Patlabor 1 Dub Quality
Hiroki Nonoyama
I have just bought Patlabor the Movie 1 Dub version, and thought I may
post some impression on the dub job done by Manga Ent. (or whatever the dub
production company for the movie.)
Over all, the quality of the dub (acting, faithfulness to the original,
etc.) is, well, "good enough." I may be being very picky here, but I
love the movie so much (it is the only movie which succeeded to portrait
the air of Tokyo in the late '80s, IMO) that I cannot let it go easy.
The following is my personal evaluation on the English voice actors by
characters:
SHINOHARA Asuma -- Nicely fit. I had no trouble listening to his
voice acting.
Captain GOTOH -- Good. But wish his voice were little deeper.
One downside is he somehow lacks the occasional
"charm" of Gotoh. But I understand it is tough to
translate and recreate it.
SAKAKI -- No, no. His voice has to be much deeper and drier.
NAGUMO Shinobu -- The impression of Shinobu changed a lot from
the original, but I kinda liked the dubbed voice
and acting.
SHIBA Shigeo -- I was amazed the dub voice is very close to the
original (done by CHIBA Shigeru, the regular seiyuu
of the Oshii anime). I like it.
SHINSHI,
Hiromi,
Kanuka -- Good. Especially Kanuka is well fit.
OHTA -- Well, he is OK.
Inspector MATSUI and his partner -- Very good. No complaints at all.
And finally...
IZUMI Noa -- No, I can't forgive you.
Oh, and one part of the translation I have to complain. When Gotoh and
Shinobu discuss about HOBA, how he reacted when he found out the
pronunciation of Jehovah had been wrongly spread, Gotoh says "He went
crazy with ANGER" in the dub version (unless I misunderstood what he said.)
NO, he (Hoba) went crazy with JOY when he found out the truth. The
sentence is very critical to establish the Hoba's character, and
changing it like this is unforgivable!
The dub translation doesn't convey the image of the SV2 as the place for the
"abandoned, " rather, it portraits the SV2 as if it were a high profile
division in Tokyo Met Police Dept. The SV2 is the place for outcasts from
the system. Inspector Matsui's partner asks, "If he (Gotoh) is that
sharp, why is he stuck there, at the reclaimed land (the SV2)?" And
Matsui replies, "Like I said, he was TOO sharp." This part is also
altered in the dub. If you are in the system, and possess an
extraordinary talent, you most likely will be avoided by the others.
That must be what had happened to Gotoh. Shinobu also has been abandoned
from the elite course (the detail will be explained in the movie 2.)
As you may already know, if you are different from the others, you are
almost dead in the Japanese society.
Well, over all, the dub version is good. Not as great as Mac+, but the
same level as WoH. I recommend it. Buy a copy, and keep the receipt.
You can always exchange it to the sub version with extra 5 bucks ^_^
Ciao, Hiroki.
***********************FLUCTUAT NEC MERGITUR*********************************
*Hiroki NONOYAMA*
*hn...@zeus.towson.edu*
********************TA DA YO E DO SHI ZU MA ZU*****************************
Invid fan
>Shinobu discuss about HOBA, how he reacted when he found out the
>pronunciation of Jehovah had been wrongly spread, Gotoh says "He went
>crazy with ANGER" in the dub version (unless I misunderstood what he
said.)
>NO, he (Hoba) went crazy with JOY when he found out the truth. The
>sentence is very critical to establish the Hoba's character, and
>changing it like this is unforgivable!
I just saw the sub, and it has the same line. Maybe your fansub/script had
it wrong :-) Watch the sub and see what was said in the original, as I
don't speak Japanese.
***********************************************************
Chris Mack ***Read >THE WAIFS<*****
'Invid fan' by Chris Mack and Martina Pilcer
A self published SF comic coming
this September from
LIBERATED PRESS
***********************************************************
Sei J. Lee
>>Oh, and one part of the translation I have to complain. When Gotoh and
>>Shinobu discuss about HOBA, how he reacted when he found out the
>>pronunciation of Jehovah had been wrongly spread, Gotoh says "He went
>>crazy with ANGER" in the dub version (unless I misunderstood what he
>said.)
>>NO, he (Hoba) went crazy with JOY when he found out the truth. The
>>sentence is very critical to establish the Hoba's character, and
>>changing it like this is unforgivable!
>I just saw the sub, and it has the same line. Maybe your fansub/script had
>it wrong :-) Watch the sub and see what was said in the original, as I
>don't speak Japanese.
Remember...ME dubtitles more often than not, so I wouldn't trust ME's
translation (though I may be wrong in this case, haven't seen their sub).
>***********************************************************
>Chris Mack ***Read >THE WAIFS<*****
>'Invid fan' by Chris Mack and Martina Pilcer
> A self published SF comic coming
> this September from
> LIBERATED PRESS
>***********************************************************
Sei Jin Lee
Hiroki Nonoyama
: invi...@aol.com (Invid fan) writes:
>>I (Hiroki) writes
: >>Oh, and one part of the translation I have to complain. When Gotoh and
: >>Shinobu discuss about HOBA, how he reacted when he found out the
: >>pronunciation of Jehovah had been wrongly spread, Gotoh says "He went
: >>crazy with ANGER" in the dub version (unless I misunderstood what he
: >said.)
: >>NO, he (Hoba) went crazy with JOY when he found out the truth. The
: >>sentence is very critical to establish the Hoba's character, and
: >>changing it like this is unforgivable!
: >I just saw the sub, and it has the same line. Maybe your fansub/script had
: >it wrong :-) Watch the sub and see what was said in the original, as I
: >don't speak Japanese.
I own a copy of Japanese original and have watched it zillion times.
Gotoh says "Kare wa Kyooki shita souda yo."
^^^^^^Whatever the Chinese characters are used for
this word, it could only mean "go crazy with joy." (Or simply "go
crazy," but it is not likely the case, considering the context.) I am
pretty sure about this since I had spent the first 20 years of my life in
Japan. ^_^
: Remember...ME dubtitles more often than not, so I wouldn't trust ME's
: translation (though I may be wrong in this case, haven't seen their sub).
Yes.. This might be the case...
: >***********************************************************
: >Chris Mack ***Read >THE WAIFS<*****
: >'Invid fan' by Chris Mack and Martina Pilcer
: > A self published SF comic coming
: > this September from
: > LIBERATED PRESS
: >***********************************************************
: Sei Jin Lee
Ciao.
-Hiroki (hn...@zeus.towson.edu)
Jason C. Bustard
: It was good as a dubs go, and Patlabor is one of the more intricately
: plotted anime's out there. Akira on the other hand...if anyone followed
: this one I'd love to hear an explanation of the last 5 minutes...sheesh.
: Tim
Ok, here goes...Tetsuo had become so powerful that the three other
pyschic children knew that they couldn't defeat him...even working
together..they played upon his swelled ego by telling him of Akira's
existance, knowing that he would break through ANY security to get to
him, once Tetsuo broke through and released Akira's "remains", the three
combined their power to ressurect(they say call back) Akira. Since Akira
had advanced his evolution beyond a physical form, we only catch a brief
glimpse of him before he shifts to his energy form and and swallows up
the rapidly degenerating Tetsuo. After that, there are a few different
theories as to excatly what Akira did, my favorite is that he used his
power to convert Tetsuo into an energy form of eveolution like himself
and then departed as he had before, taking Tetsuo with him and merging
with him to form one bieng...the small light that Kaneda catches at the
end is the last of their energy leaving. Since Akira needed a physical
"ground" to be called back(his old body parts), I belive that the glow
that surrounds Kaneda after he catches the light to be Tetsuo/Akira
"grounding" their new form to him...just in case they were ever needed to
be called back. This is makes sense to me anyway...and I own Akira so I
have had time to rewatch and figure it out..it is definately confusing.
Jason Bustard H).
.sig under construction
<"Men, we're going to the olympics..." -The "Kernel", Akira>
H).
Thomas Leber
I was surprised to see it at all. They had both dubbed ($19.95) and subbed
($24.95). I was curious tosee how good the dubbing was, and I had the fansub
already anyway.
All in all, not at all a bad dubbing job...much better than other anime dubs
I've seen (though I haven't seen many). I do have to agree that they could have
picked a better voice for Noa.
I'm just overjoyed to see Patlabor in a local store.
Cheers,
Tom
--
Tom Leber N3QKV <le...@warm.inmet.com> Intermetrics, Inc., Warminster PA USA
"Smother technology and it rebels." - Max Headroom
Gundham
in the HMV Record Store. That's a good sign for us anime fans, it seems
that the companies are starting to crack the mainstream channels of
distribution.
MAIKO YOSHIKAWA
Bottom line.. I think they did a A- to B+ job of dubbing it considering
they had to ..
1)explain or get around everything that was in the previous OVAs
2)match the "mouth movements" of the original film
3)pack everything + clarify the original dialogue which was
fairly intense in itself
An example of 1) would be the scene (in the dub) where Asuma orders
Noa to run back to Alphonse after the emergency purge. In the original,
Noa went back by her *own* decision, even though she was told to
stay put (hence the hesitation). This was probably done because Noa's strong
"attachment" to Alphonse was described in the OVAs and not in the movie.
2) goes especially for Asuma.. I noticed some parts the script
writers might have had some trouble...
3) will probably include deliberately changing "kyoki" into "crazy",
since it would be easier for a casual viewer to understand. They've
also "clarified" many other scenes, which were originally left to
interpretation, by means of explanatory dialogues. Of course, Kanuka's
infamous one-liner "Combat" was altered to "A labor pilot" which
was probably much more acceptable to the audience as well as the
immigration officers.... <g>
BTW, the line which I the most problem was the dry cackling by Noah when
they were eating pizza (right after she commented about the contents
of the pizza). Very disturbing. Another bothering dialogue (although minor)
is where Asuma refers to Kanuka as an "idiot", in a very early scene.
Although Asuma calls Ohta an idiot every chance he gets, I don't think
he will ever call Kanuka the same (though he might call her "rash".. the
original dialogue was how "abunai"=dangerous it was).
Lastly, about the voice actors (not necessary about their acting, but
if they sounded like the original image or not <g>) Overall, they didn't
have the range as the original film, so it was hard for me to distinguish
who was who just by their voices. Kanuka sounded *perfect*, Asuma, Shige,
Hiromi, and possibly Shinobu was OK.. Noa lost all her "childishness"
except in high pitch places.. Goto was so-so.. Shinshi, Sakaki & Ohta
lost their identity voicewise.
My suggestion is to buy both the dub and the sub <g>, memorize the
plot by watching the dub, and see the sub to enjoy the film. I say
that because I assume it will be hard to follow all those dialogues
just by looking at subtitles (it is jam-packed), but I would like
everyone to hear the original voices (especially Goto's) and enjoy
the atmosphere of the film.
My two cents.
Maiko Yoshikawa
myos...@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu