AQ : Rantings and Ravings

I've been posting at a message board and I've been getting almost the exact same thing. A couple of posters have been questioning whether or not if it is better than DiC. On the flip side though, some are firmly committed to the belief that the Cloverway version is better than DiC. The only excuse I've ever heard is "the 'feel' of the show is kept." Some have even resorted to attacking me just for pointing out some of the latest inconsistencies!
I've concluded that this behavior is rooted with either the belief that this isn't DiC and, therefore, better, or the vain hope that the show will improve. Sort of along the same lines with Bart Simpson's hope that Krusty the Clown will show up when Bart goes to camp.
I've also made this conclusion. There are the optimists (the apparent majority) who believe there are Good Days and there are Bad Days. Then there are the pessimists (the minority) who believe there are Bad Days and there are Awful Days but there is something always salvageable. Finally there are the realists (an even smaller minority) who know the CWI dub is crap.
P.S. The Deathbusters has been changed to The Bureau of Bad Behavior. Please stop laughing...
- Two Women Escaping in a Phonebooth

I'm not even sure why I like the Cloverway dub better, but I guess I can go through it by thinking out what I like, and what I don't.
Likes:
1. Some of the voice actor changes. Well, actually, ONE. Rini. She has the most decent voice in the whole show. It's completely adorable! Also, Neptune and Hotaru got stuck with semi-decent voices, though not the best.
2. Some of the voice actors kept. I'm glad they kept the voices of Mars and Jupiter. And even Luna. I don't think I could handle the English Luna as a younger person.
3. The Japanese Background Music. I've always loved this stuff. I'm a big sucker for the Transformation BGM (doodoodoodoodoodoodoo Selamun!)
4. The "Cousins" thing. I know, It's not what you NORMALLY hear liked, but I just don't want to have to explain something like that to my mom!
5. Names. I almost bounced off my seat and into the air when I heard Hotaru introduce herself. I was so happy. "Michelle" and "Trista" aren't bad names either.
6. No more Sailor Says. Nuff said.
7. The Disappearance of Terri Hawkes. I know Moon's new voice actor is WORSE, but I have a deep seated dislike of the poor girl ^_^;;
Really can't think of any other pluses, on to the negatives:
1. Voice Actor Changes. As we all know, everyone hates the new Sailor Moon VA, but I also cannot STAND Uranus' monotone muttering voice! AUGH! I also miss Mercury's ;_;
2. Names. Amara. What WERE they thinking.
3. The kept the theme song. I hate that theme song. (they only play the instrumental at the end, and Toonami cuts theme songs, so at least I don't have to listen to it)
4. That same old dub cheesy-ness. -_-;;
Well, the score is 7 positives, 4 negatives. I obviously like it more than I hate it. *shrugs*
- Aurora

The Cousins: Believe me, I would have been knocked over with a feather if CWI or the CN kept that in the dub. I'm completely supportive of homosexuality (to each his/her own), however, most people aren't as supportive, and CN didn't want to lose sponsorshipor have to ultimately stop showing it due to overwhelming protests. At least the whole cousin issue was handled well, including the origins of Uranus and Neptune episode (I honestly thought they dug too deep a hole to get out, but CWI did manage).
The Names: Amara and Trista don't resemble anything near the originals. Amara sounds more "exotic" than Haruka in my opinion. If they were going to change Pluto's name, they should have named her Karen (One of Pluto's moons) just to show some cleverness. I have no qualms over Sailor Mini-Moon either. At least Mini and Chibi are somewhat synonomous. However, they seem to be keeping the names original for all the Pure Heart victims, which seems slightly out of place.
Speaking of the Pure Hearts, I do wish they would decide on the titles of certain creatures. The Heart Attacking, Heart Snatching, Diamon Pods to Sailor Jupiter's Sparkling Wide Pressure Supreme Thunder Power to the one thing that has made me mad: *Star* Power. They have PLANET power for reasons that are explained later on. Also Sailor Moon's Double Henshin uses Moon Crisis Power, which leads me to wonder A. What will be done for the very dramatic and somewhat disturbing climax and B. What will her phrase be when SuperS rolls around?
Censorship: Honestly, I'm surprised at how liberal CWI has been. They kept most of the scene where ChibiUsa/Reeny gets flashed by the boy, they didn't try to avoid the use of Eudial's gun, and the editing hasn't been too extensive. Also, with the original music being used and a script that tries to stay true to the original (at least truer than DiC was), it is making these enjoyable.
The Actors: Okay, at first I was getting confused as to who was who (Was that Mercury or Venus talking?) and Sailr Moon's voice caught me by surprised, but as we are getting farther along, they seem to have settled on a voice and I can tell them apart. Granted, they aren't the originals, but you can't always get what you want.
Basically, the production is trying hard to avoid the heavy topics such as religion and sexuality, which is a shame. However, the way the overall production has turned out while tiptoe-ing around said topics has, in my opinion, made the show much more palatable.
And finally, the one thing that makes this 1 million, billion, trillion times better than DiC: No "Sailor Says" at the end.
- Sailor Spiffy

A dub, no matter which company produces it, will always be inferior to the original, but, if I had to pick between the DiC and Cloverway versions, I would pick the DiC version. Simply put, I can't stand to listen to the Cloverway dub. The voices sting my senses like salt on an open wound. At least some of the DiC version voices were somewhat tolerable...
- Melissa-chan

From the chatting we do with the normal gamers (in RPGs), it seems that CWI is considered better than dic for:
1. they don't cut out entire episodes, they just change the meaning of it. (personally I consider that worse).
2. Did you see the movies optimun dubbed?! ACK. *dies*
3. They're "toei" in america!!
Other than that, I don't think people realize what is actually happening with the screw ups, so they console themselves with the theory that DiC would have messed it up.
- Tomoe (of the RPG Busters)

Interesting question. I wonder why people just automatically say it's better than DIC. Maybe because the SM Web is so anti-dub and people have been conditioned to hate DIC so much that the powers that be could have had a batch of ducks quacking the dialogue and to these people it would still be "better than DIC".
- The Small Lady

Because DiC was good at changing whole plots and cutting out much, much stuff. Cloverway just makes some lines cheesy (which is what DiC did anyhow) and change a few things (like the "cousins"). I mean, they haven't deleted a whole episode yet, have they?
- Starla