One Piece - Better Dub/Direct Translation Release!

Because it only took Viking-Sensei three years (and the approaching end of Errant Story) to come up with a better name for "General Discussions"
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Viking-Sensei
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One Piece - Better Dub/Direct Translation Release!

Post by Viking-Sensei »

I resolved a few years ago to 'go clean' and cease any and all downloading of anime. Part of this decision was my 2000+ CD collection of stuff I'd obtained over the years... but a big part was that the huge availabilty meant that, to me, anime wasn't fun anymore. So I stopped, cold turkey, with a few minor exceptions... my sentai/kamen rider fix, which (since those sort of shows will never ever come to the us and are essentially destroyed upon translation)... and One Piece.

I was introduced to One Piece via the 4Kids Entertainment dub that aired on Fox and Cartoon Network. It was terrible... all the voice actors from Pokemon struggling their way through a show that didn't involve... well... pokemon. The show was badly edited, both for violence and content, and the dialog writers didn't seem to understand that an english-speaking audience is able to appreciate a moment of silence or a dramatic stir of music... instead, the dialog chatters endlessly and shrilly, often giving bad jokes to Lufy and Usuop instead of real dialog about what's actually going on. All in all, Greg Ayres summed it up best when he called it "One Piece... Of Shit" last year at Teko.

It's been a great source of discontent amongst anime fans trying to go legit that One Piece's handling has been so poor. There've been many long and heated discussions amongst the fans who've seen the original Japanese One Piece as to what can be done... the usual scenario is that fans WANT a series to be brought to the US, and that one's easy to have a plan of action on. Petitions, letter writing campaigns, vocal support... but what do you do when a company IS bringing your favorite anime to the US but butchering it horribly.

Well, apparently we have an answer.
Wikipedia wrote:On April 12, 2007, FUNimation Entertainment announced it acquired the license of One Piece and is currently producing the English version from episodes 144 onward, which will premiere on Cartoon Network on September 29th (as recently announced on Toei's website [3]), in an edited version.[6] [4] FUNimation will also distribute the series in unedited bilingual DVD box sets, retailing for US$49.98 and containing 13 episodes each. At Anime Expo 2007, Funimation announced that the DVDs will be officially released starting at episode 144 in 2008.
So... please, if you like One Piece... heck, even if you don't, but have been hurt by a bad dub in the past... I beg you to tune in. Especially those of us who have Neilsen boxes in our houses (glares at Impy). Also, I'm going to write Cartoon Network and Funimation and thank then for not being horrible people... invite you all to join me.

[EDIT] I just noticed... Greg Ayres is booked to be a voice actor for One Piece! He's going to be Cabaji the Acrobat, one of the Clown Pirate crew. For those of you who've met Greg or know of him... this is both hilarious and creepy. [/EDIT]
How could a plan this awesome possibly fail?
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Labrat
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Re: One Piece - Better Dub/Direct Translation Release!

Post by Labrat »

Well, crap. For once it looks like the O'Toole's Corollary of Finagle's Law might actually be subverted for the short term. Unfortunately, the black river of suck has to go somewhere after it is forcibly extracted from One Piece. And, knowing how the universe works, it will head right towards where it can do the most damage.

When One Piece first floated over to these shores atop a raft sewn from the bloated corpses of slain orphans, I had decent expectations. Everything I had heard previously said that it wasn't just another piece of jap-crap. Indeed, it wasn't. The blame for its unspeakable horror is ours and ours alone.

Bastard spawn of a syphilitic goat.
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Viking-Sensei
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Re: One Piece - Better Dub/Direct Translation Release!

Post by Viking-Sensei »

My only hope is that when 4Kids decides upon their next victim special anime series, they pick something that's already incomprehensible and unwatchable in the original format, so that they can't do any more harm to things I might some day choose to care about.

How about a nice sports drama?

Or something involving girls... lots of girls... and feelings... but 'emotion' feelings, not like 'third date' feelings... and no magic or talking familiars or comedy... except for the bit where the main character kills himself/herself in the last episode. One of those. Yeah.
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Labrat
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Re: One Piece - Better Dub/Direct Translation Release!

Post by Labrat »

My only hope, on the other hand, is that the corporate executives get really drunk some night and sign a contract no sane or sober man in their position ever would. Ideally, some freaky-ass anime that causes children to spontaneously combust if they are exposed. Then they can blow 90% of their yearly budget editing the crap out of things, trying to fix the unfixable. Excel Saga would be my wet dream.

And, as all this occurs, I may sit on my couch and scream 'Dance, Monkeys. Dance!'
Potentially with oodles of maniacal laughter.
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Re: One Piece - Better Dub/Direct Translation Release!

Post by BloodHenge »

Well, I'm not familiar with the original, but just from what I've seen, the new version is a vast improvement. The theme song is not only bearable but actually enjoyable, the characters' voices are no longer annoying regardless of what's being said, and the dialogue doesn't seem like a blatant insult to my intelligence.

Any opinions from someone who is familiar with either fansubs or raws?
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