Sorry to say, Sunako retains her dignity throughout. The seiyuu are appropriately reverent and fearful of her.
The problem with supposing the scene could be saved by Seishin's delivery or with "Little Miss" (which is condescending in English) Seishin does not in fact say it condescendingly, he's not condescending; as shown in the novel, he's at a loss for how to refer to her because using no honorific is rude, and using -san on a little kid actually would cross into condescending even if he didn't mean it that way. Any way to make it work requires warping someone's delivery and characterization. If I were scripting it, I'd stick with -chan and the audience would just have to suck it up and accept that a Japanese work's going to involve Japanese cultural nuances. Don't like it, then don't watch foreign media; there's no lack of media made for and by an English language audience, with just as many nuances and cultural elements that are intuitive to the target audience.
That also sums up how I feel about dubs. Reading subtitles gives you a headache? Pick a medium you can understand naturally; a dubbed version of a series is not the series, it's a fan interpretation of it, like a fanfic or doujinshi.. You know, besides the fact that most of those have to develop independent stories, visuals, pacing, etc. and dubbing is just piggy backing. Either it's a "fan" re-interpretation and not canon, or it's, at the very best, a close but imperfect approximation. Indeed, many textual translations are going to be just that, close but imperfect, but subtitles remove the language barrier with the least possible alteration--it doesn't replace the entire original vocal track, which was cast, directed, and line by line approved by the director. Portions left to the voice actor's discretion and interpretation are as much a part of the creative team as anyone else--indeed, many times voice actors lead to changed lines and inflections by discussing issues and differences with writers and directors. Ozaki's seiyuu happens to be pretty well versed in military dialogue and suggest rewrites for many of his lines (and others) as Colonel Roy Mustang in FMA. Sometimes the script even just says "ad lib" trusting the cast as the one expressing the spirit of the character to best fill in certain comedic or space filling dialogue. If the voice is important enough that "good" dub acting or casting is important at all and a computerized dry reading of every line would not suffice, then it's important enough not to change the existing material for sheer convenience. Yes, non-native Japanese viewers will not have the same experience if they must read it but even the most hypothetically accurate dub will also only be an approximation, and a de-facto more invasive one when compared to the most hypothetically accurate sub script. For those who find themselves distracted from the visuals, it may even be necessary, after watching with subs, to watch it again raw knowing the story from the first time through. It wouldn't be the only type of work that has to be experienced multiple times to fully appreciate.
Of course some people will just prefer the dub, differences and all, just as many, many, many, many people prefer fanon takes on characters to canon. The difference, and my chief problem with dubs, is that it's considered a canonically equal alternative. It isn't, and being licensed does not make it so any more than a fandub; title holders and writers approve of all levels of doujinshi and fanworks as expression and promotion, but you certainly would not consider any of them canon. You can analyze a character's actions and as much of the story as is left intact by the dub, but anything that can be read vocally from the characters or even tonally from a scene is invalid in analysis of a dub. It's, at best, an analysis of the dub staff's take on things.
I'll read fanwork and look at fan art. I could even approve of and consider watching fandubs as a fan's exploration of the characters and an expression of their take on the series. But is a paid studio cast acting out of expression, analysis and love of the work, and is the paycheck entirely secondary? If they could afford to do it unpaid, would they, aside from perhaps as a career move (like workers working unpaid overtime for the reputation points it earns with a boss)? That'd make me more likely to watch, certainly, as a fellow fan, but it doesn't make it canon. And unless it varies significantly enough to stand on its own merits without being utterly dependent on the existing script, music, etc., such as as a parody whose value would be entirely in its (likely humorous) changes, I am probably not interested in it as a commercial work any more than I would be in looking at fanart that's just a trace or copy of official art. I'd pay money for a hilarious parody dub, or subs for that matter. I'll spend money to avoid supporting productions of standard dubs or even subs, if a series were released subbed only with poor subs.
This isn't some "Hail Glorious Nippon" otaku sentiment, either (not that I deny otaku or more commonly these days 'weeaboo' status); indeed, many Japanese directors oversee English voice acting in works. Biohazard (Resident Evil) is a Japanese game released with full English only acting, as far as I know. I'm not into survival platformer games, but were I, I'd have 0 problem playing it in English. The game No More Heroes, specifically seeking to name the hero something that sounded American and cool to the Japanese audience, and just stupid as hell to an actual American audience, we have Travis Touchdown leading us along a very tongue-in-cheek parody of common violent video game tropes. I as an English speaker am *intended* to have a different impression of the work. The acting is absolutely *terrible*. I am talking acting so bad I had difficulty understanding some scenes because of the tone and delivery of the lines being downright unnatural; I'd have understood it fine if it were just text because at least then I'd have a common sense native English guideline for the tone in my head. I can't tell if this is intentional as another level of parody, if it's the fact that the director is Japanese and thus not very competent at nuance and expression in the English language, or if it was left to a set of actors who, if my prior exposure to them is any indication, are kind of poor actors in general. I really don't know all the details; all I know is that the final product, good or bad, no matter whether it was intentional or just creative folly, is canon. And even if it's a parody, I can't get into it with the acting being that bad. So it's just not for me. Maybe to the Japanese good "foreign" voice acting is less important and this intolerable difference is at least the intended takeaway from me as an English speaking audience member. Just as not reading a sentence that flashes before me is impossible, setting it aside and experiencing the intended effect for the Japanese audience is sadly impossible for me.
The game was later remade with Japanese voice acting, some of the casted voices have very different tones, and the acting is solid. Not knowing if this is a dub or the actual intent of the director or what, until I hear the complete circumstances of this well acted track and its casting, I can't justify playing it. I don't even know if it's the intended take for the JP audience, now in Japanese, or just a marketing thing as most dubs are. I *want* the JP track to be validated so that I can get into the series, but there are plenty of other fun and funny games whose final and intended format I can enjoy. If decent acting is such a deal breaker for me, NMH is not for me. If a work being Japanese voiced is such a deal breaker for others, maybe Japanese media aren't for them.
Naturally, many find this elitist and will watch dubs anyways because it's in demand enough to be provided, integrity of the work be damned, perhaps even pointing out that not everything is high art enough to justifiably care for its integrity. Sex Taxi is not exactly high art. While I would like dubs to disappear, the most I can do is argue my case hoping to convert, and vote with my dollar to make them no longer sustainable.
no subject
The problem with supposing the scene could be saved by Seishin's delivery or with "Little Miss" (which is condescending in English) Seishin does not in fact say it condescendingly, he's not condescending; as shown in the novel, he's at a loss for how to refer to her because using no honorific is rude, and using -san on a little kid actually would cross into condescending even if he didn't mean it that way. Any way to make it work requires warping someone's delivery and characterization. If I were scripting it, I'd stick with -chan and the audience would just have to suck it up and accept that a Japanese work's going to involve Japanese cultural nuances. Don't like it, then don't watch foreign media; there's no lack of media made for and by an English language audience, with just as many nuances and cultural elements that are intuitive to the target audience.
That also sums up how I feel about dubs. Reading subtitles gives you a headache? Pick a medium you can understand naturally; a dubbed version of a series is not the series, it's a fan interpretation of it, like a fanfic or doujinshi.. You know, besides the fact that most of those have to develop independent stories, visuals, pacing, etc. and dubbing is just piggy backing. Either it's a "fan" re-interpretation and not canon, or it's, at the very best, a close but imperfect approximation. Indeed, many textual translations are going to be just that, close but imperfect, but subtitles remove the language barrier with the least possible alteration--it doesn't replace the entire original vocal track, which was cast, directed, and line by line approved by the director. Portions left to the voice actor's discretion and interpretation are as much a part of the creative team as anyone else--indeed, many times voice actors lead to changed lines and inflections by discussing issues and differences with writers and directors. Ozaki's seiyuu happens to be pretty well versed in military dialogue and suggest rewrites for many of his lines (and others) as Colonel Roy Mustang in FMA. Sometimes the script even just says "ad lib" trusting the cast as the one expressing the spirit of the character to best fill in certain comedic or space filling dialogue. If the voice is important enough that "good" dub acting or casting is important at all and a computerized dry reading of every line would not suffice, then it's important enough not to change the existing material for sheer convenience. Yes, non-native Japanese viewers will not have the same experience if they must read it but even the most hypothetically accurate dub will also only be an approximation, and a de-facto more invasive one when compared to the most hypothetically accurate sub script. For those who find themselves distracted from the visuals, it may even be necessary, after watching with subs, to watch it again raw knowing the story from the first time through. It wouldn't be the only type of work that has to be experienced multiple times to fully appreciate.
Of course some people will just prefer the dub, differences and all, just as many, many, many, many people prefer fanon takes on characters to canon. The difference, and my chief problem with dubs, is that it's considered a canonically equal alternative. It isn't, and being licensed does not make it so any more than a fandub; title holders and writers approve of all levels of doujinshi and fanworks as expression and promotion, but you certainly would not consider any of them canon. You can analyze a character's actions and as much of the story as is left intact by the dub, but anything that can be read vocally from the characters or even tonally from a scene is invalid in analysis of a dub. It's, at best, an analysis of the dub staff's take on things.
I'll read fanwork and look at fan art. I could even approve of and consider watching fandubs as a fan's exploration of the characters and an expression of their take on the series. But is a paid studio cast acting out of expression, analysis and love of the work, and is the paycheck entirely secondary? If they could afford to do it unpaid, would they, aside from perhaps as a career move (like workers working unpaid overtime for the reputation points it earns with a boss)? That'd make me more likely to watch, certainly, as a fellow fan, but it doesn't make it canon. And unless it varies significantly enough to stand on its own merits without being utterly dependent on the existing script, music, etc., such as as a parody whose value would be entirely in its (likely humorous) changes, I am probably not interested in it as a commercial work any more than I would be in looking at fanart that's just a trace or copy of official art. I'd pay money for a hilarious parody dub, or subs for that matter. I'll spend money to avoid supporting productions of standard dubs or even subs, if a series were released subbed only with poor subs.
This isn't some "Hail Glorious Nippon" otaku sentiment, either (not that I deny otaku or more commonly these days 'weeaboo' status); indeed, many Japanese directors oversee English voice acting in works. Biohazard (Resident Evil) is a Japanese game released with full English only acting, as far as I know. I'm not into survival platformer games, but were I, I'd have 0 problem playing it in English. The game No More Heroes, specifically seeking to name the hero something that sounded American and cool to the Japanese audience, and just stupid as hell to an actual American audience, we have Travis Touchdown leading us along a very tongue-in-cheek parody of common violent video game tropes. I as an English speaker am *intended* to have a different impression of the work. The acting is absolutely *terrible*. I am talking acting so bad I had difficulty understanding some scenes because of the tone and delivery of the lines being downright unnatural; I'd have understood it fine if it were just text because at least then I'd have a common sense native English guideline for the tone in my head. I can't tell if this is intentional as another level of parody, if it's the fact that the director is Japanese and thus not very competent at nuance and expression in the English language, or if it was left to a set of actors who, if my prior exposure to them is any indication, are kind of poor actors in general. I really don't know all the details; all I know is that the final product, good or bad, no matter whether it was intentional or just creative folly, is canon. And even if it's a parody, I can't get into it with the acting being that bad. So it's just not for me. Maybe to the Japanese good "foreign" voice acting is less important and this intolerable difference is at least the intended takeaway from me as an English speaking audience member. Just as not reading a sentence that flashes before me is impossible, setting it aside and experiencing the intended effect for the Japanese audience is sadly impossible for me.
The game was later remade with Japanese voice acting, some of the casted voices have very different tones, and the acting is solid. Not knowing if this is a dub or the actual intent of the director or what, until I hear the complete circumstances of this well acted track and its casting, I can't justify playing it. I don't even know if it's the intended take for the JP audience, now in Japanese, or just a marketing thing as most dubs are. I *want* the JP track to be validated so that I can get into the series, but there are plenty of other fun and funny games whose final and intended format I can enjoy. If decent acting is such a deal breaker for me, NMH is not for me. If a work being Japanese voiced is such a deal breaker for others, maybe Japanese media aren't for them.
Naturally, many find this elitist and will watch dubs anyways because it's in demand enough to be provided, integrity of the work be damned, perhaps even pointing out that not everything is high art enough to justifiably care for its integrity. Sex Taxi is not exactly high art. While I would like dubs to disappear, the most I can do is argue my case hoping to convert, and vote with my dollar to make them no longer sustainable.