Subtitled Releases

In my previous columns, it’s been largely helping newcomers get into anime. Even the lists of my Top 15 Anime and my Top 5 Anime Movies are for newcomers. But now, I want to do something a little different. I’m going to talk about Subtitled Releases today.

It really saddens me that at least part of the anime industry is headed toward subtitled only releases. I’ve seen this on a lot of recent titles, mostly from the same companies. Katanagatari and Ore no Imōto Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai are the ones that I actually own. But Wagnaria!!, Toradora!, Amagami SS, and even Clannad (and many more) are released subtitled only. Granted Clannad eventually got an English dub, but the other three so far haven’t, and probably won’t.

This is not just a growing trend in DVD releases, but also in streaming releases. Of course, simulcasts are more often than not (the only two examples I can think of are Kurokami and Gundam Unicorn) subtitled because the dedication required to make a simultaneous Japanese and English release is a lot. So of course simulcasts and the like are going to be subtitled only. But even Viz, a company that does use the resources they have to get a dub for shows, are putting their shows up on Netflix subtitled. I love Mamoru Miyano as much as the next guy, but I want to hear me some Brad Swaile when I’m watching Death Note.

I can understand the reasoning behind releasing sub only. It’s going to be a lot cheaper. You do the exact same thing that FUNimation, ADV, Geneon and them do with the majority of their releases, only you’re not paying an English voice cast, which includes the actors, directors, producers, engineers, and so on. So you get more money back on the sales from the release because you’re not paying the English crew.

The problem is that they’re not putting anything else on the disc. What extras are on the Katanagatari set? A beautiful artbook with each set and textless openings and endings. I’m sure the artbook used a lot of resources to produce, money included, but this is kind of pathetic. FUNimation regularly has an English cast commentary on at least one episode per 13 episodes. When they released the Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition, they even went out of their way to bring back Laura Bailey, Jerry Jewell, Eric Vale, and John Burgmeier for a commentary. That’s dedication that I appreciate out of any company. What has NIS America done? Artbooks. These artbooks certainly are beautiful and appreciated (I’d love for FUNimation to follow suit), but no extras on the DVD is disappointing. I love behind the scenes things.

I can understand the economy and licensing issues that are around that. I’m sure it’s a lot easier to just license the show and release it (which, extremely simply put, they’re doing). I’m sure it costs a lot to get those extras. But if you aren’t putting a dub onto the series, why not go that extra mile? Hike up the prices for the “limited editions” with the artbooks and put DVD extras on all the releases. I know that when I go to buy an anime, whether it has DVD extras is a big decider on whether I want to get it or not.

My point being is that I feel like NIS America and Sentai and the companies that are releasing subtitled only releases are skimping on the product. NIS gives us an artbook, which is great. But it has to be a really great show for me to want to shell out $55 for 13 episodes with no English dub and no DVD extras. I made exceptions for Katanagatari and Oreimo. And Katanagatari was even in two sets with 6 hour long episodes in each set. That was a burn in my wallet. But the shows that I’ll dish out that much for are few and far between. Baccano! isn’t good enough for me to want to buy the blu-ray release because it doesn’t have any extras and I already own the DVD. But blu-rays are another story for another time.