A great example of this would be how, in Evangelion, Tiffany Grant's portrayal of Asuka replaced tons of her lines with German. However, even at the time, ADV had attracted controversy for changing elements of the dub to make it more acceptable for an English speaking audience. THE GHOST STORIES DUBBING STUDIOĪDV is a household name among older anime fans, having produced successful dubs for Neon Genesis Evangelion, Excel Saga and Azumanga Daioh. Animax then turned to dub studio ADV Films. The studio Animax, which at this time was looking to put content on its North American television station as well as produce content that could turn this dud into gold, attempted to dub the anime itself, creating a faithful script and dub that, ultimately, was tossed out. Unfortunately, this was not the case. No one watched Ghost Stories and the show became a financial failure. In theory, Ghost Stories may have sounded like an easy hit to capitalize on this. Ringu, Ju-On and Audition were hitting screens, so kids would've been hearing about these popular adult scary movies they just couldn't watch. Keep in mind, at this time in Japan, horror was a bigger deal than ever. The intention was to produce a series aimed at younger children that introduced them to classic Japanese folklore in a new way. Ghost Stories, also known as Gakkou no Kaidan, is an adaptation of the books of the same name, written by Tōru Tsunemitsu. RELATED: The 5 Best & 5 Worst Anime Dubs of All Time THE ORIGINAL GHOST STORIES ANIME But, shockingly, this Ghost Stories dub is an official release. How on earth does something like this get made? Considering the self-referentiality and level of offensiveness in its humor, you'd be forgiven for mistaking it as the work of fans, as the other aforementioned series are.

Before Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series or Dragon Ball Z Abridged popularized gag dubs of beloved anime, a not-so-beloved anime received its own parody dub, only to, in the process, become something that has ended up being beloved.

It seems there's no right way to localize anime scripts.Įxcept, in one very memorable case back in 2000, when one studio tossed out the entire script of an anime and re-wrote it into one of the greatest gag dubs of all time.

Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid and Zombieland Saga both encountered controversy a couple of years ago for either localizing some lines or accurately translating material, thus making it different to how fans of the previous version remembered it to be. Change a line and you'll usually get fans of the original version yelling at you - even if the line is accurately translated. Anime dubs are usually criticized if they're unfaithful.

Ghost stories anime