Anyone seen Avatar dubbed in Japanese?

[Niiro-dono]

Avatar is currently televised in Japan (I think, since Dec 2007) and from what I see so far in the trailers and previews, the Japanese VA seems to be really good, but may take some getting used to. Has anyone actually had a chance to see any of the Japanese dubs? The only available streams are previews/trailers on youtube and the Nick Japan website. I am actually intrigued enough that I would probably get the Japanese DVD, if it was available. But, looks like the Japanese dubbed version isn't on DVD yet.

I would guess that most of the English speakers could care less about Avatar being dubbed in Japanese, due to the fact that it is an American cartoon and therefore, the original English version is perfectly fine. But still, I'm really curious about the Japanese dubbed version and my reasoning behind that is kind of hard to explain, but I'll try anyways: As someone who regularly watches anime in Japanese with English subs, you get to a point (IMO) where you are able to appreciate the characteristics and idiosyncrasies that are unique to Japanese dialogue. I kind of wonder how the Japanese VA would make this work in an American cartoon, especially in the scenes where the dialogue is uniquely American, in characteristic, such as in Sokka's humor and that alone would be difficult to dub in Japanese. From what little I saw in the Japanese trailers, it looks like that the Japanese VA are indeed trying to make sure that those typical Japanese characteristics that are evident in anime are reflected in the Japanese dubs, in-order to appeal to the Japanese audience. One noticeable example of this, as shown in the trailer, was the use of referring to his/her sibling by title, rather than by name. In the Japanese trailer, Katara calls Sokka "niisan", which means "older brother" and In the original English version, she just calls him by his name.

It really looks interesting and I hope they are able to successfully pull this off. Any thoughts???

http://www.nickjapan.com/programs/avatar/index.html

[Count of Monte Fisto]

Japanese dubbed Avatar.

I must say that I am mostly uninterested, but it was worth a look. Japan does have some wicked good VAs, but the reason to watch the Sub for me was in the presence of no good dub and for a more literal translation of the original dialogue. Obviously that is not an issue with an American show. I am a tiny bit interested just for the sake of localizing. Many animes brought over have very localized Japanese culture innuendo that is often changed in dubs to more western identity. I do wonder if things like that will be changed to make it more localized for Japan. You did give one interesting example and I am assuming other little things like that will still apply.

This does vaguely remind me of Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust. Though that was an anime, that was actually done first in english and then done with Japanese Subs later. I think that was a joint USA Japan project that was more Japanese. I do wonder if that ended up getting a Japanese Dub after all.

I must say that I will be amused to have all the bad digitally edited mouth jokes working the other way for a change. Though honestly, though honestly most animes don't bother to have people actually talk the right amount of syllables half the time when you see in Japanese anyway.