By: Rebo Valence
All right, I'm a purist. A PURIST! And I'm proud of
it!
Mayhap thou hath never heard the term before? Where
HAVE you been,
dangit, KINMOKUSEI?! Okay, fine, here we go...
Purist: A fan of Sailormoon that despises the
DiC dub of the
show and only likes the original version.
Dubbie: A fan of Sailormoon that likes the
DiC dub and does
not want to see the original.
What do you call someone who likes both versions?
That is IRRELEVANT!
Okay? Now, on to my story.
I am a purist and I love being one. However, there
are MANY
misconceptions about being a purist that drive me up the
wall, and I'm here
today to clear some of those up.
First of all, being a purist does NOT mean that you
hate dubbies. I
have actually heard puristism (Is there really a word for
that?^_^) being
called a form of racism. This belief is not true. Well,
okay, there are
many who do hate dubbies, but the point is, I don't and
there are also many
that don't too. To paraphrase the Bible, "Love the dubbie,
hate the dub."
Well, okay, I don't have to LOVE dubbies^_^ But being a
purist means you
hate THE DUB!
What I do hate is close-mindedness. I will debate
for hours on end on
why the DiC dub is inferior to the original, but I will not
force you to
believe my way. I will try to convince you, of course, but
it is always your
choice. What I don't like is the attitude of "I don't
wanna try to the
original!" Summaries are not enough. You need to try it.
That is the true
test-If you can watch episodes from the first season
fansubbed and still
enjoy the DiC dub too, then you have at shown that you are
open-minded and I
will commend you for it. Now, off that tangent...
Next, purists are actually being accused of not
wanting anyone to see
Sailormoon. That's crazy. Of COURSE I want others to see
Sailormoon,
otherwise I'll have nobody to talk to about it! The thing
is, however, is
that DiC does not provide a Sailormoon that is even close
to the Sailormoon
it's supposed to be. One misconception that I will clear
up right now is
that anime is NOT all for adults. Come on, does even the
ORIGINAL Sailormoon
look like an adult show to you? Sailormoon was originally
aimed at kids in
upper elementary school ages, but it found an appeal with
people of all ages.
DiC took this show and dumbed it down to pre-schoolers.
However, it even
fails at that, since the plot of the show is just too
mature for that age
group. What purists want is a real show. I, as a purist,
support dubs of
the show in other countries that try to preserve the
original show. The more
the merrier! I also would prefer that Sailormoon someday
see a subtitled
release, though the chances of that are, of course, very
small. ^_^
Finally, just because I hate the DiC dub and do not
support the dubbing
of new episodes does NOT mean that I am stopping new
episodes from being
dubbed. That is the most ludicrous belief I have ever
encountered.
Everytime I shot down those SailormoonS chains last summer,
I would receive
angry e-mails from people who believed that because I do
not WANT DiC to dub
more episodes, that I am RESPONSIBLE for the fact that
there will be no more
dub episodes. Come on. Do I look like an influential
corporate entity to
you? I hope not. I have absolutely no power over DiC.
The decision not to
dub new episodes has been THEIR decision, and neither I,
nor any other
purists, have any influence. I would be an idiot to
believe that I did. So
don't blame me for not having more dub episodes!
Purists are not whiney, mean individuals. Well, some
of us may be, but
let's face it, there are also mean, whiney dubbies too, and
there are mean,
whiney individuals all over the world. Purists love
Sailormoon too, just in
our own way, and we want our beliefs to be respected just
as those of anyone
else. Just keep an open-mind, and we will too. Thank you.
Comments on this article can be sent to:
By Rebo Valence.
