British/Uk dubbed animes

If I remember correctly, Vicky the Little Viking and Alice in Wonderland also got UK-Dubs.
By the way: How many episodes of Vicky got a dub?
 
I have always felt it would be great if we had more variety in the anime rubbing space. Given how the pedigree of actors this country churns out then I'm sure getting the actors wouldn't be an issue. The tricky part is everything else. All the best people associated with anime Dubbing are in America such as the directors and ADR writers. It took years for the industry to really get good and consistent. You would ideally want to import some of that talent if you wanted to get a dubbing studio started here.

There are several shows I can think of that would have been appropriate for a British dub. Little Witch Academia and Ancient Magus Bride to name two recent examples.

Recently there was the dub for 'Mary and the Witch's Flower' with aj all British cast though this wasn't done by a typical anime studio and is dominated by big name screen actors (not knocking its quality) so it isn't going to signal some big shift in the industry.

Some recent Japanese video games have opted for all or mostly British dub voices. Notably Square Enix's Dragon Quest series and Nintendo's Xenoblade series. They can be rough around the edges compared with most American dubs but the industry wilk never get better here without practice. Before Xenoblade 2 came, Welsh cat girls are something I never knew I wanted to exist!
 
Mr L said:
All the best people associated with anime Dubbing are in America such as the directors and ADR writers. It took years for the industry to really get good and consistent. You would ideally want to import some of that talent if you wanted to get a dubbing studio started here.
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Not really sure I agree with that. I mean I'm not a sub only nazi, I believe there are good English dubs, but a lot of US & Canadian dubs still sound fairly hammy to me, and often with really weird and unnatural sounding emphasis. Most UK voice over work by contrast sounds more understated and natural, I think that's especially true when I compare areas where both US and UK voice overs exist, such as documentaries - So many US voice overs just sound totally over-dramatic to my ears.

Some of that is cultural no doubt, but I think we've got more than enough talent in this country, the problem is really that the US market is bigger so they're always going to dominate the dubbing industry. Then there's the media executive "wisdom" that says American audiences only want to hear people speaking American (hence all the US re-makes of British TV shows) which I think is a totally false assumption, but as long as they believe it they're not going to cast a lot of Brits.
 
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ayase said:
Not really sure I agree with that. I mean I'm not a sub only nazi, I believe there are good English dubs, but a lot of US & Canadian dubs still sound fairly hammy to me, and often with really weird and unnatural sounding emphasis. Most UK voice over work by contrast sounds more understated and natural, I think that's especially true when I compare areas where both US and UK voice overs exist, such as documentaries - So many US voice overs just sound totally over-dramatic to my ears.

Some of that is cultural no doubt, but I think we've got more than enough talent in this country, the problem is really that the US market is bigger so they're always going to dominate the dubbing industry. Then there's the media executive "wisdom" that says American audiences only want to hear people speaking American (hence all the US re-makes of British TV shows) which I think is a totally false assumption, but as long as they believe it they're not going to cast a lot of Brits.
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I am someone who watches dubs exclusively because I cannot follow subtitles though I have listened to comparisons to the original Japanese out of curiosity.

I often judge anime as having a style of acting fairly unique unto itself (varying depending on the show/movie). Similar to how naturalistic, non-naturalistic and classical theatre. Most anime aren't exactly subdued in their approach.

And it took a while for a lot of studios to understand that. A lot of non-mainstream anime dubs of the 80s, 90s and still some in the 2000s were pretty lifeless.

And in regards to translation and localisation work, it isn't just anime, the majority of English dunning is done and its a tough monopoly to break because of that experience gap.
 
If I had my way in life dubs wouldn't be produced at their current quality. I don't think any post 2010 dub has impressed me except for Space Dandy.

In my opinion the best dubs were produced in the late 90s, and early 2000s to which many of the actors back then aren't in the anime industry anymore because of either retiring, or better opportunities elsewhere.

I don't think a british dub would make shows with a british theme/location sound any better, or improve the dub quality.
 
Lambadelta said:
If I had my way in life dubs wouldn't be produced at their current quality. I don't think any post 2010 dub has impressed me except for Space Dandy.

In my opinion the best dubs were produced in the late 90s, and early 2000s to which many of the actors back then aren't in the anime industry anymore because of either retiring, or better opportunities elsewhere.

I don't think a british dub would make shows with a british theme/location sound any better, or improve the dub quality.
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Strongly disagree but whatever. I'm not just talking about voice acting, it's also the translation and scripting.

No it wouldn't necessarily make them 'better' but it would more natural. When characters are described as British but speak with American accents the entire time, it can be a little 'odd' to hear. I feel it would be an example of dubbing taking proper advantage of the language in a way the Japanese cannot.
 
I actually think Magus Bride could have done with an English dub. Instead we get a pseudo posh American accent for Ellis's that sound neither authentic or appropriate.
 
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The main difference for me, when listening to a US dub compared to the original Japanese voice acting is how so many US voice actors seem to put undue EMphasis on EVery OTHer SYlable. As someone who speaks English and knows how English speakers sound in real life, this just sounds so unnatural, and not even particularly theatrical (it probably doesn't help matters that when I'm thinking about English language theatrical performances I'm thinking of British theatre actors like Brian Blessed or Patrick Stewart - If this is how US theatrical performances sound remind me to never go the theatre in the US). Even if the Japanese voice acting is still a bit ott, it never sounds that odd. It's doubly weird because this doesn't seem to be a problem common to many original English language US animation dubs, which tend to sound a lot better to me.
 
ayase said:
The main difference for me, when listening to a US dub compared to the original Japanese voice acting is how so many US voice actors seem to put undue EMphasis on EVery OTHer SYlable. As someone who speaks English and knows how English speakers sound in real life, this just sounds so unnatural, and not even particularly theatrical (it probably doesn't help matters that when I'm thinking about English language theatrical performances I'm thinking of British theatre actors like Brian Blessed or Patrick Stewart - If this is how US theatrical performances sound remind me to never go the theatre in the US). Even if the Japanese voice acting is still a bit ott, it never sounds that odd. It's doubly weird because this doesn't seem to be a problem common to many original English language US animation dubs, which tend to sound a lot better to me.
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Most voice acting in animation has a certain amount of stylisation to it and it can often evolve and shift. Compare the voice acting of American cartoons in the 80S, 90s and recent times. There's a marked difference.

I remember an interview with Paul Dini of Batman: The Animated Series. He described the moment they first pkaued a sample of the voice acting for that show to their bosses? They received of pushback at first for how subdued and naturalistic it was compared to proffered style of the time.

I don't k ow how well I can speak on how Japanese VAs sound compared to live action or in real life conversation.
 
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