Ask John: Why Dub Weiss Kreuz?

Question:
What is up with a Weiss Kreuz dub? Replacing our favorite seiyuu with weird English-speaking voice actors and changing the name to Knight Hunters– what’s the point? It just defeats the purpose. It upsets me to think that there may be Americans with whom I can’t discuss an anime because they know it by a different name and don’t understand the significance of the seiyuu and their relationship to it. I’ve been through this before with Sailor Moon and all the fun new names that were given to the senshi, and it’s such a drag having a barrier there, especially when it’s unnecessary! I wonder, is the title “Weiss Kreuz” offensive or something? Is it “Oh, we cannot have a German title, for we are Americans!”? I do not understand the minds of those who dub! Please help clarify!

Answer:
Unfortunately, while die-hard American anime fans may be aware of and respectful of the cultural context of anime, the average American consumer is not, and the average American consumer market is a much, much larger target market than American hardcore anime fans are. To a large degree, the distribution of anime in America has nothing to do with cultural exchange, education, art appreciation or fantasy fandom. To a large degree, the distribution of anime in America is simply a business no different than selling cars, shoes or cat food. A demand exists, so there are business that exist to meet that demand, and make a profit from doing so.

Regardless of secondary purposes, dubbed anime exists primarily to market itself to consumers. Dubbed anime is simply more marketable than Japanese language anime in America. Dubbing Weiss Kreuz makes it “watchable” for viewers that otherwise wouldn’t consider watching or buying foreign language cinema. And just as English language dialogue attracts viewers that wouldn’t normally be interested in foreign film, “Americanizing” a foreign title, whether it be German or Japanese, makes Weiss Kreuz less “foreign” (both literally and figuratively), less threatening and more attractive to potential viewers that may be curious about something with an inviting title like “Knight Hunters” but not interested in an obscure, foreign title like “Weiss Kreuz.” And it should be noted that the original title hasn’t disappeared altogether. It’s simply been minimized beneath the new American name.

The original Japanese voice actors for Weiss Kreuz are the members of the real-life Japanese rock band Weiss Kreuz. The significance of this real-life parallel may be lost in the dubbed version, but this offers all the more opportunity to encourage new fans to experience Japanese animation in Japanese. A dub can allow a new viewer that’s never tried anime an opportunity to discover and enjoy a totally unfamiliar foreign art form. The dub of Weiss Kreuz in particular, with its real-life connection to Japanese culture found only in the subtitled version, can provide veteran anime fans an opportunity to encourage new fans to watch Japanese language anime and, by extension, learn about Japanese language, popular music and the Japanese entertainment industry, other anime, and ultimately increase these new fans’ awareness and acceptance of foreign cultures and ideas.