Anime What's with FUNimation?

Don't get me wrong,I love DBZ,Yu Yu Hakusho,and Fruits Basket as much as the next guy.What's the deal with FUNimation,though?They only have like 8 voice actors for their 4 or 5 series that they do.They are very talnted voice actors,but,when I hear Kuwabara sounding like Piccolo,It's hard for me to relate to that character.Would it kill them to hire a few different voice actors?And another thing,why do they always re record opening and closing theme songs?Those are like one of the coolest parts of the show!It gives a more foreign feel.We can't completely Americanize it!Sheesh!

 

I believe it depends on the group they use for dubs (i.e. Ocean Group, which does the voices for Inuyasha, among other things). Sometimes, smaller companies (and FUNi strikes me as a smaller company) can't get the bigger dub voice groups to do their anime, and have to rely on recycling voice actors.

Also, with re-recording openings...I'm not sure about DBZ and Yu Yu Hakusho, but with Fruits Basket at least, yes, they dubbed the opening and ending sequences, but that's only for the dub. If you choose the Japanese language track on the dvds, you get to hear the Japanese versions of the opening and ending themes. FUNi is getting better, honestly.

 

Actually, FUNi gets a really bad rap because of DBZ, which isn't all that fair when you think of it because DBZ was the first thing they ever did. They also weren't responsible for most of the editing that was done originally; that was whatever company they were working with or that had the series first.

I really like how they've handled Fruits Basket; the dub is quite acceptable (with the exception of Yuki's voice, which is too deep). The subtitles are accurate, and I'm very pleased that they didn't try to translate the suffixes like -san, -chan, and -kun. They've also been getting it out very fast, and they're releasing it six episodes per DVD. Not shabby at all.

~Shadrach Anki

 

If their dubbing is in-house, it would make sense for them to invest in expanding, since they probably do have a heavier load coming their way, what with Tenchi Muyo GXP and all.

 

Dubbing Chiisana Inori and For Fruits Basket? Attrocious, they're brilliant songs, and totaly perfect for the series. Bastards.
I've not got a lot(if any) experience of these Funimation crowd, but I don't trust them.
Bloodberry. Be interested in Fruits Basket. Avoid the dub if you like, but it's a really great series. You'd be doing yourself, nay, the entire world a discredit to not watch it. Are you willing to do that? Let the entire world down? Are you?

 

Um, Leprechaun, all they did was dub the songs. They didn't change them. The got someone who sounds almost exactly like the Japanese singer(s) to sing the songs in English. I think they sound fine.

And also, the Furuba dub isn't really bad at all, so I'm not recommending anyone to avoid it. Watch it if you want.

FUNi is getting better with each series they do. Maybe eventually they will expand their repertoire of voice actors.