Turn A Gundam: Coming soon

[SolidSlug]

Most examples of dubbed anime suck, the 15 year old Gundam Wing boys sounded like thirty some-things in Canadian dub. The original Japanese cast is bloody excellent in Turn A, while the Gym dub in Dynasty Gundam 2 was a pretty bog standard voice anyhow.

The 0079 Movie UK/France release is none dubbed and all the better for it!!!

[blind_dead_mcjones]

@ 1-4-4

i have no doubts that it was very well animated at the time of release, but that was 10 years ago, compared to say 00 season 2, or macross frontier (granted frontier's quality does go a bit hit and miss i nthe middle) it doesn't hold up quite as well, i'm not saying it hasn't aged well, but said factor will work against it given the inherent snobbery some anime fans have towards animation quality. (then again it could also end up working in its favour, who's to say?)

[LightningCount]

No Turn-A dub?! Very, very disappointing. (This probably shatters my long-time dream of a Gundam X dub then). I know times are tough, but Gundam is a top-tier anime franchise and deserves to be dubbed. Most of the Gundam English dubs have enhanced the experience for me a great deal. (No surprise, but I really liked at least 98% of the Gundam Wing English dub. And G-Gundam--I can't imagine it without one).

@ 1-4-4
i have no doubts that [Turn-A] was very well animated at the time of release, but that was 10 years ago, compared to say 00 season 2, or macross frontier (granted frontier's quality does go a bit hit and miss i nthe middle) it doesn't hold up quite as well, i'm not saying it hasn't aged well, but said factor will work against it given the inherent snobbery some anime fans have towards animation quality. (then again it could also end up working in its favour, who's to say?)

Hmm. From what I've seen, I'm not sure it's so much an issue of animation "quality" as it is the use of crisp digital "coloring" the modern crowd has gotten used to. I've seen some Earth-based combat clips from Turn-A that look just about as fluid as the stuff in 00.

[ShadowCell]

Gundam is a top-tier anime franchise

in Japan

not here

[Darkerangel]

I'm just more piss of how are you going to dubbed the majority of the franchise and then all of a sudden, oh yeah only four left, lets start whipping out the subs.

[Chris]

I'm just more piss of how are you going to dubbed the majority of the franchise and then all of a sudden, oh yeah only four left, lets start whipping out the subs.

This isn't anything "all of a sudden." The old dub of the MSG movies has never been released on DVD, making it in essence undubbed. MS IGLOO was released here without any dub.

People need to understand the economics involved here. There's no financial incentive to spend lots of money dubbing a show that isn't going to sell well to begin with. All that aside, there's little point going on about the dubbing. We already know that it's not going to be dubbed, so debating it further would be a moot point.

[DuelGundam2099]

I just hope this series sells even if only decently; not because it's Turn A Gundam, due to the fact I find it over rated, but because if it doesn't we'll never see Victory or X Gundam and that'll blow. Double Zeta's a lost cause for now.

[Strike Zero]

Double Zeta's a lost cause for now.

How can a cause be "lost" if it never even existed to begin with?

Of course there's no way to be positive, but I'm pretty sure that of all of the things on Bandai's to-do list, "translate, localize and/or dub ZZ Gundam so that all of seventeen people can buy the DVDs" isn't one of them.

[Darkerangel]

I'm just more piss of how are you going to dubbed the majority of the franchise and then all of a sudden, oh yeah only four left, lets start whipping out the subs.

This isn't anything "all of a sudden." The old dub of the MSG movies has never been released on DVD, making it in essence undubbed. MS IGLOO was released here without any dub.

People need to understand the economics involved here. There's no financial incentive to spend lots of money dubbing a show that isn't going to sell well to begin with. All that aside, there's little point going on about the dubbing. We already know that it's not going to be dubbed, so debating it further would be a moot point.

So I heard. I usually tune the movies and MS IGLOO out.

[TheCollegeD]

I don't know why people assume turn a is not going to sell well. If it weren't requested time and time again by fans bandai would've never licensed it in the first place. As i said before the main reason i believe they do not plan on dubbing it is because of the length of the series. But all this debate shiz aside, i'm glad it's coming and i'm buying it and i hope V or X follows soon after .

[Chris]

I don't know why people assume turn a is not going to sell well. If it weren't requested time and time again by fans bandai would've never licensed it in the first place. As i said before the main reason i believe they do not plan on dubbing it is because of the length of the series. But all this debate shiz aside, i'm glad it's coming and i'm buying it and i hope V or X follows soon after .

As I've said before, don't overestimate the size/importance of the American Gundam fanbase. Just because a certain amount of fans are very vocal, it doesn't translate to widespread demand. Why won't it it probably sell well? It's 11 years old now, which makes it old by the standards of lot of anime fans who only care about what's airing in Japan this minute. It's part of a franchise that has been consistently mismanaged here in America. It's been out in Japan for so long that there has to be a certain amount of fans who will say "I've seen it fansubbed, so I don't need to buy it." There's the fact that it probably won't be airing on TV, which will put a huge dent into DVD sales. And, of course, there's the fact that there are people who don't like it.

[Mu La Flaga]

Speaking of which, I wonder if Gundam X wasn't mis-managed for it's airing times in Japan as opposed to if the timeslots had remain unchanged Turn A would have been the lowest rated series of the 90s(which Chris summarised 1-2 times on Gundamn)

I mean, not to knock Turn A, I mean Gundam X is a strong series and I just wonder if Bandai managed better how Turn A would be looked at by the fanbase.

So that is why I am little fearful with this choice of Gundam series Bandai chose and if it doesn't sell well, what does that bode for future releases?
As opposed to Gundam X which is a pretty strong candidate.


But either way I intend to buy the DVDs when they come, the fact it's getting released is really nice.

[Casval Rem Daikun]

No dub, eh? That's fine with me, although I still would volunteer to do Corin's voice for free.

I'll still buy it once it comes out, and will continue trying to introduce people to it.

Anyone avoiding it because there's no dub is simply missing out, and I feel a small amount of pity for them, honestly.

But with the series being released, I actually think the compilation movies could do as well as any foreign film if released here. And I'm not just saying that because it'd be great seeing it on a large screen.

That reminds me I need to email the folks over at the Ziegfeld to find out just how much it costs to rent the place for private screenings.

[1-4-4]

I don't know why people assume turn a is not going to sell well. If it weren't requested time and time again by fans bandai would've never licensed it in the first place.

The fact that some fans are vocal and request the series doesn't mean the series will sell well. What they need for the show to sell well is a large number of people who will buy it. Even if that "vocal minority" all pony up and buy the series, if there's not a large market for the show beyond that group, then the show's not going to be able to sell well.

I agree that they wouldn't have licensed it in the first place if they didn't think they could make a profit doing so - the fact that they're not producing a dub indicates that they don't think that providing a dub will get them enough additional profit to cover the additional costs.

As i said before the main reason i believe they do not plan on dubbing it is because of the length of the series.

<shrug> It's 50 episodes long. There are lots of shows that run longer and still get dubs. Zeta got dubbed... Gundam Wing and G Gundam each ran 49 episodes, and they got dubbed. Then, of course, there's those shows that run hundreds of episodes... The length of the show does not by itself explain why they wouldn't make a dub.

[mcred23]

As i said before the main reason i believe they do not plan on dubbing it is because of the length of the series.

<shrug> It's 50 episodes long. There are lots of shows that run longer and still get dubs. Zeta got dubbed... Gundam Wing and G Gundam each ran 49 episodes, and they got dubbed. Then, of course, there's those shows that run hundreds of episodes... The length of the show does not by itself explain why they wouldn't make a dub.

Keep in mind when those shows were dubbed. Wing was one of the first shows over here and had to be dubbed to do well on TV in America. G and Zeta were likely also dubbed in the hopes of TV airings, which G got, but Zeta didn't. A TV run is probably the biggest reason. Both seasons of 00 got dubbed, and that adds up to 50-ish episodes, probably because it was set to air on TV. Turn A isn't going to get a TV run over here, so they aren't going to dub it. Add in that it's what can be considered an older show (See what Chris said) and Turn A isn't exactly a prime candidate for a dubbing.

[1-4-4]

As i said before the main reason i believe they do not plan on dubbing it is because of the length of the series.

<shrug> It's 50 episodes long. There are lots of shows that run longer and still get dubs. Zeta got dubbed... Gundam Wing and G Gundam each ran 49 episodes, and they got dubbed. Then, of course, there's those shows that run hundreds of episodes... The length of the show does not by itself explain why they wouldn't make a dub.

Keep in mind when those shows were dubbed. Wing was one of the first shows over here and had to be dubbed to do well on TV in America. G and Zeta were likely also dubbed in the hopes of TV airings, which G got, but Zeta didn't. A TV run is probably the biggest reason.

Well, it seems like we're in agreement that episode count isn't high on the list of reasons why the show doesn't get a dub.

[Chris]

Well, it seems like we're in agreement that episode count isn't high on the list of reasons why the show doesn't get a dub.

I'd have to disagree - episode count is absolutely a reason why something would or wouldn't be dubbed. In all those examples mentioned, those Gundam shows were aired on TV or meant to air on TV. A TV broadcast is a big bump for any anime that's being sold here. I've heard estimates that a typical anime dub can cost $10,000 per episode, and that sounds like it's probably on the low side. But even if we took that at face value, we're talking a $500,000 investment for Turn A. If a show's not getting the exposure of TV time, that suddenly becomes a lot of money that doesn't need to be spent.

[1-4-4]

If a show's not getting the exposure of TV time, that suddenly becomes a lot of money that doesn't need to be spent.

The same is true if it's a 26 episode series... Somewhat less money, but still... it seems like the fact that it's not going to be televised is the real issue here.

[InjuredPelican]

I just hope they release the whole thing in one final product. I don't want to get part 1 and have to wait a few months for part 2. If they release the series in to large box sets like they sell Zeta and the other Gundam series already released in America I'll be very happy.

[G-Slayer]

You know it won't work like that. First come the separate volumes, then the boxed sets.