Axel_the_Bard Osakan accent... Does an Osakan accent really sound to japanese like a southern accent would to americans? For some reason, it always grates on my nerves terribly when I'm watching a dub, and someone has an over-the-top accent. I'm generally not picky at all about changing or removing cultural references or even editing content (unless of course the quality of the edit itself is horrible) but badly- or over-done accents can really ruin a show for me, and sometimes even when it's not that badly done but still obvious (like most southern accents in anime) it really drops my enjoyment a few notches, because it's so distracting (except british accents... they're just sexy). So, really, is there good reason that Osakan always becomes southern, or is it just because they need /an accent/ to make jokes about accents? Haibane Reki I don't think Osaka-ben (Osaka accent) always becomes "Southern" but it's become sort of a convention among American dubbers. There are some pretty good cultural reasons for doing so. For one, Osaka is south of Tokyo (particularly if you tilt your head a little when looking at a map). And to a Tokyo-ben (Tokyo-area accent, relatively "standard") speaker, it's supposed to sound a little rustic. So, people speaking Osaka-ben come off as sounding a bit like hicks, depending on how "thick" the accent is. Haibane Reki But yeah, I figure that for the most part, given the cultural "impact" is about the same, that it's mostly for the jokes to make sense. The character needs "an accent" to make fun of, so they pick the one that is most made fun of in America. (Followed right behind by New Yoakahs.) Haibane Reki Now, I've heard an interesting bit that says that Osaka-ben sounds more like what early-Japanese sounded like, particularly because, way back when, the capitol of Japan was in Kyoto, not far from Osaka. Now the "Southern" accent in America as you know it today, actually sounds closer to what common British English sounded at the time of the colonies, while common British English has since gone its own way since then. So, if you add in the fact that the accent is supposed to sound a bit "old fashioned" then I guess it is even more appropriate. But I'm no linguist...so take this as 53rd hand knowledge.