Instant Watching Beefs: Anime Dubbing and "Pan 'n' Scan" (Fullscreen)

Am I the only person who can't stand watching anime dubbed? The English dialogue and voice acting are almost always a step down from the original Japanese, especially in older anime.

Netflix, please treat anime like other foreign cinema and use subtitles in Instant Watching, or at least let people choose between the two.

One more gripe: Please, please, please acquire the widescreen version of everything you put on Instant watching. "Pan 'n' Scan" is just one of those completely unnecessary things that can hamper a movie at best or steal elements of direction and meaning at worst.

Please, everybody, speak up.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Aces on April 29, 2008 at 9:00pm: Maybe NF thinks people who watch Anime don't know how to read?

I agree with you - they should give people the choice. You should submit that suggestion to NF by clicking on Contact Us at the bottom of every page on NF's site. Then under Requests and Suggestions click : Suggestions and send them a note.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Real Uncle Bob on May 4, 2008 at 9:21am: The lower resolution of IW is partially disguised by its blur, but the blur and low resolution combine to make subs harder to read than they are on a good broadcast signal or on a dvd. I will much sooner order a disk than watch a subbed film on IW. But then, I'll be 60 in October.

Most anime sucks, but dubbed anime sucks worse.

Televised anime is not made in widescreen format, and most anime is made for TV. These are LOW BUDGET SHOWS, and to the best of my knowledge, none are made to HD spec. So when you say pan'n'scan, I say, wtf?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by The Real Uncle Bob on May 4, 2008 at 9:43am: Expanding on the above a bit -- Anime is broadcast in HD in Japan, but I believe the actual animation is done in the same format as always, then is "upsampled" for broadcast in the majority of cases.

I suspect this is the case because when you increase the resolution of animation, you don't just switch to HD cameras, as you do with live-action. Your budget and your schedule get screwed in mutiple ways -- effects animation and computer-aided animation (which is everywhere) become costlier and more time-consuming as well.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Movie Man Andrew on May 4, 2008 at 4:42pm: 2d Animation can be made in native HD, not just upsampled. Just because 2D characters don't have skin texture or blemishes does not mean that it wouldn't benefit from being HD. Otherwise, my 2d movies would look perfect with standard DVD.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SepticSkeptic on May 4, 2008 at 3:00pm: My complaint about pan 'n' scan is mostly for classic films (and only applies to older films, as far as I know).; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Scott P on May 4, 2008 at 3:24pm: Most anime sucks

Excuse me? That's like saying most foreign films suck.

Televised anime is not made in widescreen format, and most anime is made for TV. These are LOW BUDGET SHOWS, and to the best of my knowledge, none are made to HD spec. So when you say pan'n'scan, I say, wtf?

I don't know which series were televised originally but quite a lot of them are made in widescreen now. And they are anything but low budget. So if Netflix is showing them in pan & scan, it's a valid complaint.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Pihk on May 4, 2008 at 5:13pm: Most anime sucks

Excuse me? That's like saying most foreign films suck.

That is completely incoherent.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by SepticSkeptic on May 5, 2008 at 12:21am: Again, the complaint about IW anime is that it's often being shown in a blasphemous English version. The IW "Pan 'n' Scan" Complaint only applies (as far as I know) to older films. Do studios even do DVD fullscreen versions of movies anymore?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Movie Man Andrew on May 4, 2008 at 4:40pm: There has been some HD anime and low resolution IS blur, isn't it? It makes things blurry and edgy and all sorts of flaws.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Pihk on April 29, 2008 at 9:01pm: How Pan'N'Scan is still around is bewildering...If you prefer it, you really should be shot, or at least hit really hard.

I'm not much of an anime fan (except when tentacles are featured prominently) but I do like the sound of the Japanese language. It is the best sounding language to make threats in, IMO; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Movie Man Andrew on May 4, 2008 at 4:44pm: Most people dont have widescreen tvs, and might like to have the whole frame filled in.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Pihk on May 4, 2008 at 5:11pm: Your whole screen is filled with less of the original picture...not too smart.

Let me know when you want your beating to commence ;-); ▶ Reply to This