by Dogasu
Posted 03-04-2000

OK, OK, it's a corny title...

People seem to think that the Pokemon anime is one of the best dubbed anime on TV.  The dialogue is actually translated (instead of Dragon Ball Z, where the translators have admitted that they just keep the main plot and re-write all the dialogue themselves) and a lot of the elements from the original (Who's that Pokemon, the Pokemon Rap) that were kept.  But what most people don't know is the difference in the series' music.  A lot of people say that it's great that 4Kids decided to keep the original music.  This is only half true.  The music IS the same music played in Japan (except the OP and ED), but it's remixed for the American version.  Here's why.

4Kids figures that small kids have short attention spans.  If there isn't some talking or music to stimulate a child's mind, they'll lose interest and change the channel to Digimon or Monster Farm (Monster Rancher).  Silence is seen as poison to companies dubbing anime for American TV, so they avoid it at all costs.  I'll bet in the dubbed Pokemon, there is less than five seconds without music throughout the entire series.  Same with the dubbed Dragon Ball Z.  The Japanese versions have a lot more silence.  The truth that most people don't know is that some of the music is actually replaced.  An eerie musical piece in the aforementioned Natsume episode is replaced and the music for the o-den scene in the episode with the giant pokemon (when the pokemon were stranded on an island with giant mechanical pokemon) is never heard in the dubbed.

But what the dubbed companies don't realize is that they're killing the show.  In the first Natsume episode, there is silence during the whole time Satoshi and Natsume first meet.  There isn't any music until the battle actually begins.  It's more realistic (as there isn't music playing 24/7 in most people's life) and builds more tension:  the time before a major gym battle.  In Dragon Ball Z,  Rikuum breaks Gohan's neck.  He kicks Gohan's neck, and as soon as the kick connects, the music comes to a halt.  There's no music, no sound effects, only silence.  Gohan falls to the ground with no sound as he hits the ground.  The sound slowly reappears as the sound of wind and Rikuum's laughter slowly fade in.  But in the dub?  The entire scene has music blaring, sound effects, and never-ending talking.  See the difference in tension?  The scene is very tense in the Japanese version, but simply ordinary in the dub.  Would the scene in Evangelion where Shinji's Eva has Kaoru in its grasp where Shinji has to decide whether or not to kill him be as dramatic without the suspenseful edge-of-your-seat silence?  That scene was wonderfully done and is one of my favorite in all anime because of the silence.

But dubbed-for-TV anime (actually, all dubbed anime...) will never reach that kind of tension.  If companies want to make fans happy, keep the music as-is, without replacing it or remixing it, the anime will be closer to its true self and will be a lot more enjoyable.