Saiyuki

[GhostPoet]

Was thinking of renting this series off of Netflix...just wondering how it is? Is there lots of nudity, cussing, etc...?

[Debitt]

Cussing - in the dub yes the swearing is rather gratuitous, in the sub not as much. ADV inserted a lot of unnecessary swearing in the dub that managed to offend even me. Dropping several varieties of "F-bombs" that were missing in the Japanese version just doesn't fly with me.

Nudity - hardly any, if at all. It's a pretty long series, so I can't remember exactly. There's some fanservice, though, i.e. girls who are quite well endowed.

Religious (if you're concerned about this) - it's based off a Buddhist folktale, Journey to the West. There's a lot of "you choose your own destiny, the only person you can depend on is yourself" stuff flying around. There's also the traditional Japanese "youkai" contained, which roughly (if not entirely accurately) translates to "demon". These aren't in any way related to the Biblical demon, but are more of a different race. (I sort of liken them to the elves of LOTR) Make the descision from there.

[Sparrow Writer]

I haven't seen the anime (I saw the movie...that's as close as I've gotten) but I've read the manga. There is alot of cussing, but it should be toned down in the dubbing process.

There's no nudity. Maybe once...I'd have to go over it again.

And it's pretty violent, so I hope you don't mind blood.

But its my favorite manga series...in fact, the main character (Sanzo) is my avatar and I have a quote from it in my signature.

[avidrkfan]

I'm with Kokoro Daisuke on this one - the cussing just didn't work for me. Why make the characters use worse swear words than they used in the original Japanese. It's insulting to anime audiences to think we wouldn't enjoy an anime if it didn't use really bad language. I didn't even finish watching the dvds I bought because of all the cussing.

[Debitt]

I'm with Kokoro Daisuke on this one - the cussing just didn't work for me. Why make the characters use worse swear words than they used in the original Japanese. It's insulting to anime audiences to think we wouldn't enjoy an anime if it didn't use really bad language. I didn't even finish watching the dvds I bought because of all the cussing.

avidrkfan, if you don't mind reading, the subs are MUCH cleaner in the language department - it's not any worse than anything they show on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. =) Wouldn't want your hard earned money to go to waste.

^.^ Oh, and SparrowWriter, I've been meaning to tell you - I think your avatar is absolutely lovely. *O*/

[GundamGeek]

I've always wondered why the english dub often has more cursing than the original. Do you think it may be because there is so much yelling in the original Japanese... just "AAAAAA!" kinds of yelling, and perhaps in our culture it is more likely that someone would shout a word rather than just making a sound? Maybe because I watch lots of gundam and other fighting shows, but the American voice actors just don't do yells as well as the japanese voice actors... they always sound fakey... but they sound more normal if they yell some word... and single swear words unfortunately seem to fit the scene and the mouth movements. I'm just completely guessing here. But I've watched a couple of my series from beginning to end in both English and Japanese, and that explanation seems to work. But I really do wish they would use tamer expletives.... if they are going to use a shouted word, it is not necessary to pick the rudest one they can think of!

[Yojimbo]

Actually I've noticed more cursing in some subs over dubs like GTO.

[eva-boy7985]

I've always wondered why the english dub often has more cursing than the original. Do you think it may be because there is so much yelling in the original Japanese... just "AAAAAA!" kinds of yelling, and perhaps in our culture it is more likely that someone would shout a word rather than just making a sound? Maybe because I watch lots of gundam and other fighting shows, but the American voice actors just don't do yells as well as the japanese voice actors... they always sound fakey... but they sound more normal if they yell some word... and single swear words unfortunately seem to fit the scene and the mouth movements. I'm just completely guessing here. But I've watched a couple of my series from beginning to end in both English and Japanese, and that explanation seems to work. But I really do wish they would use tamer expletives.... if they are going to use a shouted word, it is not necessary to pick the rudest one they can think of!

As sad as this may sound, I really think that the reason that more cussing is added in dubs alot of the time is because they're trying to appeal to American "humor" which nowadays is pretty rife with the stuff. Obviously this isn't always the case, but most dubs I've seen of shows that are comedies or have signifcant comedy elements in them tend to have a noticeable amount more language in them than the original Japanese. Kinda sucks, but that's where discernment and good judgment are your best friend :-)

[avidrkfan]

Thanks Kokoro Daisuke! I'm definitely switching to the subtitles. It's such a shame that American culture has the reputation for being raunchy and foul mouthed to the extent that anime dvd producers think nothing of using bad words instead of a simple yell or a less foul word. I can understand why other cultures think that about us considering some of the stuff that comes out of Hollywood these days!
Thank goodness for better translated subtitles!

[Sparrow Writer]

^.^ Oh, and SparrowWriter, I've been meaning to tell you - I think your avatar is absolutely lovely. *O*/

Thank you!

[eva-boy7985]

By the way, what's the exact chronological order to the series? Obviously there's the first 6 discs/3 double barrels, then another 6, and of course the new reload series; more specifically i guess my question is where does the movie Requiem fit into all that?

[Sparrow Writer]

If you are watching the new season, definately watch it subbed. I usually watch subbed anyway cause I like the origional voices but I gave the dub a try once... *shudder* like card board cut outs and the voices aren't distinctive.
As far as the cursing thing, I dunno I've seen dubs AND subs that are bad about it. The sub language never bothered me though.
And in the movie there is a naked shower scene with one of the characters. lol Nothing shows though.

My friend let me borrow the Requiem movie and I thought "Cool, I've never seen the anime" So I started watching it right away and it got to the shower scene and I was like "...This could be bad." But nothing was shown, like you said.