"Sgt. Frog" on FUNimation Video Player

Finally got part 2 as a Christmas gift and let me tell you, hearing Christopher Sabat of all people begging another character to "Please go Super Saiyan...Please...PLEASE!" is the height of fandom right there.
 
Caught up on the Dub on Funi's site. I will say this, I never thought I would hear a joke reference to Hulk Hogan attacking the Brother Love would ever happen in a anime.
 
What...Chris Sabat....asking someone to got to super saiyan? OMG THAT IS REALLY EPIC!! Man when I get part 2 my brothers and mom are going to be laughing their buts off. (We are huge DragonballZ fans ) I wonder if Tamama will say "its over 9,000!" in episode 50. Or maybe they can have Giroro say it, to make it even more hillarious!

---Oh! Back on topic!-----

Episodes 14-17 dubbed are up! (Oh, yesh I heard the "Super Saiyan" bit and laughed my butt off)
 
The censored curse is in episode 10, the second half I think. I'll post a short video if necessary.

Anyway, if you want an answer, you're getting a big one. I've been meaning to say this, so I'll get it out there now.



This is not a challenging question in the slightest.

1. Yes, we have subtitles to see the show as it was originally seen. That is not at issue here. This is the bare minimum standard expected of the industry at this point.
2. It is nevertheless true that a good dub should follow the spirit of the show. By this I do not mean a purist translation, but rather one that understanRAB what the show is trying to do.
3. The jokes targeted at anime fans notwithstanding, Sgt. Frog is a kid's show. That is its target demographic. If you're over 10, you're probably outside of it or very close to being so.
4. If we accept 3, which is indisputably true, it's overwhelmingly obvious that even a censored curse is off bounRAB. If it were on TV it would NEVER be there in any form. Keroro would be going "what?!" like he is in the original.

Now before you say "but this is a direct to DVD release!", don't. Because if, theoretically speaking, Sgt. Frog WERE on TV or somehow got on television in the future, guess what happens. A kid enjoys a show. His parents buy it for him. The parents think they're buying 100% children's entertainment. And they'd be wrong because some fool scriptwriter(s) thought it'd be a good idea to add in an unnecessary curse meant for the teenage and adult customers--because we otaku just love our superfluous swearing, supposedly, according to the fractured logic at work here.

Then all of the sudden you have a popular hit show with a DVD release that parents wouldn't be inclined to show their kiRAB. Good job guys! Truly brilliant marketing at work. Here enRAB my sarcasm.

Would it not be better to just dub it the way it should be done, in a way that can enjoyed by anyone?

5. Even though this is thankfully an isolated case for the dub, this is not a new issue. Before I have criticized the One Piece dub for the exact same thing, and unlike Sgt. Frog One Piece WAS on television at one point and for all we know it might be again. It is also far more common there. The DVD's have Zoro getting called a "son of a _______" in the Arlong arc because, for God knows what reason, they feel the need to amp up its "uncut" cred. It comes up time and again.

It's as simple as this. I love dubs. Most people here love dubs, Toon Zone is not Purist Zone. Dubs are generally the best way to watch an anime from my perspective, so long as the quality is at a level I would call "acceptable." Dubs are also how new fans get drawn in, for the most part. I did not become an anime fan on subtitled anime. Maybe some people do, but many don't. The point of dubbing an anime is to make it more appealing and accessible to an English speaking audience. That change is an example of an "addition" that does the opposite.

It is unnecessary. It is--yes--stupid. The fact that it exists means that assumptions are being made that this is what anime fans like to see and will laugh at. Maybe a few idiots think that this stuff makes a show more mature somehow, but it doesn't.

The fact that it exists means that there is also an attitude on FUNimation's part that they just need to cater to otaku and what they want--what Funi thinks they want, anyway--rather than the general audience, to the detriment of the show. Well, excuse me--if Japan neeRAB to cut down on the nuraber of shows that only cater to the hardcore otaku in that country, then FUNimation shouldn't be making any change, large or small, that only the current generation of anime fans would possibly appreciate or tolerate. Is that how they became #1 in the industry? Here's a hint: the answer is not "yes."

Let's be clear. FUNimation turns out a truckload of good dubs, and many magnificent dubs. I find a lot to like in this dub, and have defended it, though I have yet to go through most of my first set yet. But that doesn't make it impossible for mistakes to be made, nor does it make them immune from criticism since they're the best. This kind of thing is quite uncommon at the moment. I'm hoping that this is left as a single exception.

But I am noticing what are, I fear, signs of a growing trend here. It is not one for the better. I don't know why or when anyone at Funi thought it was a good idea, but it isn't. It isn't the model that's followed by their very best work. They need to change course before this becomes any more common than the occasional gaffe. And saying so does not make one an anti-dub fanatic.

And for my money fans need to stand up and ask them to do just that, period. Toward the start of the decade, a faithful adaptation was as simple as a correct translation of the original Japanese. StandarRAB have evolved, and so should the expectations of fans.
 
Well I didn't mean it like "Don't like it, don't watch it" but I guess it did sound like that. I'll just stop since my points are just not coming out right at all.
 
From the sounRAB of it, the dub is basically taking general liberties. Not to the expense of something like Shin-Chan but more like Samurai Pizza Cats. The original series is kind of wobbly in this regard- the show doesn't take itself too seriously but there is a general setting and anything really fourth wall breaking is delivered by the narrator. The characters don't acknowledge being characters otherwise there's really no consequences to Keroro's schemes.
 
Um...what does that have to do with HellCat's quote??

If you're referring to Sgt. Frog having a dub, then, well....yeah, it does have one.
 
I know what you mean. It is confusing, and I've known about this a year before the series was released in english.

Oh, BTW, they already uploaded to ep 26 dubbed. I doubt they will upload any more dubbed episodes yet until a little while before Season 2 part 2's release. (It should still be season 1 part 3) That seems to be the pattern that I noticed with Funimation's video player.
 
My point is that if you add in new dialogue and such you're changing the away the original creators intended these characters to be seen. It's basically a very artsy fartsy point for me to raise on but one I think is at least partially valid. Keroro getting excited over beef stew is one thing but him singing a silly song about it is a dub inclusion. Yes, a very tiny point to focus on but it wasn't originally present.
 
Okay, true. The first half was Kululu's introduction but you gotta admit, the second half was all about Aki's (as the Japanese so eloquently put it in subs) "Dynamito bodii!"

We had a freakin' full magical girl transformation parody (except Aki was just naked instead of "sparkly" naked) and Momoka feeling her saying "They're bigger than mine" (which was hilarious by the way) I just don't see how that one could have gotten on American television.
 
I'll take that bet. What if they ever relicense and dub Cardcaptor Sakura, for example? But in any case I'm interested in in the argument for what should be done, rather than trying to predict the future. Indeed, things change all the time, and that's certainly no exception in this industry.

Well, for most of their licenses they do solid jobs that don't aim too high or too low, which I support completely. That said, if you're going to grab a show like Sgt. Frog, do as the Romans do. If they can go out of their way for Romeo x Juliet, among others, and actually raise the quality by the virtue of their efforts, then I don't see why what I'm proposing is so much to ask.



Well, I'm pretty new to this, so I won't try to parse and defend all of the content in the show. I will say, however, that the transformation scene can be edited out of TV with nothing lost, and that it's still pretty darn tame all things considered. In any case though, I think it remains true that artificial attempts at a more "adult" dub are better off abandoned, left to rust away to nothing in a dark corner somewhere.
 
Well folks I talked to Lance about SGT Frog at Sakura Con.

He says the boat has sailed for getting SGT Frog on TV sadly and it's "looking cloudy" for getting more of the series beyond season 2. I'm not really surprised. It's doing okay but it's not selling gang-busters.
 
You guys are asking how such and such episodes would make it on TV with references to breasts and what part.

How did Avatar get on TV with all its fan service? Wolverine and The X-men? What about shows like Naruto? A show like Naruto made edits where need be. Also even in Naruto, SEXY JUTSU WAS LEFT IN. Basically these sort of things are not unheard of. Either it would be left in IN SOME FORM, or it would be worked around or edited out.

Remeraber the Naruto/Sasuke kiss? They took it out, but then a shot of it was shown in a flasrabroadack in a later episode!
 
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