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Inu Yasha in America
Alright, now that I have seen the English dub of Inu-Yasha on Cartoon Network, I'm here to give my opinion (which you can take along with the 6 million other opinions out there) on the subject. What did I think of it? Well, there were definately good things and bad things, so I'll start with the good things because most people tend to focus on the bad, and I want to be optimistic.
The Good:
Inu-Yasha's Voice: I know most people didn't like it, but I thought Richard Cox was really convincing and actually pretty good, even if he isn't Kamaguchi Yappei. He was actually the most believable main character, because he was about the only one who put any emotion into anything. Even his manaical laugh- I didn't see anything wrong with it. So I would give him an 8/10, and here's hoping that he gets more 'feel' for the role as time goes on.
The Villagers: They WERE the most believable characters- maybe some of them should've done some of the main character's roles.
Editing: I actually didn't notice the editing on Mistress Centipede till almost towards the end, so if I hadn't seen it before, I would've never noticed it at all- not that it's an important thing, anyway. I was happy that they hadn't cut out any of the blood and violence. By the way, the show is generally rated TV-14V, which means although some episodes will be rated differently depending on content, overall the show has a high rating for violence.
The Theme Songs: I realize that it really wouldn't have been Viz's fault if they couldn't have gotten the license for the theme songs to air on American television, but I'm glad that they got it all the same (not that I liked 'Change the World', but I'm glad it's not some translation of it).
Most Pronounciation: Mostly, everyone did a good job of pronouncing things. I think the only things I noticed mispronounced were 'Kaede' (which they were pronouncing 'Kai-ede'), and 'Kagome', which Moneca Stori herself mispronounced (sounded more like 'Kugoume' than 'Kagome'). But at least they didn't change people's names.
Script Changes: Many people probably won't agree with me here, but I wasn't bothered by the script changes (so far, that is). Even the 'Toto' line didn't bother me, because I know that they have to make this show somewhat accessible to an American audience, and if they have to add in cultural references here and there, I don't mind as long as they don't affect the story.
The Bad:
Kaede's Voice: This had to be the most grating of anything. Her voice sounded right, but she really sounded like she was reading straight off of a script. Add that to the already badly written lines that she had, and it's pretty bad. The whole 'Ye, thou, thee' thing really shouldn't have been put in there. Yes, I know that they are in the past, and that Kaede does use archeic words in Japanese for 'you', etc., but there's quite a bit of difference in Japanese using archeic words and English using archeic words. This isn't Shakespeare, and Kaede is the priestess of a poor village- the way she is speaking makes her sound like an aristocrat in English, which she is definately not. In Japanese, her speech makes her sound like a priestess, but not an aristocrat. Add that to the fact that other people speak like Kaede in Japanese, where in English, nobody else does, making her sound very out-of-place (I remember thinking 'Sound like Yoda, she does'). Okay, I rest my case.
Kagome's Voice: Not nearly as bad as Kaede's voice, but something that needs to be worked on. I guess the whole 'Valley girl' routine works, but what doesn't work is the cut-up lines to make the voice fit exactly. She stops talking in unnatural places, which got on my nerves after a while. Maybe that'll get better with time. Hopefully the lack of emotion will also get better with time. And maybe she learn how to pronounce her name with time, too.
The Title: Not that I expected literal translations anyway, but it sounded reaaaaaaaaally corny. Some of the other episode titles are really corny, too. If you're aiming at older audiences, there's no need to make 'cute' sounding puns- it makes the show look bad.
My Judgement:
Much better than I expected, overall. From what I'd heard, I had gotten scared that they had really screwed it up, but it's not anything that is overwhelmingly bad. I think that as far as dubs go on TV, while it's not the best, it's definately far from the worst, and I will probably keep watching it to see how it progresses.
