The Question

What are the thematic differences in [X anime(s)] when analyzing the subtitled versus the dubbed version for an American audience? 

Obviously, there are still some parts of the question that are missing, and it still needs some work. Currently, I feel pretty confident about this being the basic structure of my question. 

Scope: Narrowing my scope has not been very hard. The fact that I am comparing the subbed and dubbed version of different anime really limits the scope of my question. But, I also limited my scope by narrowing down my question to only specific anime shows. The fact that most of these anime shows have around than 25 episodes, each less than 30 minutes long, along with the almost three months we have to research, means that I have plenty of time to conduct my research, and even add more anime series. 

Key Terms: The first term I need to define is “thematic difference.” I need to define what a theme is and then show my method of deterring the differences in these themes. The other two terms that I also need to adress are what a subtitled version of an anime is and what a dubbed version of an anime is. I have already found research papers that define and describe subtitled versions of anime and dubbed versions of anime. To define these two terms, I will be showing the process of how an anime is subtitled versus the process of how an anime is dubbed. 

Assumptions: The largest assumption this question has is that there actually a thematic difference between a subtitled and dubbed version of an anime. This is where my literature review comes in. In my literature review, I will be spending lots of my time trying to show and prove that there is actually a thematic difference in subtitled and dubbed anime. The academic gap is that there is no clear indication or research of what these thematic differences actually are. 

Variables: There are several variables here at play. The two broader variables at play here are the American and Japanese cultures. The more specific variables are the audience in America, the subtitled version of anime, and the dubbed version of anime. 

Researchability: I know that I will be conducting my research by watching both the subbed and dubbed versions of anime. However, I need to find a way to systematically approach this so I can eliminate as much bias as I can to compare the two versions. In the end, I am hoping that I can have a detailed account of the most common themes that are changed in anime when they are dubbed, and see how they are changed. 

Gap/Significance: This question is filling a pretty big gap in the research on anime. Many articles and research papers I have read, have all acknowledged that there are certain themes that are being changed when an anime is brought over to America. Some even hint at what these themes are. However, there is no in-depth research paper or study done that focuses specifically on what these themes are and what their broader implications are regarding American culture. This is where I hope to come in, by specifically looking for the changes in these themes, while also seeing how these themes are changed and what this can tell us about American culture. 

Did you know there's a superhero named The Question?

Word Count: More than 400

Mapping Out Our Destiny

The outline is at this link. Enjoy!

Word Count: 1883

This is a map of a videogame called destiny.

8 Mile

The following is the academic conversation between three of my sources. Annie Manion is a Japanese animation expert from USC, Brian Ruh has a PhD in Communications and Culture, specializing in anime and Japanese culture, from Indiana University. Finally Eri Izawa is from MIT and he conducted an interview with an anime producer, writer, and editor. 

I chose these sources because they play around the issue of how fan's prefer dubbed anime over subbed anime. They do not necessarily contradict, rather they all touch upon the problem of dubbing anime, in there own unique ways. 

Annie Manion talks about otaku, who are die-hard American anime fans. Brian Ruh looks at a heavily changed and dubbed anime called Warriors of the Wind, and why it was not successful in America. He compares Warriors of the Wind to two other heavily changed anime, Voltron and Robotron, both of which were very successful in America. Finally, Eri Izawa conducted an interview with anime heavyweight Toshio Okada, where they discuss various topics regarding anime, including dubbing anime in America and the themes of anime. 

To Eminem's Lose Yourself:

Lose Yourself in Anime

[Annie Manion]

Yo, 

It's on and ready, plugged in, palms are sweating

There's ramen in his bowl already, poor man's spaghetti

He's nervous, can't decide between Pokémon and One Piece

To stop dubs, because he keeps on subbin'

He's got Japanese down, the whole tape is edited now

He's an otaku, how, part of the subculture wow,

The sub is perfect now, lines drawn, over, blaow!

Snap out of reality, oh back into fantasy,

Oh, here goes everything, he's stoked

He's so bad, but he won't give up that easy? No

He won't have it, he knows his whole cosplay's broke

It don't matter, he's dope, he knows that, but he's choked

He so sad that he knows, when he goes back to the forum home, that's when its

Back to the thread again yo, this fake galaxy

He better go re-watch this moment and hope he don’t fall asleep

You better lose yourself in the illusion, the enjoyment

You’re an otaku, yo, let reality go

You only watch sub, don’t watch a dubbed show

This subculture is fan ready, so you better,

You better lose yourself in the illusion, the enjoyment

You’re an otaku, yo, let reality go

You only watch sub, don’t watch a dubbed show

This subculture is fan ready, so you better,

 [Brian Ruh]

The TV’s taping, watching the anime that is playing

This fantasy world is his for the taking

Make him king, as we move toward a, new social order

American culture’s borin’, but anime kingdoms just complete awesome 

It only grows faster, only spreads quicker

It blows up all over these shows is all on them

Coast to coast subs, he’s known as the fansubber 

Breaking laws, that don’t matter, he’s grown tired of dubs now, he’s no loser

He watch anime, Warriors of the Wind is a laughing matter,

But hold your nose ‘cause here goes the cold water

The fans don’t want it no mo, it’s bad product,

The company cut out the scene that shows, how it’s simplified for regular Joes

So the entire show is told and unfolds, I suppose it's bad partna, because the dubs go 

Da da dumb da dumb da da

You better lose yourself in the illusion, the enjoyment

You’re an otaku, yo, let reality go

You only watch sub, don’t watch a dubbed show

This subculture is fan ready, so you better,

You better lose yourself in the illusion, the enjoyment

You’re an otaku, yo, let reality go

You only watch sub, don’t watch a dubbed show

This subculture is fan ready, so you better,

[Eri Izawa]

It so lame, they’re gonna change everything in rage

Tear this mother loving anime apart like two dogs caged

It was better in beginning, the themes all changed

It has been rewrote and sanitized and forced to change

But the fan’s keep subbin’ and translatin’ the next cipher

Best believe they’re trying to keep the themes hyper

All the pain and complexity in the

Original that can’t be changed to

Make the dub and simplified it,

Anime is full of complexity, these themes of racism and poverty

And its no movies, there’s no easy equality 

This is the original and they have worked so hard

And it’s getting even harder tryin’ to draw and write these, plus

See dishonor done to them by a corp. and an Americana

No one wanna that drama on and too much

For them to watch to stay in one spot, another failure or not

Has gotten them to the point, they hate a dub, its rot

To formulate a plot before the genre ends up a fail or wrought

Subtitles are the only mother loving option, dub is not

Anime, we love you, but this trait has got to go, we cannot grow old in dubbed plot

So here we go this is our only shot

Computer fail me not ‘cause this maybe the only subbed copy that I got

You better lose yourself in the illusion, the enjoyment

You’re an otaku, yo, let reality go

You only watch sub, don’t watch a dubbed show

This subculture is fan ready, so you better,

You better lose yourself in the illusion, the enjoyment

You’re an otaku, yo, let reality go

You only watch sub, don’t watch a dubbed show

This subculture is fan ready, so you better,

You can record anything you set your dvr to, man.

Drop the mic.

(Word Count: 925)

PHAROS

"Set the game ablaze, I'm an arcade fire”

-Childish Gambino

The literature review is an integral part of paper, it gives the reader a picture of not only what you will be talking about, but also, what the academic conversation surrounding your topic is. For my paper, specifically, I will be looking to use my subtopics to contextualize the spread of Japanese culture/anime to America as a part of the much larger globalization of culture (specifically regarding to America). The reader can then understand the importance of my paper. Beyond showing my topic’s importance, I will need to establish the academic conversation behind my topic. This is what the subtopics are responsible for. I will be using the subtopics I mentioned last week to show the important facets of Japanese animation in America, and the localization of anime in America. My goal for the literature review, and most likely a goal for basically every other literature review, is that by the end the reader will come to the same question that I will be answering in my paper. 

A paper that will be instrumental in my research, a tier one resource is "Celebrating Two Decades of Unlawful Progress: Fan Distribution, Proselytization Commons, and the Explosive Growth of Japanese Animation.”  This research paper, written by Professor Sean Leonard of MIT in 2005, looks specifically at the copyright infringement behind the rise of fansubbed anime in America. Fansubbed anime is anime that is illegally downloaded, translated by fans (via. subtitles), and distributed across anime fan communities throughout America. This paper conducts a very in-depth review of the actual history of fansubbing and anime in America. The paper also compares the rise of animation in America and Japan. It is nearly 80 pages and contains a lot of useful information for me to use in my literature review. 

In short, what this paper found was that the fansubbing did not infringe on any copyright laws, since it helped and profited the anime industry in America, rather than hurt it. Fans in America, from the 1950’s to 1990’s, craved original Japanese animation, not the heavily “sanitized” dubbed versions legally distributed by companies in America. Since fansubbers were the only ones that were able to provide translated, original anime shows from Japan, the rise of fansubbers really lead to the increased American consumption and consumer interest in anime. This is the main argument of the paper, however there is still a lot more information I will be able to use to put into my literature review. 

For next week, I looking forward to continuing the John Oliver project. Outside of class, I am still aiming to add at least one paper to my resource list. I feel like this is really coming along and I can already (somewhat) see what my research question will delve into. 

Gambino's new project.

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