the Anime & Manga web page of the Griffin (part 4 of 6)

Part 4 of 6 To part 1 To part 2 To part 3

Advisory : If this site were a movie, it would be rated PG-13 or TV14 if it were a tv show. This is due to certain things I mention & certain ways I talk about things.

Video / movie notes :
Slayers With dubs (commercial or non-commercial), you do NOT get to hear the original voices (& the original vocal dynamics, tone of voice, emotions, &/or expressiveness (most dubs do carry these over well, but it is not always still like the original)), sound effects, or music. In transformations & fight scenes you will not get the "full impact" of how it was meant to be, even if the dub music is good. Lots of dub sound effects do the originals no justice at all & many dubs miss or change sound effects where something is done (which in real does not make a sound but a sound effect was put in). Now if the dub was done using one of those devices that only removes voice from music & other sounds (e-mail me to find out about these), then what I talked about earlier is not lost (except the vocal things I mentioned). Plus there are many mistranslations (accidental or on purpose), more so in the commercial stuff (especially the ones done for commercial broadcast) since it gets "watered down". Also in many of the commercial dubs (again, especially the commercial broadcast ones), stuff is cut out or put in another order & you will not get to see the original opening & ending. And another thing : in some commercial stuff (again, especially the ones done for commercial broadcast) scenes are visually altered. Some examples of this are changing signs or writing to English (or other language), redrawing or drawing over something to make it suitable for (American) kids, & "mirror imaging" of driving & traffic scenes.
With subs, you DO get to hear the original voices, sound effects, & music, but there still might be mistranslations (mostly accidental, but sometimes to "spice it up" or make something more understandable). Also you may miss a detail in the action or most of the action at a given point since you are trying to read the subtitling, especially if there is alot of action or scene switching with alot being said. At times, myself & others find subtitles alittle distracting. If necessary, watch subtitled versions twice : reading one time, watching the other time (more so true if the subtitles go too fast). Also at times, the subtitles cover something you may want to see. One good thing about subtitles is that they force people to read &/or keep reading skills active or increase them.
AIka (Aika) "promo" pic. Original, straight Japanese is the way to go (hard core Anime "otaku" already know this). Most of the stuff is only available this way (yet translated scripts are available for some if you can find them). Understanding Japanese will help but is NOT necessary. I bet you if you like a show or want to see something enough, it being in a language you do not know will not be a problem. Another thing is I have watched Anime (& other Japanese shows) many times with different people who do not or did not understand Japanese, yet were still interested in it, could follow it, & were getting into it ; & in some cases, they were not Anime fans (&/or into Japan & Japanese things). (& no, I was not translating for them. (Actually, doing real time translation for tv. shows or movies does not work too good since you can not keep up & it causes lots of distraction for the translatee(s) & the translator, especially when there is constant talking or action with lots of talking. Yet it does work alittle better if the translator has seen the episode or movie before, because he/she gets to watch & enjoy it without having to do anything & gets to pretranslate.)) Plus before I understood Japanese, I watched Japanese shows & could follow & get into them. Basically, what I am saying is, "Do NOT let not understanding Japanese be an excuse for not seeing an Anime you like or want to see (the original of or can not find subbed).". I witnessed & it was proven that alot people who do not understand Japanese can enjoy the show at Anime Expo. 1999. They showed the Nadesico movie & it was not subbed (& definetly was not dubbed). Less than 5% of that crowd walked out as it started. But it was very obvious with those that stayed that they were enjoying it & could follow the story. A wild guess is that less than 5% of the people watching it did understand Japanese.

Something else about subs & dubs : If you are as into Japan & Japanese culture, language, people, things, etc. (even half as much) as I am &/or are a preservationist, you would prefer subs & dubs that I refer to as "preservative". What do I mean by preservative (in this case) ? (No, I am not talking about something that is like jam or jelly, or something historic.) I mean that the Japanese in the title, opening credits, closing credits, & for the "sing along" are still there, not totally gone & replaced by Roman lettering or the translation ; the Roman lettering is put above, below, or to the side of the Japanese (or may not be put in at all). (I hate when they cover the Japanese with it.) Why am I making such a deal of this ? First off, leaving the Japanese there (or not covering it up) keeps more of a cultural aspect intact. The other thing is it lets those who can read Japanese (even very little) see the intended meaning of the words, more so with the names. Seeing the names in Japanese lets you know what they really mean, but Japanese names in Roman lettering lose what they mean in Japanese. For example, words & parts of words like "ka" & "mi" can mean many different things (& each meaning is written differently), but seeing it in Japanese lets you know which meaning it is. The same is also true for stuff that is not a name. One thing about Japanese names : the family (last) name is written first before the given (first) name when it is written in Japanese. In most cases when you see it on the screen in Roman letters, it is the given name then family name (like we are used to in the U.S.A.). (In Japanese publications, the names may be written or typed either way when in Roman letters (even if it appears with it in Japanese). Another reason to learn alittle Japanese so you can correctly read then (maybe) later correctly write the name of that favorite character, voice actor, voice actress, character designer, producer, Manga creator / artist, etc. of yours, in order.) You may not read Japanese (or even give a damn (about the cultural thing)) but what a way to get started, consciously or unconsciously. At least you will be able to recognize how to pronounce the character (Japanese writing or typing) when you see it, even though you may not know what it means (yet). Most fan subs are "preservative". I do not know about fan dubs since I have not seen any. Most commercial subs are not, but I was surprised to see some that are "preservative". I am not sure about commercial dubs but I bet most of them are not (unless it is on DVD & lets you have a choice on that). If it is for commercial broadcast, you might as well forget it.

Henry Liao (who I know personally) has good way of putting a few of the reasons why I do not like commercially released stuff ; here is what H.L. said : "With its popularity rising, anime and manga seem to have become more business oriented than ever before. No longer are titles brought to the States by passionate fans, but instead by businessmen who have "what makes me $$$" in their heads. I took one look at Saturday morning’s cartoons and found a buncha crap that doesn't represent good anime at all.".

A message to all Anime fan subbers, fan sub. distributors, & those that have fan subs (to keep them).

Another thing about watching Anime : It should be watched with undivided attention. I say this because in many scenes there are views of something, someone, an expression (facial), or a move in an battle/fight that last less than a second. For example, if you are looking at your plate because you are trying to jab that meatball with the fork or have to look at your friend to talk to him or her, you are going to miss something. This is more so true if it is subtitled ; you need to keep your eyes on that & the action.
Also if someone is sitting in a chair that makes alot of noise everytime they move or squirm around Ready to punch scene from Gallforce. (for example, a vinyl or leather chair or couch) get them another kind of chair, tie them up, or just knock them out so they can not move. Plus if someone in the vicinity is doing something that makes alot of noise or talking alot & loud enough, do something to stop them (how drastic you want to be is up to you). Or you could have the show up so loud that you & anyone else there goes deaf & you risk blowing the windows & speakers out. (I came close to doing that one time when the lawnmowers & leafblowers came to the unit next door. Maybe I should have gone out & tied up the workers.)

I do translations if I have the same book, video, etc. or was able to rent or borrow it. Better hurry before I come to my senses & stop doing it for free. Too late, I came to my senses, so most translations will not be free unless it is something I have already done. (Professional Japanese to English, English to Japanese interpreters &/or translators make around $35,000 to $70,000 or more a year, but I am not going to charge you the regular translator fee ; it will be alot less.) Also if I do it for free, there are no promises or guarantees ; It all depends on how I feel, what mood I am in, & how busy I am.

Some words about DVD & as it pertains to what I said earlier & Anime in general : If you want to be able to enjoy the DVDs of American re-releases of Anime (or just American stuff in general) & the stuff from Japan (like I said earlier : there is alot of stuff that will not be (commercially) subbed or dubbed (or until fan subbers & fan dubbers start using DVD recorders, & still there is alot more that will not be)) you will need (at least) 2 DVD players or just 1 (at least) code free, multi regional, region free, or non regional DVD player. Why ? Unfortunately when DVD was being developed, some bureaucratic assholes (excuse my foulness, but this does "tick me off") decided to put regional codes on disc & in players. (Why is in a couple of links that are later on this page.) (A few of the first DVD players to come out can be made non regional by adding a few extra wires or small electronic parts, but you have to know what you are doing & how to do it. Sony PlayStation 2 (both the Japanese & American versions) can be modified (but I hear the Japanese version is easier to do).)
With video tape & laser disc the only problem was the type of video synchronization system (like NTSC, PAL, & SECAM), but since Japan & the U.S.A. both use NTSC, there is no problem when an American wants to watch Japanese stuff or when a Japanese wants to watch American stuff. (PAL is used in most of Europe, then there are other systems (like SECAM) in some other parts of the world. Various types of converters (even VCRs that do it) are available. (Now there are a few DVD players that will play both NTSC & PAL, & most of them are code free, multi regional, region free, or non regional.))
With DVD, region coding is used (& it has nothing to do with the synchronization system). You can only watch a DVD with whatever code on a player that has that same code. There are 6 or more "regions" & (unfortunately) Japan & (North) America have different ones (funny enough, Japan & Europe have the same one (but they use different synchronization systems)). Many Anime fans also like stuff from China & Hong Kong which has yet another different code. So if you do not have one of few first players that can be "modified", you need however many different players to enjoy stuff from around the world, or just 1 code free, multi regional, region free, or non regional DVD player (or a modified Sony PlayStation 2).
Here are just 3 of many places that sell code free, multi regional, region free, or non regional DVD players : Code Free DVD.com, DVD City, & Techtronics. I just hope those bureaucratic assholes do not stop them from being sold or stop the companies from making them. More about region codes (including a world map showing where the codes are) & a few more words against them & why against them. Those of you in the Los Angeles area (or if you are not in that area, but do not mind paying a shipping charge) >click here< to read about a feature packed code free/multi regional/region free/non regional DVD player, where I got it, & the good price for it.
Now there is some other shit (again, excuse my foulness, but this does "tick me off" (, again)) called REA & RCE that is explained at links at the pages / sites listed / linked to above ; but there seems to be a way around that crap also. DVD City & Code Free DVD now has a few players that will play REA & RCE DVDs.

On to part 5. To part 1 To part 2 To part 3