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At 03:47 PM 7/1/96 +0000, you wrote:
>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.

        Well, having just gotten back myself, I'd like to present the other
side of this view...

>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.

        I didn't catch the first episode but watched the 3rd one.

>     - 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.

        Difficulty in matching Inoue Kikuko is something conceded by
Woodhead but I think overall, the dub was fair.  I'm not certain how you
would measure "intelligence" of a character by voice acting (what? speak in
digitized voice or wheeze alot like Hawking?) but her voice was sufficiently
pleasant when it needed to be and sufficiently concerned when it needed to
be.  In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by the "Egg Song" which I think
came out better than as it were in subtitled text.  (I'm not saying the
dubbed song was better of course.  but as a song, it worked better than the
subtitle "oh I'm gonna mix you") 

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

        Agreed.  K1 was annoying.  In fact, he sounded like dubbed Tenchi.
Blaugh...

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

        Tamiya was weak but Ootaki was funny, _IF_ you can accept the
Californian valleyspeak he was using.  AnimEigo injected Ootaki with some US
character, making him talk like a beach bum.  I personally recoiled
initially, but I did warm up to it.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, Ootaki
didn't have nearly enough lines for me to get used to him.

        I know that it sounds bad, that Ootaki speaks like a beach bum, but
this is a case where you need to listen to the actual voice acting to decide
for yourself, not just dismissing it because he now has a valleyspeak
accent.  I sort of liked it, but like I said, I didn't get to listen to him
very much.  And like I said, Tamiya was weak...  Just weak.

>     - 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.

        Megumi was okay but then again, she really doesn't have a lot of
lines, much less lines where she needs to really 'voice act.'

>     - 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'm fairly neutral about this.  There are some lines that just don't
work when mouth movement has to be matched, without even considering other
limtations.  El Hazard has had success with changed lines and I personally
have no objections.  I do think that the Animeigo should have spent more
time trying to stay faithful but since I don't know how much work they did
to keep things faithful when it just couldn't be, I won't comment on it very
much.

>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.

        This I don't agree with at all!  I think Urd was probably one of the
better US voice acting in the series.  In the 3rd epsiode I did watch, Urd
didn't have a scene where she had to sound sexy or erotic but looking for
that would be futile there, unless you believe Urd _always_ sounds sexy or
erotic.  On the 2nd episode would have been where Urd had to sound sexy or
erotic so if you don't think the US voice actress for Urd didn't pull that
out, then perhaps that is a legitimate complaint.  But judging from her
performance in episode 3, I thought Urd did very very well.

>     - 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.

        Aoishima was laying it on much much too thick, I think.  Yes, he's
sleazy but the US voice actor for Aoshima was quite too much.  If he had
toned that down a bit, he's effort would have been much better.  As is, it
wasn't bad.  I didn't get to hear Sayoko though.

>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...

        Well, I did hear Skuld. ^_^


        ^_^;;;;


        Now don't kill me, all you legions of Skuld fans. ^_^;;;;


        I liked it.

        
        First, there was some muttering at the screening when Skuld's name
was pronounced "Skoold," (or even better "Schooled").  I had always thought
that it was "S.kul.d" with "kul" sounding like "skull."  Well, fans, it
seems that AnimEigo had checked with the source (not Japan obviously, or
Skuld would have been pronounced "S-kru-do") and "Schooled" is the correct
pronounciation.

        Skuld's voice has been done with some competence and even though it
did seem to lack some emotion, to borrow from a certain r.a.a. dub critic,
"it wasn't bad."  In fact, I got to like it quite a bit.  

        Obviously, it's always hard to compare directly with the Japanese
voice acting; the US dubs will almost invariably fail to measure up.  But
taken as a whole work, Skuld's voice was quite good.  In fact, I'd rank the
voice acting in this series as below:

        #1:  Skuld.  Good solid voice acting that does fail in comparison,
but if dubs should be done (and more on this later) then this certainly is a
good effort.

        #2:  Urd.  Judging from the episode 3 only, competent voice acting
with very low "cringe factor."  She has fewer lines in episode 3 and the
episode itself places less demand on her voice actress so others may have
radically different opinions.

        #3:  Aoshima.  Very sleazy, with "Haavaaad" accent.  He was laying
it on very very thick, like younger William F. Buckley, Jr. reading from his
favorite article in "National Review."  Scary thought, isn't it?  But it
worked and would have worked much better if he didn't lay it on so thick.

        #4:  Belldandy.  Consistent and competent.  Nothing earth-shaking
but nothing quite as bad as to start a jyhad.

        Special Darkhorse:  Ootaki.  He had very few lines but he was funny,
_IF_ you don't immediately gag on his Californian valleyspeak accent.  I can
see someone absolutely hating his voice acting or rating it very very high,
depedning on their acceptance (or lack thereof) of this infusion of
character AnimEigo decided on.  (Ootaki in manga is certainly a more
colorful person, I know, but we are talking about the anime here where he's
pretty bland)

        Bottom of the Garbage can:  K1 and Tamiya.  Sheesh...  Slap these
two silly.

        Okay. now a bit about the national TV possibilities of AMG.
Woodhead disclosed that he has had quite a bit of offers, but nothing with
sufficient amount of money.  But he is hopeful of its release on fall of
'97.  This is a great news (though I'm sure people who don't like the dub
will express the contrary attitude) which can help AnimEigo quite a bit.
AnimEigo is sitting on well-dubbed (IMO) titles that can very easily be
moved to network TV.  This is different from likes of ADV (dubbed Rei Rei?
I don't think so) or Viz, the other major player who will need to cut quite
a bit from the early Ranma series to be able to show it on network TV. (some
people even say that some early Ranma couldn't be shown on Japanese TV anymore)

        Another note from AnimEigo.  Remember when they said expect
something unexpected on the latter quarters on '96?  This may be it.
They're subbing and releasing a bunch of live-action samurai flicks.  Well,
that was unexpected. ^_^

        A bit on the crowd reaction on the AMG dubs:  Generally good and
accepting.  I was a bit surprised by that, in fact.  I'd expected some
people to be incensed at the very idea the AMG would be dubbed at all!  But
I generally heard positive remarks and people seemed to accept even the
"Skuld/Schooled" controversy well.

        I understand that this isn't the best organized post I have ever
posted, but I thought I'd present the contary view here.

>Peter L. Ward          falcon@best.com          Kyusaku on IRC #Anime!

                                                --C h a e


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