Sheesh. Something as basic as an anime general not being posted in for 4 years? If that’s not a sign of a forum in its twilight years, then I don’t know what is.
Anyway, I’m feeling massively nostalgic for Digimon. Despite the fact that I unfortunately never watched the anime in its completion. I figured I oughta change that, and I’ll even try and watch as many seasons in English as possible.
I randomly decided to watch all of Xros Wars (excluding Young Hunters) and it was… well I had high hopes, and was mildly entertained… but I ultimately ended agreeing with the common opinion that it’s no good.
English dubs that have script changes, storyline changes, remove aspects of Japanese culture, change tone, censor the story, or are just plain bad have always been criticized in the English speaking anime community. Now they’re more controversial than ever. And specifically amongst ENG speaking Digimon fans, people have been turning against Digimon’s dub because it has a particularly egregious localization. And yet I’m still really fond of it despite knowing better. I feel like it has a so-bad-it’s-good appeal, I have a big appreciation for voice actors I associate with the franchise like Lara Jill Miller or Derek Stephen Prince, and I actually like certain changes as an alternate way to view the story.
I want to go back and watch the whole franchise in Japanese once I watch it all English. The JP version is the original and is how the story is actually intended to be portrayed. But I just can’t hate the English dubs.