I do agree that the dubbing currently done by anime companies leave a lot to be desired, and a lot of this lands on the heads of the actors and directors. They are called voice ACTORS for a reason. And if you listen to some of these voice actors and directors, they will tell they they think they are doing a terrific job. Part of the problem I see is just as you said. There are no “proper” VA schools. There are plenty of them (there’s one in Palms Springs, not to far from me), but they still don’t look at VA as a career. VA is for voice-overs in commericals, to tied you over until you can get a “real” acting gig. As long as this attitude prevails, I don’t think we’re going to get any good dubs or, very sadly, audio dramas.

There’s two possible solutions that i can see. First is to go what i said above, have all the companies come together and start their own school, after reseaching japanese ones, and better yet possibly have a few of them come over to show how its done. Getting embarressed may kick start their ego a bit

The other option is to look at say the UK, which has an established radio drama pool of actors. Look at how they’re trained, and then adapt it for anime.

Though i think you’re right, to many VA’s arent interested in making a career out of it, so they just don’t put the effort in. To me though, if they aren’t going to put the effort into the acting, don’t hire them.

Look at the anime that disney picked up, their dubbing is pretty damned good, because the actors are professional and put their heart and soul into the making. Look at the likes of Samuel Jackson, Robin Williams, the acting they do in the anime and cartoons they’ve done is superb. Just because it’s an anime/cartoon they don’t drop their standards.

Williams actually prefers cartoons because he can be more whacky than he can with TV lol.

Sadly, until the companies realise the VA’s and directors are talking out of their ass, with inflated egos, and the dubbing really does suck, we won’t get any improvements. Sales will continue to flag, and they’ll continue to claim it’s all the evil fansubers fault.

Why spend $50 on a DVD set just to watch the subs, when you can download them for free and have them nice and styled? It’s sad, but it’s the truth. Dubbing and Extras were all that buybg DVD’s was for. Dubbing has gone to the dogs, and the extras are getting skimpier and skimpier, so why spend the cash? Better to buy manga instead

I think you’ve put a definitive answer for me on this. I’ve always disliked US voice acting vs. Japanese – I hadn’t realized the difference in training. The irony is that a lot of people swear up and down that US cartoons are horrible, yet I find that the voice acting there is far better (generally) than the stuff in dubbed anime.

I buy a lot of US published mangas, but not anime, for the same reasons as many, they just suck.

What Caitlin said about VA in US cartoons being far better generally than anime dubs brings the point of the medium. It’s just like video games, western published games/cartoons are easy to do, because they were created with that language in mind.

Of course it’s the exact opposite with anime, it’s more difficult. But it’s not undoable, at least to have above average dubs in another language, provided they get better themselves, or they get better voice actors.

But I think the main cause is that anime companies just don’t really care. My older brother still buys anime from time to time (I supply the manga), and where I’m currently at (Australia), at least they’ve Japanese audio options (don’t know about US..) but their subs are horrendous.

I would buy anime if they put more effort in the subtitles really, although GOOD and QUALITY would be really welcome, albeit a far-fetched notion from their current attitudes. And I say, for the aspect of sales, they REALLY need to look to Japan to see, what a TRUE “Limited Edition” or “Special Edition” is supposed to be like, US with a few exceptions (for games) is just hopeless in that aspect!

Sorry if I rambled on too much… *bows*

I’ve always thought that the problem with American voice actors, is that, for the most part, they aren’t actually voice actors. They don’t really know what to do when an animator is doing half the work of expressing their character’s feelings. Most of them overcompensate–trying to put super duper extra feeling into every sentence, since they know they don’t get to use their faces to help them along, so that every sentence uttered is completely overblown. I always feel like American voice actors make their characters sound like they are talking to a group of very, very small children, no matter what the target age of the anime is.

Anyway, all that rambling really comes down to: yes, yes, a million times yes.

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