Honestly: wow. Just...wow.

I had a sneaking suspicion this was gonna be bad, but I didn't think it would suck this much!

I know, I know! There are a number of you who say"oh, well that's just biased," or "you're just being a subtitle snob." No.

I've been into anime for years (I won't say how long, cuz then we get into "I am bettor than u cuz I liek this for this many" mode). Even early on I grasped the concept that in some cases, anime is better subtitled; in others, it's better dubbed. That's the way it is. Sometimes the dub is great; even surpasses the original. But sometimes it's crap. And - at least in my opinion - FMA falls into the latter category.

Am I biased? After my initial reaction to the dub that occured to me. So I tried to watch from a more objective point of view. I had a little help with this: I made my dad watch it with me. I've been hounding him to watch at least a bit of the show anyway, so with it on TV and all I finally convinced him. About halfway through the episode he turned to me and asked in a most incredulous way, "So, is this good anime dub or mediocre dub? Because it sounds pretty mediocre to me." I apologized for making him watch the episode when it was over.

So what is so horrible about the dub? Well, firstly there's Ed's voice. Yes, yes, I know no one could match Paku Romi's VA. But that doesn't mean Ed has to be slapped with Standard Annoying Teenager Voice #106. They turned him into a whiney bitch!
No! No, seriously! You know why I can't watch InuYasha? Because every time that creep opens his mouth I wanna punch him in the face! He's just got that whiney, snotty, stereotypical-teenage-boy voice that makes me want to pull my hair out. And Ed got the same bloody treatment!! AUGH! I wanted to kick something every time he spoke!
As for Al, well, I wasn't surprised to find out his VA actually was a kid. It sounded like it; totally flat. Roze....ehhhh, I dunno. Weirdly cheery. I didn't mind Lust's. It could have been a little deeper, but that's just nitpicky and I can handle it as is. I actually thought Cornello's worked.

Regarding the translation itself...hrrrrm. I know that different translators come up with different translations; I can handle this. But, I dunno, it just felt...dumbed down. Everything was spelled out and corny. Case in point: "...It's all the ingredients in the average human body - down to the last specks of protein in your eyelashes."
WHAT?!? That's fokin' stupid! That's...jes...augh! I mean, I've heard of flourishing, but that's retarded; not to mention out of character on Ed's part.

le sigh....Well, it's not like FUNi erased all the fansubs everywhere. I know I don't have to watch the dub, and I don't intend on it from here out. I was just hoping it would be better than this, seeing as FMA is being introduced to a whole new audience who will have to draw their conclusions from this version. As far as that goes, I know that if I saw this show for the first time on Adult Swim, I'd think it was terrible.


...and I would want to punch Ed in the face.

This all makes me want to see those wonderful/horrific (take your pick) dubs badly. Since I probably won't get to watch them on TV, should I still buy the DVDs so I can see the dubs? Even if I have all my subs burned onto CDs I also paid money for? Decisions, decisions . . .

On a side note, FUNimation also licensed Spiral. May I sic the Blade Children on them?

The dub isn't all that bad. I don't think you'd hate it. It would be worth the money. If not for the dub, than for the sub.

Ahh, yes, the subs . . . I'm hoping for some English outtakes, too, though. They have some on the Samurai Deeper Kyo DVDs (which do not come with subs; my roommate likes it and rented them and I watched them with her), and they're hilarious.

Yeah, I realize that in america people don't usually call their siblings 'brother' and 'sister'. but it's just so weird to hear Aru call him 'Edward'. He calls him 'Nii-san' kind of out of respect for his older brother kind of thing. So it's weird to hear him call Ed by his first name.
But, well, like the pairing wars and such, I really don't want to get envolved with the sub vs. dub. Even though by posting here, I already technically have... I'll try not to bash too much. because honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be.

http://bt.s0nicfreak.com/details.php?id=3135

Here's the link for those who cant watch the dub on TV. Hope it helps.

Geez you people write a lot. In the interest of not boring you to death, Im going to try and keep this sysinct. I was very dissapointed with the dubs. Not only were the voices, in my opinion, poorly cast, but I think the timing of the dialogue was also off. Most notciably when Ed removes his coat while fighting Cornero. While Al's voice SOUNDS good, I still think it is very poorly acted. The English version portrays him as an emotionless blob of stupid, with a nice voice. Ed's voice was too mature, part of his character is his lack of physical development, and his voice was no exception. As for localization, I hate it, if I had my way, localazation would be a last resort, and only used if there was a joke made about something so distinctivly Japanese that it couldnt possibly be translated right. I have no idea why FUNimation chose to remove the blasphemy from the show, other than to make it appeal to a broader audience, but Ed's disdain and Al's indifference towards religion plays a large role in the series, and I do not appreciate FUNi down-playing it. In the dub Al seems to disagree with Ed all the time, where as the original had him upset about how upfront Ed was. Lastly, I think they got the running short joke wrong, not a big mistake, but I think it was funnier when Ed put words in their mouths, and not asking them, "were you going to say".

(I didn't go back and read the previous posts so forgive me if I repeat what was already said....)

I didn't think it was as bad as I thought it was going to be. After watching it the first time I was like ... WTF.. this sucks. But the next day I re-watched it at the same time as the fansubed version and found it okay.

They didn't leave any scenes out. The translations were..okay. And MOST of the voices were tolerable.

But....Ed...sucked. I would have screamed at the TV if my dad wasn't trying to sleep. It felt like his voice was to..forced or something.

And part of me was expecting Ed to say *insert real Ed's voice* Aru.. where they were walking in the desert and after Al dumped all of the sand on Ed. They took out the funny...

AND...Was it just me or did Al call his brother 'Ed'?!? I could have sworn I heard that. Al just ... doesn't do that...

The ending song...a;ldjfal;skfj;alj....

*insert a few other complaints*

You can't really diss the dub voices TOO much because really... You aren't going to find a 'perfect' english comparison to the Japanese voices. But..I think the deciding factor for me will be once I hear Roy's and Hughes' voice.... But until then 7/10

Since everyone is suddenly bashing the dub because they think Ed sounds like a dork, and since my previous post has been utterly ignored, I'll make this short and sweet.

IF I'd never seen this anime before, and IF I only read the manga, I'd watch the first episode dubbed, and I'd probably think Ed's voice is perfect for the character Hiromu Arakawa portrays in the manga.

...And if it's a matter of Al calling Ed "Niisan," I'd go insane if they DIDN'T edit that. It sounds awkward to hardcore anime fans, but everyone else would raise an eyebrow if Al suddenly called Ed "brother," then blame it on poor scripting.

...Wanna know what scares me more? The fact that Riza is cast by the same person as Rose. I'm sure that went right by a lot of people who don't read intelligent posts. *Stands next to Angieness*

I would agree with you, if it were not for the fact that FUNimation DID NOT WRITE THE SCRIPT OR ANIMATE THE SHOW (not yelling, just calling attention to). If FUNimation was in the business of providing an alternate interpretation of the manga, I would have no reason to complain, but thats not the case. Their job is to convey to English speaking viewers the show that Bones created. It is not FUNimation's show, it is Bones, and FUNimation does not have the right to dissect the show and keep what they want and discard the rest. I understand there is no such thing as a perfect dub, but their goal should be to tamper with it as little as possible, and FUNimation obviously does not do that.

Since I understand my latest post was long as hell here's what Funimation had to say about keeping the dub as close as they can to the original

"Funimation is expending a painstaking amount of energy to remaining faithful to the original Japanese production. The relationship between Ed and Al is a major factor in how viewers are touched by the show. 'If you don't buy their love and their drive and the reasons for doing what they do, then I don't think anything else works,' MacFarland says.

'It's important to stay true to the creator's intention,' adds Clinkenbeard. 'I don't want to change any of the themes, any of the philosophies that are espoused in the script that we get from Japan. I don't want anything to jump out as having been Americanized.' And they haven't had to change a lot. Much of the original on-screen text is already in English, and the names are largely Western-friendly to begin with.

As a fan of the Japanese version, Mignogna wholeheartedly agrees with the directors. 'There are a lot of people that are purists, and the story is really heavy; it is an intense story' he says. 'I know the people at Funimation have taken great care to make sure that the transition is true to the original'."

And again Mignogna has seen the fansubs and is a fan of the series, he's doing what he can. And I agree with Shiroi, if a lot of people had only read the manga and never saw the sub they would most likely agree with Ed's voice since it does much the character that Arakawa portrays

Now as for Spiral we just got it in at Suncoast, I think it goes on sale on Tuesday, the DVD with the box comes with a puzzle

Thanks for the info Anginess....I read your post and found it very informative.

And on a side note....I know that most people are dissapointed about the dubs,but the DVD'S will be Uncut and Unedited as well with everything that the original Japanese version had. So why complain? We are getting what we want aren't we? So stop complaining and GIVE THE DUBS A CHANCE!

Good day to you.

And heck, beyond perhaps the opening credits (which Mike McFarland is claiming was a change mandated by the Japanese), there might not be much editing on TV either. Episode 1 was complete.

I do not think they butchered the voices. In fact out of all the anime subbed and dubbed I have seen Funimation hasn't done all that bad. Could they do better? Yes. Could they have done much worse? Ooooh yeah. The only voice actor that really did not fit the character is the person who is doing the voice for Ed. The voice actor can do Ed when he's serious, frustrated, and mad. But doing Ed crazy chasing his brother around in circles? No way. This guy cannot do sassy. And when Ed get's sassy I'm talking Lina Inverse sassy here. That is the only problem with the English voices. And to those of you who think that they did butcher all the voices. You have obviously been spared the fate of seeing anime that is dubbed badly.

I would like to say to the naysayers to the dub who say that it is inaccurate. HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A TRANSLATION FROM ANY ONE LANGUAGE TO ANOTHER THAT IS 100% ACCURATE? The answer to this, is of course, no. It is impossible to get a 100% accurate translation from any one language to another. There are too many subtle nuances, syllables, slang, and word and sentence structure to get an accurate translation.

To this end, the only real way to get a translation is to learn the language itself and spend some time in the country where the language is spoken. Not even the fansubs are accurate. By the way, you would have to, on average, spend about 10 years in Japan before you would be able to understand the language enough to get all the subtleties. I find it funny that you people will support the fansubbed or subtitled version of the anime on the account that subbed is more accurate than dubbed, when both are not any more accurate than the dubbed version in the end. We have a name for you people: hypocrites

maybe some groups should start Fan Dubs, it could solve the problems.

A thing about subtitles is regardless you're not going to get a totally accurate translation. When subtitling something you have to consider how much space it's going to take up on the screen. They might cut 3 sentences down to 2 simply because no one has time to read like 5 lines of text that appear on the screen and disappear. Even subbers have to change things

Hmm, well, I've NEVER seen the Japanese version, so I can't compare. As someone who's never seen the Japanese version, I thought it was a pretty good dub. It wasn't the best, but it wasn't the worst. It was decent, and I was able to watch it without having to throw up every five seconds.

No dub can ever be perfect. But sitting around complaining really won't help much. It's not going to MAGICALLY make the voices better. We just have to deal with it.

Consider yourselves lucky. If it was dubbed to cantonse it would have been ALOT worse. Why? because the best cantonese dub=a bad English dub. You guys are so spoilt.

the mandarian dubs were pretty good, (detective conan and inuyasha)

No, the stuff in Hong Kong..... guys at Ed's age sound like middle-aged women....*Dies while trying to imagine Ed's cantonese voice actor* Brrrrrrrr....

i don't get it what's wrong with thoer voices.

hmmmm how come u hate the voices so much i mean there's nothing wrong with it. i don't hate them cause. the ones on cartoon network r really good they suite the characters a lot.

i can see both sides of the argument here, yea sometimes edwards voice bothers me, and roses voice is a little to....generic, cuz i swear i have heard that same voice in a million other anime shows. but alfreds voice suits him just fine and the same goes for the antagonists (bad guys).

alfred?????? dont u mean alphonse?

cause if they put alfred in us im gonna kill them

Alfred.. o__o; Wow.. that's just.. wow.

You wouldn't understand unless you followed the whole series with the Japanese voices. Then you would've fallen in love with Edo and Aru's voices.

Though I don't think the Eng. dub is a total mess, the Eng. voices for Ed and Rose do bother me. Rose I don't really mind since she's a little minor and an annoying character to begin with, but Ed!!

Part of the reason is that I grew attached to FMA with Japanese voices and I came to know Ed with Paku Romi's voice. How would you feel if a close friend all of a sudden develops a voice and speaking style totally different from the one you came to associate with that person? You would freak out right? But then you would get used it. Or at least I will get used to it. (You will not leave a friend just because their voice changes, right?)

Well right now I'm at my "getting used to it stage." But that doesn't mean I think this version of Ed is as good as the Japanese version of Ed. The Eng. voice for Ed is too old, but the thing that really disturbs me are the little snappy lines they give him: These are the ingredients of a normal human adult body "Right down to the protein in your eye-lashes." What's that!!! I know Funi puts those phrases because they think it'll make the show more popular, but... That's an amateur technique. They don't do stuff like that in modern blockbuster movies (I consider modern Hollywood moviemakers to be the people at the top of their profession). I respect Funi (Yes, I actually respect them) but I think they should move on and not use little tricks like these to gain popularity. FMA doesn't need to resort to little tricks like these to gain popularity. Also, Ed as a character wouldn't talk like that. In society, people use catchy phrases to gain social popularity and be a funny person to talk too, but Ed doesn't care about stuff like that. He's lazy. He won't bother to come up with stuff like that because Ed doesn't care.

So yeah, now that I've practically written a 5 paragraph essay about why I don't like the Eng. voice for Ed, I'll just conclude with: ED's ENGLISH VOICE SUCKS!!!!

VIVA PAKU ROMI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought Vic did a pretty good job. ^ ^;; I expected much worse actually... Well, until I looked up Vic's list of characters he did previously.

Although Romi still does the best Aru in my opinion and will always be the Ed in the original, Vic's done a remarkable job at his end and will [always] be the Ed in the dub. My own two cents.

Don't you mean Rie Kugimiya? Romi Paku only did Ed's voice.

And yes, I would have to agree, Vic's voice for Ed isn't as bad as many previously thought.

i don't love ed's voice but i could get used to it. vic isn't a bad VA, i'm just not that used to ed sounding so mature and manly. al, on the other hand, i can't stand. i know his VA is just a little 12 year old kid and doesn't have the VA experience of someone like vic, but he honestly sounds like a scratchy, monotone drawl in a tin can. i found cornello's voice was fitting in a funny way. but yeah, it'll always be paku romi and kugiyama rie for me. i'm a little scared for roy and hawkeye though, aaaaah.

I'm more scared that Gluttony will sound like Cowboy Bebop's American Ed voice...

EDIT: after hearing Gluttony say something coherent, I can honestly say I would have preferred if they used CB's Ed's voice for Gluttony, the voice they chose for him is horrible, he's supposed to be a dumbass that sounds innocent, he's not supposed to sound like an evil guy with a frog in his throat...

I don't remember if they said his full name or not, there's hope, they may have just said Al... I hope... ::goes to watch the 2nd episode::

Al sound like a little bitch

Ed is freaking Sonic the hedgehog

Gluttony just sucks

Lust isnt evil, she just sounds slutty



I dont care, if the american viewers can bear it, then fine...

I hear that the Lupin guy does Hughes, thats some good news

Just saw the second episode. My oppinion of the dub just dropped half a point. Simply too many really unnecessary lines added. That's my only complaint other than Gluttony's voice-acting. -.- That was too coherant; so much that it was out of character. Makes it seem like he actually has a pesonality. WHY not just keep it to "can I eat him?" >.>;

They played a piece of Kasenai Tsumi! Only a piece, but better than nothing. I'm just glad they didn't deprive the audience of knowing that song exists. Maybe, if we're lucky, they'll play a piece of Tobira no Mukou e next season too.

...And they kept the full animation from Ready Steady Go. I didn't see them add any scenes from Melissa this time.

But still; some of the lines were just cheesy, and I'm liking Al's voice less and less. He's just not good at acting and sounds like he's reading a script during his key parts. It's just not convincing, and he hardly sounds in character.

AAAAAAACK!

[RIPS HAIR OUT]

WHAT THE HELL DID THEY DO WITH MY BELOVED GLUTTONY?!?!! HE'S NOT SUPPOSED TO SPEAK IN COGENT SENTENCES!!

DAMN YOU, FUNIMATION! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!

Seeing all these posts is making me damn pleased I have yet to watch the dub. I am presently lacking a tv with satellite or cable.

I FINALLY GOT A DUB DOWNLOAD AND WATCHED IT. WITH THE VOLUME ON.

I'm surprised that it isn't AS BAD as I thought it would be, but I'm still a little cynical towards the script and voices, I suppose. Rose DOES sound WAY too old, as does Ed. ESPECIALLY in the beginning when the Elric brothers are still children. Ed sounds exactly the same as he does a few years later. Inconsistency annoys me.

Beyond the obvious miscasting, virtually all the voice actors sound remarkably stiff in their delivery. It's like the whole thing was recorded in one take, before any of the actors had a chance to really settle into their characters. Terrible job.

Ed sounds way too 'nice'. I always loved Paku Romi's delivery on his lines, because she always made him sound like he had a nasty streak to him, which worked very well with his persona. Vic Mignona sounds very dry and compromised by comparison.

First of all, I'm glad to see that I'm not the only person here that likes the dub. I think they did an awesome job. They really scored points with me tonight when they played the opening them with the oringanal clips. I think they did a good job. At first I was like, WTH!?!, but everything has grown on be. The only thing I don't like Is Roze's voice. It's too old. But Vic Mignona really has strated to get 'into' the role. I can't think of a better voice for Al. It's not what I was expecting, but the actor it a 12 year old. That's close enough for me! I'm sure as hell going to watch the rest of it.

I completely agree. No one will EVER deliver the perfect Ed the way Paku Romi does . . . *sighs*

Hello everyone...name is FullMetal.

And you guy's need to stop whining about this.

Funi is actually doing one of the best dub's yet in America. Have you watched any other dub's like Pokemon and Yu Gi Oh which suck so bad. Your guy's hope's are way to high. The original is better...duh, but the voice's are very good. They aren't the same voice's beacuse it's not japanese. The voice's will not be the same.

Here is the question. Would you have liked it more if 4Kids picked it up instead of Funi. Do you want every charcther's named changed Do you want all the viloence out? Do you want them to act like they are on a quest for some orange juice or something?

Beacuse if 4Kids got it that would of happened and you would be saying the same thing's. Stop bitching about how the show's aren't the same beacuse they aren't!

If you don't like it, don't watch it.

And if you think you could do any better then do it.

That's all I say to you people.

They did. At the beginning of the episode. Ed yells, "Alphonse!"

You know, if I had never seen the fan subs, it would be a great dub. But I have, so heres why three of the voices piss me off...

Ed: It just doesnt sound right. It's too deep and mature. Not much more to it then that

Rose: She sounds too normal. In Japanese, Rose had this kind of unique voice that distinguished her from the rest. I think that may be because she was a bit ditzy, but it was still unique. In the dub, she's lost that effect

Glutony: This one pisses me off most of all, mainly because this was the one voice I thought they could not screw up. It just seems so easy to match, and they gave him something completely different. I would love to know what the hell they were thinking. Yeah yeah, I know he only had 1 line, but it was enough to tell that they [screwed] it up.

The rest of them so far are, lets say, acceptable. They could be better, but they're not bad. Overall, it is a decent dub

I'm in love with the voices....

Fullmetal Alchemist 2: The Quest for Orange Juice

They better do it!

Oh, and I agree (like I said before) that the dub isn't too bad. But yeah, the real test will be "those episodes."

I downloading episode 2... I don't an opinion on the dub yet. I'll wait until I heard 5 or 6 episodes, because it may take time for the voice actors to get into their role, maybe it's why they're not really good yet.

Funimation and Adult Swim must be doing something right if all you haters keep tuning in.

Right now, the only thing I'm afraid of, is that minor characters (like Mustang's staff, Greed-tachi, etc.) won't always have the same voice >.<

I'm hoping to god now that they don't screw up Scar's voice, he my favorite character, he's friggin awesome... he better not have a bad voice...

A-fucking-men.