The Dubbing of Code Geass

[Tokkan]

Originally Posted by Spectacular_Insanity

Who cares? It's an english dub. You have to expect English pronunciation. But I do find it strange. I really think that the English voice actors should watch the original Japanese version in order to get an idea of the ideal performance. I don't think they do, which puzzles me. What kind of director would overlook such a thing?

From my talks with a few people who do voices in dubs, they usually watch the clip they're recording for in the original language before they begin recording, to help get a feel for what emotion they have to convey at certain points.

Also, Yuri Lowenthal (Suzaku dub voice) is fluent in Japanese and prefers watching anime in the original Japanese.

[rpgman1]

It was alright for a first episode. Real stars were Clovis, Jeremiah, and Lloyd. How could Bosch screw up our Lulu here when he is supposed to be an anti-hero like Light from Death Note (not sinister enough)? C.C. also needs some work. Kallen is okay. Suzaku is good. Rivalz is fine. Not bad by any means, but definitely needs big improvement on the main cast. I don't want to think, "Hey is this deja vu with Bleach again?" Lelouch and C.C. need to improve drastically and sound convincing.

[Aquaman OS]

Keep in mind doing it exactly like the Japanese just doesn't work sometimes. Example Kallen's orginal "you people know what this can do" line in Japanese shows her to be a very headstrong woman due to the chosen words and the way she speaks. That doesn't work in English so in order to get the same effect the "badass mother" was thrown in as if to say "this isn't your typical girl" There's a million different ways to say "you" in Japanese all of which carry different meanings politeness etc. There's only one way to say "you" in English so the tone is more important. This is why the deep manly almost monotone voices of several male anime characters in Japanese don't always carry over into English.

Likewise some things in Japanese just don't have the same meaning in English. "I won't forgive you" to Japan means a horrible act has been commited and a severe beat down is about to commence. In English? "That's the best you can say? Man you sound like a wimp. At least curse at the guy or something"

[Shinn_Kabuto]

I've watched the dub. And it's good in my opinion.

JYB's Lelouch is decent. Yuri did a good Suzaku.

Well, I need to watch it to enjoy watching Code Geass.

[digi.amuro]

Woot! They bumped Code Geass up to 1:00am on AS Saturday lineup. I actually think they may of used the schedule that I submitted...or one similar.

[WhiteWings]

I checked out the sample with the english dubbing of Lelouch. All I can say is the voicing is not bad but compared to the original japanese the english one lacks a punch behind it.

[Fome]

Bosch's portrayal was excellent. Emotive and fitting. Had the right degree of uncertainty but slowly revealed rays of resolve towards the end. Do some of you J-stalwarts ever think that maybe one shouldn't try to mimic the Japanese VA? Japanese Lelouch was good, but almost ridiculously overdramatic, I would say nearly superficially so. Bosch's version was more believable to me.

Like already stated, Lloyd, Jeremiah, and Clovis were fantastic.

[DJ_RockmanX]

Originally Posted by Fome

Do some of you J-stalwarts ever think that maybe one shouldn't try to mimic the Japanese VA?

Nope.

Originally Posted by Fome

Japanese Lelouch was good, but almost ridiculously overdramatic, I would say nearly superficially so.

That's half of the damn show.

[Fome]

Originally Posted by DJ_RockmanX

That's half of the damn show.

No, it wasn't.

[Dynzel]

Adult Swim has episode 2 up.

It seems to have turned out better than the first. Liam O'Brien is awesome as Lloyd. And Johnny seems to have pulled off Lelouch's laugh pretty well.

[KrimzonStriker]

Yeah, I thought the laugh was especially good... but he still needs to work on his commands, he sounds kind of... detached when making all those Orders. Hopefully the Zero helmet and its amplifiers will give him some more authority >_>

[DJ_RockmanX]

Hmm... overall not bad. JYB is still needs to work at the laugh a bit, but I'm fairly impressed this time.

[CharlesDiBritannia]

Liam O'Brien actually seems better than the original seiyuu in pulling off Lloyd's character

[rpgman1]

Liam O' Brien is pretty good as Lloyd. JYB sounds better than last time, but still needs some work.

[TurkeyFried]

Just finishing episode 2, and I gotta say that Lloyd stole the show. This is a perfect example of a voice actor who gets his character. Orange-kun also sounds very fitting. Lulu sounds much better than in the preview (I missed the first episode), but as others have said, he lacks strength. Maybe once he begins his Zero theatrics the voice will improve.

However, I can't say I like Kallen's voice at all. It sounded all over, like the actress was voicing for some other series. Hopefully, it'll sound better later on.

[vspirit]

Liam's /good/. As expected of the man who pulled Dist off without a hitch. He can do the brooding, manly and cool thing too, yanno, ala his character in Persona 3. I like everything I've heard him in so far. (On a slightly unrelated note, he kinda looks like his character in P3, too.)

I also like the Knightmare interface voice. Sounds really good in English. Technical jargons almost always seem to sound good in English to me, for some reason.

Everything else is subpar, at best, to me, I'm afraid. Some not so much but still toeing the line of mediocrity in my books. I'll keep on watching nevertheless, just to hear more of Liam's potrayal of Lloyd as well as to hunt for other well-voiced characters, if there are indeed a few more who have yet to reveal themselves. And maybe also to see if the others'll pan out.

Additional observation: I'm not part of the camp that thinks most things sound better in British English but I do like the sound of Lloyd speaking in it. It's fitting. Which is why I think they probably should've kept it up for all the other Britannians, or at least the ones who come from the homeland itself to keep the consistency going but I'll overlook that. What I find a little strange is the fact that they didn't do the same for at least the royals. They are the one class /above/ Lloyd's lofty one so even if they don't do the same for Lloyd's peers, not doing it for the royals when they've done it for Lloyd is disappointing to me. Clovis would've sounded awesome speaking in the Queen's English, pompous a** that he is. xxD Cornelia doesn't sound like she does either. Neither do Lelouch and Nunnally. It remains to be seen whether Schneizel and the Emperor do or not. If they do, the inconsistency would be over the roof but at this point, I've already gotten over it. I'd vie for it even, if it means that I get to hear at least some royals actually sounding all regal-like. xP

[Z3120]

What stood out as the worse to me was Rivalz. Just what happened there, I don't even want to contemplate.

[rpgman1]

That would be cool if we could get authentic British accents in Code Geass, like from Hellsing Ultimate or Final Fantasy XII. Sadly, this will never happen.

[darkchibi07]

Originally Posted by Z3120

What stood out as the worse to me was Rivalz. Just what happened there, I don't even want to contemplate.

He sounds dorky in both the English and Japanese dub so I say it fits.

[scifijimmy]

I noticed in the dub Ep. 2 that Suzaku was referring to Cecile as Ms. Cecile. Wouldn't it be more correct to have it as Ms. Croomy since she is Britannian and the western world put surname last. (Similarly the original in the latest episode of R2 I noticed the same mistake with Viletta.)