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Forum - View topicNEWS: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Dub Cast Announced
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CaptainAvatar
 Posts: 381 Location: Saint Louis, MO |
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I am SO happy!
 I was starting to think Bridget Hoffman, one of my personal faves, had left the industry. I think this is her first role since Scrapped Princess. I like the casting a lot, and can't wait to see it!
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Malintex Terek
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Haha, oh wow. I had a sneaking suspicion Bang Zoom! Entertainment was going to be involved in this; not only did I hit the bloody bullseye, BZE has (yet again) lit the fuse for a awfully dubbed product. Truely, the world has not seen a travesty of this magnitude since the tragedies of Greek myth, like those in the lives of Oedipus, Achilles, and Heracles.
In the past, I have pointed out that Bang Zoom! Entertainment is the studio most responsible for the ubiquitous displeasure with many of Bandai USA's products; granted, titles such as Onegai Teacher, Witch Hunter Robin and Plantes are considered to be model, while other works, notably Eureka 7, a dub which killed my love for the series, congregate near the lower spectrum of quality. why Bandai continues to contract BZE, especially for a high profile series like Haruhi, is outright astounding. What is destructive to BZE's dubs is not always weak acting, although that is frequently a factor (such as in Fate/stay night), it's genericism/blandness. Honestly, I know people have love for certain voice actors, especially the veterans who can pull off great performances, but their popularity among casting directors earns those actors more animosity than applause at times. I consider myself a Steven Jay Blum fan, but after hearing his (distinctive) voice in so many anime, he's become somewhat annoying. Anime fans old enough to remember dubs from the middle to late 1990's will remember that certain actors, like Blum, Richard Epicar, Wendee Lee, etc. took on an enormus number of roles; after nearly a decade of experience, those actors/actresses are seasoned enough for commercial voice acting, and they should make room for the rising young stars seeking to climb the ladder they once did. I am exceptionally disappointed with the casting, since it reflects not a "conscious consideration for quality" that Bandai would like video watchers to believe, but rather, it is a 'populist' attempt to corral the brand-name fanbases of prolific voice actors and a disregard for "imprinting". The 'populist' concept I am referring to is to use name or voice recognition to entice niche fans of a certain individual into purchasing something they are associated with; we've observed this phenomenon in Dreamworks' spectacularly terrible Shark Tale, and, more recently (and saliently), with Samuel L. Jackson in Afro Samurai. In the latter example, and to better illustrate my point, people who know nothing of anime would tune into Afro simply because Jackson is involved somehow; the concept easily applies to this Haruhi dub. "imprinting", on my other hand, is a concept of psychological association; when an certain voice actor uses a particular voice for a role, hearing that role in a different context will evoke the original role that voice was used in. A personal example; I always associate Richard Epcar, especially in Bo^7, with Myotismon from Digimon Adventure; when a show is famous enough, people will tack on these associations onto those voices, especially if the actors/actresses lack range, which I feel most of BZE's pitiful selection suffer from; this wouldn't be the first time, either. s-CRY-ed was much the same with an "all-star" cast, but because of generic casting resulting in mnemonic turmoil due to imprinting, I'd not only call the dub poor, but precedent setting in that such a model should have been from that dub onward forever eschewed. Rather, the general approach taken to the Haruhi dub should have been something simmilar to Fate/stay night, which would be to cast actors/actresses who are less accomplished but run the risk of giving a weaker performance. Granted, a poor college student like myself would be more inclined to purchase a DVD with appropriate voices and a weaker performance than one pigeonholed with recognizable but strong actors/actresses. It's a dichotomy, really; Haruhi is an unconventional story that effectively blends the cliché and unique alike. Or, one could consider it a parody of the sterotypical; how inappropriately ironic it is to assign a sterotypical cast to such a show! That would be the comparable to a male chauvinist dressed as a woman denouncing anti-female jingoism; this very cast undermines the very theme of the show! Upon hearing this melancholic news, I immediately put in an order for Fate/stay night DVD #1: Advent of the Magi using funds I had been saving up for the Haruhi DVD. I see 'extras' as caloric and fatty, un-needed "fluff" meant to jack up the price of a DVD, and I've already seen Haruhi in Japanese; the only incentive to purchase the R1 DVD would be an "excellent, refreshingly original dub"; yes, we will undoubtedly have an 'excellent' dub, but 'refreshingly original' holds more weight, and I myself have taken the initiative to own a dub of such a superior calibur. For the future...a pirate's life for me, I guess. Even now, a while after I first heard the news, a lot of emotions went through my mind; anger, surprise, disappointment, worry; I've gotten over those emotions and I'm now in a state of catharsis, but one thought tenaciously bothers me, even as I write this passage. What a waste. |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8503 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Malintex Terek - Stop complaining that they chose popular voice talent to voice the main cast in a popular series. You already knew that was going to happen - remember the VA polls?
I agree with you that dipping into the same talent pool for everything does little to endear one to anime dubs, especially when they could have experimented with new talent, but at least all of these VAs are very talented and perhaps can pull off a decent dub. The only role that bothers me of the group is Crispin Freeman as Kyon. He'll have to smoothen out that gruff voice he used in the voice poll if he wants to pull off deadpan sarcasm. I still think, despite his overexposure, Johnny Yong Bosch will be the perfect Itsuki Koizumi. I'm interested in Kari Wahlgren as Tsuruya. I voted for her as Haruhi, but I can totally hear her in my mind as Tsuruya, too. I haven't been exposed very much to Bridget Hoffman (just as Rem in Trigun), so I wonder how she'll be as Ryouko. |
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Malintex Terek
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Only Freeman's casting corresponds to the popular vote in those polls; the other selections were not favoured nearly as strongly, if favoured at all. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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You take this stuff way, way, way, way too seriously. |
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naushika
 Posts: 32 Location: pallet town |
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Wow...thats quite a rant, MT. You should consider submitting this or something like it to Answerman's Rant section.
But back to the announcement...despite what you may say, MT, I don't think you should pronounce the Haruhi dub as a complete failure until you've seen it. Granted, you have made some very valid points about voices we've all heard before and lack of new talent. (and I completely agree with you about the choice of talent in productions like Sharks Tale and Hoodwinked--big names are used just to get people to see the movie, but more often than not, they turn out to be garbage full of nothing but pop culture references that will be meaningless in five years) However, anime voice actors in my mind are a completely different breed, so I don't think its quite fair to compare them to the likes of Angelina Jolie or Anne Hathaway (i have nothing against these two, by the way). Anime VAs do voices for a living, much like the people that used to be in disney productions before they began to rely on mostly celebrity talent and recognizable "big names." (For instance, anyone remember the voice actors in the Little Mermaid? None of them "big names." Beauty and the Beast? Other than Angela Lansbury and the guy from MASH who played Cogsworth, none were recognizable. ...see my point?) So what I am saying is, these voice actors in the Haruhi dub are recgonizable among anime fans, but its not fair to compare them to the big names that are purely hired in disney and dreamworks movies to bring people in (and there are exceptions here too....the original Shrek was excellent and well-cast). My first reaction to this announcement was, "Oh, its a 'who's-who' of anime!" I do agree that new talent is always welcome to differentiate the voices, but you can't downplay the talent that these veterans could bring. I have high expectations for this dub and look forward to seeing how they handle it. And, if you don't like the dub, there's always the sub... //end rant Last edited by naushika on Fri Feb 09, 2007 3:59 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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kid_gloves
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its really just an excuse for him not to pay for something he watched. some like to claim the companies are evil corporations and that fansubs are better, others i guess like to go into long pseudo-intellectual rants using theories they learned in psychology and sociology 101 to give themselves and excuse not to buy it. |
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xjaymanx
 Posts: 5 |
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lol, too seriously!
i mean, i was tired of listening to the same dub actors over and over again from series to series... and that was a year ago!... i'm satisfied with the original japanese w eng subs 
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penguintruth
Posts: 8503 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Wendee Lee was in second place as Haruhi. Johnny Yong Bosch was the favorite for Itsuki. Crispin Freeman was the favorite for Kyon. I don't remember Yuki or Mikuru's polls that well. |
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darkchibi07
 Posts: 5518 |
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Well, you can also count her role of KOS-MOS and T-ELOS in Xenosaga Episode III which I believe was her more recent role. Now that I think about it, I think she'll do great justice with Ryouko especially with that certain incident. 
Michelle Ruff was second place for Yuki as well. Stephanie Sheh was first place for Mikuru. |
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PantsGoblin
 SubscriberEncyclopedia Editor  Posts: 2969 Location: L.A. |
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You honestly sound like you're far more than just "disappointed" here. You sound like you're ready to rip someone's head off because of this. I suppose I'll ask this again; is it really that bad? Oh ya. I personally like the cast too.
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Pake
Posts: 15 |
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It's a shame they didn't put the winning voices up so we could relisten to them as to get a sense of how it will all sound together as a group.
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Aleclom
 Posts: 20 Location: Chicago |
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I'm looking forward to this! I only hope that Stephanie Sheh can pull of Mikuru's dying animal noises that she makes. I also can't wait to hear Wendee Lee sing God Knows... :O
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Sarukah
 Posts: 160 |
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Im cant wait until the DVDs come out
Im also looking forward to the next ASOS Brigade episode, I've always been curious as to how exactly they go about doing the dubs for anime. .....What was up with that voice that yelled out randomly at 6:39 and 7:51 in the video?? 
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MorwenLaicoriel
 Posts: 1617 Location: Colorado |
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I'm getting really tired of people saying Freeman's voice is too gruff for Kyon. It's not. His normal voice isn't gruff--he just tends to get hired for gruff characters. His natural voice is actually higher than his typical character and not nearly as rough-sounding. Actually, he naturally sounds not too far off from a teenager. You can hear his normal voice in this podcast. It's not at all a stretch to imagine that he could do the slight change to his voice needed for the role--particularly since he's shown he has a wide range in his roles, and we've *already* heard him as Kyon and *know* he wasn't gruff. |
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