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Last edited by Snomaster1 on Sat Mar 11, 2023 4:38 am; edited 1 time in total

I talked about Micah Curtis in a number of posts. Lately,he's been doing a lot of videos on anime. One of his more recent videos is on a show that deserved more than it's currently getting. It's called "Dancouga,"a 1985 anime that was brought over to America ten years later in 1995 on subtitled VHS by Central Park Media. The license would later be picked up by Discotek Media.
One reason this series is historic is that this is the debut show of animator Masami Obari. He would become very well known with stuff like "Bubblegum Crisis" and the "Fatal Fury" films. So,I'll bet you're asking,what's this show about? Well,it's a giant robot show in which Earth has to fight off an invasion by the alien Muge Empire. In a lot of ways,it seems like a cross between "Voltron" and "Gundam."

I remember seeing this once at the video store. It's kind of a shame this show never got an English dub. That probably would have increased this show's popularity and made it better known. I hope it does one day. Although I don't usually do this,I want to give some advice to any English voice actor who may end up on this show one day. One of the characters in the show is named Shapiro Keats. He's kinda the Benedict Arnold of the show,casting his lot with the alien invaders. When I heard about this show again,I began imagining this show with an English dub.
What I imagine this guy sounding like in English is basically Tim Curry doing an Australian accent. I'm not sure about the other characters,but it's hard not to imagine someone doing that. Again,I hope Discotek gives this an English dub. It'll be interesting to imagine how this show will do with a dub. I'd really like to see that. It seems like this show deserves it. Others might not think so,but I hope it happens one day.

I have to admit that I take a bit of issue with the concept of an anime "deserving" a dub. I mean, I understand what people mean when they say that ______ "deserves" a dub. What they are saying is, "I like dubs and I like this show so I wish it had a dub." Which is a perfectly understandable opinion.

However, when you use a world like "deserves" you are putting a bit of a nuance on it. You are implying that there is an objective criterion for determining which anime "deserves" a dub and even though _________ anime meets that objective criterion, it does not have a dub.

There is only one objective criterion for determining if an anime "deserves" a dub and it is a marketplace one. That criterion is: if the licensee pays the expense of creating a dub, will it earn more profit than if it just released it with subtitles? In other words, is incurring the expense of a dub worth the risk? If a licensee decides it is worth the risk then indeed that anime "deserves" a dub because the seller part of the marketplace has made the decision.

Otherwise, it's just fans who like dubs saying, "I like this anime - it deserves a dub!"

I agree with Blood-, the sole criteria on which a dub is ordered is if the licensee thinks it would make more overall profit than it would sub only. It is a bit easier decision now since both dub and sub can be put on the same disks.

I'll take it a step further since you are talking about an older show. Basically Discotek is the only provider of such old shows. As a general rule they don't do dubs. If a dub was made previously and is available, they will include it in their release. If there was no prior dub, it will be released without one.

This puts in a Catch 22 situation. To begin with very few old shows shill have enough interest to warrant a dub. The few that might be that popular all these years later most likely already have one. Anything that didn't have the draw to get a dub when it was new is not likely to sell enough now to get one. Basically if Urusei Yatsura doesn't warrant a dub. Dancouga hasn't got a chance.

I didn't think I was going to get any comments but these are pretty decent. So,Blood-,Alan45,I'm going to respond to you. First off,Blood-. I remember when I saw "Dancouga." I had a look at it and thought it might become popular. It looked like a decent enough series that might get an English dub. Sadly,it didn't get one. I hope that one day it does. It might become more popular if it did.
As for you,Alan45,I wouldn't give up on this series just yet. I read somewhere that an old anime movie recently got a dub. I don't remember the name but I do remember it was from 1969. 1969!!!!! Couple that with shows like "Gunbuster" and the "Dirty Pair" TV series getting English dubs after years not having one,gives me hope that one day,I might read on ANN that Discotek might give "Dancouga" a dub.

It might be that exposure from people like Micah Curtis that will give this show some much needed attention and it might one day earn that dub. Again,some other older shows are getting them,why not "Dancouga?" I hope it happens and one day,it might. You never know,Alan45.

do you want it dubbed so you can watch it, or do you want it dubbed simply because it doesn't have one?

Hard to say,getchman. I've never really seen it. It seems like a good series that looks like it deserves an English dub. I hope it gets one someday.

While deserves isn’t a word I would use, anime I’d LOVE to see dubbed well is all over the place. The whole Bakemonogatori series for instance.

A huge chunk of my want to see list is a slow walk to see if dubs come out before I dive in and try to keep up with the subs. Honestly my watch list is so long now I am not too troubled by it yet.

@InfiniteJest

The Bakemonogatori series is very long, a quirky show of limited demand and is now fairly old. Also it is a Aniplex show. Dubbs are usually done to increase the size of the audience. If you will check out Aniplex prices for home video, you note that they do not care about the size of the audience.

I'll never say never, but I am reasonably sure you can start watching the series subbed without worrying that it might soon be dubbed.

it is a very dialog heavy series, I suspect it would be hellacious to dub.

There's only one title I can think of that I'd really like to get a dub and it's for a specific reason: Hypnosis Mic. The reason is I was curious how an English dub would handle all the rap stuff. Looks like I'll never find out. It's even a Funimation titles and Funi normally dubs just about everything... but not this one. I'm guessing it may be related to it simply being too difficult to render all the Japanese rapping into an English version. Pity. In any case, I'm looking forward to season 2 in October.

Sorry, Blood- there is no Funimation any more. It has been completely digested by Crunchy. I just noticed that the latest home video releases no longer show Funimation, just Crunchyroll.

True, Alan45, not that it matters. If Funi didn't dub this when it was still Funi, I can't imagine anybody doing it.

Didn't FUNi change most of the songs in BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad from their original context? I sampled the dub just once when the first North American DVD came out, but couldn't stand the singing after five seconds, and just never bothered to listen to anymore. Dubbed songs have always bugged me, except for a very small handful.

I know BECK's original JP audio is full of really bad Engrish, but I feel it had charm and was actually a pretty integral part of the story. If you're changing lyrics in songs, most of which I also thought were important to the tone of the series and its characters, then it teeters the line of revisionism. At that point, you might as well just make up your own songs from scratch, instruments and all, and not even bother dubbing over the original or using any of their musical elements.

Last edited by Snomaster1 on Fri Mar 08, 2024 3:48 am; edited 1 time in total

I must admit,I'm grateful for a lot of responses I've got here. I didn't expect them and I'm happy to see them. As for InfiniteJest's "Bakemonogatori" series or Blood-'s "Hypnosis Mic,"I'll also say you never know. Sometimes a show simply gets overlooked and will get a dub years later,as was the case with "Natsume's Book of Friends." Other times,what gets dubbed will surprise you. I was surprised to hear that stuff like "Gunbuster,"the "Dirty Pair" TV series,"Memories" or "Future Boy." And,this came about either because for whatever reason,they never got one when they first came here or were never brought here when they first came out.
As I said previously,the oldest anime to get an English dub was from 1969. Yeah,that surprised me. I don't remember the name but I do remember that it got a Russian dub when it first came out but had to wait years to get an English version. So,stay hopeful,guys.These anime might one day get a dub. It might be as big a surprise to you as it might be to me.

I think Legend of the Galactic Heroes is so dialogue focused that it should get a dub. Even a mediocre Sentai dub might help me keep up with the overly fast subtitles. Same with the Monogatari series.

Gintama deserves a good dub like what it got for season 3. No idea why that cast doesn't just dub the whole show.

@ Tony K. - I suspect the difficulty in changing the rap lyrics into English is exactly why there won't ever be a Hypnosis Mic dub to avoid a Beck situation.

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