April 3, 2006
It’s probably final. Animax-Asia is now completely out of my system.
Practically, Animax-Asia is still here, on Channel 46 of my cable TV… but I don’t tune in anymore. This, despite a rather excellent lineup yet again. Also it seems like they tweaked a bit of their programming schedules. What was knows as Kids Hour is now named Girl Power (shoujo anime lineup), followed by Shonen Walker (shounen anime), Animania (probably mainstream), Megazone (semi-hardcore), and finally Super Maniac (hardcore). Oh, some animes in Super Maniac still is in English dub, so I wouldn’t call that as hardcore too much.
Some current anime highlights include the ever-popular Detective Conan, shounen classics Yu Yu Hakusho and Flame of Recca, shoujo classic Fushigi Yuugi, and a whole bunch of very recent anime, some of which other anime bloggers have been featuring for the past years:
– Emma
– Gakuen Alice
– Kino no Tabi
– Mahou Shoujo Tai
– Onegai Teacher
– Otogizoshi
– Twin Spica
– Windy Tales
– Zettai Shounen
Amazing lineup yet again… disappointing English dubbing yet again. This month we also have the CLAMP-crossover anime Tsubasa Chronicle, aptly translated by the channel as Chronicle of the Wings. Classy name, but I guess it’s a clear indication of English dubbing. You can’t escape English dubs. Oh, and next month we have the current king of shounen anime, Fullmetal Alchemist on queue. Still not sure if the English dub will be from inhouse Animax-Asia dubbers, or from Funimation in the US.
Take note, some English dubs come from official US dub releases from TV or DVD, but the vast majority of them come from Animax-Asia’s own in-house dubbing. Because of this, you hear the same voices in almost all anime! The whole channel sounds so freaking redundant. No, this is not the same as hearing [Yui Horie->horie-yui] in so many anime, this is a negative thing. You hear the same voice intonation, no modifications at all. Picture this: Sakura of CCS and Sakura of Ultra Maniac. They share the same English dub voice actress in Animax-Asia. While you can argue that they are both energetic mahou shoujo characters, you also believe that they shouldn’t sound the same (age, accent, etc.) Alas, they do in the Animax-Asia dubs. Multiply that with so many other characters sharing that same voice actress (that girl must be rich by now, starring in so many anime dubs), and you have a generic sounding anime channel.
Come to think of it, I’ve been complaining about it since day one! You must be tired of hearing me bash Animax-Asia for the entire duration of this series, so I’ll be giving more of its good points. First up, they added GameMax, a video game feature show. Very nice considering there ain’t much shows of that type out here. Animax Musix (jpop music video features) now has its own 30-minute slot, aside from the random ones in other slots. They finish the music video sometimes, and now even has a ‘fact bar’ at the bottom citing news, history, and other stuff about the artist featured. Great for discovering nice info about jpop, which I sorely lack nowadays.
Lastly, I had to tell my most important recommendation for this channel, and I hope that Animax-Asia hears this somehow (I’m a mere blogger though and my opinions are close to nil in terms of influence.) If they really want to follow their motto of “Anime for everyone”, and if they want to avoid rabid bashing from anime fans (include me in that partially), it’s very simple… show “both” a subbed and dubbed version of an anime. Okay, so you have a dubbed Cardcaptor Sakura at 4:00PM, why not show a ‘subbed’ Cardcaptor Sakura, at even an obscure time like 2AM or something like that? I’m sure all those kids who only want their anime in English/Taglish are already asleep by that time. Remember, Japanese otakus stay up in that time of night to watch their hardcore anime. If done that way, it may give a bit of positive rapport for the channel without hurting their… er… profit. You have a 24-hour anime channel. Know your audience, and use your programming effectively. You can profit more.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 1: The end of Animax-Asia? Too sudden!?->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 2: Cardcaptured.->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 3: Trying to Adjust->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 4: Towards the 1st Anniversary->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 5: I gave up on Animax-Asia->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 6: One year since->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 7: Dubbed in Filipino?!?->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 7.5: Initial D Filipino Stage->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 8: More Pain->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 9: Now in blue->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 10: Fake Revival->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 11: Something New->]
[Animax-Asia… Dubbed in English – Episode 12: Red with anger->]
Much of what you’ve said is becoming sad but true, as I miss the days when AXN had their shows subbed. No wonder everyone else wants to buy fansubs to avoid ear-grating misdubbing.
aye! couldn’t agree more. and I’m pretty sure the dubs for ninku, fushigi yuugi, and flame of recca are the ones from the axn days. They sound even worse than the animax dubs.
I’m with you, but I have some sad comments. Anima-asia will remain dead. Why? Unless Animax (in the Philippines and SEA)dont respond to their viewers pleas, it will remain dead. In fact, I believe that ANIMAX-Asia is ruling with an IRON FIST (i. e. Martial Law). Notice that ANIMAX is hell-bent on removing subbed animes. First is the 6 and 9 pm subtitle hour and now the Super Maniac (in the Philippines). I sent e-mails to them but I got no response. I’m no longer keen on hoping that the Super Maniac will return to its original form after all that fiasco.
I agree with you Animax is getting pretty boring and dumb lately and thier decisions(english dubs,skeds and so on) are really stupid.Oh well the “Official Forums Board of Animax” is opening next month(June) and i hope they really answer us seriously this time.
I doubt that Animax will replace their in-house dubbing with that of the subbed ones (though I’m still hoping… wouldn’t it be nice to watch FMA with the original voice cast?). Who the hell came up with the idea of English-dubbing all the anime shown in Animax anyway? I hope that s/he gets struck by lightning during a storm, whoever s/he is. Well, Animax-Asia has recently changed their station logo, maybe they’ll revert the dubbed anime to the subbed ones…?
Animax is desparate to beat Hero TV and CN Phils these days that’s why they retained the english dubs(even U.S made ones are crap),heck english dubs are only for kids and what’s annoying is that they pretend that they’re the best in the anime channel business in Asia(nobody would believe that).New look but still dull and managed by some stupid people in the business.
ANIMAX IS TOTALLY DEAD….