2011-07-09, 01:30 | Link #142 |
Orthodox Haruhiist
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Making metal ... for fish
Age: 44
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So, Bandai was late releasing Volume 2 of the dub, but I finally got it in the mail today. Quick and dirty impressions are below:
- Cassandra Lee Morris still owns the role of Ritsu. Anyone who disagrees can talk to the Klokateers. - Stephanie Sheh seemed to be settling well into the role of Yui in this volume. Her interactions with Ui, for example, were very well-played. - Shelby Lindley's Mugi is growing on me. - Cristina Vee's Mio is acceptable. She still sounds a little like a 30 year old woman (who's afraid of everything) trapped in a fifteen year old girl's body, but at least it's an even performance, I have to admit she's settling nicely into the role, and there are times where she manages to sound just like Yoko Hikasa. Which is more than I can say about . . . - Karen Strassman's Sawako, whose performance ranges from 'semi-decent, with some Southern Comfort' to 'suffered an embarrassing hernia while trying to perfect her death growl.' - I'm still in love with Laura Bailey's Offdensen Nodoka. Like, completely. - Xanthe Huynh's Ui is still decent. Decent. Decent. Decent. - Christine Marie Cabanos as Azusa . . . she doesn't get a lot of lines in the one episode that she's in on this disc. The performance seemed quite good though, she captures Azusa's initial reticence very well. And the interaction between her and her domineering, unnamed, friend was very good. I look forward to hearing more. When they perform Fuwa Fuwa Time, they switched right to the original Japanese track. Fortunately, Vee and Sheh (especially Sheh) spend enough of the episode sounding like their Japanese counterparts that you almost don't notice the transition . . . but Yoko Hikasa's trademark Mio-squeak provides ample confirmation of the switch. There was a bit of a fake-out earlier in the episode, where Stephanie Sheh croaks her way through a decent phonetic rendition of the first verse of the song (after Sawako's Super Training,) which primed me to think they'd have the English cast phonetically sing the song in Japanese. This was, for better or for worse, not to be. Incidentally, the transition for Fuwa Fuwa Time was much better than My Love is a Stapler, where the transition from English to Japanese is a bit jarring. Though Bandai probably didn't intend it to be taken this way, their bundling of the English version of Fuwa Fuwa Time serves as a poignant reminder of "This is why you should be glad we kept the original Japanese track." It also reminds me of that time in the desert where a swarm of locusts, all looking like Cristina Vee, stripped the flesh clean off my bones in three seconds flat and left me with an undying hatred of her singing. That's how monumentally awful the English performance of Fuwa Fuwa Time is. Overall, I felt the second volume of the dub was very decent, and maintained the quality of the first. Except for the English rendition of Fuwa Fuwa Time, which was recently approved for use as the mood music for the level of Hell that people who talk loudly on cellphones in movie theatres during the movies go to.
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2011-07-09, 07:36 | Link #144 | |
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Join Date: Sep 2010
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Quote:
Mio: "Uaaaah! Uhuh! Hey! Don't make up garbage about me!" Ritsu: "I have plenty of pictures as proof." Mio: "You big liar!" Ritsu: "It's the absolute truth!" (holds up pictures) Mio: "Pan pastries.... 'Pan Tease'?" Everyone but Ritsu: (deep sigh) Ritsu: "More where that came from!" Mio: "Uuuuaaaaahhh!" Personally, I didn't watch the dub all the way through but if anyone is interested in my thoughts on the new Blu-Ray I wrote a review for it here, including comparisons with the Japanese Blu-Rays. |
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2011-08-27, 10:06 | Link #146 | |
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Join Date: Sep 2010
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2011-08-27, 12:01 | Link #147 | |
Orthodox Haruhiist
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Making metal ... for fish
Age: 44
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Quote:
Ironically, given some of the imagery presented over the course of the anime, it actually kinda sorta works, but YMMV.
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2011-08-27, 13:18 | Link #150 | |
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Artist
Join Date: Mar 2010
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2011-08-27, 13:59 | Link #151 |
Gamilas Falls
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Republic of California
Age: 47
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Well since the orignal song is used in at least one other anime of note (recently NGE and Nichijou), perhaps the North American release couldn't get it because someone else already had it and wouldn't let it go?
Though having the song they play for Yui actually have been used as a rock and roll song fits a little better.
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2011-09-11, 14:09 | Link #158 |
Orthodox Haruhiist
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Making metal ... for fish
Age: 44
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So . . . Bandai is actually on-time with the release of Volume Three of the first season. Again, I present to you my mini-review; starting with the extras!
Skip the extras . . . they're not worth the disc space devoted to them. There's the English version of "Watashi no Koi Wa Hotchkiss," which is an improvement over English "Fuwa Fuwa Time"; in much the same way that getting kicked in the nuts is an improvement over being kicked in the teeth. There's also an interview with Cassandra Lee Morris, where we learn that she thinks Ritsu has ADD . . . moving on . . . This disc is Azusa-heavy, so we get a really good look at how Christine Marie Cabanos plays her. The answer is that she's a really good fit for Azusa. The only problem I had with her performance is that she couldn't quite match Ayana Taketatsu's energy during the "Azusa's bandmates slacker ways makes Azusa go <mumble, mumble, mumble> . . . go crazy? YES CRAZY! DON'T MIND IF I DO! WHOOOOO!" scene. Cristina Vee has settled very well into the role of Mio. I actually feel my hate for her fading away. Since I am a curmudgeon, I think this means I need to go find her old fandub stuff on Youtube again . . . hey, Cabanos has a Youtube channel, I didn't know that . . . hey, that's actually a pretty good fandub of "Fude Pen Boru Pen", but I digress . . . Even Karen Strassman seems to have finally settled on an even portrayal of Sawako. And that portrayal manages not to be grating. On this disc, everyone turns in good performances. Especially episode 11, where Cassandra Lee captures Ritsu in all-up jealous-teenaged-girl mode (I still believe hers is the stand-out performance on this particular dub, by the way) and Cristina Vee portrays Mio with a very appropriate "Earth to Ritsu, Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot? Over" feel. It will be interesting to see how well they mix Episode 12 on the next disc. Not only are there two songs, back to back, but Yui spends much of the time talking over the first one.
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2011-09-11, 22:05 | Link #159 |
Senior Member
Artist
Join Date: Mar 2010
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^ LOL "Cassandra Lee Morris, where we learn that she thinks Ritsu has ADD "
btw is this what you were talking about? After watching the first 3 episodes, I going to say I like the Bandai English dub, they did a pretty good job.. there I said it.. please dont kill me! The Original will always be the best!. Last edited by Afternoon Tea; 2011-09-11 at 22:23. |
2011-09-18, 12:38 | Link #160 |
Japanese Culture Fan
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Planet Earth
Age: 33
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I just took a sneak-peek at the Bandai English dub. You know, I usually despise dubs, but K-On's dub is surprisingly good. The VAs never sound too deep, and they actually sound cute in some moments. I especially like Yui's VA. Apparently the people helming this dub were smart enough to know the appeal behind the original Japanese voice acting.
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