Nelvana's Cardcaptor's dub: Opinions

SnowWolf

SnowWolf

Adventurer
All this talk about NIS America's upcoming release of Cardcaptor Sakura and it's inclusion of the Animax dub has made me wonder:

How does everyone in this forum feel about the Nelvana's Cardcaptors dub?

I know alot of people tend to spit venom when you mention it, but I find a lot of that comes from Americans, due to the KidsWB cut, and people from the UK, Australia and Canada tend to be a little less harsh on it due only getting Nelvana's original cut.

Is it just the edits people hate or is it the voices too?

I personally have fond memories of this dub and feel that it still works within it's own universe. Given the way dubs were handled at the time and that Nelvana wanted the show on the air for as long as possible as well as being at the mercy of the FCC, I don't blame them for having made the edits that they did though admit they should have kept it uncut for the dvd release. I wonder how many kids, like me, have gotten into anime because of it as this dub pushed anime into a prime time kids programming block.

As for the voices, I loved Matt Hill's "Kero" for breaking away from the stereotype cute voice the character previously had and though Carly McKillip's "Sakura" for sounding more like an actual little girl, which the VA was at the time. Sadly I wasn't happy with all of them. Oh Richard Newman, you were a terrific Rhinox, but your voice did not fit Keroberos and Kero's true and borrowed forms often felt like they were replacing one another rather then one transforming into the other.

So nostalgia may be blinding me and it may not hold up when compared to the original Japanese version, but I can't hate or dislike it and I will not be made to feel bad for liking it.
 
I generally dislike American dubs because I find the accents intolerable most of the time, and that definitely applied to this dub. They tried to make it into a generic American cartoon. Whilst I do enjoy cartoons, you might as well just make another one rather than butcher an anime series to be like them.
 
It holds something of a place in my heart due to it's nostalgic factor (that and it's unforunte release over here meaning CITV ran it just as 9/11 happened, forever linking that show with that event in my head) but it ranks fairly low on the list of 2000's made for TV Dubs for me.

Coincidently, most of the shows at that tier weren't dubbed by 4kids themselves but often get accreted for their handywork; stuff like Megaman NT Warrior, Cardcaptors, that sort of fun stuff.

Highest tierd show on the list? Joint victory between Shaman King, Ultimate Muscle and Digimon Tamers
 
The edit to the title says enough, they was only one cardcaptor in the original.

Hate, due to the edits, tries to rewrite the show to escape almost every relationship it depicts.

The anime already tones down the subtext compared to the manga.
 
I've got a soft spot for it in a nostalgia sense, as I imagine like quite a few people, watching the show on ITV it was one of my first experiences of anime. I remember rushing home from school to catch it and writing down the card featured in each ep in a notebook.

Listening back to the dub now, it feels weird not hearing the usual voices (Funimation etc.) - personally I'm not a fan of 'New York' Kero. Sakura sounds alright - though again, it's weird hearing the name pronounced that way, compared to Naruto's Sakura.
 
I still find it odd the show ended up becoming filler for ITV on weekend afternoons. Especially given their long practice of buying the rights to animated/kids shows and airing episodes so far a part no one could follow the story.
 
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