"Glass Half Empty" corner - What don't you like about the Japanese version?

[Ryu Taylor]

Now it's finally time to do the unthinkable: talk about what there is not to like about the so-called perfect Japanese version. Let's face it, everyone: it's not perfect, either. My reasons include, and are certainly not limited to:

- Nyarth's voice (Gott itt HIMMEL is that an intolerable sound).
- Whenever a pun is especially bad (yeah, the Japanese version is just as guilty as the dub).
- Sometimes, the acting is too over-the-top and loud, to the point where the mood of a scene can be threatened.

Well, actually, I think this was already known, since I'm still trying to shut up about it. But now that I've told you mine, tell me yours. Have any problems with the Japanese version?

 

[jnsharley13]

Do you really think that there's anyone here that has a reason to hate the Japanese version?
Well, this forums needs some replies I guess. So.... I don't like it because it's in Japanese and I can't understand Japanese. So there's that.
And... sometimes the announcers got annoying in the beginning of the show, whenever the Japanese actually bothered to make an announcement beforehand.

And this has nothing to do with the actual show, but the Pokémon commercials in Japan probably get annoying too.

 

[Ryu Taylor]

Do you really think that there's anyone here that has a reason to hate the Japanese version?

There probably are. There probably aren't. But I'm not encouraging anyone to hate it. I just opened this up as a venting corner for anyone in the mood to complain.

Well, this forums needs some replies I guess. So.... I don't like it because it's in Japanese and I can't understand Japanese. So there's that.
And... sometimes the announcers got annoying in the beginning of the show, whenever the Japanese actually bothered to make an announcement beforehand.

And this has nothing to do with the actual show, but the Pokémon commercials in Japan probably get annoying too.

I see. Those fall under my "over-the-top acting" strike, personally.

 

[Nicolas721]

-Some openings and endings outstay their welcome. Best Wishes should have been replaced by BW015, Look look here by BW099, DreaDrea by XY061, etc. I think they should change the opening every 7 months and the ending every 4 months like other anime.
-The narrator's voice appears too much. Voicing Professor Oak, the narrator and the BW Pokedex is more than enough important characters, and he even voices a bunch of COTDs!!!
-TONS of promotion of other parts of the franchise. Oak's segment is unwatchable during the summer. As if Pokemon Get-TV wasn't enough...

 

[Gabo2oo]

I can hear echoes from the recording booth quite a lot in the Japanese audio...

 

[Sakuraa]

A lot of the voices, like TR's in particular, are disgustingly annoying.

 

[Ryu Taylor]

A lot of the voices, like TR's in particular, are disgustingly annoying.

Oh, most definitely. Although I can tolerate Jessie/Musashi and James's/Kojiro's voices just fine, Nyarth's/Meowth's is fatal torture.

 

[Sakuraa]

Oh, most definitely. Although I can tolerate Jessie/Musashi and James's/Kojiro's voices just fine, Nyarth's/Meowth's is fatal torture.

Lol, I can't take any of them. I honestly think Jessie sounds the most horrendous.

 

[Idon'tcare]

The only problem I have with the Japanese version is whenever their intros last way too long, I can get bored of it and the one I got the most bored with is the first Best Wishes opening, as I found the animation for it to be quite lacklustre. But the bigger problem with it is when the dub starts onto its next season, they have to resort to using mostly episode clips for the intro, as Japan has yet to get a new one. It was better when the dub had no seasons.

 

[Ryu Taylor]

I really did not like Kasumi's/Misty's "World's Most Beautiful Girl" catchphrase. Nor did I like Takeshi's/Brock's tendency to ask if girls are legal age. For the former, it makes her sound too conceited; for the latter, it makes him sound like a gigolo.

Also (though this is true of all Pokemon media), though I have no problem with hard-to-pronounce Japanese names (having taken Japanese for two years and gotten back to privately studying it, it's not hard for me anymore), I have a problem with uncreative names. Freezer? Thunder? Fire? To me, it just seemed like they gave up. Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres all the way (although I'm also fond of their French names: Artikodin, Electhor, and Sulfura).

 

[Galactic_V]

Oh, most definitely. Although I can tolerate Jessie/Musashi and James's/Kojiro's voices just fine, Nyarth's/Meowth's is fatal torture.

Lol, I can't take any of them. I honestly think Jessie sounds the most horrendous.

Really? For me it's the exact opposite... I can't stand Kojirou's English voice, he sounds so derp and unenergetic... Not mentioning Nyasu with his awfully deep voice...



Anyway for the thread... I dislike what some people commented: the long-time openings. That used to be a trend in old anime series, until mid-2000 I think, however until Pocket Monsters BW most OP'd last until the 80 episode mark, and this's ridiculous >_> (At least XY corrected this)

 

[technickal]

Overuse of V (Volt) as an insert song.

 

[Ryu Taylor]

Having recently seen the Swords of Justice movie in Japanese, I've found a new problem. Keldeo was so terribly miscast it's sad. It seemed his VA's only modes were "underact" and "overact" for this role. Weird thing is, it reminds me of how miscast Spyro the Dragon was in the Japanese version of the original PS1 game; their vocal pitches are so similar. Needless to say, I enjoyed Vic Mignogna's performance better.

But regardless of that, I still did like the movie.

 

[Galactic_V]

Another thing I also dislike's that Pokemon Quiz... Really, the other regular eyecatches were so much better, featuring a very nice art, and they didn't need to be updated every single episode...

 

[jnsharley13]

Did they have those trainer things in the Japanese version? Like trainer's choice? (That's English only but I couldn't remember if there was some other quiz thing too or not.)
Man, why is every test they have on there so difficult?

Another thing I also dislike's that Pokemon Quiz... Really, the other regular eyecatches were so much better, featuring a very nice art, and they didn't need to be updated every single episode...

Speaking of which, who is the artist who does the beautiful hand-drawn sketches at the end of some episodes? I've always wondered who made that picture of Harley and his Wigglytuff.

 

[Jimmy 3 People 0]

This is more something that bothers me across most Japanese voice acting, but I find it really hard to take the voice acting for a serious or threatening character... well, serious or threatening. Again, it's most likely just me, but it could also be the fact that English is up there with German for the title of "harshest-sounding language."

(although I'm also fond of their French names: Artikodin, Electhor, and Sulfura).

Speaking of French names, I absolutely adore Ectoplasma.

 

[BugMite]

Saturn's voice. I'm sorry, but I thought it was just all wrong; he sounded too much like a woman or a young boy. For a minute, when I first heard his Japanese voice, I honestly thought that maybe he was a woman, and that I had been mistaken the whole time... but nope. He just happens to have a high voice, that almost sounds too feminine. I find his English voice to be infinitely more fitting.

 

[Ryu Taylor]

I just saw the episode where Fletchinder evolved. Nine words about KiraKira being used over said evolution sequence: mood killer on the level of Quest for Camelot. I can't wait to see the dub replace it. Maybe the "the dub sucks because it replaces music" mob will be calmed down just a bit.

In fact, check out this fan edit of the scene in question.

 

[Gonergone]

Just the Okido/Oak section at the end of the episodes, I always skip this part just to watch the preview of the next episode. Actually, I can't compare more things since I hadn't watched a dubbed versions in years.

 

[Team Gaara]

Only real thing, honestly, is Meowth's voice~ I know what they're going for, since his English voice here is also just a localized annoying sounding cat voice, but he actually sounds incomprehensible; like I wonder if he's actually saying words at times in the Japanese version.

Whenever I watch it, it's just "meownnyaranyanyanyanyarr". Enunciate please, sir.