[Siegel Clyne]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

But Hiyano Aya does speak like a prepubescent girl and a big, mature woman!

And Lacus Clyne's English voice actor, Chantal Strand, cannot do a big, mature woman's speaking voice - let alone do a big, mature woman's singing voice.

UPDATE (2006-08-31)

Re: Hirano Aya's Awesome Performance as Suzumiya Haruhi

In anime, English dub voice actors generally have a difficult time matching their Japanese counterparts in the singing department.

In years past, on the Anime On DVD Community Forums, I flat out stated beforehand and correctly predicted that:

1. In Chobits, the English dub voice actress for Chii (it turned out to be Michelle Ruff) will not be capable of singing the songs - "Raison d'etre," "Ningyo Hime," "Let Me Be With You -Chii Version-," "I hear you everywhere," etc. - which Tanaka Rie, Chii's original Japanese voice actress, sings on the Chobits animation series.

For a while afterwards, a number of English dub fans tried to get Michelle Ruff to sing songs sung by her Japanese counterpart, Tanaka Rie, such as "Raison d'etre," "Ningyo Hime," "Let Me Be With You -Chii Version-," and "DUAL" by MITSUKI from the DUAL anime.

They failed. Utterly.

Why embarrass yourself trying to sing when you know you cannot sing?

2. In Gundam SEED, the English dub voice actress for Lacus Clyne, Chantal Strand, will not be capable of singing the Lacus Clyne songs ("Shizukana Yoru ni" {"In the Quiet Night"}, "Mizu no Akashi" {"Token of Water"}) which Tanaka Rie, Lacus Clyne's original Japanese voice actress, sings in the Gundam SEED animation series.

Since the English dubbed Lacus Clyne songs in Gundam SEED came out over two years ago, Chantal Strand has never shown up in public to sing live and prove that she is the real singer of the Lacus Clyne songs in English.

Reason: Fake singing a la Milli Vanilli. Jillian Michaels and whoever else - NOT Chantal Strand - actually sing the English dubbed songs for Lacus Clyne on Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED DESTINY.

Let me add:

3. In Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya), the English dub voice actress for Suzumiya Haruhi will either a) not be capable of singing the Suzumiya Haruhi songs as well as Hirano Aya, Suzumiya Haruhi's original Japanese voice actress, or b) not be capable of singing the Suzumiya Haruhi songs at all.

UPDATE 2 (2006-10-04)

Last week I received Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY Vol. 4 Region 1 DVD from Bandai Entertainment and heard in episode 17 the horrible, anemic, off-key English dubbed song by The Ocean Group of "Quiet Night C.E. 73," Meer Campbell's uptempo version of the Lacus Clyne song "Shizukana Yoru ni" ("In the Quiet Night"). The person who sings the English dub version of the Lacus Clyne song "Fields of Hope" struggles and strains to sing "Quiet Night C.E. 73" on key, without success.

The awful English dubbed singing voice for Meer Campbell sounds worse when there is no bubbly, bouncy, busty Meer Campbell in view to distract from its horridness.

UPDATE 3 (2007-10-12)

One or two viewers commenting on this YouTube video claim that Canadian voice actress Chantal Strand, who does the English dub speaking voice for Lacus Clyne and Meer Campbell, sings the English dub version of the Meer Campbell song "Quiet Night CE 73" in Gundam Seed Destiny.

THEY CITE NO SOURCE FOR THE CLAIM.

There is NOT EVEN ONE official source - Bandai Entertainment, Inc. (North American distributor), The Ocean Group (English dubbing studio), etc. - that I can find which supports the claim.

I have been buying the North American Region 1 DVDs of Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny, released by Bandai Entertainment and dubbed in English by The Ocean Group. They do NOT state who sings the English dub version of the Meer Campbell song, "Quiet Night C.E.73." They do NOT state who sings the English dub versions of the Lacus Clyne songs, "Shizukana Yoru ni" ("In the Quiet Night"), "Mizu no Akashi" ("Token of Water"), and "Fields of Hope."

I have asked Bandai and Ocean, publicly, on the Internet, "Who does the English dub singing voices for Lacus Clyne and Meer Campbell in Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny?"

I have yet to receive an answer.

I will ask them once again here. But I do not expect an answer.

Why is this such a hard question to answer?

What do they have to hide?

Wikipedia articles on Lacus Clyne, Meer Campbell, and Canadian voice actress Jillian Michaels say that Jillian Michaels provides the English dubbed singing voices for Lacus Clyne and Meer Campbell in Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny.

Unless official sources state otherwise, or Chantal Strand shows up in public and sings these songs live, it must be concluded that the UNOFFICIAL claim by one or two people on YouTube that Chantal Strand sings, in English, as Meer Campbell and Lacus Clyne on Gundam Seed Destiny is FAKE.

Opinions, speculations, and wishful thinking are not facts.

UPDATE 4 (2010-04-08)

Watching the English dub track and rewatching the original Japanese track of Strike Witches, the Japanese voice acting has more depth of feeling and emotion in it than the English voice acting - something I often have problems with while listening to dubs.

Apart from the vastly superior singing performance of the replacement insert song "Negai no Tomoshibi" in Japanese by her Japanese voice actress Rie Tanaka as Minna Dietlinde Wilcke over that by the uncredited singer for Minna in English, for example, earlier today I watched Episode 8 of Strike Witches in English, then rewatched the episode in Japanese. I had forgotten how emotionally distressed Minna really is in the episode until I heard it again in Japanese.

Japanese GONZO Fan Confirms Minna's Insert Song Replacement on Region 1 DVDs

Japanese anime otaku and self-confessed GONZO fan Teramiya writes that the insert song "Lili Marleen" sung by Minna Dietlinde Wilcke (Rie Tanaka) in Episode 8 has been replaced by "Negai no Tomoshibi" (『願いの灯』; "Light of Hope") on the North American Region 1 DVD release by FUNimation of the Strike Witches: Complete First Season due to licensing issues.

"Negai no Tomoshibi," sung by Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke (Tanaka Rie), is the 41st and final track on the Strike Witches: Anata to Dekiru Koto game album CD, just recently released by Columbia Music Entertainment on March 24, 2010 in Japan.

Some English dub fans assume that Minna Dietlinde Wilcke's English voice actress, Anastasia Muñoz, does her own singing as Minna in the English dub version of "Negai no Tomoshibi" in Episode 8 of Strike Witches - even though FUNimation does not credit anyone in the ending credits and has not stated who sings it anywhere else.

But as we have seen before in similarly uncredited singing roles like Chantal Strand singing in English as Lacus Clyne and Meer Campbell in Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny and Laura Bailey (former FUNimation English voice actress for Marlene Angel) singing in English the opening and ending theme songs on Blue Angel, these assumptions by a number of viewers turned out to be 100 PERCENT WRONG.

The likelihood that someone else other than Anastasia Muñoz sings the English version of "Negai no Tomoshibi" seems high.

It would help if she comes out like Laura Bailey did and says who actually sings the song in English.

And if she does indeed sing it, hopefully Ms. Muñoz will sing live at events, conventions, and so on the way Japanese voice actresses (seiyuu) commonly do inside and outside Japan (e.g., Rie Tanaka sang live at the New York Anime Festival 2008).