Dub localization

Dub localization, also often simply referred to as localization, is a form of a voice-over. It is the practice of voice-over translation altering a foreign language film, art film or television series by voice actors.

Dub localization is a hot button issue active in cinephilia amongst aficionados of foreign filmmaking and television programs, particularly anime fans as dubs are still a popular form of translation of animated series. While some localization is virtually inevitable in translation, the controversy surrounding how much localization is "too much" is often much-discussed in such communities, especially when the final dub product is significantly different from the original. Some frown on any extensive localization, while others expect it and, to a degree, appreciate it.

Some dub localizations are considered so extreme as to have produced a different show or film entirely.

Many localized dubs are the object of much controversy. One relatively famous example of a controversial dub localization is the Sailor Moon series by DIC Entertainment, which was heavily edited to remove episodes, change the animation (such as flipping the animation in some scenes so that cars were not driving on the "wrong" side of the road compared to American driving laws) and extensively using valley girl slang and other slanguage. The first 65 episodes were the most famous for this. Later seasons had less editing on the Japanese cultural contents and virtually none of the animation. However, the Cloverway Inc. dub of the third and fourth seasons is still controversial due to multiple character name changes, inconsistencies in things including names of attacks or plot-important items, the changing of a crossdressing character's sex, the making of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune into cousins in an attempt to disguise their originally lesbian relationship, and the referring of Japanese kana in the context as "symbols" instead of the original context of having no Kanji. Despite these changes, many fans of the series like the dubbed version because of its nostalgic value. The first two seasons of Sailor Moon were eventually released in unedited, subtitled DVD box sets, and the third and fourth seasons had uncut dubbed, edited dubbed, and subtitled home video releases in addition to bilingual DVDs.

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