Well, I just came back from Anime Expo '96, and I had the misfortune of 
watching the dubbed AMG.  After AnimEigo's decent dub of YUA, there might have 
been hope that the dub of AMG would have been acceptable.  We were wrong.

They showed the first episode in a preview, but it was enough to tell that 
AnimEigo blew it big time with this one.  It's not quite as bad as the BGC dub 
(though they'd have to actually *try* to be that bad), but the casting was bad 
for the most part.

     - Belldandy sounds like an airhead in the dub.  There seemed to be almost 
        no intelligence to her as portrayed in the dub.  True, there is *no* 
        matching Inoue Kikuko, but they could have, and should have, done way 
        better than they have.

     - Keiichi also sounded out of character.  The voice was a bit more mature
        than it should have been.

     - The two sempai didn't sound deep enough, especially given their size.

- Megumi didn't sound too bad, and that was the only really bright spot to
the dub.  Not quite as good as the original VA, but at least she sounded like
       a college student/bothersome little sister.

     - Lines were changed.  I don't mind a minor change now and then to smooth
out the language, but to add things that weren't in the original or to take out
lines is too much.  This has been a major pet peeve of mine concerning most
       dubs, and to pull it off with AMG is too much, IMO

I managed to stomach sticking around for the preview of the next episode.  As 
much as I was dreading it, as keeper of the Urd Shrine, I felt I had to.  That 
way I can get an idea of how Urd-sama fared in the dub....

     - Us Urd fans have much to complain about based on the preview.  The 
dubbed Urd does not sound sexy or erotic at all.  Instead, she sounded like
some ditzy teenager attempting to sound sultry, but failing miserably.  The
       casting director/voiceover director ought to be caught and shot.

     - If the other voice in the preview was supposed to be Sayoko's, her fans 
       have even more to complain about!  Here, she sounds like an absolute 
squealing ditz!  None of the cunning or intelligence that is part of Sayoko's
       character came through at all.  Instead, they boosted up the narcisstic 
       tendencies of hers.


In summary: It's time for us loyal followers of the megami to declare holy war.
 AnimEigo was warned that they risked it when they announced the dub some time 
back.  Now it's here.  Kami-sama only knows how Skuld-chan would turn out in 
this butchery...


Peter L. Ward          falcon@best.com          Kyusaku on IRC #Anime!
Caretaker of the Urd Shrine (http://www.best.com/~falcon/urdhome.htm)

"If you see something this big, with eight legs, let me know so I can
kill it before it can develop language skills!" - Ambassador Londo