Gundam Seed

[-|(aGe-BuNsHiN-]

A couple of things came to my mind when I was watching this dub. First...What in the hell did they do to Flley's voice? She sounds like whining girl than anything!! Another thing was...whats with the gun sound? It sounds more like those toy guns with flashing lights for "special effects".

The only thing I can compliment on this is the fact the CN had the eyes enough to pick out a good anime to air. Another thing was the background voices (announcer, newscaster etc) was pretty decent. In fact, it was better than the main characters themselves.

I noticed that a lot of names were pronounced so "Americanish" that it was hard to grasp what they said (ex. i thought kira said Catherine instead of Athrun). Another thing to point out is that much of the excitment from battle was gone from the rather monotonous voice acting. Kira and everybody else in fact sounds like a dam surfer boy (no offense) during a breath taking combat scene.....overall i had some hope that CN might improve with dubbing but i guess not...

[Kimimaro]

I agree with everyone in saying that this has to be one of Bandai's worst dubs ever. Not only did they manage to mismatch most of the characters, they also decided to pronounce all the names the way they are spelled, such as Athrun, which as we all know is pronounced Asuran.

[Kimimaro]

I accidently pressed enter while I was entering my reply so i wasn't quite finished.

Most dubs tend to suck nowadays so while I was disgusted by it, i can't say I was surprized.

Now that my piece on the voices is over, I'll just say that I'd love to complain about the many stupid edits Cartoon Network made to Gundam SEED, but it won't do anything. They made a mistake of aiming this at a tween and younger teen audience even if Toonami is supposed to be aimed at a older crowd, and that means edits that don't even seem logical will happen. I doubt we will get to see the bed scene or any of the scenes where the pilots of Forbidden, Raider, and Calamity are popping pills to get the reflexes of Coordinators.

Last Saturday is the first and last time I will watch SEED on Cartoon Network and I will patiently wait for the DVDs so I can forget that amazingly crappy dub.

[Enragin_Angel]

Well, my theory is that these VAs don't watch the Japanese version. And even if they did, they wouldn't know what was what (since asuran doesn't sound anything like athrun). Anyway, all they have to go by is the English script which has those godawful "official" names like Ssigh and Athrun.

[BanditKing]

Originally Posted by Silver_Scorcher

Actually a couple of more prominent VA's from the Ocean Group (Brad Swaile: Dearka, and Lisa Ann Beley: Murrue), got cast in an anime licensed by ADV called Nurse Witch Komugi. Perhaps IS&M recruited them into their fold, or are just borrowing them. Well either way, Brad & Lisa are two of the best actors from the Ocean Group, so it's no surprise that IS&M would cast the two of them.

So Ocean Studio is the one who did soultaker?I thought Geneon give it to Bang Zoom Entertainment.Guess I'm wrong then.
BTW I think IS&M took four people since I saw the list at AoD Forum.They did that to please the fan who demand it(for people who didn't know.)

[method]

Actually there is no correct way to pronounce names like Athrun. These names were completely made up and are not based on Japanese naming convention. Sine the Japanese language is limited, they have to come up with pronounciations as close to the names they want. So just because the Japanese pronounce the names one way doesn't mean they are right.

I just checked ANN and they listed Ocean as the dubbing studio.

[Quiddity]

I agree with everyone in saying that this has to be one of Bandai's worst dubs ever.

Yes, we all know how you can judge an anime based on the very first episode -_-

Anyway, all they have to go by is the English script which has those godawful "official" names like Ssigh and Athrun.

First off, they corrected that ridiculous Ssigh spelling for the english release. Its Sai, as it should be. Second of all, its the japanese who came up with the ridiculous spelling, not those in charge of the dub. I know its heresy in you people's eyes to criticize anything done by the japanese, but many of the faults with Gundam releases over here (no sub track for MS Gundam, bizarre landmark names like Great Canyon and New Yark in MS Gundam, cyber-newtypes, weird spellings, etc...) is because of them.

Well, my theory is that these VAs don't watch the Japanese version

Why should they? These people know how to act, they don't need to imitate the work of others. When VAs imitate the work of others we get horrific results, as we saw when Funimation first started dubbing Dragonball Z on their own.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. Is the english dubbing of anime perfect? No, it isn't. Could things be a lot better than they are? Certainly. But there are a number of major problems that have to be fixed first. First off, the dubbing industry as a whole deserves a lot more respect than it gets. Actors don't receive proper credit for their roles, and often have to revert to using aliases so its extremely tough to find out if they were actually in a show or not. You'd figure they'd receive support from anime fans. But no, they don't. Far too many as seen at this forum go out of their way to flame dubs to death as much as possible, putting the japanese dub on a pedestal so high that nothing in english will never approach it. Even if they don't understand a single word the japanese actor is saying, the actor's execution and pronunciation of his lines could be way off but the fans praise the work anyway and bash to death english actors with years of experience who do an excellent job. You want better english dubs? You can start by giving them more respect. Dubs will never be as good as you want them to be as long as you people flame them relentlessly with no end in sight.

All of you who are bashing Seed's dub, let me ask you something. Are you fluent in japanese? If so, then fine, you certainly have the means and the experience to support your claim that the japanese acting is superior. But if you're not, then the more likely, valid reasoning is that you've been watching Seed for quite a while now and have gotten used to the japanese actors. Are they good? Are they bad? They could be either. Those of us not fluent in japanese can't tell for sure. Suddenly the english actor comes around and sounds different than his japanese counterpart. And it shocks you. How dare they get someone who sounds different! Tough luck. Don't get so attached to the japanese VA in the first place and you might find yourself liking a lot more english dubs.

[darkchibi07]

OMG, I so love you now!

[Melazoma]

Originally Posted by Quiddity

Yes, we all know how you can judge an anime based on the very first episode -_-

First off, they corrected that ridiculous Ssigh spelling for the english release. Its Sai, as it should be. Second of all, its the japanese who came up with the ridiculous spelling, not those in charge of the dub. I know its heresy in you people's eyes to criticize anything done by the japanese, but many of the faults with Gundam releases over here [shorten only for brevity] sounds different! Tough luck. Don't get so attached to the japanese VA in the first place and you might find yourself liking a lot more english dubs.

This and many other animated series are completed shows and comes with pre-established characters and stories that at some point, will pay off when done right.

While I agree that the actors have no obligations to listen to the Japanese tracks just to get a feel for the atmosphere, what should be done really, is research into their characters and see how it was done in the first place, either via a coach or if available, a studio-subtitled episode. One of the chiefest principle in acting is that "Acting is Doing." In that everything an actor does or does not do, directly alters the perceptions of the audience, thus alters and shapes the character itself. After all, the audience only have an actor's doings to derive a character from.

Shifting to Dubbing, where as I mention above is a production of pre-established stories and characters. The "surfer dude" attitude is not an attribute of Kira Yamato; just as the "surfer dude" attitude does not exist in "The Phatom of the Opera." I see dubbing to be akin to Broadway re-runs or revivals of shows no longer played by their original casts. Some revival casts do an exellence job duplicating--not a requirement--the original experience while drawing unprecedented motivations and justifications from their individual chracters and still end up with an excellent production, some if not better than the original. The same thing can be applied to dubbing.

My greatest concern then, is not the complete replication of a production but that the latest production may capture the essense of each individual character and within that confine, do their own thing.

[Silver_Scorcher]

Originally Posted by Melazoma

This and many other animated series are completed shows and comes with pre-established characters and stories that at some point, will pay off when done right.

While I agree that the actors have no obligations to listen to the Japanese tracks just to get a feel for the atmosphere, what should be done really, is research into their characters and see how it was done in the first place, either via a coach or if available, a studio-subtitled episode. One of the chiefest principle in acting is that "Acting is Doing." In that everything an actor does or does not do, directly alters the perceptions of the audience, thus alters and shapes the character itself. After all, the audience only have an actor's doings to derive a character from.

Actually, in most cases, English VA's do have to watch the anime in the original Japanese format before hand. Some do it voluntarily to get a feel for the character they're playing, but most (particularly at ADV's IS&M) have to listen to the Japanese diologue on a head set, watch it on screen and recite there lines at the same time. It's mostly to match there speech with the mouth flaps on screen, hence making dubs a lot harder than a lot of people might think.

Warning: Spoilers ahead

Getting back on topic now, why are so many people complaining about how the characters sound in the DUB? It's the first episode for god's sake! I haven't seen the dub (I'll have to wait till the DVD's come out in September), but i have seen the series in its entirety. Alright so Athrun's VA doesn't sound so emotional. So what? Athrun is pretty calm and serious until half way through when Nichol dies. It's the same thing with Yzak. Yzak is pretty much the same case as Athrun until he gets scarred by Kira. Don't jump to conclusions yet. It's only the first episode. Just wait for the main characters to fill out a few episodes down the road. If the DUB doesn't improve by then, then everyone bashing the dub has every justification to criticise it. Until then just wait and be patient.

[Komataguri]

Originally Posted by Melazoma

This and many other animated series are completed shows and comes with pre-established characters and stories that at some point, will pay off when done right.

While I agree that the actors have no obligations to listen to the Japanese tracks just to get a feel for the atmosphere, what should be done really, is research into their characters and see how it was done in the first place, either via a coach or if available, a studio-subtitled episode. One of the chiefest principle in acting is that "Acting is Doing." In that everything an actor does or does not do, directly alters the perceptions of the audience, thus alters and shapes the character itself. After all, the audience only have an actor's doings to derive a character from.

Shifting to Dubbing, where as I mention above is a production of pre-established stories and characters. The "surfer dude" attitude is not an attribute of Kira Yamato; just as the "surfer dude" attitude does not exist in "The Phatom of the Opera." I see dubbing to be akin to Broadway re-runs or revivals of shows no longer played by their original casts. Some revival casts do an exellence job duplicating--not a requirement--the original experience while drawing unprecedented motivations and justifications from their individual chracters and still end up with an excellent production, some if not better than the original. The same thing can be applied to dubbing.

My greatest concern then, is not the complete replication of a production but that the latest production may capture the essense of each individual character and within that confine, do their own thing.

I think I want to worship you as my new god.

[Sanjuronord]

Originally Posted by Silver_Scorcher

Getting back on topic now, why are so many people complaining about how the characters sound in the DUB? It's the first episode for god's sake! I haven't seen the dub (I'll have to wait till the DVD's come out in September), but i have seen the series in its entirety. Alright so Athrun's VA doesn't sound so emotional. So what? Athrun is pretty calm and serious until half way through when ****. It's the same thing with Yzak. Yzak is pretty much the same case as Athrun until he ****. Don't jump to conclusions yet. It's only the first episode. Just wait for the main characters to fill out a few episodes down the road. If the DUB doesn't improve by then, then everyone bashing the dub has every justification to criticise it. Until then just wait and be patient.

You're referring to their big moments like it's the only point they ever display emotion, Athrun had two big scenes in the first ep, when Rusty gets shot (though that may have been cut, probably was) and when he first sees Kira. Yzak has tons of emotion even prior to the event you mentioned, that guy is bristling with cold hatred. Wasn't alot of scenes with the gundam pilots in this ep so it's a bit early to be saying whether the actors will nail the parts or not. As for this Kira as a surfer dude thing, i just didn't see it. Go watch the dub of gourry on slayers if you want to see a surfer dude dub. I'd rather not see Kira as a "surfer-dude" but does it really change his character that much if he liked to go surf w/ his friends on heliopolis?

As for having the voice actors watch the japanese dub, don't know if that's really neccesary or not so long as they try to remain true to the character. I remember reading one voice actress from the Kiddy Grade dub (never watched the sub or the dub so not sure if it's any good) mentioned she hadn't watched the japanese version but had instead read the manga to get a feel for her character.

Somebody else complained that fllay's voice actor sounded like a whiney little girl...did you actually watch the series? She is a whiny, stuck-up, little girl. Also, gotta give that voice actress props for even taking the part considering how some people really hated her character in japan anyways.

[Laurie-chan]

[Sunrise Studios announced yesterday that the Inuyasha TV series will conclude in September and be replaced in October by Mobile Suit Gundam Seed 2. The first report on Gundam Seed 2 will appear in an unspecified Japanese anime magazine next month.]

Gundam Seed 2???

[Silver_Scorcher]

Originally Posted by Laurie-chan

[Sunrise Studios announced yesterday that the Inuyasha TV series will conclude in September and be replaced in October by Mobile Suit Gundam Seed 2. The first report on Gundam Seed 2 will appear in an unspecified Japanese anime magazine next month.]

Gundam Seed 2???

Really? I just read from Gunota Headlines http://aeug.blogspot.com about a SEED 2 rumour. It sounded pretty legit (these guys don't post every rumour that spreads around). Guess all that's left now is to wait for an official announcement.

[-|(aGe-BuNsHiN-]

Gundam Seed 2 was proven to be legit way back when the Gundam Seed forum was still on ^_-

Ok screw the voice acting, screw the emotion, screw everything since its only the first episode and we gotta give them a chance. But my one and only truly serious problem with this dub is...what happened to the gun sounds?!! As i have said before, its sounds like a $20 toy gun from kbtoys or something...

[method]

There have been conflicting statements since Seed2 was mentioned at that con. This is the closest we have gotten to an official announcement.

[brightman]

Originally Posted by Laurie-chan

[Sunrise Studios announced yesterday that the Inuyasha TV series will conclude in September and be replaced in October by Mobile Suit Gundam Seed 2. The first report on Gundam Seed 2 will appear in an unspecified Japanese anime magazine next month.]

Gundam Seed 2???

I have some skepticism concerning that rumor... One, the only source is from a Super Robot BBS, and we know how reliable those are... Two, the Inuyasha anime is still going extremely strong, there's a movie coming up soon and the anime happens to rate significantly higher than SEED 1 ever did, so I don't see that one being cancelled. And three, IY airs on Mondays at 7:00PM on NTV, so that means Bandai would be placing SEED 2 on a prime-time slot in a network that never aired Gundam before. The network switching is not too surprising, since they've done that before with Turn A, SEED and SD Force, but that timeslot has been used for family programming for a long time (popular ones at that) and it would seem a bit strange to see a mecha show on it.

[Sanjuronord]

I'm gonna wait before i let my hopes get back up for the gundam seed sequel if it ever comes out. Can understand your skepticism brightman, but don't misread the quote, it says conclude not canceled. If Inuyasha was going to conclude, wouldn't everybody want to take over that time slot for their anime? Can anybody verify that Inuyasha is going to conclude anytime soon? This is the first I've heard about that anime coming to an end but it has had a pretty long run already anyways.

[brightman]

Originally Posted by Sanjuronord

I'm gonna wait before i let my hopes get back up for the gundam seed sequel if it ever comes out. Can understand your skepticism brightman, but don't misread the quote, it says conclude not canceled. If Inuyasha was going to conclude, wouldn't everybody want to take over that time slot for their anime? Can anybody verify that Inuyasha is going to conclude anytime soon? This is the first I've heard about that anime coming to an end but it has had a pretty long run already anyways.

Well, since it's still so popular, and since the manga is still running and the anime is in no danger of catching up to it, I'd say that it's "cancelled" ("concluded prematurely" if you will) if this is true. And so far there is no other source claiming that IY will be "concluded" either.

BTW since both IY and Gundam are animated by Sunrise, it seems more like this news is implying that Sunrise is replacing their own show with another one of their own... So maybe that's a reason that supports this rumor, but I wouldn't count on it.

[kj1980]

from the "Animenation" site
Gundam Seed 2 to Replace Inuyasha
According to a post on the Japanese Super Robot Taisen BBS, Sunrise Studios announced yesterday that the Inuyasha TV series will conclude in September and be replaced in October by Mobile Suit Gundam Seed 2. The first report on Gundam Seed 2 will appear in an unspecified Japanese anime magazine next month.
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There is a translation error here. The original Japanese text on the "Now airing Robot-Anime discussion thread, Episode 65" thread reads as follows:

今日サンライズの会社説明会行ってきたけど説明映像や担当の人の話から二つ三つ情報をゲットしてきますた。 説明映像の中でのガンダムSEED～虚空の戦場～の所のテロップが「2004年3・7月放送」になってた。 再放送かはたまた3～4クールの総集編か。SEED2の情報はマジ。10月放送開始の予定で現在制作中。俺 らに流すぐらいだから来月のアニメ雑誌には第一報が載るだろう。あと犬夜叉が9月で終わるそうな。余談だが SEEDでのサンライズの儲かりっぷりはマジで凄かったらしい（過去最高）。前年度の売り上げは90億を越 えてプロデューサーと監督は土地と家が買えるほどの成功報酬を貰ったとか。

Today, I went to Sunrise's corporate information seminar* and I was able to get several infos from the promotional video and the promoter. First, the video for the "GundamSEED~kokuu no senjou" (TV special) had the telop that read "March & July 2004." Its assumable that the next re-run [TV-special compilation] will be for the third and fourth quarter installments. As for the rumors about SEED2, it's true. They are aiming for an October release and are in they are currently in the developmental stages as I speak. Since they are able to tell this to me, I assume this news will be told in the next month's issues of anime magazines. Oh, and also, it looks like "Inuyasha" will end on September. On a side note, SEED seemed to have raked in the highest profit that Sunrise has ever seen. Last year's profit earnings went over 9,000,000,000 yen (~USD$90 million) and that both the producer and the director were able to get enough royalties to buy a piece of land and a nice house.


*April is "new students/new employee" season in Japan. Assume that this corporate informational seminar was for prospective employees that sent in their hiring-applications to Sunrise.


My assumption: I could care less. As much as I liked "Gundam SEED," I am in the first-Gundam generation. If true, cool. If not, I still have other animes to watch.