Bang Zoom

Bang Zoom is one of the newer studios and I have to admit, somewhat sheepishly, that I know little about them. Taking into consideration the studio's small body of work and familiar cast listings, they appear to be a side project of some people at Animaze. Wendee Lee and Lia Sargent, both Animaze staples, have appeared in Bang Zoom dubs.

To date, I'm aware of only two dubs from Bang Zoom, "Ninja Cadets" and "Magic Knights Rayearth" both produced for Media Blasters. "Rayearth" is notable in that it introduced fans to Sandy Fox, who in addition to acting in the dub, sang English versions of the opening and closing themes. Of the two, I've only heard the "Ninja Cadets" dub, which was good.

New Generation Pictures

New Generation introduced themselves, literally, to fandom in just the past year. First came an announcement on rec.arts.anime.misc, introducing the studio and explaining their goals. The announcement said that the new studio's staff said they'd spent a great deal of time examining the mistakes made by other studios and searching for ways to fix them. At Anime Expo 2000, New Generation became the first-ever dubbing studio to host their own panel, furthering the studio's commitment to contact with the fans.

New Generation has produced only two dubs so far: "Nazca," and "Amazing Nurse Nanako," both for Pioneer. I can't say I've been impressed with either one. The studio's biggest problem has been inconsistent acting. Some of their actors sound better than their Japanese counterparts, but others sound as if they've never acted in their lives. The sad truth about a vocal cast is that one bad voice brings down the whole production.

With the notably good voices New Generation has brought to the screen, however, I can't help but feel that the dubs will improve with time. Hopefully sooner rather than later, because one of their next scheduled projects is Pioneer's re-dub of "3x3 Eyes" (formerly a Streamline property), one of my favorites.

ZR0 Limit

ZR0 Limit is not a dubbing studio. I mention them here only because their presence in the credits has served to confuse many viewers. ZR0 Limit is a dub outsourcing agency. They provide translation services and hire the actual dubbing studio. With one exception, that studio has always been Animaze. The exception is "Blue Submarine No. 6," the Bandai dub for which ZR0 Limit used Coastal Carolina.

The studios I've covered so far account for the dubs from all but two of the major anime distributors. To recap:

That leaves only ADV and Central Park Media. (As well as a few minor stragglers such as Urban Visions, about which I know too little to cover here.)

As far as I know CPM still does their dubs the old-fashioned way: they translate the script themselves, hire the cast and production staff themselves, then lease dubbing facilities and send everyone over to make a dub. Unfortunately, this shows in their dubs, which have been uniformly awful. When you hire an independent studio, you get the benefit of their years of experience doing nothing but producing anime dubs. It's this experience that's sorely lacking in CPM's dubs, as evidenced in their baffling casting decisions and weak directing.

ADV decided several years ago to have the best of both worlds. They founded their own anime-dubbing studio. They now have two: Monster Island and Industrial Smoke and Mirrors. These two studios produce all of ADV's dubs. The studios have their own recording facilities, as well as a full-time staff. This investment has paid dividends. ADV's dubs have improved steadily over the past few years, as the experience has accumulated.

And that concludes my look at North America's anime dubbing studios. Remember, the credit or blame for a dub should always go to the studio, not the distributor.