I spotted the exact moment anime dubbing started sliding downhill
Went back to watch the 1998 Trigun dub last week after not seeing it in maybe 15 years. Then I put on the 2023 Trigun Stampede dub right after. The difference was wild - the old one felt alive, actors sounded like they were in the same room. The new one has this hollow, isolated quality, like everyone recorded their lines alone in a closet with zero direction. I swear the timing was off by half a second on half the sentences. What happened around 2019 that made dubs sound so sterile now? Is it cheaper recording setups or are they rushing actors through sessions?
Honestly, you nailed the timing issue - that half-second lag is brutal and totally kills the energy. Tbh I blame the shift to remote recording where actors can't feed off each other in real time. Ngl the old dub actors clearly had a director pushing them to match the scene's emotion, not just the mouth flaps.