#bad dubbing

[themattress]

God, this is some hilariously bad voice-acting.

This whole sequence is a huge trade down from the original, honestly.

[titleknown]

I feel like any explanation of this would ruin it, it has to be seen to be believed.

[ultraericthered]

Remember in the old Cloverway Sailor Moon Super S dub when they randomly turned Zirconia into a male villain yet kept the connection between her and Queen Nehelenia still clear on screen in the end?

They might as well have done this!

[fruitabaga]

Boy I sure do love

Jelly filled donuts

[themattress]

So, I love the Makai Tree arc from the Sailor Moon R anime.

I love the voices for Ail (Alan) and En (Ann) in the old DiC dub.

But dear God, do I absolutely HATE how the old DiC dub butchered their conclusion.

The arc was being fairly well translated, all things considered, until we hit the last three episodes. In Episode 11, the dub script does not appear to be caught up with the visual storytelling. The episode keeps on cutting to this shot of the Makai Tree as things go wrong:

This is meant to signify that the Makai Tree, which is a tree that takes in energy and then gives it back to its children (Ail and En in this case), has been getting the wrong energy from its children and as such is giving the wrong energy back. Energy that is forcibly taken from others out of selfishness will convert into negative energy that only heightens Ail and En's bad qualities. That is why Ail and En are suddenly contemplating murdering Mamoru and Usagi respectively out of jealousy even when they hadn't ever done so in the past, and why Cardians under their control are going crazy and lashing out indiscriminately. But in the dub:

Ann: That's weird. Every time someone's nice to me, I feel so much better; I keep seeing the Doom Tree, growing strong and healthy.

OK, first off, that's not the Doom Tree. In case you didn't notice, there is a tortoise and a hare at the bottom of the screen. This whole scene is meant to be Usagi offering to help Natsumi with her schoolwork because she thinks she's ahead in their wager and she may as well be kind to her losing rival, with Natsumi thinking this is like the Earth story of the Tortoise and the Hare where the hare loses a race because of its overconfidence in beating the tortoise.

So that's the first of three problems with this scene's translation. The second problem is that Serena says that she's willing to try and get along with Ann because Alan turned out to be such a cool guy so she wants to give his sister a chance, and....huh? Serena's interactions with Alan (as are Usagi's with Seijuro) have consisted him always weirding her out with his pretentious flirtations, him being a rival to her love interest, and one of her friends losing her crush on him when she learns about his messed up views on love. So there has been nothing about him to make her think he's "such a cool guy". In the original, Usagi is willing to get along with Natsumi for the same reason she's willing to get along with Seijuro: she's kind to a fault and wants to see the best in everyone even if she quarrels with them or finds them irritating. Her entire romance with Mamoru and her friendship with Rei hinges on this quality!

Third and most importantly, turning this scene into a touchy-feely bonding moment between Serena and Ann implies Ann is improving, that she's starting to learn the error of her ways, when as I stated before it's literally the opposite: she's supposed to be getting worse. She literally attempts to kill Usagi right after this conversation, and then again in the subsequent two-part finale. So this creates a huge whiplash effect and renders things incoherent. Is the dub suggesting Alan and Ann would improve if they only stopped intaking energy at all, even when they would literally die if they did that? A point they beat into our heads repeatedly?

And then there's the finale. Beyond more mention of "the Negaverse" since DiC wants to fool people into thinking these clearly unconnected villain groups are part of a single whole, we get perhaps the most insulting, totally-missing-the-point alteration of dialogue in the series.

Here's the accurately translated Viz version.

Ail: Why did you risk your life like that? Usagi: I'm willing to risk my life…to protect anyone I truly love. (Ail is shocked). En: My, how noble of you. (En pushes Usagi backward with another blast.) En: C'mon, time to beg for help, you weak little human. Usagi: I don't care what happens to me. Just please spare Mamoru's life. En: What a stupid request to make! But if you think your own life's not precious; oh well, then. (En keeps blasting only for Mamoru to shield Usagi each time.) Ail: ….Beautiful….so very beautiful….Is this what it means to love? En: Ail? Ail: En, I see now. Love can not be forced. En: Huh? Ail: Don't you get it? Love is something that is built together….by caring for each other. En: You don't know what you're saying! Makoto: He's right! When you truly love someone, the strength of that love gives you the courage to overcome anything. (En is about to lash out again when the Moonlight Knight appears.) Moonlight Knight: All the creatures of the universe are friends. Instead of fighting against them, open up your heart to them. (En is visibly on the verge of tears). En: That's easy to say! But you could never understand all the pain that we've been through! Our pain comes from us wandering the entire universe for so long with no-one ever caring about us! Ail: En… En: We had to take whatever we could! And if we hadn't done that, we never would've survived! Moonlight Knight: Nothing good comes out of stealing. It only brings shame, heartache and hate. En: YOU SHUT UP! (En blasts the Moonlight Knight into the Makai Tree, which absorbs him and goes haywire.)

The purpose here is not only to show Ail learning the true meaning of love through introspection and showcasing how En can't do the same because she's consumed by her negative emotions built up over a long time, which is why she ends up learning through the emotional impulse of protecting Ail than from harm instead, but also to show that Ail and En are not evil. It's a point En's voice actress even made: they are misguided but not malicious at heart. They are turned evil through the bad energy from the Makai Tree, but that makes them no more culpable than Mamoru/Endymion before them or Chibiusa/Black Lady after them. That's why Usagi, Makoto and the Moonlight Knight are trying to talk sense into them.

And now here's the DiC dub.

Alan: She's even braver than I thought. Serena: You don't know what bravery is! Or friendship! All you know is EVIL! (Alan is shocked.) Ann: That's right! So glad you finally noticed! (Ann pushes Serena backward with another blast.) Ann: Renounce your love for Darien and I might spare you. Serena: No! I'll never renounce my feelings! True love can't be taken away by anyone! Ann: You're a sentimental fool but I can make you change your mind in a flash, Romeo! (Ann keeps blasting only for Darien to shield Serena each time.) Alan: I've never see anyone…so sad! Maybe…maybe this is wrong. Ann: What is? Alan: This destroying love. It's such a beautiful thing. Can't you see how they love each other? Even if she is our enemy, it'd be wrong to destroy them. Ann: You're just weak, Alan! Lita: No, you're the one who's weak! You don't have any real friends! And the only emotions you know are hatred and vengeance and jealousy! Ann: Can it! (The Moonlight Knight appears.) Moonlight Knight (asshole tone): It's a bad scene, Sailor Scouts, but nothing we can't handle! These poor misfits can be beat! (Ann is visibly on the verge of tears). Ann: Misfits!? You have no idea who you're talking to, Turban Boy! Listen! It takes more than some stupid little rose to beat the power of the Negaverse! You'll see what this misfit can do! Moonlight Knight (asshole tone): Your jealousy has blinded you, Ann! You just can't bear that Darien's dumped you! Ann: He has noooooot! (Ann blasts the Moonlight Knight into the Doom Tree, which absorbs him and goes haywire.)

WOW. So not only are Alan and Ann made out to look worse than their original counterparts with Alan's shock now coming from called nothing but evil then being half-assed with saying "maybe" what they're doing is wrong and Ann behaving nothing but evil (complete with "Negaverse" dialogue) with her sad rant about the pain and loneliness she's suffered being removed (even Ail's "En..." is just cut altogether), but Serena, Lita and the Moonlight Knight all just insult them rather than try to reach out to them. "No bravery or friendship, nothing but evil", "weak with no real friends and only knowing hatred, vengeance and jealousy", "poor misfits angry at being 'dumped' that have to be 'beat' instead of healed"....it's horrendously out-of-character for all involved and against the message of the arc and arguably the whole anime metaseries. It's like DiC took Sailor Moon's "I'll punish you!" catchphrase to the most literal extreme and made her a hero who punishes evildoers indiscriminately instead of a hero who tries to reach out and help evildoers she knows have good in them and/or are in pain like Ail/Alan and En/Ann. And much like the scene in detention, it also creates a huge whiplash when Alan and Ann end up being redeemed. The heroes tell us they're evil and weak cowards who can't feel anything positive, then they proceed to prove them spectacularly wrong and there's just no commentary on it and seemingly no awareness on how bad it makes them look. Geez, I didn't care for the Moonlight Knight to start with; now I hate him!

So thanks a lot, DiC, you fumbled the ball in the very last inning.

Buuuuut maybe I can forgive you just for this:

[themattress]

Just putting this out there.

Whoever voice-directed this thing, I am disappointed in you.

[ultraericthered]

Visit Original Link

While yes, George Newbern still IS Sephiroth for me and the majority of fans, I must reiterate that one of the biggest letdowns about Tyler Hoechlin as his new VA for the Remake continuity (which factors into all the big letdowns about Remake!Sephiroth in general) is how dull and wooden most of his line delivery of in-story dialogue was, since these clips here show that he can actually pull off a damn great Sephiroth. It’s like the closest thing we could’ve ever gotten to Skip Stellrecht (Vicious in Cowboy Bebop) as the voice of Sephiroth!

The few lines we’ve heard from him in the Crisis Core FFVII Reunion trailers, while not quite up to par with how George did them, do show promise that he might’ve improved since Remake, so here’s hoping. (And let’s not forget that George himself did some really flat and mundane sounding voice acting in KH2, though that was really the fault of the material and how the voice direction dictated he deliver it)

[themattress]

OK, this is the fan-translation of the original Japanese version of the B2/W2 arc’s climax. 

Now, here is the official Viz translation:

Yeah, I don’t like it all. In the original, Colress is being a graceful loser because he respects Blake, with the follow-up joke being that he can’t act so casual about losing to Kyurem as he is losing to Blake because losing to Kyurem’s really gonna hurt. But now, Colress is made out to be a bratty sore loser, with the follow-up joke being that he’s a coward since only when faced with the threat of Kyurem does he accept defeat, basically going “I was just kidding about what I said there, honest!” C’mon, Viz! The man has nuance, don’t shy away from that!