Ask John: Exactly How Vital is Dubbing for American Anime Releases?

Question:
Just how important is an English dub to the success or failure of an anime series in the States? Case in point: ADV Films seemingly went out of their way to keep the U.S. voice cast of Ah! My Goddess intact when they obtained the license for season two from Media Blasters. Meanwhile, Geneon went even further by advertising the reunited cast from the original Hellsing series in the trailer for the new OVA. Are U.S. companies so concerned that a long running or reimagined series could sink or swim depending on if familiar voices are heard in familiar roles, or is cast continuity just part of how the business works?

Answer:
This may actually be two distinct questions: the importance of dubbing in America, and the perceived importance of continuity within dubbing. I’m afraid that my answers may be limited for a number of reasons. I personally don’t watch dubbed film (animation or live action). In fact, I find that Japanese animation never seems quite right unless it’s performed by Japanese voice actors. Even original English language anime like Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust and Highlander: Search for Vengeance feel un-natural to me. Furthermore, AN Entertainment has never had to reassemble a voice acting cast, so I have no personal experience with the motivation behind that action. I can only provide speculation and observation.

Dubbing itself does seem to be a virtual necessity for contemporary American anime releases. I’ve personally encountered countless American consumers who have expressed their unwillingness to purchase Japanese language only anime DVDs. I also can’t name a single Japanese language only anime DVD that has sold exceptionally well in America; however, that circumstance may be partially caused by the fact that no anime titles with major commercial potential have ever been released in America subtitled only.

According to often cited industry wisdom, major American chain retailers will not stock subtitled only anime DVDs, which immediately reveals the impact of dubbing on market penetration. Furthermore, I estimate that the majority of America’s mainstream potential consumer market, and much of America’s hardcore anime fan community, will not purchase Japanese language only anime releases. However, that trend may change in the future if domestic distributors are forced to eliminate the cost of dubbing in order to make domestic anime releases profitable.

The effort to reunite original dub casts for preceding series seems to be a special effort that certain distributors make on behalf of the fan community. AD Vision used its own recording studios and its regular voice actors to dub Gensomaden Saiyuki. When Geneon released the following series, predictably Geneon did not employ its competitor AD Vision’s recording studios or actors. At least based on my own limited observation, that move doesn’t seem to have had a significant harmful impact on sales of Saiyuki Reload and Saiyuki Reload Gunlock. Likewise, FUNimation and Geneon have not attempted to maintain acting continuity between their releases of Lupin the 3rd anime. I have the impression that many of America’s anime distributors are conscious of the wishes of the hardcore fan community, and make an effort to satisfy the fan community by reassembling prior dub casts when doing so is feasible – physically and financially. But I think that American anime viewers are more interested in animation than dialogue, and most fans will continue to purchase new installments of the anime they like regardless of English dubbing voice acting continuity. I think that American distributors make an effort to appease the hardcore fan community when doing so is practical and possible, but my impression is that the vast majority of American consumers will purchase new installments of popular anime franchises, regardless of whether maintain dubbing continuity. Most fans, I think, will chose to get used to new voices rather than boycott a release.