So, I’ve been watching Bleach for a while now. I’m getting it on Netflix, so I’m roughly three years behind what’s on-air in Japan. I really enjoyed seasons 1, 2, and 3. Seasons 4 and 5 are filler, and therefore suck ass. I’m hoping season 6 will be as enjoyable as the first three.

My wife, @RussianDina, refuses to watch it with me. Why? Because she can’t get past the embarrassingly ridiculous voice-acting. We’re watching it in English, and I keep trying to explain that the original Japanese is much better, but she has a point. The English-language voice-acting just sucks ass. Not only is the acting bad, but the translations are positively horrible. Its like they’re translated by a marketing committee. (Watching with Japanese audio and English subtitles wouldn’t work for her either because English is her second language and it would be too distracting for her to watch and read simultaneously.)

We would enjoy the series much more if I were to steal it via BitTorrent or just watch on YouTube. Why? Because the fan-made subtitles are vastly superior to anything to be found on the official DVDs. That is sad. The translations are true to the spirit and letter of the original dialogue. What’s more, the fan-made subtitles will often add little explanations (at the top of the screen instead of the bottom, so as not to be confused with dialogue) helping to explain phrases or expressions which can’t be adequately translated.

Its sad, really, that to get the best experience I would have to steal my content. Why can’t I pay for what I want? If big-content want to survive this decade and next, they’ll have to figure out how deliver what the fans want.

This isn’t just Bleach. If it were just bleach, then I’d just complaint about Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, Viz Media, et al. This is a common problem for nearly all anime. Its almost as if the marketing committees just don’t realise that this is real art. This isn’t Blue’s Clues. These aren’t children’s programs. The amount of violence and sex should make that quite clear. Most of these shows have lesbian lovers. Sailor Moon, e.g., featured full frontal nudity in the opening credits of every single episode, and often in the episode content itself. (You’ll have to go steal a Japanese rip to see it. They censored the American releases.) Nearly the entire second half of Evangelion, e.g., is rated TV-MA. If you don’t have HBO or similar, then you’ve never seen a TV-MA program. They’re not broadcast on regular TV. TV-MA is adult. Its not like an R rating. Its like an NC-17 rating.