I’ve officially been pampered by subbed animes. If I had watched Full Metal Panic dubbed, from the beginning, I doubt I would’ve liked it as much …

I found the dubbed versions of the first few episodes on YouTube, last night, and watched them to see what the voice acting was like. It doesn’t do the anime justice. If you’re looking for a good laugh, it’s great, because the voice overs are so horrible that it’s hilarious. And whoever keeps writing the translations for the voice actors needs to stop trying to directly translate Japanese name suffixes. I’ll have to stop watching the dubbed versions, just because of that. If I hear Tessa call Souske “Mr. Sagara” again, I’m going to scream.

The name reversal irks me a bit, too. If I was to watch the last episode of The Second Raid and hear Souske shout “I am Souske Sagara!” — I think that would be enough for me to hit the stop button immediately. It just doesn’t sound right … But, that’s probably more the being pampered by subs, than anything.

When my DVDs arrive, I don’t think I’ll be using the English audio … Unless I need some humor in my day. I’m actually considering learning Japanese, now … So, I can enjoy the experience better without having to read the subtitles.

For those of you who know me, you should know by now that I’m an Anime Freak. I’m in love with Japanese Animation, and have bought numerous DVDs in support of that love. Recent purchases include the Cowboy Bebop Box Set, the Samurai Champloo Box Set, the Cowboy Bebop Movie (Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door), the Mezzo Box Set, Robotech: The Macross Saga (Harmony Gold version), Robotech: The Complete Collection (Mega-Pack of all three sagas — This is not the remastered version, although I may buy it too), etc … The list goes on and on.

A series that I’ve taken a special interest to, thanks to Winamp and Shoutcast, is Full Metal Panic. If you could see my desktop background … wait, wait, wait … Give me a moment … Okay, it’s uploading. Here it is.

Anyway, as I was saying … Full Metal Panic is my current anime obsession. The original series box set and the box set of The Second Raid sequel to the original were added to my purchases this morning. The wonderful people over at Anime Streams maintain the stream of The Second Raid, and I’ve watched some of the original series over at YouTube. I recommend at least watching some of that, even if you don’t intend to buy for yourself. They’re all subbed, just to let you know. The anime is beyond remarkable, though … Definitely worth a watch.

Details on the original show can be obtained through this Full Metal Panic website, and details on the entire series can be obtained through Wikipedia.