For this month's column, I'd like to do something a little different. Rather than review a single anime dub, I'm going to present an overview of the major studios that produce most of North America's anime dubs. I hope you'll find it educational. Too often, the distributor that releases the anime gets all of the credit or blame for the dub, when in most cases, all that company did was select the studio that did the work.

I should clarify up front that when I say "studio," I'm referring to those that actually produce dubs, providing actors and directors, as opposed to studio houses that merely provide the physical recording apparatus and the techs to operate it. I should also clarify that "to the best of my knowledge" goes without saying for most of this article. Substantial information on dubbing studios is hard to come by unless you're in the industry. (Did you know that not a single one of the studios I cover here even has a website?) Some of the dates I list are taken from video packaging, so they may be off by a year. I'm looking forward (grimace) to the corrections I shall undoubtedly receive in email.

Animaze

Animaze is, in my opinion, the best anime-dubbing studio currently in business. There are two major reasons behind their success. First, the studio is based in the Los Angeles area, and therefore has access to a wealth of acting talent. Secondly, their dub staff has experience, more experience than any other studio dubbing anime.

It's hard to believe now, but the studio that would eventually be known as Animaze was responsible for one of the most memorably bad dubs ever created. The year was 1992, and I was (un)fortunate enough to be present at the first Anime Expo for the premiere of "Macross II" in dubbed form. The dub had everyone rolling in the aisles, which would have been great, except for the fact that "Macross II" isn't a comedy. The dub was full of unintentionally hilarious lines. The acting was atrocious - some characters came across flat and lifeless while others were ridiculously overacted. The dialogue was filled with unnatural pauses as the actors tried to match the poorly written script to the characters' mouth flaps.

The debacle of "Macross II" was hard to live down, and gave Animaze a bad reputation among fans for years. Their subsequent work for USRenditions, such as "Orguss" and "Iczer-1," didn't help matters, as those dubs weren't much better. "Giant Robo" began to show a glimmer of the studio's potential, but the dub was nevertheless greatly inferior to the original Japanese acting.

It wasn't until Pioneer entered the anime market and began to use Animaze for the majority of their dubs that the studio began to improve. "Moldiver" was their first dub for Pioneer, and showed that the studio still had far to go. The dub was fun, in a campy sort of way. It helped that "Moldiver" was a comedy, although I still found myself laughing at the dub as much as with it.

Then came "El-Hazard."

"El-Hazard" was a watershed moment in the history of American anime dubbing. I saw the premiere of this dub as well, also at Anime Expo, and just like before, the dub had them rolling in the aisles. Only this time, it was for the right reasons. For the first time, a dub was so good many fans even believed it to be better than the Japanese. The dub introduced us to Lia Sargent (Nanami), Melissa Charles (Alielle), and Bob Marx (Jinnai), all of whom have since gone on to other memorable roles.

Animaze has never looked back. Since "El-Hazard" in 1995, the studio has only gotten better. Their crowning achievement to date is "Cowboy Bebop." In my opinion, you've haven't truly seen "Cowboy Bebop" until you've seen it in English.

Animaze is the primary dub studio for Pioneer and is currently producing "Trigun" and "Dual!" They have also produced dubs for Bandai ("Cowboy Bebop," "Outlaw Star"), and Manga Entertainment ("Perfect Blue," "Ghost in the Shell").

Ocean

Also known as "Ocean Studios" and "The Ocean Group," Ocean is famous (or notorious, depending upon whom you ask) for producing the "Ranma ½" dub. I can't say that I know much about the history of this studio, other than that they are the second most prolific producers of anime dubs among independent studios, behind Animaze.

Anime is only a part of the work of this Vancouver-based studio. They also provide the voice acting for many North American television cartoons, such as "NASCAR Racers" and "X-Men: Evolution." In my opinion, this television experience colors the quality of their anime dubs, which never seem to rise much above the level of a television cartoon. In a typical Ocean dub the acting is very deliberate, lacking the subtlety that is sometimes necessary in anime. Conversations don't sound quite as natural as they do in the better Animaze dubs. In short, Ocean dubs "sound like dubs."

That being said, they've produced some impressive work. I especially liked their dub of "Kishin Corps," produced for Pioneer in 1994. The "comic book" story with its archetypical characters was well suited to Ocean's acting style

Ocean is the primary dubbing studio for Viz, and has produced such dubs as "Key the Metal Idol" and "Night Warriors." These days, however, Viz is all but out of the anime business, releasing dubs for only "Ranma ½." Luckily for Ocean they're also the primary dubbing studio for Bandai; "Gundam Wing" is one of their most well known works. Currently, Ocean is producing the dubs for "Escaflowne" and "Jubei-chan the Ninja Girl."

One thing that makes Ocean unique is their use of the "Wordfit System," a fact the studio trumpets proudly in every set of closing credits. Wordfit is a piece of software that allows a technician to synchronize recorded dialogue with the mouth movements of the characters on the screen. When asked on multiple occasions about the usefulness of this software, however representatives from Viz said that Wordfit was hardly used on "Ranma ½," with the only notable use being to "morph" male Ranma's voice into female Ranma's when the character transformed in the middle of the sentence. Whether or not Wordfit is truly useful these days, I can't say. The credits for "Jubei-chan" list a "Wordfit editor," so they must be doing something with it. Either that, or the guy has the cushiest job in anime dubbing.

Coastal Carolina

Coastal Carolina burst onto the scene in 1995 with their dub for AnimEigo of the "You're Under Arrest" OAV series. AnimEigo had tried dubbing in-house before with disastrous results, their dubs of "Bubblegum Crisis" and "Urusei Yatsura" ranking among the worst ever produced. So when "You're Under Arrest" was released, it was a pleasant surprise. Many fans thought it was better than the Japanese. So did the Japanese director! In an amazing twist, the director gave the Japanese cast copies of the OAV dub prior to recording the voices for the "You're Under Arrest" television series, telling them "I want you to sound like this."

From the beginning, Coastal Carolina made clear their intention of being first and foremost an anime-dubbing studio. They made several more dubs for AnimEigo, which included "Oh My Goddess!" and "Crusher Joe." But then AnimEigo made the decision not to produce any further dubs of their properties, and Coastal Carolina seemed to be left high and dry.

Not to worry. Coastal Carolina has since reinvented itself as one of North America's premiere ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement, or "looping") studios for motion picture and television post-production. Productions that have fine-tuned their dialogue at Coastal Carolina include every "Batman" movie except the first, "The Lion King," and "The Crow." The television programs "Dawson's Creek" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" both use Coastal Carolina, and the stars that have graced their microphones include Jim Carrey, Anthony Hopkins and Claire Danes.

The anime work has since picked up as well. Coastal Carolina is now the primary dubbing studio for Media Blasters, and their recent works have included "Shinesman" and "Elf Princess Rane." The studio also produced the "Blue Submarine No. 6" dub for Bandai.

In general, I've been impressed with their work. It's difficult to criticize a Coastal Carolina dub without splitting hairs. For example, in the dub of "Shinesman," I thought the acting wasn't quite over-the-top enough for such a silly parody.

Coastal Carolina is also one of the most fan-friendly of all the dubbing studios, maintaining a presence on the Usenet rec.arts.anime.misc discussion group and answering questions. This makes them a very popular dubbing studio. There was a day when the words "popular" and "dubbing" would never be seen in the same sentence.

In an ironic example of things coming full circle, AnimEigo recently reversed their position on dubbing after their first major acquisition in years. The title? The "You're Under Arrest" television series! Coastal Carolina has reunited the original dub cast and will continue from where they left off.

One last item about Coastal Carolina - their dubs are notable for casting actual children to play the roles of children. It's a nice touch, and one I wish more studios would try.

Network

As far as anime dubs are concerned, Network is "Tenchi Muyo." You either like the dub of "Tenchi Muyo" or you don't. I like it. I'm under the impression that Network has produced some work for American television, but I don't know what.

Network has produced only one dub, but what a dub that's been. With 13 OAVs, 4 OAV specials, 52 television episodes, and 3 movies, "Tenchi Muyo" has made Network one of the most prolific anime studios in terms of minutes produced, despite their single assignment.

With "Tenchi" complete for the moment, Network is out of the anime dubbing business. It's worth noting, however, that several of their actors have gone on to perform in anime dubs for Animaze, which like Network is based in Southern California. Sherry Lynn, who played Sasami, has appeared in "Serial Experiments Lain," "Trigun" and "Cowboy Bebop." She currently plays "D" in "Dual!" Ryoko's actress, Petrea Burchard, was also in "Lain."