My Complicated Thoughts on the "How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord" Dub
[Written April 3rd, 2021]
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I really wish I could enjoy the English dub for How Not to Summon a Demon Lord more than I do, especially since I do really like all the actors in it, and think the casting and general performances are great... But as someone who loves the world and characters of this story, it just ends up bothering me so much how sloppily the dub was handled on the writing/directing side. -Meta jokes & references are written in every now and then, which clash with the fantasy world setting & characters' personalities. -Rem & Sylvie speak with a fair amount of slang that again clash with this world and their backgrounds & position in it. -Season 2 will be introducing a character named Babylon who actually speaks in slang like a Japanese gyaru. The disconnect from the setting is what makes her so unusual, and the character she speaks with finds her way of speaking strange. This will not work as smoothly in the dub, due to already having other characters speaking in slang. -An instance of Shera using "Nii-san" in a scene in Episode 2 of the Japanese version, lead to her referring to her brother as "Nii" in the dub. Said brother actually showed up a few episodes later and his name was not, in fact, Nii. -Edelgard cannot speak fluently, due to being a Fallen who's only barely learned the language of the mortal races. The dub makes her speak fluently regardless. -A reference to Lumachina made in season 1 refers to her as a "he" in the dub. It's frustrating. I know at the time of dubbing at least 3 or 4 of the novels were already out in English, but it's clear there was just no research done beforehand. Granted, I know simuldub schedules are tight, but still... It bothered me a bit at the time, and over the years I tried not to let it get to me. But after reading 13 whole novels of this series and gaining a real affection for the whole story & concept, it just bums me out that it was so sloppily handled, while other "big name" properties would always get the all-star treatment from FUNi... As a fan of dubs, I feel like dub watchers deserve a more authentic experience with this series. Like, I get it. At face value, it's really hard to understand what this series actually is. The series has a little bit of everything, and it has so many different themes and ideas all mixed together. But it's not a parody, nor solely a comedy. It's so clear to me that the director and writer didn't fully understand this series, or the world it was trying to build, and a lot of the faults in the dub stem from that, but because the whole scope of the series isn't apparent at the start I don't entirely blame the individual director and writer for that either. But at the same time, trying to overcome that confusion by trying to make it into something it wasn't by pouring in so much of their own quirky ideas & sense of humor would only make things harder to manage going forward, as evidenced by the upcoming Babylon conundrum I mentioned. So, while I'm happy FUNimation is going to be giving Demon Lord Omega an English dub, since I'm so excited to hear these actors return to their characters and to see most of the remaining key characters finally make an animated appearance with an official English VA, I can only worry about how things will progress going forward... I just really hope whoever is directing/writing the dub this time does some level of research. Though the precedents set by Season 1's dub will already make it difficult, no matter how faithful they try to make it, so in the end there's no avoiding a lack of consistency either way. Plus, Season 2 will have its own challenges coming up. (I don't know how it 'should' be handled, but they're gonna have to make some kind of call on Gewalt's gender identity, due to the stereotype that character embodies...) Anyway, I've rambled enough. I'm someone who's always on the side of dubs and supporting them, so it's tough for me to really take digs at a dub like this. But I truly mean no ill will towards those who worked on it. Season 1 set precedents regardless though, so I think we're stuck with some choices such as Rem's manner of speech, but still I'll hope for the best for the future of the dub with the upcoming season, and hope more people can become a fan of this series. [Back]
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