Kurosawa Films

[Cyrus]

in reference to geo's last post why did you say unless its anime you should never dub anything?

[Cyrus]

[QUOTE=geo85]Dubbing never helps a film, I think you should always see the subtitled version unless its anime.

why did you say unless it's anime anyways??? just wanted to get this into discussion real quick

[Zagatto]

Oh boy... a "quick" sub vs dub conversation.

This is the oldest argument in anime and will probably never be resolved.
Granted, it has been a very long time since this subject has reared its head. I'll let this thread go on for a while as long as people don't make all encompassing remarks like "dubbing sucks" or other such broad sweeping comments.

I will weigh in on this topic stating that it is easier to lip synch animation than it is to lip synch a live actor. The other thing is that it is very hard to match the level of emotion a live actor puts in to his voice... especially when compared to the emotion put into the voice of an animated character.

The biggest difference I can see between North American voice actors and Asian voice actors is that voice acting for cartoons is still looked down on here for the most part. This limits the number of high quality voice actors that we have available to make English speaking dubs and makes most English dubs pale in comparison.

There have been a few notable series where the English dubs have been outstanding. Shinichiro Watanabe himself said that the English dub of Cowboy Bebop is better than the original Japanese dub. This is a rare instance though and far too often we end up with tragedies like Naruto to compare to.

When looking at live action dubs I can not name a single example where the viewing experience has been enhanced by the dub to English and I have frequently found it distracting. Of course, there are those old kung fu movie dubs that I love so much because they are so incredibly bad that it becomes funny.

And whose idea was it to dub Mel Gibson in the first Mad Max movie?

[geo85]

Also for awesome performaneces by Mifune in a non-samurai role watch stray dog, red beard, and the bad sleep well, all amazing kurosawa films.

I pretty much agree with zag on this. With live action the original actors performance means everything to the film and a bad dubb of which there are thousands can ruin a film, so foreign films should always be respected and watched with subtitles.
With anime the animated characters have no voices of their own so you can give them whatever voice you beleive suits them, sometimes I perfer the original Japanese performance sometimes I perfer the american dub, I always get sets with both and then I decide on my own.
Like in the case of dragonball and dbz the Japanese performances sound as though they are being done by castrated men, the american dub suits the characters much better same for cowboy bebop.

I just like to have the choice in case I dont like the original performance, but with live action replacing someones voice with someone elses is in my opinion very wrong, unless as stated if its an HK flick then its just adds more humor.

[gubi-gubi]

Of course, there are those old kung fu movie dubs that I love so much because they are so incredibly bad that it becomes funny.

Yeh I was going to say that. They're the only dubs I can watch really. Drunken Master stands out, it's just funnier. Comedy seems hard to watch in subtitled form.

As for anime I can't watch dubbed stuff. I just feel im missing something of the original. After all surely the Japanese know what's best for their anime than us English speakers? I feel like it's their anime and we are privileged to watch it so we shouldn't be messing with it. Alot of the time with dub watchers you find they only really watch titles that are mainstream in the USA and don't look outside the usual titles everyone has seen. I admit when I was younger I watched dubs but when my tastes craved something more than the norm I started watching a lot of fansubs and you get used to it and to go back to dubs just feels wrong to watch. After all anime is Japanese and to see Japanese people doing Japanese things in an English voice doesn't fit. Even worse an American accent in the deep countryside of Japan or something.

[geo85]

Most of the anime I watch are drawn to be ambiguous as to race and the locations are not identifiable as being Japan. Also most of the characters arent doing Japanese things so saying they have to speak Japanese makes no sense, the choice is there I'll decide for myself.

[Ryujin]

Staying out of the sub vs dub argument. All I'll say is that I prefere subs, end of story.

I've seen Sword of Doom. Quite a good film...but the end seemed a little rushed/random/unexpected/dissapointing. Would you agree? Considering all of that build up for nothing. (For those who haven't seen the movie think "X" The movie for an idea of build up that led nowhere)

[geo85]

I have been watching my kurosawa movies with the commentary, Michael Jeck, a Japanese film buff and lecturer does really well with these commentaries, you usually learn a lot about kurosawa, the actors and movie making as well as Japanese culture and tradition.

so would you recommend sword of doom?

[Ryujin]

I'd definatly recommend it, good film. Just thought the end was a little strange that's all.

[geo85]

I am officially withdrawing a statement I made in the e3 thread saying that Mifune was very unatrractive and that that made no difference because he was such an amazing actor. I just recently bought and watched stray dog and I must say that mifune was quite the ladykiller. Since the movie is only a few years after his return from ww2 he was quite thin and had no facial hair which makes a dramatic difference in his look, brad pitt move over.

On the movie, it was before kurosawa fell into his signature telephoto sweeping style but that makes no difference, excellent in every way and has a really strong message. It also documents the state of Japan after the war in a strong way, a must for any fan.

[Vicious]

I finally saw Samurai Seven since everyone recommended it so highly. I am confused on one part of the movie. The first samurai who dies (Heihachi i think it was) - exactly what did he die of? All I saw was that he fell backwards into that small lake/puddle and all of a sudden he's dying. Didn't quite understand that.

[geo85]

If you listen closely right after he slumps you hear a gun shot, he was shot by one of the three muskets the bandits had. Kurosawa decided that the sound of the gun shot should shortly follow the gun going off.