Dimension W has the “hype machine” running at full speed. It’s not every day that Toonami receives a show that hasn’t finished airing in Japan. In fact, this is the second time this has happened. In 2014, Space Dandy started a trend, with FUNimation and Toonami working together to broadcast an English dub world premiere. It has been mentioned (by Paul Prescrillo and others), that Dimension W is a different type of dub compared to its predecessor. But Dandy had to of set the table for series like Dimension W to make it’s way to Toonami. This is just nitpicking when comparing the two dubs, but there is one huge difference between Space Dandy and Dimension W. Thanks to the combined efforts of Toonami and FUNimation, Dandy was released BEFORE IT AIRED IN JAPAN. Dimension W, in all of its glory, will not be airing in the U.S. before Japan. However, the creators of Dimension W should be grateful for Space Dandy’s world premiere, since that gave FUNimation the idea to dub anime a lot faster. It created a new trend that they called broadcast dubs.
Space Dandy was a game changing moment for the anime industry in the U.S. An anime series broadcast in the U.S. before Japan? Can you think of an instance where this has happened before (I can’t)? After Dandy had its premiere in January, the company decided to produce early dubs of Psycho-Pass 2 and Laughing Under the Clouds in that same year. FUNimation called this new age of dubbing the broadcast dub initiative. Psycho-Pass 2 and Laughing Under the Clouds were a test to see if fans were truly interested in broadcast dubs. So in a sense, it was Dandy that spawned the idea that has now been applied to Dimension W.
So that’s pretty much the main difference between any broadcast dub and the world premiere of Space Dandy, although fans are (technically) getting a premiere of this dub, but the general public hasn’t seen the English dub. But with broadcast dubs, FUNimation usually waits a month before a project is green-lit. That time is used to decide if a show is popular enough, by looking through social media and streaming numbers. That is the fundamental difference between what happened with Space Dandy and other broadcast dubs that the company has produced since then. Broadcast dubs will typically not be dubbed before the Japanese version is available.
While I’m sure anime fans would like to have more world premieres, I’m equally sure the production crew would prefer doing a broadcast dub. While producing dubs are hectic and stressful, they give all those involved more time than a world premiere would. With broadcast dubs being announced a month after a show airs in Japan, it allows FUNimation to finish up any broadcast work that started last season, as well as give the actors more time to learn how to voice their characters. With Space Dandy there was less time for everything to come out perfectly, at least in the director’s eyes, if not fans.
I wonder if the month in between can give the entire crew a breather before the next series is ready to be dubbed. According to an exchange between Toonami Faithful Podcast host Sketch and ADR Director Alex Von David on Twitter, the speed needed to get a broadcast dub ready takes a toll and is a lot of work (A LOT OF WORK). And there are also other details that take a while to perfect. Due to the speed needed to complete a broadcast dub, it can lead to a stressful endeavor. However, I believe that making Space Dandy as perfect as they could was even more stressful, due to it being a world premiere. There had to have been even less time to get these episodes ready.
A lot of the hype for Toonami’s upcoming broadcast dub is due to the fact that many people haven’t seen much of Dimension W. However, if you go to FUNimation.com (and if you subscribe to them), you are already up to date with the subbed version of the anime (which is at six episodes). So if you have seen any of Dimension W already, you probably feel more confident about having it join Toonami’s lineup. That’s another difference between a broadcast dub and world premiere, since a broadcast dub allows fans to see if a show is worth investing in. So there was a lot more risk with the world premiere of Space Dandy, unlike the security that a broadcast dub can bring, since episodes can be viewed legally online.
As I’ve written before, FUNimation’s promotion of this show makes a ton of sense. When considering all the money they have invested, Dimension W’s getting a broadcast dub was almost a forgone conclusion (FUNimation is on the production committee). What is a surprise is how they were able to get this series on Toonami so quickly (roughly two months after the subbed version streamed). Considering the FUNimation titles that Toonami has broadcast before, having Dimension W join the action block (short turnaround and all) shouldn’t really come as a surprise.
The relationship between Toonami and FUNimation looks to be a very positive one, where both parties seem to trust each other’s instincts. Toonami Faithful Podcast host Jim Nelson has explained on multiple occasions how FUNimation believed in the series Michiko and Hatchin and asked Toonami to air it. The same could be said when FUNimation gave the broadcast rights for Space Dandy to Toonami. They believed this show would do well, and it gave Toonami a more up-to-date lineup. But it typically takes a while to play any recent anime titles on Toonami. Yet FUNimation has continually given Toonami the opportunity to broadcast more recent titles, which is an enormous plus. Both sides want each other to succeed.
This means that there’s a potential of even more broadcast dubs on the action block, maybe even another world premiere if the chance ever arises again. But just being able to use broadcast dubs can make Toonami feel fresher and more important to the anime community stateside. I wonder how vital the action block is perceived, considering that newer subbed shows are shown on streaming websites well before a dub is produced for American television. Toonami’s audience could potentially reach a larger audience, yet because it usually takes so long for them to air a popular show, sometimes it feels like it’s fallen behind. By adding more broadcast dubs that no one has seen, and potentially more world premieres, it could make Toonami have a greater impact in the anime community.
It is an enormous blessing that Toonami will get to air Dimension W. However, it was the world premiere of Space Dandy that made any of this possible for them. So while there might be a couple of things that are different, debating the differences between world premieres and broadcast dubs are just two sides of the same coin. In the end, it’s the Toonami Faithful that truly win out. Toonami should look into more broadcast dubs to increase its following, thus bolstering the block’s importance and enhancing the benefits of their relationship with FUNimation. That seems like a dandy future to me.
C.J Maffris is an editorial writer for Toonamifaithful.com. He has enjoyed FUNimation’s broadcast dubs when they became a real thing. Feel free to talk about broadcast dubs with him on Twitter @SeaJayMaffris