playing Naruto. That thought truly never crossed my mind in the original, proving that Junko Takeuchi really "owned" the character. For the record, I was not thrilled with the other choices either, the voices just did not jell with the characters as I know them from the original. It's a shame too, they have some vets on the VA team.
2) Editing/censoring - Too much blood has been removed. I know I predicted it when I watched the original, but I don't think I realized the extent they would do it. Why in the hell would they bother removing the "pervert's nosebleed?" It's a standard convention in Anime and a running gag throughout the entire genre that, if a guy has naughty thoughts about a girl he sees, he'd get a nosebleed. Call it the equivalent of hairy palms for wackin'. They freaking took out the nosebleeds in every episode, and that ruins half the sexual gags. And I'm sorry, but if a guy gets a 3 foot shooting star stuck in his back there should be more than just a little blood. Hell there should at least be SOME blood. I know they are going to try to appeal to kids to some extent, but they are showing it in a 9:00-11:00 pm timeslot. Naruto should be at least TV PG-13, but they took it down to a PG rating. The series is going to suffer for it.
3) Theme song - It's a pet peeve of mine, but I really feel that if you are going to change the theme song of the series at all, it should at least be in the same spirit as the original. I'd rather it not be changed at all. I personally feel that the U.S. audiences have matured enough to take a little J-pop with their Anime. The original Naruto theme has a lot of emotion and feeling to it. The American one just doesn't have anything, it conveys nothing about the series. I think it is a loss.
On the bright side, the translation is good and they use the honorifics better than most.
Bottom line, I'm really not impressed with the American version of Naruto. The last dub that left such a bad taste was Record of Lodoss War .... and that is going back a lot of years. I'm really disappointed because this show has SO much potential and so much appeal, it could really be great. I'm going to give it a few more weeks before I abandon the Cartoon Network version for the fansub forever, just because I feel the series deserves it. But, I'm more than a little concerned that time is not going to change my opinion.
Feel free to discuss more in the forum.
-------
Update 11/2/2005
OK, OK, it's not as bad as I first feared. Please read Redemption: Naruto Dub Review (Episode - Kakashi: Sharingan Warrior)
I normally don't watch fansubs when a release is pending, but given the timeliness of this show I could not pass this one up.
On Saturday, September 10, Naruto will air for the first time in North America on Cartoon Network. The first two episodes (Enter: Naruto Uzumaki!, My Name is Konohamaru) will air at 9:00 pm and 9:30 pm and repeat again at 10:00 pm and 10:30 pm. My coworker insisted I borrow his subbed version of it and insisted that I would like it.
He was right, this might just be the next big thing.
Naruto is a young orphan misfit who aspires to be the most powerful ninja in his village. His skills are raw, and he might not make it though his training, but he is determined to succeed and has a lot of heart.
He is also a bit of an idiot.
After watching the first four episodes subtitled, I'm very interested to see what kind of job they do dubbing this thing. There is a teaser on Cartoon Network.com, but it is too short to get a good feel for how it turns out. The quality of the sub was quite good, and I really enjoyed the original Japanese voice actors. I really hope they do it justice.
The story was quite good. In the first two episodes we are introduced to Naruto and some of the other characters. We find out that Naruto harbors a dark past that even he does not know, and he is shunned by everyone in the village. He is prone to acting out in order to get attention, even at his own expense. He is easily misled though, and that gets him into a bit of trouble.
I'm sure they are going to need to edit out some of the blood, and perhaps some of the language.
It is entirely too early to tell, but it seems like the other characters seem pretty interesting. Sasuke, Naruto's rival and teammate, is really interested in only one thing ... revenge. Sakura, Naruto's other teammate, is only interested in Sasuke ... which is unfortunate for Naruto since he really likes her. Their sensei, Kakashi, hides much skill under his carefree exterior ... which is the opposite of his old teacher Iruka. Throw in Konohamaru, a homicidal grade schooler, and you have enough of a mix for the first few episodes.
Smarter, better paced, and funnier than Dragonball, I really think Naruto is going to strike a real cord with American audiences. People always love the misfit underdog, and Naruto fits that description very well. From what I have seen, this show has some real potential ... watching Naruto grow from a misfit scallywag into a ninja to be reckoned with should be a lot of fun. Let the training begin!
Feel free to discuss more in the forum.
On Saturday, September 10, Naruto will air for the first time in North America on Cartoon Network. The first two episodes (Enter: Naruto Uzumaki!, My Name is Konohamaru) will air at 9:00 pm and 9:30 pm and repeat again at 10:00 pm and 10:30 pm. My coworker insisted I borrow his subbed version of it and insisted that I would like it.
He was right, this might just be the next big thing.
Naruto is a young orphan misfit who aspires to be the most powerful ninja in his village. His skills are raw, and he might not make it though his training, but he is determined to succeed and has a lot of heart.He is also a bit of an idiot.
After watching the first four episodes subtitled, I'm very interested to see what kind of job they do dubbing this thing. There is a teaser on Cartoon Network.com, but it is too short to get a good feel for how it turns out. The quality of the sub was quite good, and I really enjoyed the original Japanese voice actors. I really hope they do it justice.
The story was quite good. In the first two episodes we are introduced to Naruto and some of the other characters. We find out that Naruto harbors a dark past that even he does not know, and he is shunned by everyone in the village. He is prone to acting out in order to get attention, even at his own expense. He is easily misled though, and that gets him into a bit of trouble.
I'm sure they are going to need to edit out some of the blood, and perhaps some of the language.
It is entirely too early to tell, but it seems like the other characters seem pretty interesting. Sasuke, Naruto's rival and teammate, is really interested in only one thing ... revenge. Sakura, Naruto's other teammate, is only interested in Sasuke ... which is unfortunate for Naruto since he really likes her. Their sensei, Kakashi, hides much skill under his carefree exterior ... which is the opposite of his old teacher Iruka. Throw in Konohamaru, a homicidal grade schooler, and you have enough of a mix for the first few episodes.
Smarter, better paced, and funnier than Dragonball, I really think Naruto is going to strike a real cord with American audiences. People always love the misfit underdog, and Naruto fits that description very well. From what I have seen, this show has some real potential ... watching Naruto grow from a misfit scallywag into a ninja to be reckoned with should be a lot of fun. Let the training begin!
Feel free to discuss more in the forum.
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