Yeah I read this article recently about how Japanese has all those layers of politeness built into the language. Honorifics like -san or -chan tell you so much about the relationship between characters, and dubs just have to drop all of that. @patricia905 is spot on about the wordplay too. There's a whole episode of Gintama that centers on a pun, and the sub version just makes sense because you can see the kanji and understand the joke. The dub tries to rewrite the joke entirely but it never hits the same. I don't think you can ever fully replace the feeling of hearing the original language either, because the actors put specific emotions into those untranslatable words. It's not just about accuracy, it's about the whole experience feeling complete.

Yeah I figured that out the hard way too. Had to pay for a dislocated shoulder out of pocket in Thailand and that little "waste of money" would have saved me about four grand. Funny how a few hundred bucks for insurance suddenly looks like a bargain once you've been stuck with the actual bill.

Is it just me noticing everything's moving faster these days but like only on the surface? You can get the paint dry quick but the real work of prep and patience still takes the same amount of time. Kinda feels like life's doing that too with shortcuts everywhere but the fundamentals never change.

Used to think the savings were worth it but that changed quick after reading your story.

Man, that's a tough spot to be in. I feel for you because I've seen this exact thing go wrong before and it's a real headache to fix later. In my experience, a true brick arch will hold itself if the bricks are cut right and the mortar is good, but I've also watched old ones fail after decades of weather and settlement. Your mileage may vary, but I always go with a hidden stainless steel bar now - it's cheap insurance against a sagging arch that could crack the whole wall. Some purists say it's cheating, but I'd rather have a stable arch than argue with a building inspector later. Take this with a grain of salt, though, because every job is different and what works on a dry day in July might not fly in a wet winter.