I was a big fan of Banana Fish when it first aired. It was a breath of fresh air. It had an interesting story, and a different type of vibe that you usually get from anime. It also had that mature Ghost in the Shell and Cowboy Bebop air about it. And with the setting being set in America, I could relate more to some of the daily struggles and situations the characters got themselves in. And with it being set in America, I thought it was an anime that would have been perfect for an English dub. Years have passed, and we’re finally getting an English dub, but…not the one I was expecting.
That’s right, Banana Fish now has an AI English dub. Now you can hate on English dubs all you want, and say that subs are better. That’s totally your opinion and I can respect that. But some people enjoy listening to things in English dubs, so doing this just ruins that experience, and destroys the quality of the show. Dub haters will act like English dubs are just god awful, but there’s many great English dubs like Fullmetal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell, Death Note, Naruto, Bleach, Dragon Ball, Ouran High School Host Club, Code Geass, Fooly Cooly, My Hero Academia, Lazarus, and I could keep going on, but you get the point. And these actually English VAs have their own feeling about this.
They even went after No Game No Life, a show that already has an official English dub, but big money is too greedy to buy the rights.
So this is a sucky situation for most people involved. And this isn’t going to just affect English dubs, if this shit gets popular, it could also affect English subs, and then maybe even Japanese dubs. This isn’t a “fuck the English VAs” situation, this is a situation that could fuck us all. AI isn’t making everything better, it’s making everything boring. If AI starts stealing everything, then why would any of us want to inspire to be anything? Why the hell would anyone go to college, if after they get out, they learn that their degree is useful cause all the tech jobs are just being run by AI. People complain about illegals stealing our jobs, but I feel like they should be worried about AI stealing our jobs. Fuck building a border wall to keep the illegals out, we need computer walls to keep the AI out.
What do you think about this situation? Did you hope Banana Fish got an actual English dub? Do you have Amazon Prime? Tell us in the comments.
