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Also posted in A/M/C, here:
]http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8960136

Okay, this is a thread for those who have already seen Beck - Mongolian Chop Squad. If you have seen Beck, then you'll get what I mean here. If you haven't, then you should go and watch it, because it's effing great.

Okay, so if you've watched Beck, you know that a BIG part of the show is the Japanese-English language barrier. It's brought up so many times that the divide between the cultures of Japan and America could be considered THE major theme of the show. This is made possible mostly because of the Japanese and English dialogue in the show.

Now, here's the problem: I'm scared to death that a company is going to try and dub Beck and bring it to America, and I'm also afraid that the company that'll do it will be Funimation. On Anime News Network, if you look up news relating to Beck, there's a post about Funimation buying the URL "www.beckanime.com". While there's nothing there yet, one can only assume what Funi would do with that URL: obviously, make a site for the Beck anime.

Now, here's the crucial part: how could anyone possibly dub Beck? In order to dub Beck, all the Japanese dialogue would have to be made English. Unless they spoke in Engrish, a lot of the old dialogue from the show would lose bearing, especially the parts where Koyuki is like "What are you saying? I don't speak English." That wouldn't make sense if both the people were speaking the same language; it would just confuse people.

Now, Beck isn't by any means a spectacularly produced show. It flourishes because of the themes it contrasts, and the biggest one is this Japanese/English theme. Now, if this show were to be dubbed then this theme would be destroyed and Beck would lose the magic that makes it spectacular.

Does anyone else get what I'm saying?

And another thing: the characters speaking in English and then performing Japanese songs would seem wierd, because the voices would probably sound different. While it's 100% unlikely, imagine the horror of the songs being redone. icon_gonk.gif

There's only one way to save Beck - by NOT DUBBING IT and NOT EDITING IT. While it doesn't show any nudity or major violence, it contains language while is part of the cultural references in the show, reflecting the Japanese image of Americans. Changing this would ALSO take meaning away from the show. Sure, if it wasn't dubbed or edited it would probably never see play on a TV channel, but hey, I think that's a sacrifice worth making. I would gladly buy subbed DVDs, unburdened by some atrocity of a dub.


Anyways, those of you who have watched Beck, please give me your feedback on this. I want to know if I'm crazy or if you're against a dub too. What do you think?

I think the only way it would be possible for Beck to make sense and to dub it would be to change the location from Japan to America. And that would honestly ruin the show. Beck is one of those shows that I find can put in what I'd call almost a temporary high, and by changing the cultural aspect of the show, that feeling could easily be ruined. I think the best way to bring Beck to America is to not dub it.

Yeah, switching Japan and America just wouldn't work. I simply cannot find a sane way to dub this show.

Pray that those fools in the dubbing studios will have mercy on Beck.

Just kicking around an option. It was the only thing i could think of. But you guys are right it would just add to the confusion.

FLCL was good for finding analagous pop culture jokes for the dub.

I think Azumanga Daioh did something like that too. The dub for it turned out pretty good, though.

Yeah I figured a ton of stuff out just by comparing the dub and the sub. The booklet with all the explanations for the references on the sub came in handy too.