I normally hate dubs of *any* sort; they are badly done, hard on the ears and take liberties with the dialogue. I am cursed with knowing enough about Japanese culture to get 1/5th the jokes in most anime right off the bat. Lupin is one of my favorite characters. He's a thief, yes, but he never kills if he can help it and tries to help out those who get the short end of the stick. I have always cherished the original series. However, I like Cartoon Network's Lupin III dub, and honestly find it fun to watch.

First off, dubs tend to be frowned upon by hardcore fans for two reasons. One: The voices tend to be flat with no feeling and Two: Most dubbers change the script in English to make it more "culturally compliant" which irritates the purists and Japanese culture aficionados. "It's POCKY, you idiot! Not Pretzel Sticks!" On the first point I thought most English voice actors were untalented hacks until I had the blessed opportunity to meet a director who does anime voice acting and he told me what was required of the job and those who did the lines. The flatness comes from the microphone: slur a word and it creates impurities in the tracks. You could be the *best* Shakespearean actor in the world, but if you take out all of the whispers, slurs, *any* abbreviations voice wise, that's it, you end up flat as dry toast. Now that's no excuse, but it could at least take the expectation down a few pegs for now. (This doesn't mean I'll watch dubs normally. I STILL won't because I *like* the sound of Japanese speech). The second is the cultural liberties taken in translation. Anyone who has seen the dubbed Tenchi Muyo on TV and remember the "drunk on tea" episode will understand that you don't have to know that much to know that isn't tea. Shin-chan does NOT eat Oreos and Britney Spears isn't that popular over there. But it's understood why it's done; to make people understand the nuances of what the characters are talking about in terms we understand. So with the long-winded reply I have why when I watched the dub I didn't feel like taking a baseball bat to the CN version like so many other shows I despise that spawned from Frankenstein butchery (Cardcaptors, Fox's Escaflowne). They pulled off the core of Lupin III. It was still the same type of funny...

I was cringing when I heard Lupin had been put on Cartoon network, but when I heard he'd be on Adult Swim, I knew at least most of the cheesecake humor and insanity would still be intact. So, armed with the above knowledge I sat down to watch with my fingers crossed and was happily surprised. Fujiko is still a money grubbing little sellout, Jigen is still a smartass and Goemon is still going along for the ride trying to uphold the best Japanese thief. However, they DO take some liberties that die-hard uber Lupin fans would scream at. Lupin's innuendos a few steps toned down. Fujiko isn't *quite* as come-hither in her speech. And oh lord, they actually made Goemon flippant instead of that stoic dry samurai quiet. There were lines coming out of his mouth that would NEVER come out of the Japanese Goemon's mouth; things that would have been said with the usual distaste but much more restrained. And yet, it was done with such good writing it came off as hilarious. And that's the best part: if you have to re-write and take liberties, at least get some good writing behind it. Like Jigen's line "Yeah, they call it Sake because it tastes like you wash your socks in it" done with such English speaking, Jigen style sarcasm it was lovely.

For those who grew up with another butchered to the nines show, Robotech they followed the same deal: rewrite the damn thing so others will understand it and write a good story (although with that one they took A LOT of liberties in it...). We had no clue that the wool was being pulled over our eyes, no preconceived notions. Yet it was still good enough of a story that we sat down every afternoon at 3:00 in our playground dirt caked clothes and quietly watched. So good, that 20 years later, say the words of Rick Hunter and Minmay to the right ears and you see eyes shine with happy memories.

We should still try for accuracy; try to wean people away from the bad writing that passes as dubbed scripts sometimes. But maybe we should allow for that one show that breaks all the rules that still maintains the spirit, if not the dialogue of the original. There are times purity has its price: that cheesy Buddhist saying, "In the beginners mind there are many, in the experts mind there are few" is true. Sometimes it's just fun to sit and forget and pretend it's all new again and smile.