Ask John: Has an Anime Even Been Dubbed Twice?

Question:
Was there ever an anime series that was dubbed twice, each having different voice actors? That would be weird.

Answer:
Actually, it’s not at all uncommon for anime titles to have more than one existing English language dub, especially with older titles that have passed through multiple distributors. It’s probably impossible for me to uncover and list all of the existing dub permutations of anime, so I’ll just provide a few examples.

There’s probably no anime that has more English language versions than the first Lupin the Third motion picture, Lupin vs. the Clones (more commonly known by its American title “Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo). The 1978 film was first dubbed into English in 1978 for screening on Japan Airlines trans-Atlantic flights. In 1995 Streamline Pictures dubbed the film for its American home video debut. The following year Manga Video of the UK dubbed the movie for its British debut. Then in 2003 Geneon produced a new dub for the film’s current American home video release.

Paralleling the history of the Lupin movie, Streamline dubbed Akira in English in 1990 for its debut American release. In 2001 Geneon recorded a new English dub. Also in 1990 Streamline theatrically distributed an English dub of Laputa: Castle in the Sky that had been produced in Japan for screening on Japan Airline flights. The present dub of Castle in the Sky is a new one produced by Disney.

Crusader Films released an English dub of All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku-Nuku OAVs 1-3 in the UK years before AD Vision produced a new English dub for American release. Likewise, Anime UK produced an English dub of KO Century Beast: 3 Beast Warriors many years before Right Stuf International produced an English dub for the show’s American debut.

Years before AD Vision produced its own English language dubs of Megazone 23 OAVs 1-3, Streamline Pictures also produced an English dub of Megazone 23 part 2 as a teaching aid for Japanese learning English, and produced an American dub of Megazone 23 part 1. Meanwhile, Britain’s Manga Video produced an English dub of Megazone 23 part 3 released several years before the title was ever released in America.

I’m aware that fans of English dubbed anime may find different dubs conflicting, but from a commercial perspective it’s only been very recently that anime distributors have begun to consider the influence and tastes of dubbing fans. Traditionally dialogue replacement isn’t strictly a form of literal translation. The purpose of dubbing is to make foreign film more accessible and thereby more marketable and profitable. So if the primary purpose of dubbing is just to make anime easier for mainstream viewers to watch, there’s little reason to ensure consistency in the cast used for the dubbing over a period of many years.