The Japanese civilian population only suffered because of the actions of their government, a distinction that the movie conveniently forgets to emphasize. If what Japan and Germany (and the Russians) did were “atrocities”, then nothing that the USA did could be called the same as even the most morally reprehensible acts of the USA are far lesser than those of those other nations.
I’m not sure why this movie is so acclaimed, even, for sake of discussion, ignoring the world war 2 premise.
The protagonist of the film is a prideful asshole who is guilty of manslaughter, though if I were the prosecution, I would press for murder. Even worse, he isn’t interesting as a character.
It seems this is getting a new dub.
I didn’t watch this when it popped up on VOD recently, but now I’m curious.
To those that watched it on VOD recently, did TAN play the old dub or the new one?
I didn’t watch it on VOD either. However, I’m willing to bet they made the new dub because the original CPM/Animaze wasn’t available in high enough quality for a lossless bluray audio track. It was apparently recorded in mono.
I submit this as a reason why we need an emoticon here to express frustration at the illogical, something like a smiley face banging its forehead against a wall.
So many titles in Sentai’s catalog have gone undubbed, yet this one gets redubbed?! Total waste of resources.
I didn’t even realize that this movie could be watched in English (sarcasm). When I first saw it, in a group setting, it was stated that watching this dubbed in English would be “racist and insensitive”, a position that I’ve encountered often in the years since.
After AMV Hell 3 I can’t think of the movie as being heavy or depressing. I’m still surprised that AMV made it in to that production.
I’m gathering that you have some familiarity with the original story, perhaps you’ll think more critically of the male protagonist in the film than most others have.
If they wanted to release it on bluray, they likely had little choice. The chances of Animaze’s dubs being up to high def audio standards is virtually zero. And while the dub was quite competent for its time, it was hardly one of their best.
Also, the title sold well for CPM and ADV’s co-release with them must have sold well enough for Sentai to acquire the title. It’s also being released in several countries in the future on bluray and many will likely include the new dub. This was dubbed because they are more likely to make money on it. It’s a business. They can’t decide what they are going to dub based on personal preferences.
Sure they can. Maybe it wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do financially, but they could still do it. In this case, I think the Nathan Explosion quip about this not being the right thing to do artistically but it is the right thing to do financially is appropriate. At least I hope so; I won’t be helping Sentai out on this venture of theirs, but I hope enough other people do as I don’t want to see 'em take a hit just for throwing a lot of support behind a property that I don’t much care for.
Though I don’t like them redubbing this title, I sorta like the “principle” of it. I wish Funimation would have redubbed Serial Experiments Lain for their posh rescue release. The original might be decent enough from an audio/technical standpoint, but it is far from a good dub.
Sentai sends out David Williams to events near and far where he seems to often state that he doesn’t like to go back and redub Sentai shows that were released sub-only, but then Sentai goes and redubs this movie. It does frustrate me as there are still so many more deserving undubbed properties. Sigh, I guess I can only blame the fanbase. Another place I could have used that emoticon.
On a slight tangent, what happened to the other ADR Directors @ Sentai? Chris Ayres was directing a few recent releases, Kyle Jones came in off a hiatus to direct, and Matt Greenfield was even called in to direct a bit but now they seem to be gone and Stephen Foster is having to direct everything again. While I can’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship, I did notice that the “quality” of Sentai dubs went down a bit when he was directing most all their releases. They were still good, great compared to the “competition”, but they lacked that zazz, that genius “Fosterization”, IMO that makes his dubs greater. Point being, I’m mildly concerned.
Chris Ayres now works full time as a director at Seraphim and a large amount of their dubs have been directed by him, like Intrigue in the Bakamatasu, Bantorra, Haiuoki, and a few others. The majority of Sentai titles I’ve purchased this year were directed by him. He’s directing about as much as Stephen Foster. I don’t know what’s up with Kyle Jones, but Matt Greenfield seems to work primarily on negotiating for new titles as well as running Maiden Japan/Switchblade. I would like to see more Greenfield dubs though.
As I said, they had little choice but to create a new dub for this if they wanted to release it on bluray. They either released it with subpar audio, which would have killed sales and angered fans, or created a new dub they could encode lossless. Since they will likely make that money back licensing out the dub, or may have even had financial assistance from other companies in its production, their choice was probably the best one. Plus, it gives another reason for purchase for those that were on the fence.
I’m actually quite likely to pick this up, just so I can sample the new work.
I’m glad that Chris is directing more stuff. So far I’ve only “seen” him on shows that were, well, not that great IMO, and that’s led to dubs that damage my perception of him. I’d like to see him on a show that is pretty good IMO. I’ve gathered that the man is skilled and a perfectionist (not to mention a big believer in “blame the director, not the actors”) so my money is on the show selection. I thought similarly of Colleen Clinkenbeard regarding most of her direction work but lately she seems to have stepped up. I’m not sure if it is the shows themselves (and my opinions of them), the scripts, or just more anime directing experience, but there’s definitely been an improvement. To be blunt, I like Chris Ayres a lot more than I care for Colleen Clinkenbeard so I want to see this change.
Anyhow, ANN only lists him as directing 14 series. 9 of which came out/will come out this year as I recall. Compared to Stephen Foster, is 9 really that many for this year? It doesn’t seem like it to me, but I haven’t counted the deluge of Foster works but FWIW Stephen Foster has directed the bulk of the Sentai stuff that I’ve bought this year.
Would the old dub on the blu-ray truly have angered the fanbase? If so, then I guess I haven’t been giving the fanbase enough credit There are enough fans who are vocal about both dubs and HD to matter, on a release like this? There might still be hope for anime fandom!
(I’m also surprised considering that David Williams has also remarked in his presentations that BD has always ended up being outsold by DVD)
…IMO mono audio isn’t even good enough for lowly DVD.
I’d watch the movie again, with the Sentai dub, but I don’t think I could physically bring myself buy the product. It’s the only Sentai-dubbed product I think I’ve ever and will ever say that about, and I didn’t think that I’d ever be saying that. If someone in my anime group buys it or TAN ever gets around to streaming the Sentai dub then I’ll check it out.
The fans raised shit storms over lossy Dolby 5.1 tracks on Funi and Sentai blurays (Appleseed, Legend of the Dark King.). I’m sure the complaints over a mono, or even a lossy stereo track would be pretty bad.
One gusty move for Sentai would be to do the same as the original japanese version and have a real preschooler play the role of the sister. I’m not holding my breath however. :dry:
Are there any WWII anime movies or series ? I know there’s Barefoot Gen, but it’s not in the same league as of GotF. I wouldn’t suspect that movies or shows about this timeline are all the rage in the country, knowing how it ended for them.
The only one that comes to mind is Zipang, but I’d discount it as it was utterly ridiculous.
I’m not sure that I’d want to have the sister dubbed by some actual age-appropriate child actor. Sounds a little macabre to me.
Were these complaints about English dub audio quality that actually caused the companies to care/take notice/do something about them? I can’t say that those properties appeal to me so I missed most fan rage that came about because of 'em.
I haven’t personally watched it, but every review and comment I’ve read states it is a very straight forward dub with little rewrites. Only grammar and other small changes were made. It’s also been pretty unanimous that the Seraphim dub is better.
There are enough fans who are vocal about both dubs and HD to matter, on a release like this? There might still be hope for anime fandom!
If someone in my anime group buys it or TAN ever gets around to streaming the Sentai dub then I’ll check it out.
