- Are all R1 (US region) anime necessarily dubbed? And when there is a dub of one anime, does its title usually change? (Example: Familiar of Zero, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fighting Spirit).
- Are all R2 (JP region) anime necessarily not dubbed? Do they always retain the original Japanese title?
These are my questions for now. Informative replies are appreciated.
There have always been a few sub-only releases here and there, often for older shows where the materials necessary for dubbing (often isolated Music & Effects audio tracks) could not be found on the Japanese side. Or where they didn't think the expense of dubbing was warranted or necessary.
The growing trend in recent years has been to release "niche" titles sub-only. Media-Blasters, Bandai, Nozomi (Rightstuf), and whatever remains of ADV have adopted this strategy. With the ongoing decline in anime sales and the economic recession, they were finding that the additional sales generated by English dubs on some titles did not recoup the costs of dubbing. So all you who say "dubs suck, I don't want to pay for something I don't want," you won't have to do so on many shows now and in the future.
As for title changes... how is "Familiar of Zero" a title change? If you start with the original title "Zero no Tsukaima," and go with the principle that "A no B" in Japanese = "A's B" or "The B of A" in English, "Familiar of Zero" is a perfectly logical, straightforward translation. Titles tend to be more accessible to the average consumer when they're not a string of incomprehensible foreign words. "Fullmetal Alchemist" was a title the Japanese came up with, and appears alongside the "Hagane no Renkinjutsushi" kanji in the in-show logos. "Alchemist of Steel" just doesn't sound as cool. Quite often, the Japanese will have a title in mind that they will make the licensee use for the English release. Like with Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, "Rumbling Hearts" was a subtitle of one of the PS2 games, and that's what they made Funimation use for the English title of the anime.
"Hajime no Ippo" is a pun that doesn't translate well, so that title got changed. Generally, if a title can be translated in a concise way that's not overly-lame, they will translate the title. If they can't, like with wordy titles such as "Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto," they'll use a different title of their or the Japanese licensor's choosing. And in many cases, the titles are left untranslated, for better or worse. See
this page.As for R2J releases, I don't see why they wouldn't use the original titles. Sometimes they will include English dubs, but only for shows where English dubs were already made elsewhere. The Utawarerumono and Kanon Blu-Rays, for example, include ADV's English dubs. And of course, there are titles like Afro Samurai and Vampire Hunter D that were originally done in English.
IIRC they chose not to ruin, butcher, or destroy Afro Samurai by redubbing it into Japanese with two-bit seiyuu like Takehito Koyasu and Norio Wakamoto that only voice act because they can't get any other acting work. Because you can never replace Samuel L Jackson. Plus, they didn't increase the costs for Japanese consumers by adding a Japanese audio track they didn't want, thus putting Afro Samurai DVDs/BDs in line with the reasonable, totally non-ripoff prices of R2J anime DVDs that don't have foreign dubs
