Tried rewatching a classic dub after 12 years, completely different show now

I used to think the old English dub of Maison Ikkoku was the definitive way to watch it, I saw it on VHS back in 2007 at a friend's place in Columbus. This past weekend I finally got the Blu-ray set and put on the same dub for nostalgia, but I could not get through three episodes. The jokes landed flat, the timing felt rushed, and I kept noticing lines that sounded like they were recorded in a closet. So I switched to the subtitled version out of frustration, and suddenly the characters had depth I never remembered, Kyoko's pauses, Godai's stammering, little background sounds that carried the scene. I learned that my memory of loving a show was tied to the experience of watching it back then, not the actual quality of that dub. Now I wonder how many other shows I wrote off years ago deserve a second chance with fresh eyes and better audio. Has anyone else gone back to an old favorite and found the new version changed your whole opinion of it?

1 comments

1 Comment

troy_gibson4321d ago

Read somewhere that dubs strip out all the quiet moments that make shows work.