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Bonus Podcast (with Transcript) 2023 February: Our Favorite Dubs
🕑 Added 2023-02-23 17:42:23 +0000 UTCDee, Caitlin, and Vrai geek out about their favorite dubs over the years, from the genuinely top-shelf to the nostalgic.
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VRAI: Hey there, AniFam. If you’re listening to this, that means you are a $5-a-month patron. Thank you so much! We couldn’t do this without ya.
This is Vrai. I am here this month with Caitlin and Dee. And we are chatting about our favorite anime dubs, because we’re on DVD now instead of tapes and we don’t have to argue over “Just dub” or “Just sub.” They can both be good.
DEE: They can live in harmony, hand in hand, frolicking down the hill together.
Hi, everyone. I’m Dee. You can find me on the social medias, Tumblr, Twitter and Mastodon, @joseinextdoor.
I would also like to apologize to our editor because, for reasons beyond even my own understanding, I decided to drink a ramune during this show, which is The Noisiest Beverage.
[Clinking sound]
CAITLIN: [Chuckles] Clink-clink.
VRAI: [crosstalk] Clink-clink-clink.
DEE: Clink-clink-clink. So, I’m sure Peter will be looking forward to editing those out of the final version. So, we’ll see how many clinks the audience actually hears. But I wanted to own up to that terrible mistake before we got started.
VRAI: As a heads-up before we get started, we did sort of de facto rule out talking about Baccano because I feel like everybody namedrops Baccano as their favorite dub.
DEE: [crosstalk] Well! I think that’s an unfair rule because not a lot of people know about Baccano anymore since it’s sort of disappeared from licensing.
VRAI: [crosstalk] Okay, that’s fair. Oh, God, I’m so sad!
DEE: And really, I think if we’re gonna rule something out, we should probably throw out Cowboy Bebop. Right?
CAITLIN: [crosstalk] If we’re gonna rule something out… Cowboy Bebop? Yeah.
DEE: Yeah.
VRAI: Okay, fair.
DEE: Because everybody… Now, I think that one is fair to say everybody knows about Cowboy Bebop and everybody knows it’s a great dub.
VRAI: All right, well, which of you wants to tell people about how good the Baccano dub is, then?
DEE: I think we all collectively want to tell people about how good the Baccano dub is, because I think we would all agree… Caitlin, correct me. I know Vrai does. Caitlin, I think you’re with us on this.
CAITLIN: Yes.
DEE: It’s one of maybe the best dubs ever made.
CAITLIN: It really is. [Unintelligible beneath crosstalk]
DEE: [crosstalk] It is better than the original track. Absolutely, it fits— Because, for folks who don’t know, since— I’m so— Just somebody license-rescue this fantastic show and keep the dub that it has.
CAITLIN: Please?
DEE: Please. It’s so good.
CAITLIN: It’s licensed. It’s licensed. Aniplex still owns it.
DEE: Okay, well, but it’s not streaming anywhere, and it’s not available on disc unless you can track down an old DVD.
CAITLIN: Yeah, it’s in Aniplex jail.
DEE: I mean, it’s… Yeah. Okay, so it’s technically licensed but is in Aniplex jail.
Anyway, I would love it to be available to people because, first of all, it’s a terrific show, just high-octane, absolute delight of an action series; great characters; incredibly ambitious decisions to chronologically jump between a bunch of different storylines, and it works, somehow. I wish it existed.
It also has, yeah, one of if not the best dubs ever. It’s set in early 1930s America, mostly in New York but then also on a train going from Chicago to New York. And every actor is giving it their all. There [is] phenomenal accent work done, and Chicago and New York dialects from the mob-era movies. And it’s fantastic. It is absolutely fantastic.
I was the anime club president when it was coming out stateside. (Dating myself here.) We voted to watch it that semester, and I told everyone, because I’d already seen it… I was like, “We’re watching this dubbed. I know we don’t usually do that. Trust me.” And it was the only time I ever pulled that card, and they were all like, “No, you’re right. This is great.” And I’m like, “Yeah. No, this one needs to be watched in English.”
VRAI: It’s not just the cast either. The localization script puts in a lot of work to make area-appropriate dialogue and a lot of of-the-time references. It’s just so clearly a labor of love. And if you are fans, at home, of the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood dub, this was, I think, one of the first voice roles Maxey Whitehead did. She plays Czeslaw, and she would go on to be Alphonse in the FMA: Brotherhood dub.
DEE: Mm-hm. I mean, yeah, the whole cast is terrific. You’ll recognize most of them from other Funimation dubs because most of them went on to be megastars within the dubbing world.
VRAI: Yeah, but you know who it doesn’t have?
DEE: I was about to say I don’t [inaudible due to crosstalk].
CAITLIN: [crosstalk] Yeah! I was looking at the Wikipedia article, thinking, I don’t remember anyone voiced by… you know?
VRAI: No, I feel like that’s why it was such a breath of fresh air, because in an era where Vic was in fucking everything along with the same four or five other actors, where Funi’s voice casting had gotten pretty incestuous and samey, Baccano had a lot of unknowns. Yeah, they fell back into it, but Baccano was a real shake-up because it had a lot of unknowns and it was just so clearly this passion-driven project.
DEE: Mm-hm. Who…? Okay, I’m gonna ask this, because it’s just like everyone just fucking slams it out of the park. Who’s your favorite on the cast?
VRAI: Ladd.
CAITLIN: [crosstalk] Jerry Jewell as Claire Stanfield.
VRAI: Oh, I have to give the actor his day now, because—
DEE: Oh, oh! Yeah, yeah, yeah. [Imitating Jacuzzi Splot's nervous Chicago accent] The Rail Tracer!
[Returns to normal voice] It took me a second [inaudible due to laughter].
CAITLIN: [Laughs]
DEE: I was like, “Claire?” Right! Right, Vino/Claire/man of many names.
CAITLIN: Yeah, no, he’s my favorite in the dub just because… I mean, they’re all very good but also the last episode where he is getting lunch with that journalist girl who is so uncomfortable and he’s just going on and on about how he thinks he’s in love just lives in my head.
VRAI: [crosstalk] That’s a spoiler, by the way!
CAITLIN: [Chuckles] And it’s such a good moment!
DEE: [crosstalk] It’s a mild spoiler.
CAITLIN: And Jewell just kills it.
DEE: Very good.
Vrai, you said Ladd, which I was going to say if nobody else said it, so I’m glad that you did.
VRAI: Yeah, it’s Brian Massey, is the voice actor.
DEE: And he has to do a lot of unhinged monologues, and he does such a good job! Ladd is one of those charming psychopath-type characters. And yeah, Massey imbues him with… You’re always a little nervous when he’s on screen, but you’re always delighted to be nervous when he’s on screen. Does that sound right, Vrai?
VRAI: It’s not the same but I think it has a similar… it certainly came out at a similar time and it has a similar crackling energy to Ledger’s Joker, which may be a hack comparison, but here’s the thing: he was good. He was scenery-chewing and he was good.
DEE: Yeah. Yeah, gnawing on that scenery. Very true.
VRAI: Yeah. Oh my God, it’s just so fucking good!
DEE: Okay, I was gonna say, well, in that case, I will give a dual nod to Caitlin Glass and J. Michael Tatum as Miria and Isaac, because they—
VRAI: They’re a perfect double team.
DEE: They are absolutely perfect. They bounce off each other tremendously well. They’re like the characters who tie all the little storylines together, these (I mean, let’s be real) Team Rocket–esque thieves and just lovable scoundrels. And they play the parts exactly the way they need to.
VRAI: Yeah, I gotta say… This doesn’t really have anything to say about the narrative, but it does usually tip people off who know my tastes to the quality of the writing in that basically every single character in this cast is shuffled off into a boy–girl pair and it is one of my top five anime of all time.
DEE: Yeah, the pairings are fun and interesting, and you get why—or if you don’t really get it, the show is like, “Yeah, this is weird, right?” And that’s one of the things I love… And props to Ryohgo Narita, who wrote the original and is also the Durarara!! writer, is how a lot of other people know him.
VRAI: Which I just could not get into. Neither here nor there.
DEE: Yeah, no, I like this work better. But he has a lot of fun slamming characters together who maybe you wouldn’t think they would mesh and then finding ways to make them mesh. Nice and Jacuzzi remain one of my favorite anime couples! I just love them.
VRAI: They’re really cute!
CAITLIN: [crosstalk] Very sweet.
DEE: [crosstalk] And Isaac and Miria are also great, obviously. Yeah.
So, yeah, anyway, folks at home, this is the Baccano fancast now, where we just gush about Baccano in hopes that maybe someone out there will listen and carry this to people with money and power who can get it back at least on a streaming service if not Blu-ray.
CAITLIN: I have actually literally talked to people at Aniplex and they were like, “Wait, Baccano’s out of print?”
VRAI: Oh my God!
DEE: No…
CAITLIN: I’m just like, “Yeah, yeah! Yeah! Do you not know what your company is famous for?” [Sighs]
VRAI: Oh, this hurts me. This hurts me.
DEE: I was gonna say, I’m gonna go lay down for a minute…
VRAI: [Laughs]
DEE: … and then we can keep talking about other dubs we like. I’m gonna just take a quick break.
CAITLIN: [Chuckles]
VRAI: Ooh. Ha. Hm.
CAITLIN: Oh, can I add one more thing about the Baccano dub that I think is really cool?
DEE: Yeah.
VRAI: Yeah?
CAITLIN: So, you know how there are multiple scenes where people are fighting on top of trains?
DEE: Yes.
CAITLIN: So, in the original Japanese, they have it so that they’re just talking in their normal voices. But in the dub, they have it so they’re talking like you would be talking to people if you were on top of the train and there was wind coming at you. You would be yelling. And I thought that was a very interesting choice that I personally think works better.
DEE: I guess we should shout out to Tyler Walker, the ADR director, and Steven J. Simmons, who did the translation (and there were a few different people who worked on the scripts), because, yeah, like you said, it’s so clearly a labor of love, top to bottom. Everyone on this is having a really good time.
And it is a show that is high energy, start to finish, and so you need to bring that into the performances. And they just drag you straight into the world.
So, even though you’re super confused at the start because you’re bouncing between time periods, you’re in it because it is so immersive, and I credit that to the dub, like Vrai said, the script for adding in a lot of ‘20s-, ‘30s-era slang but not to the point where it feels, like, winky. You know, it’s just the right amount to make it feel like the way these characters would actually be talking in this pulpy gangster world. And yeah, it’s terrific.
Okay, should we talk about another dub since we spent half the episode on Baccano, just about?
VRAI: Yep!
CAITLIN: Yeah! Can I make a proposal? And also, it is, in a way, an in memoriam.
DEE: [crosstalk] Sure.
CAITLIN: The Promare dub. Rest in fucking peace, Billy Kametz. He is my Galo, always and forever. That—
VRAI: Yeah, I still haven’t seen the Promare dub, but I’ve heard nothing but good things about it.
CAITLIN: It’s so good. I feel like I couldn’t watch it— It’s one of those dubs where I feel like I can’t go back, because, at the end of the day, English is my native language and a really, really, really strong English performance is going to connect to me more strongly even if it’s by a smaller margin than a Japanese performance.
And, you know, Johnny Yong Bosch and Crispin Freeman have been around for forever. And Billy Kametz was just such an incredible rising star in the dub world, and it just breaks my heart that he was taken from us so early. Also, same age as me and Dee, born in 1987.
So, yeah, just a stellar dub all around. GKIDS does really, really good work consistently. And they just bring so much out of the characters and so much energy.
DEE: Yeah, I haven’t watched it dubbed yet either because when I saw it in theaters the sub was what we watched and I haven’t gone back to it. But I definitely want to watch it again at some point, and I would love to watch it dubbed.
I think especially with lots of moving pieces on screen, visual-feast anime, it can be— Because obviously, I’ve watched enough subtitled shows that I know how to read subs and also take in what’s happening on screen, but there’s still that half-second of shifting back and forth where you might miss something. And so, being able to just soak in the visuals without that extra step of reading what’s on screen can, again, for series that have so many moving parts and pieces, like Promare does… can add to the experience.
CAITLIN: [crosstalk] There’s so much happening visually in Promare that even when I’m watching it dubbed, I will rewatch action scenes and be like, “Wait. Well, that’s how it always was?” because there’s just so much happening that you see new things every time.
DEE: You’ll still see new things even… Yeah, for sure. That tracks.
Vrai, did you have a dub you wanted to highlight?
VRAI: Two, actually. Speaking of shows that have a lot of visual moving parts, I will almost always, if given the option, watch Lupin III in an English dub. Obviously, there have been a lot of casts over the years. I’m very fond of the Manga Entertainment dub for Cagliostro. I think David Hayter does a very charming turn as that very soft Miyazaki Lupin. I don’t know how he’d fit with other versions of the character, which is often a problem in this franchise, but he’s just perfect for the movie, which is so funny and unexpected since he’s best known for playing Solid Snake.
But if you give me Tony Oliver as Lupin and Michelle Ruff as Fujiko, I will show up and I will watch it in English. The physics of the universe are just so cartoony and it’s so bombastic, like you said, I like to be able to just soak in the visuals.
And certainly… It’s been years now, but if you go back, I gushed about The Woman Called Fujiko Mine dub a fair bit, which I think is just about perfect except for the fact that poor Sonny Strait, who does a perfectly serviceable Lupin for the goofier TV specials that Funimation was mostly doing when they cast him, is just out to sea as the more villainous take that Fujiko Mine is doing and the amoral vibe.
And a development since then that just makes me really happy on a personal level is that Josh Grelle, who voices Lieutenant Oscar, my son, my terrible trash boy, and who has just a… the performance is just magnificent… they have come out as nonbinary since then, and it just makes me happy.
DEE: Oh, cool. Good for them.
VRAI: Right? Right? And so, that was just something I wanted to give a quick shout because, God, Lupin dubs are good and they make me happy.
DEE: Do you—?
VRAI: But the—
DEE: Sorry, quick Lupin question? Do you think, in-universe, the characters are speaking English to each other, or do you think…? Because I know in Lupin, it’s a lot of globe-hopping and technically they’re not all Japanese but they kind of are Japanese, do you…? Because, like, in Bebop, I think they establish that in-universe the characters are speaking English to each other.
CAITLIN: Or in Yuri on Ice, they’re speaking English to each other.
VRAI: Ah, if we were talking about bad dubs… God, Yuri on Ice.
I think it’s a situational thing, because Lupin is canonically such a polyglot character, and Jigen is from Chicago, Goemon is the parodic classic samurai. So I feel like it shifts depending on mood and place, which I think is so delightful. And Monkey Punch always wrote about wanting Lupin to be a "citizen-of-the-world" kind of thing.
DEE: Cool. Yeah. So, whatever language needs to be spoken in that exact moment.
One of the reasons I asked is because (and some of the stuff we’ve been talking about) I do tend to find that I will maybe gravitate more towards the dub in series that are supposed to take place outside of Japan. And it adds to that sense of: oh, the story takes place in medieval England, or Baccano, 1930s America, so this is how the characters would be talking in universe, as well. So I was curious what the situation was with Lupin because…
VRAI: Yeah, no, and I think that is part of it for me, too, is that not always but so often they have very European settings for a lot of the capers. So, it just clicks for it.
DEE: Sorry, and then you said you had another one, too, right?
VRAI: Uh-huh! The Sarazanmai dub is fucking great. I think it’s the best thing that Funimation has done in years, just the intensity of the work that has gone into translating the songs, which are so key.
DEE: They did a really good job with the songs!
VRAI: Oh my God.
CAITLIN: [crosstalk] I have not watched that one.
VRAI: It’s really good.
DEE: It is.
VRAI: It has a little bit of trouble— So, it was simuldubbed, right, which I feel like has been… it’s an understandable pivot, but I feel like it’s been worse for dubs on the whole because of the…
CAITLIN: Fully agree.
VRAI: … the incompleteness they’re working with, of tone and stuff.
DEE: Correct me if I’m wrong. Don’t they go back and touch up some lines for the official release, or did I completely make that up?
VRAI: I think that is sometimes done. But I don’t think— In this case, what I mean is that I think sometimes it locks actors into a performance or a timbre that they might not necessarily have gone with if they had known where the series as a whole was going. And I think—
CAITLIN: What I always think of is how Crispin Freeman said that he would watch as far as he needed to, to get a sense of what the character’s deal is, and sometimes that would be the first couple episodes and sometimes that would be almost the whole series. But you can’t do that with a simuldub.
VRAI: Like, in this case—
CAITLIN: Not that most dub actors did that to begin with, but you know.
VRAI: Yeah. Well, they’re busy, but still. Ian Sinclair goes a little bit too cartoony with Reo in the first couple episodes, I feel like, but he really brings it home by the end. And it’s tough…You know, any dub actor who has to go up against Mamoru Miyano is going to have a hard time.
DEE: It’s a tough act to follow. That’s true.
VRAI: But yeah, the cast as a whole is really good. I’m especially fond of Justin Briner as Enta, because, again, terrible trash boy.
DEE: Your terrible son, yes.
VRAI: My terrible son! Yeah, it’s just a very impressive work. It’s so hard to translate music in a way that reads and carries narrative and doesn’t sound too cheesy. Yeah, it’s worth checking out, honestly.
DEE: Yeah, I did end up watching… I watched it dubbed when I went back to rewatch it, because the first time I watched it I was in kind of a weird place and I was like, “Maybe I’d like this better if I watched it again when I was not super-duper stressed out.” So I went back and rewatched it, and I watched it dubbed. And yeah, cosigning: it’s a very, very good dub, for sure.
VRAI: All right, what about you, Dee? What do you got?
DEE: Yeah, so, I was thinking about this, and I haven’t watched a lot of newer stuff dubbed, just because the nature of the job that we are in is I’m watching things simulcasting and if I don’t— Like, I might go back to them and rewatch them someday and then I might watch the dub, but in the moment I don’t have that option, so I just watch them in Japanese. So a lot of my favorite dubs are old stuff that you might not consider good!
[Chuckling]
DEE: But there’s a lot of love and nostalgia in my heart for them.
For a newer one, I will say… because as much as we all hate the Netflix Jail, one thing that is nice about it is they drop the sub and the dub simultaneously, so you can pick and choose what you want to watch. —Well, I guess this one wasn’t technically a Netflix Jail show, so disregard what I just said, although what I just said is still true.
March Comes in Like a Lion, I couldn’t really get into, and then I went back to it because Peter kept speaking so very highly of it. And it was on Netflix, and they had both the sub and the dub and I was like, “Okay, I’ll put on the dub because I’m kinda sleepy tonight.” Yeah, March Comes in Like a Lion is a really good dub.
This is a fun fact: the ADR director is Wendee Lee. And having listened to her talk about her process as an actor and a director at Sakura-Con this past year, she puts in the work and you can very much tell with this dub.
I don’t have any specifics to mention, because I watched it a few years back and it was prior to 2020, so who can remember anything from The Beforetimes? Except that, again, it was one of those things where I was like, “Oh, I’m sleepy. I’ll give the dub a try. If it’s kind of flat, then I can switch back to the Japanese track, no problem.” I ended up watching almost the entire show in English because I was just immediately into the dub. I thought all the performances were really well done. I only switched back to Japanese later when I found out Miki Shinichiro I was playing one of the mentor characters, and I was like, “Oh no! I love listening to him!”
[Chuckling]
DEE: So I switched back for a couple episodes so I could listen to him, and then I jumped back into the English! So, if that is a show that you have been thinking about watching and you’re like, “Oh, it’s very long” and “Oh, I’m sleepy at night,” watch it dubbed. It’s a very good dub. So, props to March Comes in Like a Lion.
And then I have to give a nostalgia shoutout to Slayers, which is one of those shows that has a very, very good Japanese cast and I will still watch it in Japanese. Megumi Hayashibara plays Lina and she’s terrific. But God, Lisa Ortiz as Lina is also just terrific.
It’s one of those where I’ll bounce back and forth episode-to-episode because I can’t decide who I want to hear more. Crispin Freeman plays my favorite character. The main four is like… they’re having a real good time. Eric Stuart is Gourry, who… he’s not great at dramatic stuff, but he’s very good at comedy and that’s mostly what Gourry has to be. Veronica Taylor is having a— People will know her as Ash from Pokémon. People will know Eric Stuart, Gourry, as Brock and James from Pokémon. So there you go, guys. —She’s having such a good time as Amelia.
And then Crispin Freeman is Zelgadis, in one of his earlier main roles. And I mean, he’s good in everything and he continues to be good in this. He’s actually not Zel in the first six episodes and the guy who plays him is kind of flat, and then they recast him and then, boom, immediately clicks with the other three leads terrifically. When they did the—
CAITLIN: Because Crispin Freeman is the GOAT.
DEE: He puts in the work, and he is in fact the GOAT. It’s true. But then, a lot of the supporting cast… It’s an older dub, so there’s some supporting roles that are just like, “What are you doing with this performance?”
CAITLIN: [Laughs]
DEE: You know what I mean? But then there’s others that are… Like, the guy who plays… So, Xellos is Ishida Akira in the Japanese, who is also a GOAT and is terrific in everything! He is played by a man named David Moo, which we’re all pretty sure is not his real name, in the English script, and he’s not great. He made some choices with his voice direction. But then there’s other supporting roles, like Rachael Lillis plays a rival character in season 2 and she’s phenomenal; R.I.P. Maddie Blaustein comes in as an extremely moe fox villain in the third season and just knocks it out of the park.
It’s fun, you guys. It is classic old-school dub, and the main performers just do such a phenomenal job in it. It makes me happy every time I listen to it. I was so, so glad when they did the new season— I say “new.” It was like 2010. It’s been a while. When they did the new seasons, they were able to get the original, the four core cast members back for it. And I was—
CAITLIN: Oh yeah. There was a campaign for that, too.
DEE: As there should be! Because those are the four voices I hear when I hear those characters. Hilariously, they did recast Xellos, the guy who I said was like a major supporting character who… nobody really cared for him. They recast him. I forget the actor’s name. He’s pretty well known, and I don’t feel like looking it up right this second. He does a much better job. So they smoothed out the wrinkles when they did the newer season, 2010, 2011-ish, around that time. And yeah.
So, that is a dub that holds… I have a lot of fondness for that dub. And I know a lot of other people do, as well, so it’s not purely Nostalgia Goggles, but it’s definitely got some of that going for it.
CAITLIN: Yeah. Well, now I want to make a nostalgia pick.
VRAI: I also get one.
DEE: Okay. Make your nostalgia picks, guys.
CAITLIN: You know, it’s been a very, very hard choice. I think the runner-up was Outlaw Star, but I haven’t watched that for a very long time.
DEE: It’s a good dub.
CAITLIN: But I will pick something that has a lot of the same cast, that I have watched recently, which is Fushigi Yugi.
DEE: Oh, man!
CAITLIN: You know, we’ve talked about it extensively, the three of us.
DEE: Yes.
VRAI: We have.
CAITLIN: And the Japanese cast is phenomenal. The Fushigi Yugi dub is kind of weird and stilted at times. It’s got a combination of some really, really great actors and some really, really weird ones. I still think about that one guy who gave Tamahome directions and Tamahome’s like, “She went into the forest! That’s dangerous!” He’s like, “Oh, yeah. Right.”
[Laughter]
DEE: I always think about Tomo and his stuffed-up frog voice.
CAITLIN: [Chuckles] Oh, God!
DEE: [nasally] “Lord Nakago.”
CAITLIN: His Riff-Raff-from-Rocky-Horror-Picture-Show voice. But I can’t help it: these are the voices of the characters for me. David Hayter Tamahome. Always. Mary McGlynn Nuriko. Always.
DEE: Mary McGlynn is, I feel like, a very clear standout in that cast. She does a very good job as Nuriko.
CAITLIN: Richard Epcar Mitsukake. Always.
DEE: Confusing, but sure.
CAITLIN: [crosstalk] Jack Hammer Nakago.
DEE: Not great!
CAITLIN: Not great, but also…
DEE: But that’s who you hear in your head! Sure.
CAITLIN: Yeah!
DEE: I get that.
[Chuckling]
CAITLIN: Maybe when I watch Outlaw Star, my love for it will blossom back up within me. I’m sure it will. I’ll get to it at some point this year. But yeah, Fushigi Yugi is just such a powerful nostalgia within me, and I love it dearly.
DEE: I feel that.
VRAI: [crosstalk] Rock on.
DEE: Vrai, what’s your nostalgia dub?
VRAI: It is the Descendants of Darkness dub. Because listen—
DEE: Oh, my!
CAITLIN: Whew!
VRAI: Descendants of Darkness is a very silly show that I think really embodies the 2000s supernatural homoerotic boom that there was. I am very affectionate for it. It’s very silly and kind of stupid.
But so, the dub is exactly as camp as that show deserves. It’s got Dan Green as Suzuki, giving this… he’s just doing his Yami Yugi voice. It’s so big. And then you have Liam O’Brien of all people playing Hisoka, who’s doing this much more restrained, kind of whispery voice. And it’s Liam O’Brien, so it’s really good, but it’s a hilarious mismatch. The secondary cast is pretty solid. You’ve got Eric Stuart as… (Oh, God, what’s his name? I’m a bad fan) … as Watari, who is… on the subject of just stealing other voices, he’s just being James. It’s a very funny dub!
DEE: Mm, Eric Stuart has two voices.
VRAI: But then, you have, as Muraki, who is the central antagonist (and also because of the era and the kind of show it is, he’s also the sexy sexual-menace antagonist) … he’s played by Edward MacLeod, a man who has five voice acting credits. This was his last one, and he is also doing a Riff Raff voice! It’s the funniest goddamn thing in the entire universe. And for comparison, his Japanese voice is Sho Hayami.
DEE: I know that name. He’s been in a bunch of stuff. I can’t…
VRAI: Yeah, he’s been in fucking everything.
DEE: I can’t think of a specific role, but yeah.
VRAI: He’s Wolfwood in Trigun.
DEE: Oh, sure.
VRAI: So, deep fucking voice for the Japanese version. And then you turn it to English, and it’s fucking ridiculous! And I love that dub so much! It’s stupendous!
DEE: I love a good nostalgia dub. I love a good turn-of-the-millennium dub where they were just kinda starting to figure things out and so you get some really tremendous performances and then you get “Yeah, what was the plan here? Did you just tell ‘em to just go in and wing it?”
CAITLIN: [Chuckles]
VRAI: “Why did you choose this voice? Did you look at the material? You didn’t even have to look at the whole material. You just had to watch the first episode.”
DEE: “Why so nasally?” [Chuckles]
VRAI: “Why would you go nasal for this character? Look at the character design! Just look at it!”
DEE: “Why do they sound like they’re from the Bronx? Okay!”
CAITLIN: They’re just here to get paid, y’all.
DEE: Oh, I believe it.
CAITLIN: That was the M.O. of voice actors at the time. Most of them did not watch anime.
DEE: [crosstalk] Get paid and have some fun.
CAITLIN: They were just in there to get paid and then walk out the door and never think about it again. Which, you know, there were still some great performances with that M.O. No hate. But also…
DEE: It leads to some amazing choices.
CAITLIN: Both kinds of memorable.
DEE: Yes.
VRAI: I come down hard and say that from a 2023 perspective Descendants of Darkness should only be watched English-dubbed. This is an edict I’m making!
CAITLIN: [Chuckles] Okay. If I watch Descendants of Darkness…
DEE: This is a law.
VRAI: [Laughs]
DEE: You’re gonna watch it in English.
CAITLIN: Can I do just a very short…
VRAI: All right.
CAITLIN: … honorable mention?
DEE: [crosstalk] We are mega over time, but sure.
VRAI: Quick. 60 seconds. Go.
CAITLIN: Dragon Half.
DEE: Oh, okay.
CAITLIN: Two-episode OAV. English voice actor is… just… They just got weird with it, and they had a great time doing it. One of the throwaway bad guys (and they’re all throwaway bad guys, because it’s two episodes, y’all) just does a Rock impression the entire time.
DEE: Yes! Excellent.
VRAI: [crosstalk] Amazing.
CAITLIN: It’s great. It’s great. If you watch Dragon Half, I highly recommend the dub. It’s not a big commitment.
DEE: Noted.
VRAI: All right. I feel as though this has been a good sharing experience. And as always, we do encourage you to reply and tell us the dubs that you enjoy, because, you know, there’s a comment section and that’s what it’s for.
DEE: We’d love to hear both your good dubs and your nostalgia dubs. All of the above!
VRAI: Yes! All right, well, thank you again for all of your support, AniFam, and we will see you next month!
Comments
Skinkling
Yeah I'm planning to watch Baccano! for the first time over the summer when the simulcast season should be lighter. There's a Seattle-based rental store that has it on DVD so I'm looking forward to watching the dub over a few weeks.
pork bun powered
I always watch subbed first just because that's the closest to authorial intent I can get without learning a new language (Japanese or otherwise). Then if I liked it, I revisit with the dub. I might end up enjoying the dub more (Chainsaw Man being a recent example), but they do feel like separate entities in my mind. Another dimension of subs vs dubs for me; although I prefer dubbed to be very localized, I prefer my subs as literal as possible (within reason). I have a chip on my shoulder for expressing that because someone on the Discord claimed I just didn't understand translations. Except, I'm bilingual. When I watch media in Mandarin, I always lament when an idiom gets changed for American audiences. I get why it's done, but I love little peeks into other language's little aphorisms.
