Reviewing Preferences and Tastes

Frequently I'll skimp on coverage of Extras and such. Partly this is because some of these reviews are from memory. Sometimes I just don't care very much. This should improve as I get organised. Also as I reel in some of the copies of DVDs on loan to my sister...

What I like

However, the movies and series I like most tend to go a little further than straight comedy.

For Anime I usually listen to the dubbed version first, usually with subtitles on, before listening to the English-subtitled Japanese. I realise that this is anathema to many anime fans, but I don't understand Japanese. Emphasis is handled a little bit differently in different languages, and I would rather take language cues from a language I understand... however, frequently I'll watch the movie again in Japanese with English subtitles. So far it's been rare for me to get much more out of a movie this way. (But it does happen...) Frequently I'll compare a few minutes of the sub vs. the dub to choose which to review.

This sometimes produces unpopular choices - I loved the dub for Saber Marionette J, for example, even though in the original Lime was voiced by the extremely popular Megumi Hayashibara. I chose to review the English in this case because I found her interpretation to lack the over-the-top character of the English dub. Someday I'll probably re-review it.

I'm trying to learn Japanese at the moment but I suspect doing so will make my reviews less useful rather than more useful, as most people don't understand Japanese and so I'll unfairly favour the original version. However, it will be some time before I know enough Japanese for this to be a factor.