Bang Zoom! Entertainment
If it wasn't for Bang Zoom! Entertainment, then the anime dubbing industry would have been dead. And judging by the latest comments made by the CEO, Eric P. Sherman and the collapse of Bandai Entertainment, it's probably the end of anime dubbing as we know it without Bang Zoom!
Bang Zoom! Entertainment is a dubbing studio in California well known for dubbing anime series for (formerly) Geneon and Bandai Entertainment. Some of the well-known anime dub works include Haruhi Suzumiya, Eureka Seven, Fate/stay night, IGPX, Lucky Star, Samurai Champloo, and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. They are also responsible for many video game dubs.
Love It or Hate It, most of the anime dubs have varying quality ranging from So Bad It's Good (particularly Heat Guy J) to Superlative Dubbing (Samurai Champloo, Haruhi Suzumiya, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and Lucky Star are probably the best to date). But for the most part, the dubs to lean towards the Superlative Dubbing category since most of the dubs have one of the best quality dubs in the anime market in North America (besides the Disney dubs of Hayao Miyazaki's films).
Oh yeah, they made a documentary called "Adventures in Voice Acting" where they interview many anime voice acting regulars like Steve Blum, Johnny Yong Bosch, and Wendee Lee who give advice to newbies to the voice acting industry. They hold a series of voice acting courses under the same name, taught primarily by Tony Oliver, who also has a hand in directing many of their dubs. The documentary was supposed to be a continuing series on DVD with the later volumes focusing on different areas of the field, but the second DVD was never made.
Perhaps their Crowning Moment of Funny and Awesome was when they brought in Conan O'Brien from The Tonight Show to do some Gag Dubs.
Recently[when?], Eric P. Sherman, the CEO of Bang Zoom! Entertainment, has sparked an Internet Backdraft by stating that Bang Zoom! Entertainment would stop dubbing anime by 2011 if fans keep watching and downloading fansubs instead of obtaining and watching anime by legal means. He blamed the fans completely for this due to the downloading of fansubs and even outright said "Anime is going to die." Needless to say, this did not sit well with the fans, and Bang Zoom! Entertainment along with Bandai Entertainment fanned the flames of two existing Internet Backdrafts: Subbing Versus Dubbing and Fansubbing. Luckily, Bandai Entertainment eased the backdraft (a little bit) by issuing a statement saying that most of Sherman's comments are not related to the status of Bandai Entertainment. However, they agreed with Sherman's sentiment that if current trends continue they may stop dubbing anime (although noting that they hope this doesn't occur). Needless to say, a lot of dub fans got pissed off at Bandai Entertainment and Bang Zoom Entertainment ever since, BIG TIME.
Bang Zoom! did not waver and continued work. Aniplex handed the dubbing of Durarara!!!! to them, and with their announcement that they cast Crispin Freeman as Shizuo (as well as many other veteran voice actors in various roles), as well as dubbing the Disappearance movie and the first season of K-On! well into 2011, it looked as though the fandom was pleased.
However, with the downfall of Bandai Entertainment, Bang Zoom! last biggest client, it's pretty much bad news for the studio and mostly the end of anime dubbing in LA as we know it.[1]
- Fans Are Morons: How Eric P. Sherman felt about the fandom downloading and watching fansubs illegally and not obtaining anime by legal means in his recent comments.
- Fans Are Geniuses: The casting of Lucky Star.
- Unions in Hollywood: Bang Zoom! is one of the few unionized studios that mostly focuses on anime dubbing.
- Mostly subverted though. The individual project, not the studio itself, determines what's contracted to unions or not. And that's kinda the same for other studios in LA. So Bang Zoom does have a few share of union and non-union anime dubs in the past.
- You Have Failed Me...: Inverted. Many fans feel that Bang Zoom! failed them after Sherman's comments about them stopping dubbing anime by next year, but some of them are frantically trying to save Bang Zoom! Entertainment so they can continue to dub anime.
- ↑ Media Blasters and Aniplex USA are also two of Bang Zoom! clients on anime dubbing, but not as big when compared to Bandai. However, Sentai Filmworks has lately been involved with them as a "second dub studio", mostly to reunite cast members from their original California english dubs.