NamaeX
from what I know Haruki, CCS was just poorly marketed, that's why you see what you see in terms of the TV dub. I think sometime ago they've actually released uncut DVDs. The only redeeming quality of the English dub is the cast. I saw the original Japanese dub and hated Sakura's voice.
I hope this is the only time I spin a thread off-topic.
I made note of that. CCS's dub by all accounts, wasn't a complete bomb. I 'do' feel however, some parts were mis-cast, Kero-chan, Tomoyo and Sakura in particular. I'll have to go back to my lone Cardcaptors DVD and CCS Movie 1 to refresh my memory, but from what I remember, the rest of the cast did alright.
(Next time someone says the TV series dub is by Nelvana, I'll scream. It is by Ocean Group studios, the same folks who brought us Escaflowné, Ranma 1/2, and the like),
Have you ever seen CCS Move 2: The Sealed Card? That movie has a different cast entirely (it was by Bang-Zoom) and to my ears, was more of what a CCS dub could have sounded like.
(a bit off topic if I may, since I'm from the U.S. and I did follow CCS in its Cardcaptors form for a bit. This lead me to seek out and get the uncut subbed DVDs)
Still, for what its worth, CCS' failure was not due to the dub, as you have put forth. It was mostly the fault of Kids WB, airing the episodes out of order in attempts to bring Syaoran Li more front-and-center, with Sakura as a supporting character. (How ironic that in Tsubasa, he 's brought forth as sort of the 'main' character anyways). Unfortunately, everyone, even males, knew that CCS was a bit too 'cutsey', and with the powers of the Internet that be, many knew what they were watching was a rearranged version of what was originally a 'mahou-shoujo' series. They also eliminated all episodes that had heavy cultural themes or little to no action.
The series was aired here originally starting in June 2000. It aired on the Kids WB block for a little while, until Fall of 2000, where another show replaced it on the schedule. It moved then to Toonami on Cartoon Network in early 2001 for a while..airing back to back with Sailor Moon, but it bombed there too.
To fill their contract obligations, Turner went back and ran the alottment of Season 2 episodes (which was a total mess of both combined first and second arc episodes along with the "Sakura Card" arc episodes mixed in) late in 2001 starting in September on Kids WB (within a block of anime including Yu Gi Oh, Dragon Ball Z, and Pokemon). It all ended Deceber 14, 2001, the same way the uncut version ends....with Sakura's first self-created card being turned and revealed..
The marketing front was a complete mess. The show wasn't advertised nearly enough, the toy line was literally non-existant in small markets (only in really huge cities like Chicago, LA, and such, could you find merchandise), and to top it all off, the whole Taco Bell promotion fiasco which happened after the anime went off air in late 2001. (the TB promo was in early 2002...a little late I think there). One of the promo items included was a miniaturized set of the Clow Cards. Of course, the close-minded fundie-religious element got one look at them and cried foul, citing they were 'tarot cards'. Promotion instantly canned....within a week of it starting.
From what I read online, around the rest of the world (including Canada), CCS got the full run of 70 episodes dubbed, but they still had the name changes, and the hints of romance tossed out (this is understandable, as the cast is mostly children), but those would have been minor points to nitpick about.
You didn't like Sakura's Japanese variant? Not being very fluent in Japanese (save for being able to make out lots of basic sounds and getting name pronounciations right, and a few phrases and words), I can't say if her performance was good or bad. I can say though, like you, I found her voice became annoying at times. I think it's her trademark 'phwwweeee' squeal that gets on most people's nerves.
For the record, this was the ONLY series I watched sub-only. It will be the only one I will watch sub-only if I can help it. This is why series I wanted to get in the past. (Saint Tail, Loveless, some others) I will not, because either their dubs were cut short or there's no dub to begin with. Here in the U.S., all Geneon (then Pioneer) could release uncut was the subbed version, because Nelvana had all rights to the Ocean studios dub, along with marketing tied up between themselves and Time Warner/Turner Broadcasting (they run the whole Kids WB thing down here), lock-stock-&-barrel. Except for movie 2 (licensed and dubbed seperately by Geneon pending this license expiring. Eventually CCS's license transferred completely to Geneon, and they tried to push CCS once more back in late 2005 with two big boxsets of the whole TV series, but those sold so poorly that they decided to let the license to the series expire this past January.
Which is too bad. CCS was a cute show.
Guess newbie CLAMP fans will have to be satisfied with the characters' reworkings in Tsubasa: Resivoir Chronicle.
Yeah, I know, I have no life. I know too much about CCS. I suppose though, why not...it's one of my all-time favorites from the team that is CLAMP.
NamaeX
Sailor Moon... when I watched it when I was a kid I didn't give a rat's a** about the cast because I found it entertaining. Now that I think about it, I don't think there's a single voice actor that I would want replaced if it were to be uncut, not even Stephanie Beard (Rini) (even though she's in LA now).
-Chuckle- I think most kids are like that.
Sailor Moon...another one of those cases where you have two dubs to go with. I'm curious to know which cast you liked more though? DiC's or Cloverway's? I have one DVD of the 4th season (Super S) which has the Cloverway cast. Usagi sounds too old to my ears.
These are just reminders that not all dubs are great. I'm not bashing them at all, I'm just putting forth what I feel were flaws that, if avoided, could have made these better.
Anyhoo....I'll keep an eye out if any previews or snippets of Ouran's English dub appear somewhere. I'm anxious to hear who they plan to cast.
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