Neon Genesis Evangelion Translation Fury Causes Netflix To Remove One Dub

Neon Genesis Evangelion was at the forefront of anime’s movement into the West way back in the 1990s. After some time out of the spotlight, the show has reentered the public spotlight all because of Netflix… but its return has not come without some bumps.

After all, Netflix is getting heat over its dubs of the anime, and it turns out one is reportedly being removed.

Over on Twitter, an editor with Anime News Network brought up the news to fans. Mike Toole shared a Netflix update with his followers concerning the site’s Italian dub of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

“[The] new Italian dub of Evangelion apparently had a lot of weird stuff in there. So they’ve abruptly pulled it off the platform and will be redubbing it,” the editor shared.

In the comments, a fan from Italy went on to share their thoughts on the issue. A user known as Mr_Gozaemon on Twitter said “Italians have been very disappointed with the new dub.”

“The VA have done a good job though, the problem is the text they had to work with — adapted by Gualtiero Cannarsi,” the fan continued. “Now, this man is well known in the industry for having a very unique way of adapting. And, sadly, by unique I mean using unnecessarily overcomplicated words and hard-to-follow phrases. Translating that post over there would be hard since it’s based on a bunch of weird adaptation choices that were memed. But it basically says that they will remove the dub since it caused outrage.”

While fans do have issues with Netflix’s English take on Neon Genesis Evangelion, they admit they are nothing compared to the Italian dub. One fan online went so far as to call “entire lines” of the dub incomprehensible, and Netflix has listened to those grievances. There is no word on when this new Italian dub will be done, but fans are hoping it comes much sooner rather than later.

So, what do you think about the anime’s recent translation drama? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Neon Genesis Evangelion is a psychological drama by way of giant monster versus mech anime. The franchise debuted as a television series in 1995-1996 with two films following in 1997. The series follows Shinji Ikari, who is recruited by his father to pilot the giant mech Evangelion in the fight against giant monsters known as Angels in the futuristic city of Tokyo-3. But Shinji is unwilling to bear this huge responsibility and is often conflicted about taking part in a war he was dragged into. This conflict of emotions leads to many introspective episodes that cover the range of religious, philosophical, and existential concepts.