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My copy arrived today -- I watched the subbed versions of all four episodes to see how they did, and was fairly impressed. Most of the bits that seemed awkward to me in the fansubs were handled nicely, and there were only a few choices of words or phrasing that seemed strange to me, so I definitely give them a thumbs-up.
Then I repeated the experiment with the dubbed versions -- my ears were bleeding for the first five minutes or so, but once I got used to the different voices, they really weren't bad. I think Yukito's street-punk accent is a bit much, but from what I remember of the partial translation of the game text that I read a while back, he was a much more cynical and sarcastic character to begin with, so I suppose it's really not all that inappropriate. Misuzu sounds rather forced / affected, but she does get better as time goes on. Haruko seems quite appropriate, and I thought Kano was good too...maybe just a little old for the character, but I find that I'm more tolerant of that than I am of a voice actor / actress trying to force it: a more casual, normal-sounding older voice just works better for me than a fake younger voice (Michiru, I'm looking at you.)
Interestingly, the Kanon girls didn't bother me that much, for that same reason...they may not have been spot-on for those characters, but at least they didn't give me that "group of adults sitting around a table doing a DRAMATIC reading" feel either.
I do have some nits to pick with the pronunciation of names (Missuzu? Huhrooko? Come on!) and the lack of nihaha's and V's, but in the end, I thought the dubs did a very creditable job of conveying the heart of the story so far, even if they don't have quite the same atmosphere as the subs. So -- I'm glad that I bought it, even if this is the third time, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series and to the new fans that it should bring.
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