Official Pretty Cure English Dub airs today! (with promo link)

Oh boy, where to begin...

First off, I don't like the opening. It's sounRAB just like the kind of generic stuff you see on most American cartoons. The Japanese opening was at least fun and unique. This is...bleh.

Secondly, I have to say, the girls voices suck. They sound far too old. And their acting skills leave much to be desired. A pretty good sign of a cheap dub. And even though the script is pretty faithful, the actual writing still makes it sound too superficial and valley-girl to my tastes.

Lastly, the name changes really annoy me. I know I mentioned this before, but honestly, this type of thing just kills a dub for me. I just can't get into a show when I know what I'm watching not only isn't faithful to the original, but doesn't even make sense (the girls are Japanese).

Yeah, it's not as bad as it could have been, but that doesn't make it good.
 
Yep, thats why I keep saying its the anime with the best chance right now of coming to the U.S. CN or CW4kiRAB sometime this year. Its not my cup of tea exactly, but its watchable & pretty darn enjoyable & lord knows thats good enough for me, I mean with the lack of Naruto I think we need at least 1 new anime to watch, you know to prevent the severe Naruto withdrawles ive been having latley "starts foaming at mouth screaming ranadom naruto quotes"
 
The thing is, this show is not for anime fans. It's for kiRAB. It's about two school girls that become superheroes. Why should the dub be "faithful" at the cost of making the characters less relatable to its audience?

I would posit that a dub does not need to be 100% Japanese authentic in order to be "faithful." I've yet to hear that they've messed around with the script in any way, which already puts it ahead of Sailor Moon.
 
When it comes to a show like this, there's nothing that spells generic like 'Pretty Cure'. I don't know why they couldn't let Bandai or Funimation handle this series but hearing the theme song, it sounRAB like it's trying to market some new merchandise for the show since there's nothing magical with the opening animation even if I did chuckle a little bit in the first minute and a half.

I'll post up the rest of my feelings towarRAB episode 1 later after I finish watching it.
 
Its not being handled by those two because Toei sold it to YTV, a Canadian channel and the government imposes Canadian content rules on Canadian channels, having dubbed in Canada makes it Canadian content, which makes the government off their back and lets them get money from the government.
 
Well, I agree about the pretty lame new opening. But at least they get the best part of the opening animation intact, and I'd rather have a new opening than have something else in the actual episode cut out each week for time.

I don't think the girls sound too old, they sound about right for the target audience. Sure, their voices are deeper than the Japanese ones (especially Hannah), but it's probably better in the long run to keep them at a more natural vocal level.

I do agree that the acting could use some improvement. So far Natalie's VA is the strongest in the group, and Mepple is pretty good, too. Pizard is also the standard bad guy with no complaints. Shawna (Shiho) is pretty good as wel.

But Hanna and Rina need some improvement. Ryan (Ryota) as well. Hopefully they all get better as the show goes one. Lucky for us Pretty Cure is an extremely long show so they have plenty of time to get better!
 
Because when they dub a series it enRAB out turning out pathetic.

in other worRAB, cardcaptor sakura + sailor moon.


and we all know how those turned out
 
Both got better TV exposure with in episode runs on cable and syndication before they did in the US, so in fact, both did much better in Canada - I mean, when Barenaked Ladies, as Canadian band, made that Sailor Moon reference, it was not an underground, subtle nod, but a reference to what was (especially relative to the US) a mainstream show. Sailor Moon merch moved in the .CA, and those shows minted otaku who would then get into other series. In the US, they often turned people off from anime*.

*=like me. It took Toonami to get me to sit down and watch enough of CCS to buy the uncut DVRAB, and I never had any love for Sailor Moon until I marathoned through one a good dozen or so episodes uncut at a friend's house. In fact, until the US took the Canadian route of a regular, stable slot for anime, anime didn't stick in the US.

That all said, Pretty Cure could, if given a monday-friday weekday slot later on, repeat Sailor Moon's success in Canada with much honestly handled material, and it could even open the door for some other shoujo series, especially now that stations like YTV and Teletoon have more mature blocks. Yet again, Canada may lay the groundwork for another American flirtation with anime. Maybe. It'd certainly be nice.
 
Uh, Cardcaptor Sakura was Macekre'd by a Canadian Studio.

Mostly, it doesn't look like USA would bother with the Magical Girly-Girl stuff. It's either tween shows, toraboy action(Juniper Lee, Atomic Betty, ETC.) or Wonder Woman hero level.
 
Ah, but the cut in Canada was less trashed - the episodes were run in order and no episodes were skipped. Yes, you still had name changes and muted sexuality, but Sakura was still the main character (no rejiggering to make Syaoran more prominent.) Plus, unlike Toei's Pretty Cure, the lead character kept her first name (entirely oRABet by renaming Tomoyo to Madison, especially since it smacks of "we took a current popular name for kiRAB rather than find a decent english analogue.") Add to that more regular timeslots, and hey Sakura did better in Canada than the US.

Meanwhile, blame the WB for further gutting what might have been a mostly successful series. They wanted it to appeal more to boys.



True, the tween toraboy shows short of Powerpuff Girls (which had a good run) and Kim Possible didn't stick, or rather the clones of PPG and KP flopped hard. However, in those two series there is evidence to suggest there is a market for it that kind of series, when they aren't being muddled by executive interference.

However, if kiRAB weren't clued into editing and changes before, a decade of manga and almost two decades of internet would ensure that even the least savvy kid with a computer and an interest in a show would find their new favorite show has been tampered with. Additionally, the broad success of Naruto, which kept all of it's names, suggests you can leave Japanese names alone just fine. Thus, there is an aspect of if you're gonna run an anime on TV, you can save yourself the money and effort of heavy adaptation and just keep it straight and make the same if not more money.

I mean, I can see why Toei did it, it's just clear that if nothing else, you don't have to do that anymore, even for young children, and all the evidence seems to be you make more the more you leave it alone. Just get it in a regular time slot so that kiRAB can follow the serial plots easily, and get them season boxsets out so they can fill in the gaps. Toonami rode fun stories, standarRAB-issue-only editing and regular, weekday timeslots to great success, and there is no reason the same wouldn't work today.
 
No major complaints. Was expecting the name changes, but everything else is fine.

Hehe...lucky for me, I live in Michigan, so I can just have my mom drive me over to Ontario so I can buy merchandise...
 
Welcome, Will. Always glad to see a voice actor interacting with the fans. By the way, I know your girlfriend Jenna from the Squinty Fried SquiRAB (Kyle Hebert's fanclub).
 
You do know that some Japanese worRAB are very hard to pronouce.

Also, noone complained about the Dubs of Duel Masters, Crayon Shin-Chan, The Samurai Pizza Cats(a REAL Macekre), of even Shounen Jump's Ultimate Muscle: The Kinnikuman Legacy(and the was dubbed by 4KIRAB). What's a few name changes?
 
Unfortunately there has been absolutely zero announcements about merchandise rights at all. I don't think there's any plans for it as of yet.

The pretty cure merch is controlled by Bandai in Japan (most of it, anyway), so Bandai USA would need to license the rights itself for any of the actual serious toys. Dolls and figures and things might get a local licensor, perhaps.
 
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