The dub.
Oh god. So I just watched the PoT English dub, which is now out on http://www.toonamijetstream.com --though it's still not viewable by Firefox or Mac users.
It's...weird. The voices aren't too bad, actually, and they seem to be keeping the names intact--with the order reversed, of course. Sakuno's pretty tolerable without her girlish squeeing, and while Ryuuzaki-sensei's not quite grandmotherly enough, that may come with time. Ryoma is...okay, I guess. Nothing can compare to Minagawa-san's irritated grumble, but the new voice actor manages to do the whole "I am a cocky NY boy" pretty well.
They've redone the credits into some sort of montage of, like, every opening and ending ever, plus random episode scenes. The theme music has no words, but then, I guess they could hardly sing about tennis with a straight face.
Some of the translations are entertaining. I do not approve of the "double fault" pun, especially not when inserted into Ryoma's dialogue, of all people. "Mada mada dane" has apparently become "you've got a long way to go" which seems logical, if lacking in pithiness. And why was "dangan serve" translated as "killer serve" instead of "bullet serve" when they have the same number of syllables?
My main issue: the pronunciation. I hate that they've Americanised the pronunciation of Japanese names, e.g., saKUno instead of SAkuno. Just because most Americans don't know where to put the stress in Japanese words does not mean you get a free pass to be a dumbass. My name, which is neither English or Japanese in origin, often gives people here trouble. I cut them plenty of slack, but the one thing I cannot stand is stress on the wrong syllable. I correct them till they get it right, and it doesn't usually take more than one correction. What the hell, yo.
It's...weird. The voices aren't too bad, actually, and they seem to be keeping the names intact--with the order reversed, of course. Sakuno's pretty tolerable without her girlish squeeing, and while Ryuuzaki-sensei's not quite grandmotherly enough, that may come with time. Ryoma is...okay, I guess. Nothing can compare to Minagawa-san's irritated grumble, but the new voice actor manages to do the whole "I am a cocky NY boy" pretty well.
They've redone the credits into some sort of montage of, like, every opening and ending ever, plus random episode scenes. The theme music has no words, but then, I guess they could hardly sing about tennis with a straight face.
Some of the translations are entertaining. I do not approve of the "double fault" pun, especially not when inserted into Ryoma's dialogue, of all people. "Mada mada dane" has apparently become "you've got a long way to go" which seems logical, if lacking in pithiness. And why was "dangan serve" translated as "killer serve" instead of "bullet serve" when they have the same number of syllables?
My main issue: the pronunciation. I hate that they've Americanised the pronunciation of Japanese names, e.g., saKUno instead of SAkuno. Just because most Americans don't know where to put the stress in Japanese words does not mean you get a free pass to be a dumbass. My name, which is neither English or Japanese in origin, often gives people here trouble. I cut them plenty of slack, but the one thing I cannot stand is stress on the wrong syllable. I correct them till they get it right, and it doesn't usually take more than one correction. What the hell, yo.