Very good article on the debate between dubs and subs! You brought up a good angle on the issue, questioning and investigating WHY one is seen as inferior to the other, using concrete evidence and example, rather than just weighing pros and cons of each...because there isn't really any at all. It's all subjective, like you said!

My first preference is always to watch a show in English - why wouldn't I, really? Jokes and puns are easier to understand in native languages, and it requires less work from me as the viewer. However, context is NEVER 100% kept when redubbing an Anime from Japanese to English, which is understandable. The key there is localizing the content to be accurate, which has always been FOX/4Kids' problem - people notice if the context of something is inconsistent or out of place, even if it wasn't originally made for them to understand. It's in situations like Brock calling a rice ball a doughnut where I got confused as a kid - I had no idea what rice balls were, but I wasn't stupid enough to think Brock was holding a black-and-white triangular doughnut.

My choice is usually like this: watch the English dub. If I like the voices and story, I'll keep watching. If I get that weird feeling that I'm mising something, or if the story itself seems shallow, I'll watch the original mix of the show. Nine times out of ten, the English dub is "off" or strange because it was edited and censored from its original version!

I also discovered that there's a second English Dub done for Cardcaptor Sakura by Animax that doesn't totally blow like 4Kids' did (I apologize on behalf of all of Canada, who provided the craptastic voice "talent"). It's a super-rare dub to find, but I'm hunting!

Gotta say that I enjoyed this article! You did take a bit of a beaten-to-death topic for this, but you shed light on a view that hasn't been talked much about it: you took the stance against the very people who made the issue relevant in the first place, which, to be honest, puts an informative but humorous context into things. :P

I really agree with you on refuting the "YouTube is a job" argument as well. I think calling it a job, to some extent, is acceptable - anything can be a job, so long as you aren't causing trouble or breaking the law (Oh shit...). LP'ing could simply be labeled as "Freelance Entertainer" or "Self-Employed" on a resumé, so from both personal and societal standpoints, this is a valid statement. But of course, that valid statement doesn't justify any of the previous arguments, honestly. It's so spoiled of LP'ers to whine about not getting paid to do certain videos. In a time with such morbid rates of umemployment and the shaky stability of both the US AND Canadian dollar, complaining that Nintendo isn't letting you make money from their content is like being in the Great Depression and complaining that your toilet lid doesn't have a cushion cover.

And you're right, asking for permission and arranging the technicalities for LPs to be done is usually the way to go, if you want to secure your series on YouTube. There's nothing wrong with NOT doing so, but if you're not going to take the precautions to secure certain videos, then you can't really complain when you get blocked from making money from it; you've made no effort to protect yourself. I've done so with three of my game series that I want to keep close to me: Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, and Shantae. Approving for the games was easier than I thought it'd be; I just emailed a PR rep and inquired about monetizing web-based press, they directed me to another person, so I emailed them with my YouTube URL, a few sample videos of the LPs, answer any remaining questions, and I'd have my idea approved with email proof or shot down in less than 48 hours. I did so with Sunshine and Prime, and it was even easier and more casual to ask WayForward regarding Shantae, since Capcom told me to ask them instead - they love the LP community! There were a few series I asked for and got shot down on, but even after giving them links to my channel, they never even bothered to claim my videos, soooo...?

Kind of a long-winded little story there, but it's first-hand experience that bolsters three of your points: Nintendo isn't all about corporate greed, arranging for permission to monetize videos isn't hard to try, and that yes, the channels that put that honest effort into their channel upkeep are the ones that understand this whole situation best. Shouldn't we, as content creators, understand the view that Nintendo, FELLOW content creator, is trying to make? There are several economic, social, and legal reasons that Nintendo could have for doing this, and being a company trying to preserve their brand, they have full right to. Again, kind of a dick move, yeah, but like you mentioned here: it's pretty easy just to adapt!

LOL @ the Nintendo fanboys who bitched at Nintendo for this, and are now creaming themselves at the thought of the new Smash Bros. Good to see they're protesters with backbones.