Should the Anime Dub industry give more attention to older anime?

[SmartyBoyboy]

I've been asking that question for years on end?

There's been a lot of old anime with the potential of being dubbed, but has not yet happened. I think some consideration is in order.

[Autovolt]

Oh here's another franchise with series that could use a dub.

Gundam, Specifically ZZ, Victory, Turn A, Age and Build Fighters and possibly a re-dub of Zeta while we're at it.

Turn A Gundam was actually like this close to getting dubbed, but then Bandai stopped licensing anime for North America.

[Pokejedservo]

Well I understand why there are those why there are skeptics in this topic. But ever since Viz recently announced that they will be giving a new English dub to all of the Sailor Moon TV shows, movies and specials that news does give me a bit of hope that its possible that English Dub companies might start paying more attention to older anime in the future.

[PurpleWarrior13]

It would be nice, but Sailor Moon is Sailor Moon. It's like Dragon Ball Z. Age doesn't really matter! XD I am surprised they're redubbing it though. I had almost given up hope on that...

[LichaRose]

I would just about love to see more older anime make it here, but companies want to go for the current things and what would be most cost-effective and beneficial. They don't want to risk licensing something old that'd tank or only have niche buyers, even if there'd be however many fans demanding it.
Aside from the old Sailor Moon anime being a "big name", I'm still surprised that Viz has taken on wanting to dub all of that. I hope that they can, and don't stop midway due to low sales or anything. In Sailor Moon's case though, it's not an ongoing series like Detective Conan where there's risk of a company stopping due to that and then just sitting on the license.

I've been hoping Discotek can get more series, even if they're not a dubbing studio and just release subs and whatever existing dubs there may be (such as all the dubs of "Mystery of Mamo" for Lupin III).

To add to discussion of old-school licenses that are on the "probably never going to happen" list:
I think a redub of the '80s Cyborg 009 movie ("Legend of the Super Galaxy") would be kind of sweet. I know other fans have wished it could get one with the '01 series dub actors, even if they wouldn't be able to get everyone back. 009 and 008 would probably have to be recast.

The '79 series could also lend itself to a "Gatchaman"-style dub, although part of why I think it didn't ever get licensed had to do with 008's design. Aside from that, companies back in the day would've balked at the deaths and sensitive material- like questioning of religion. The dub of the '01 series removed any references to 002's lack of faith as is.

[Dr.Who]

To me, this depends on if the Anime is more focused on fanservice, rather than an interesting plot, or comedy, etc. If it's the former, no, but if it's the latter, sure.

[NCZ]

Shows that never got completed or they had a dub that was infamously rough/censored deserve a second lease on life. e.g. Sailor Moon being redubbed is fine by me, since the original is still there but now we have one that's a bit more faithful. Or older series that never got dubbed, sure, why not give them their time in the sun.

If something's not broken I don't think it needs to be fixed just for the sake of it. Especially when that's time, resources, money, and attention that can be devoted to new releases instead. Something "timeless" like Trigun or The Big O or whatever, those are fine as they are. Those don't need to be redubbed.

I will say it can be pretty jarring hearing current-day voices in shows that are a lot older, though.

[IamOptimusPrime2020]

What I have in mind is stuff like the Brave Series:


Specifically dubs of all the series from Exkaiser to Dagwon, and a re-dub of GaoGaiGar since it's finally come out on blu-ray and the original dub was not complete.

And perhaps the Eldran series as well. A re-dub of Raijin-oh (since the first one sounds like a really bad fandub), and dubs of Ganbaruger and Gosaurer.

The Brave and Eldran series are owned by TakaraTomy but animated by Sunrise, and Bandai owns Sunrise now so there's a few issues with who really owns it. But perhaps they can begin licensing anime in North America again someday.
Also, both are from the 90's.

[Autovolt]

And now Evangelion is getting the re-dub treatment.

[SF64Rules]

I guess it depends on if the original dub of an anime holds up well today or not.

If the dub does hold up well, then no, a redub is not necessary. If the dub is not really good, then maybe a redub will help a bit.

Example of an anime dub that holds up well today (IMO):
-Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2004-05, by the Ocean Group)

Example of an anime dub that doesn't hold up well today (IMO):
-Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's (2008-11, by 4Kids Entertainment; dub wasn't even finished)