Toonami's Naruto Preview

[Cooltrainer Aaron]

I was really really really dissatisfied with the preview clips of Naruto. They're treating it like a low level show like Zatch bell, and even Zatch had an actual clip shown. Basically they showed absolutely NOTHING that gave us ANY clue what it's like for the American version.

1. They overlayed the Toonami music instead of the Naruto one, meaning either they completely replaced the soundtrack or don't want us to know if they replaced the soundtrack or not.

2. They overlayed THAT with the announcer's voice, not even letting a single word get said by any of the characters. Meaning that once again, they're keeping a tight lid on the VAs until the release. The only clip I heard was when Naruto was roaring while tossing out all the needles Haku threw at him, and it sounded like it was from the Japanese version!

3. IGPX seemed to be an EXTREMELY big deal to them for some reason. So it has CGI graphics, big deal. Does anyone know the popularity of that show in Japan? Definately not as much as Naruto. So the question remains, what is Naruto them? To many US fans, it's a great series that should be treated with respect. They're just treating it as another side show for their main feature.

Anyway, there is confirmation that Stephen Blum (Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop) is playing Hatake Kakashi, and he's also doing the script edits, so maybe there's some hope for the series. One thing I do know is that if Cartoon Network doesn't treat this one right, there's going to be a lot of dissatisfied and angry fans out there.

What did you guys think about the preview?

 

[Marril]

Naruto is going to draw a much less rabid fanbase with its dub that Dattebaiyo (or however it's spelled) is drawing with its subs. The reason for this is that the "real" fans of the show convince themselves that dubs are the very antichrist of animé. As a result, dubbing companies have little respect for them. Furthermore, fans seem to erupt into a screaming fit every time things get changed, voices don't sound like they "should," or for no reason at all except because "the show was ruined." Would you give any respect to someone whining and screaming about every little thing you do? I rest my case. I don't always agree with changes, but I never whine about anything.

Guess what? Naruto is on the same level as Dragonball Z, except that instead of screaming, there's flashbacks that nobody cares about. So, to every "disgruntled" fan out there: stop your whining. There's absolutely no reason to whine before the show has even aired. And if you hate the dub so much, just don't watch it. Novel concept, to be sure. I'm not angry so much as annoyed that almost every animé never succeeds in meetings its "fanbase's" expectations.

Oh, and previews using the original voices, etc have been done before. It's not as uncommon as you think.

Edit: Oh, and I'd like to see fans do a "satisfactory" dub on their own at least once. I'm really sorry for snapping, but I just can't take it anymore. Fans have expectations that are always X+1, where X is the level dubbing companies are at. They complain but can't even do a job as good as most of the good dubs out there (I'll admit DiC's rendition of Sailor Moon was crap, as was Nelvana's version of Cardcaptor Sakura, but on the whole dubs are doing nothing but improving).

 

[Psycho_Lugia_X]

The first, easiest step to improvement has to be widening the pool of voice actors. It feels like there is a very limited range of voices, and thus limited or redundant interpretations for characters-- a very constricting, injurious state for shows to be in.

 

[Marril]

That's a problem that plagues the Japanese versions of shows, too. It gets tiring watching animé in its original form because so many character types sound alike. It may not be the same person each time, but you can definitely tell the "voice types" when you hear them.

 

[Maverick Hunter Zero]

Very well put Marril.

I've watched the subtitled version, and I'm going to watch the dub version. Translation of language and culture doesn't ruin a show, and I'm bloody sick and tired of people who scream bloody murder over every little change that doesn't remind them of every little nuance they liked about whatever original version it was that they first ran across.

Heck, after watching nearly the first 100 episodes with subtitles, I'll be getting a real kick out of not having to read every single thing that's said. I look forward to the dub.

Although I'm not sure about the statement that Naruto is on the same general level as Dragonball Z. In terms of animation, overall transition in terms of add-ons and writing from manga-to-anime, that would be accurate. For all literal intents and purposes in terms of production, distribution, and business plan, you're dead on. But in way of the actual anime... I don't think it's quite degraded that much yet.

 

[Shukuen Shinobi]

It made me a tad bit mad, just because they're displaying the show completely wrong.

The preview made it sound like the Academy was the point of the entire show, even though they graduate after the first episode or two.

2nd. Head Ninja, while English, doesn't sound as nice as Hokage, but that is just my opinion, I'm gonna hope a wee bit that it was just the Toonami dude's filler word.

Not as good as I would like, I will still say faithful to the Japanese Version, all their voices are drilled into my brain, even to the point where I can hear there tones of voice, accents included, in English, even if they are all Japanese.

But I'll still watch the Dub, not faithfully, since I don't watch much of anything on TV, Anime-wise, faithfully, but I won't ban it from my house or anything.