MovieChat Forums > Gunslinger Girl (2003) Discussion > Like alll Anime if you're not a Japanese...

Like alll Anime if you're not a Japanese speaker?


With all anime or even non english foreign films in general? You will either not get the intended effect, impression or true meaning of the writer etc. I know old show but a great one at that. I'm a German born and raised now an American tho with dual citizenship. Im in my early 30's and a practicing physician though I loved Anime since I was a child. I'm married to a fellow MD whom I met in university in the US he's a 3rd gen Japanese American fellow tho his extended family is 7 gen US. Tho only a 45% of his family is American the majority are in Japan so he's still thanks to his parents etc. Fluent in Japanese and is learning German thru me ;) But I know 3 languages German, English and Japanese I still speak with a German accent tho but fluent in speech and reading and writing. I took Japanese as a minor in university and learned english at school in Germany as most kids are these days. Only the US doesn't teach their young kids a different language. And no surprise the majority of US citizens do not know a 2nd language etc. Even their own Ethnicity's Language in most cases. LOL Some are even bad at english itself now not being offensive I just pointing out proven facts.

Anyway that's a short look at my history. Now my point is and I'll use Gunslinger Girl as an example if you watched the English dub you're almost getting a different story, with the subtitles 80% of is are wrong as many Japanese words or phrases can't be directly translated into English or other languages and some words cant' be at all. So I'm glad I learned Japanese now when I go back an watch some of older anime from my somewhat huge collection of DVD's and Blurays that 100% of em had a totally different feel to movie and some the stories and emotions etc were all wrong. Now I collect direct from Japan imports only. IMHO? If you want to experience the true meaning of any non english media like anime learn the language you'll be thankful you did.

Ugh calling Hirscher (remember I'm a German Native) Hillshire in the English dub is so ignorant and dumb. I mean even in english it should not be pronounced like that. Man who was the translator a Brit? ;)jk Again Anime lovers learn Japanese or at least the vocal part and you'll see what I mean. I love the Japanese people sure Im biased as I married to one well yeah he's a yank but still one of Japanese ethnicity. At least when they travel they make an effort to learn at least the basics of the places they visit in fact many people from Europe do as well. But to the Japanese to them its rude not learn or try to at least know again the basics of the places they go. Ive seen many Japanese tourist back home in Germany who spoke very good German. To the its a kind of respect or courtesy. But most Yanks nope..They always expect the other side to cater to them. Ive seem many rude American in Germany who actually had the gall to say learn English. Can you believe that?

Pardon my rant. But hey vice versa you ignorant types? Guess what we and I bet a lot of other countries say right to you rude Americans with a smile lol. I know Japan does as I did as a kid my Japanese family said they sometime do the same thing :)

Again learn Japanese as Anime in its pure form is great!

Dr. Nichole was here.

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[deleted]

I don't know where to start with you...

You do know that America has a huge influence in many parts of the world, correct? Not only that, but if you want to succeed big with many businesses speaking English is a must since we hold a large number of corporations. Hell, don't you ever wonder why 99% of video games make English translation a must and those who don't never reach the success of those that do? The PS4, a Japanese console launched in America as a flag company and people from all around the world flood Hollywood to get famous through movies, TV, etc... Think what you want about America, but like it or not we are a major player in the world. As you mentioned, most other countries even teach English to their children and whatnot, so why learn another language when most people can speak English now anyways? As a matter of fact, under one of my companies (record label) I signed an artist from Europe when it first started up. He learned English and I helped him out in a big way before his contract ended. But right after he signed he announced to his fans that he lived in America just to improve his reputation even though he was a special case that we were promoting overseas. Now how many artists do you know in America that tell people they live in Europe just for street cred?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a snob or nationalist as I personally am working on learning Japanese so I can visit Japan in my later years. But even so, I will most definitely still be watching all anime in dub because, to be honest, a lot of Japanese voice actors are high pitched and whiny to my ears. However, in the meantime I do know 2 computer programming languages and 3 web code languages. That said, like you should totally not use a computer if you cant comprehend C++, and you're definitely missing out on a lot of this website because you don't know CSS and PHP. See how it sounds? Knowing code or not, Windows, Linux and most websites still do what they're meant to and you'll obviously get the same benefits, but since I know code I can see maybe 5-10% more than you... Nothing to lose sleep over.

Secondly, I always hear you purist, elitist types talk about how anime is so much different in Japanese than dub. How so? How is Dragon Ball Z insanely different in Japanese? Is Goku no longer a Saiyan? Are they no longer shooting Ki, but instead using powers like Avatar? What about the fighting? If I switch to Japanese will Goku suddenly be fighting Cooler on Namek instead of Frieza? And with Gunslinger Girl, whats so different? The girls have been through hell, their bodies and lives are limited and they kill terrorists but they are still little girls just wanting their big brothers to love them. Tell me how speaking Japanese changes that story. Oh wait, they pronounced someones name different? OH MY GOD, we should burn Funimation to the GROUND! Get over it. People have different preferences and I have better things to do than push "learn Japanese" to the top of my list just so I can laugh at people who read subtitles or have to wait on dub because they're like, totes baka.

Also, work on your English. Peace.

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I actually thought Gunslinger Girl's English Dub was good.Other than Det Conan and their first Attempt at Dragon Ball Z(Kai's Dub is actually accurate),Funimation actually has had a solid track record.
I am fine with Watching something with Subtitles and its original language,but some of these English dubs are excellent,you should have more of an open mind and give them a chance.

Rants like this one are why terms like Weaboo exist





Class is Pain 101. Your instructor is Casey Jones

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