Astro Boy 2003 Japan vs English?

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Soul Rokkuman
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Postby Soul Rokkuman » 15 years ago

"Bad Username" wrote:Of course I'm going to share. I intend to run a torrent of the full series plus MegaUpload for individual eps. :)


Thanks a lot!!! :heart: yay!

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Raul2106
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Postby Raul2106 » 15 years ago

"Bad Username" wrote:Of course I'm going to share. I intend to run a torrent of the full series plus MegaUpload for individual eps. :)


Thanks! Looking forward to it. I was tempted to buy the Korean box-sets but they are so expensive so I'm not really sure. :astro:

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jeffbert
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Postby jeffbert » 15 years ago

"jennytablina" wrote:To expand on the differences between Dub and Raw;
...

Once you get past the first inital batch of episodes the dub gradually improves, The Robotonia saga for the most part is amazingly good and the dub eventually relents on its hesitation dealing with the father-son subplot. I also like a certain majority of the voices in the dub.

That said the original will always be the stronger version but all things considered while the dub isnt exact or the best it does a good enough job and its the easiest version of the series to get a hold of as theres nothing sub-wise past episode 6 online and those Korean DVD's will likely cost a bit now

I wonder when they got around to dubbing the eps in the latter part of the series, the part that was never on TV. I read Fred Ladd's book, & he said that the 1960s episodes were dubbed the week before they aired. I think this is a standard way of doing this. My point is that the latter episodes were likely dubbed exclusively for the DVD, & as such, they might not have been subjected to the same censoring and dialogue rewriting as those that were on TV. I have not watched the series lately, though, so I am only basing this upon jennytablina's statement.
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jennytablina
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Postby jennytablina » 15 years ago

"jeffbert" wrote:I wonder when they got around to dubbing the eps in the latter part of the series, the part that was never on TV. I read Fred Ladd's book, & he said that the 1960s episodes were dubbed the week before they aired. I think this is a standard way of doing this. My point is that the latter episodes were likely dubbed exclusively for the DVD, & as such, they might not have been subjected to the same censoring and dialogue rewriting as those that were on TV. I have not watched the series lately, though, so I am only basing this upon jennytablina's statement.


The latter episodes were exclusive to the DVD, our UK airing lasted a bit longer on TV but I dont think they managed the later episodes till the series had that DVD release in the US eather

That said later episodes still had small differences I'm sure but it does seem like once they get to around the Pluto episodes onwards they start to ease off the catchphrases and gags (except episodes where the comedy was intended) and Lets Rocket gets dropped later on too (though I think there's a few uses but its a little less shoehorned in)

The only cut I can think of thats substantial is the cut of Tobio's death, you see Tenma morn over his sons dead body in the Japanese version but the American version whites out when Tobio enters the tunnel. Yet they keep in Tobio and Astro's objections to Tenma. The whole issue with the robot assistant accused of knocking an aristrocrat's daughter down a stairs, Astro dealing with the anti-robot feeling that builds, the Blue Knights past...

But the part of the dub that did air was still kind of gutsy considering usual kiddie-fare in america. This is true of most anime though, Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura both got dubs that did their own thing a little but really while one can dislike what the dub does to the source. It should be acknowledged that the 2003 dub brought a lot of new fans to the fore, I was one of them!

Without 2003's dub I may of never tried the 80's series, brought the manga nor gone on to discover Kimba and many of Tezukas fantastic stories, so I cant help to respect it. Just as I'll respect the effects of the new movie regardless how good or bad it might be.

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Astro Forever
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Postby Astro Forever » 15 years ago

It's too bad that you do not come here more often, jennytablina. :)

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Raul2106
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Postby Raul2106 » 15 years ago

In the 2003 USA dubbed set how many episodes actually aired on TV, and how many are exclusive to DVD? I've only watched the first 15 episodes dubbed.

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BBally
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Postby BBally » 15 years ago

"Fauna" wrote:Soul Rokkuman, I take it that you're Hispanic? Lots of places in Europe got better anime and better anime treatment than America did. (Jet Marte was originally 'Jetter Mars'! And yes, I remember the scene with Dr. Yamanoue :( )

Well, kids...today is the retail release date for those "new" single discs of the 2003 series. On the bright side, anyone who picks it up and gets interested is going to be perplexed by the lack of a Japanese track, which will thus increase the percentage of people who think Sony America is dumb. Maybe a larger outrage will make them turn around.

But keep up hope, guys! Harmony Gold used to be afraid to release Robotech on DVD because adding the Japanese track would reveal the fact that Robotech is three different shows. But they did make a proper release! Years, years and years later...until then, I'm gonna get some conversion software and put up the original episodes sooner or later!


Don't forget the Middle East, especially the Arabic part, anime was popular over there since the early 80's especially after the success of Grendizer.

Unfortunately the Arabic dub of the 2003 version was basically a translation of the US dub.
Badre El Amir Bally

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Kirben
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Postby Kirben » 15 years ago

"Bad Username" wrote:No group name is shown; There aren't any karaoke or subtitles for the songs either. It seems to be a straight Japanese DVD rip with accurate hardsubs added, and no further editing.


Episodes 1 - 24 in high quality, with English subtitles sounds more like a rip of the Korean DVD releases. I don't think any fansub group has worked on the later episodes.

"jennytablina" wrote:But in defense of the dub - despite the needless changes and cuts it stays close to the script. Some episodes like Rainbow Canyon and Denkou are actually pretty much the same in both versions and characters for the most part remain true to the original. Sometimes lame puns and catchphases get littered in; the first half of the dub does this a fair bit. But Astro is still childlike in his ways and pretty much the same despite Sony's efforts to ditch the deeper storyline for the action hero aspect. (an extra on the DVD set shows american execs asking for this expressly in the anime, the japanese said "Hell no we want to explore this angle")


I can't believe you are even trying to defend the English dub of this series, there were major changes. They completely changed the character of Astro Boy, and frequently altered the stories, in order to attempt to focus solely on the action. Astro Boy's attitude and dialog is frequently different in the English dub, and he sounds far too old for his age. Any scenes of Astro Boy been childlike were usually completely removed from the English dub.

I remember the dialog and scenes in the English dub would sometimes make no sense, usually near the end of the episodes. With the characters saying one thing, while the scenes looked like something completely different was been said or happening.

The English version dropped the opening sequence, dropped the closing sequence, changed the music, changed the episode order, cut scenes from all the episodes (often just for time), completely changed the character of Astro Boy, and altered the stories to focus solely on the action. The English version was even reduced to pan and scan on DVD and TV in the USA. They completely destroyed the English version, turning far more people off the series.

I'm lucky to own the Korean DVD releases, which offers the original Japanese versions of episode 1 - 24 with English subtitles. I wish there was a way to get the Japanese versions of episode 25 - 50 with English subtitles.
Last edited by Kirben on Fri Oct 16, 2009 6:22 am, edited 2 times in total.

Lord Dio
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Postby Lord Dio » 15 years ago

**** I'd take episodes 1-24 with English subs. Better than nothing.

If anyone has a link to that torrent, please hook it up :)

Bad Username
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Postby Bad Username » 15 years ago

It seems that's the torrent I'm using right now. There are no seeds. Bleh.

...

I'm probably going to have to buy the Japanese original DVDs and see if anyone wants to translate them.


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