The Dubbing of Haruhi Suzumiya

[FatPianoBoy]

Originally Posted by Quajafrie

I'm pretty sure that if I said "OMGWTF THE VOICES ROCK" without explaining why I like the dub, nobody would criticize me. And don't tell me that it's different, because it just isn't.

Probably not, but you probably wouldn't be taken seriously, either.

[TheWindKnight]

Okay, I know I'm all n00b-ish and stuff, but I personally am DREADING the dub. I've heard Wendee Lee's voice overs as a tsundere, and I'm not pleased with them.

Well, there are moments when she's good. When she's really exasperated, she's believable.

My first impressions of her come from Magic Knight Rayearth, though. There is one quote that she says really well, in my mind that I think is worth mentioning. "There is no way we can get through all these monsters, I mean, Mokona, come on..." she didn't do anger well, she didnt do sadness well. But she pwn'd at exasperation.

Yeah. After seeing Crispin Freeman, I'm not pleased, myself. But that's just becuase I dont think anyone can measure up to the Japanese Kyon.

And i do not like the voice of Shamisen.

That is all.

[Ascaloth]

Originally Posted by Quajafrie

It's just that if I made that comment in a real-life conversation, it would sound natural, but in all the pretentiousness that conquers the net. I was commenting on some voices, not expressing my opinion about a "serious and difficult" matter or whatever. And I'm pretty sure that if I said "OMGWTF THE VOICES ROCK" without explaining why I like the dub, nobody would criticize me. And don't tell me that it's different, because it just isn't.

Forum =/= RL conversation. On a forum, you have all the time in the world to think through what you're going to say, unlike in a RL conversation where everyone has to come up with something on the fly. Forum netiquette decrees that you make good use of that time.

And nobody would criticize you, true, but everyone would think of you as yet just another fanboy, and ignore you. And that's hardly better, is it?

[CrowKenobi]

Originally Posted by TheWindKnight

Yeah. After seeing Crispin Freeman, I'm not pleased, myself. But that's just becuase I dont think anyone can measure up to the Japanese Kyon.

Chris Patton.

Do you think that Crispin Freeman did a good job playing Hideki in Chobits?

[dkellis]

Originally Posted by Quajafrie

It's just that if I made that comment in a real-life conversation, it would sound natural, but in all the pretentiousness that conquers the net. I was commenting on some voices, not expressing my opinion about a "serious and difficult" matter or whatever. And I'm pretty sure that if I said "OMGWTF THE VOICES ROCK" without explaining why I like the dub, nobody would criticize me. And don't tell me that it's different, because it just isn't.

I don't know about anyone else, but either "the voices suck" or "the voices rock" would prompt me to ask why, whether in real life or on the Internet.

I like opinions to be backed up by some reasoning, even if that reasoning is "personal preference", since I don't think anyone is a mind-reader and knows for sure that it's personal preference instead of something more objective.

This is just a weird quirk of mine, though. I generally get irritated by one-line statements of opinion without any backing, which does mean that I get irritated on the Internet a lot. (It's actually easier to say "why?" in Real Life, taking less than a second, but posting "why?" online generally requires a bit more work and clicking.)

[jaziek]

Originally Posted by CrowKenobi

Chris Patton.

Do you think that Crispin Freeman did a good job playing Hideki in Chobits?

its the same person?! i havent researched the dub much, just watched the trailer.. I like haruhi's voice. I think wendee lee is awesome. In chobits i hated Hidekis voice in the dub... Ill stick with the japanese audio i think.. Purely because they cannot get the voices right for Yuki or Mikuru, it just doesnt seem possible.

[zoozoc]

Originally Posted by dkellis

I don't know about anyone else, but either "the voices suck" or "the voices rock" would prompt me to ask why, whether in real life or on the Internet.

I like opinions to be backed up by some reasoning, even if that reasoning is "personal preference", since I don't think anyone is a mind-reader and knows for sure that it's personal preference instead of something more objective.

This is just a weird quirk of mine, though. I generally get irritated by one-line statements of opinion without any backing, which does mean that I get irritated on the Internet a lot. (It's actually easier to say "why?" in Real Life, taking less than a second, but posting "why?" online generally requires a bit more work and clicking.)

you remind me of my english teacher , dont worry, thats a good thing.

I definently agree with you though, even if its something as general and vague as "the voices irritated me" is better then "the dub sucked".

[Mirrinus]

Just got the DVD today.

Haruhi's dub voice takes some getting used to. I didn't like how she sounded as introverted Haruhi in Melancholy I, but thought she picked up as crazy Haruhi in Melancholy II and III.

Crispin Freeman as Kyon was quite good, though. I absolutely loved his deadpan "yay" at the end of Melancholy I. My only complaint is that there's almost no distinction between his narrator voice and his dialogue voice, which makes it even more confusing than the Japanese version. Thankfully, Kyon gets more lines than any other character, so it's great that I like his dub VA's job.

Is it just me, or is Mikuru's dub voice even higher than her Japanese voice?

Yuki's performance was my least favorite. She sounded way too robotic in most of her scenes, which is sort of understandable, though, considering the differences between Japanese and English. Japanese is easily divided into syllables, which allows Japanese Yuki to develop a noticable rhythm that's nearly impossible to imitate in English. However, I did like Yuki's dub VA at the beginning of Melancholy III. She seems to sound better when she's speaking faster.

I don't really have much to say about Bosch as Itsuki. He didn't have that many lines, and what he did do didn't seem particularly noteworthy.

I can't wait to see what Melancholy IV will be like with Ryoko Asakura. Her dub sounds so sweet and innocent. Tsuruya's laugh was pretty nice too. But the star of the show was Crispin Freeman's Kyon.

Now to rewatch it all over again in Japanese.

[diopter]

Just watched the dub episodes, here is my thought on the dubbing:

1) Haruhi: I thought the voice was decent. But she came off as emo more than eccentric in episode 1. It did get a little better with eps 2 and 3. So as we get more dialogue of Haruhi in her usual enthusiasm, hopefully it will be rectified.

2) Kyon: Definitely the star of the dub. Crispin Freeman didn't impress me as much in episode 0, but starting episode 1 Crispin shined very brightly. I do agree that he did not vary his narration as much as he should from his regular lines, but that's not my main concern; although Crispin nailed the average frequency (for lack of better term) of what Kyon should sound like, I thought he lacked the tone and "attitude" of Sugita's Kyon. I am mainly talking about the lines where he should use a more sarcastic tone/voice. I think the sarcastic voice of Tomokazu Sugita is what made Kyon so endearing, and certainly why I decided to keep watching the anime after the first episode. But that's just being picky, overall Crispin has done the best job in terms of the dub.

3) Yuki: I feel like Michelle Ruff is trying too hard to be monotone/apathetic, so the end result isn't that great. Yuki only has 1 type of range in terms of voice, so I didn't think Michelle would screw that up. However, she did sound a little bit better as the episodes rolled on, hopefully it's not because I got used to her voice.

4) Itsuki: I hope I'm not the only one who thought Johnny Yong Bosch's voice acting is just way off from the Japanese counterpart. I know he likes to use his BS "I'm a voice actor, not a voice imitator," but bleh, I'm losing coherence in my typing just thinking what a horrible job he did. With Johnny at the helm, I feel like Itsuki will shout out "Bankai!" any second and swing a big sword at Kyon.

5) Mikuru: The #2 best job, after Kyon. I think Stephanie Sheh nailed the high-pitched screams whenever she gets harassed by Haruhi. Although I'm being nitpicky here, I do wish she would have more range in her high-voice (Yuko Goto is amazing to have such variance with her high-pitched voice). But truth be told, I don't think any other female voice actress could do half as good of a job as Stephanie did.

[Asrialys]

Originally Posted by diopter

Just watched the dub episodes, here is my thought on the dubbing:

1) Haruhi: I thought the voice was decent. But she came off as emo more than eccentric in episode 1. It did get a little better with eps 2 and 3. So as we get more dialogue of Haruhi in her usual enthusiasm, hopefully it will be rectified.

What the heck does emo sound like?

5) Mikuru: The #2 best job, after Kyon. I think Stephanie Sheh nailed the high-pitched screams whenever she gets harassed by Haruhi. Although I'm being nitpicky here, I do wish she would have more range in her high-voice (Yuko Goto is amazing to have such variance with her high-pitched voice). But truth be told, I don't think any other female voice actress could do half as good of a job as Stephanie did.

Haha, yeah, I thought Stephanie did excellent.

[KittiKat16]

It's out? Woow! I can't wait to hear the english voices ^^

[FatPianoBoy]

Oh dear...
The dub is actually pretty good.

Kyon is just hilarious. They really localized him well, since sarcasm in English and sarcasm in Japanese are conveyed very differently. Crispin Freeman did a wonderful job as well; I especially enjoyed things like 'Yay!'

Haruhi... is going to take some acclimating. She's not bad, just very different in delivery from Aya's Haruhi. SHE certainly immersed herself in the character, which is probably the most important thing if you want good acting. In fact, my biggest gripe was that "or slider" got cut for some incomprehensible reason. That'll be weird if/when they animate the rest of the novels.

Yuki I thought was all right at first, but once she got into her spiel in the third (second?) episode, I got a little worried. Yuki is supposed to be unemotional, but Michelle Ruff's delivery was just too flat; robotic, even - like she's trying way too hard to sound unemotional and she's going overboard. Refer to Rei's VA's performance for a teaching case on how to play the emotionless quiet one. I'm a bit worried about the upcoming episodes, actually.

Mikuru I loved at first, as well. In fact, it wasn't until the fourth (third?) episode that she really faltered: when she gets that serious look on her face and tells Kyon she needs to tell him something. Her voice should have become ever-so-slightly deeper when she said this and in her subsequent partial explanation on the bench. Yuko Goto played within just the right range and differentiated well between 'funny time' and 'serious time,' but Stephanie Sheh played for funny the whole way. However, I don't think anyone could have pulled off Mikuru better, so I suppose any complaints are moot.

Itsuki was wonderful. He nailed that 'guy's so fake I wanna break his nose with a semi truck' tone, and he really sounded like he loved listening to the sound of his own voice. I really don't have any complaints here.

Tsuruya... oh wow. I can already tell that the amount of screentime she gets won't be enough. Brilliant casting and acting right here.

Taniguchi and Kunikida were also superbly casted and acted. Again, no complaints.

Asakura had more lines than I thought I remembered. She gave a great performance with her 'needle in the chocolate' voice. Definitely looking forward to the next episode.

The cat was great, Kyon's sister was great... heck, everybody was great. I'm very critical of dubs, and despite that over-enunciated thing that plagues just about every dub ever made (I think it's due to the way they record here), I have few gripes to make. Everyone deserves a round of applause for their very bad acting in Mikuru Legend of Love Episode 00, as well.


I seriously can't get over how awesome this box is. They've stuck artwork and random stuff that appears to be that background text from Nagato's soliloquy in her apartment (in Japanese, no less) everywhere they could fit, so there's no negative space hanging around anywhere besides the space filler boxes. Which reminds me: it took me a bit to find my extras. They're stashed in the box under the DVD, not in the drawer (I had some trouble getting that drawer out the first time) - presumably to accommodate the pencil board and iron-on badge, which are too large for the drawer. The drawer appears large enough to hold about five CD's (OP, ED, Haruhi, Mikuru, and Yuki), which is good planning, but where am I supposed to store my ribbon ? Ooh, and the coolest surprise: the doors are held closed by magnets embedded in the cardboard. How cool is that? Speaking of cardboard, this stuff is thick. I'm talking 1/8th of an inch, at least. The box itself, completely empty, weighs as much as four DVD's in their slipcases. I think this may be the highest quality R1 release an anime has ever gotten. It was well worth the money. That's not praise that I just throw around, either.

[FatPianoBoy]

When Firefox crashes, the world mourns...

[X207]

Originally Posted by FatPianoBoy

Oh dear...
The dub is actually pretty good.

Kyon is just hilarious. They really localized him well, since sarcasm in English and sarcasm in Japanese are conveyed very differently. Crispin Freeman did a wonderful job as well; I especially enjoyed things like 'Yay!'

Haruhi... is going to take some acclimating. She's not bad, just very different in delivery from Aya's Haruhi. SHE certainly immersed herself in the character, which is probably the most important thing if you want good acting. In fact, my biggest gripe was that "or slider" got cut for some incomprehensible reason. That'll be weird if/when they animate the rest of the novels.

Yuki I thought was all right at first, but once she got into her spiel in the third (second?) episode, I got a little worried. Yuki is supposed to be unemotional, but Michelle Ruff's delivery was just too flat; robotic, even - like she's trying way too hard to sound unemotional and she's going overboard. Refer to Rei's VA's performance for a teaching case on how to play the emotionless quiet one. I'm a bit worried about the upcoming episodes, actually.

Mikuru I loved at first, as well. In fact, it wasn't until the fourth (third?) episode that she really faltered: when she gets that serious look on her face and tells Kyon she needs to tell him something. Her voice should have become ever-so-slightly deeper when she said this and in her subsequent partial explanation on the bench. Yuko Goto played within just the right range and differentiated well between 'funny time' and 'serious time,' but Stephanie Sheh played for funny the whole way. However, I don't think anyone could have pulled off Mikuru better, so I suppose any complaints are moot.

Itsuki was wonderful. He nailed that 'guy's so fake I wanna break his nose with a semi truck' tone, and he really sounded like he loved listening to the sound of his own voice. I really don't have any complaints here.

Tsuruya... oh wow. I can already tell that the amount of screentime she gets won't be enough. Brilliant casting and acting right here.

Taniguchi and Kunikida were also superbly casted and acted. Again, no complaints.

Asakura had more lines than I thought I remembered. She gave a great performance with her 'needle in the chocolate' voice. Definitely looking forward to the next episode.

The cat was great, Kyon's sister was great... heck, everybody was great. I'm very critical of dubs, and despite that over-enunciated thing that plagues just about every dub ever made (I think it's due to the way they record here), I have few gripes to make. Everyone deserves a round of applause for their very bad acting in Mikuru Legend of Love Episode 00, as well.


I seriously can't get over how awesome this box is. They've stuck artwork and random stuff that appears to be that background text from Nagato's soliloquy in her apartment (in Japanese, no less) everywhere they could fit, so there's no negative space hanging around anywhere besides the space filler boxes. Which reminds me: it took me a bit to find my extras. They're stashed in the box under the DVD, not in the drawer (I had some trouble getting that drawer out the first time) - presumably to accommodate the pencil board and iron-on badge, which are too large for the drawer. The drawer appears large enough to hold about five CD's (OP, ED, Haruhi, Mikuru, and Yuki), which is good planning, but where am I supposed to store my ribbon ? Ooh, and the coolest surprise: the doors are held closed by magnets embedded in the cardboard. How cool is that? Speaking of cardboard, this stuff is thick. I'm talking 1/8th of an inch, at least. The box itself, completely empty, weighs as much as four DVD's in their slipcases. I think this may be the highest quality R1 release an anime has ever gotten. It was well worth the money. That's not praise that I just throw around, either.

who does asakura's voice? i wanna hear it on a dub, whereever you found the dub

[Asrialys]

Originally Posted by X207

who does asakura's voice? i wanna hear it on a dub, whereever you found the dub

Asakura is voiced by Bridget Hoffman. When I found out that she was the voice, I knew that she was the prefect fit. She has that sweet voice fitting of Asakura. Roles I'm familiar with include Mahoro from Mahoromatic, Mizuho from the Onegai series, and Chitose from Chobits.

[X207]

so you gotta buy the dub versions?

[cmage]

I really liked the dub on this. Even my sister, who avoids watching anime on TV because she can't stand dubs, said the voices really fit the characters.

Kyon: My favorite voice by far, and this isn't just because I'm a Crispin Freeman fangirl. He nailed the sarcasm, and it was so much fun to watch him commenting on Haruhi and her actions. I can't wait to hear more of his voice.

Haruhi: The voice doesn't scream 'Haruhi' to me, but I got used to it, so it's all good. She got into being Haruhi, too, which makes things better. <3

Yuki: Her voice was really...robotic. Not much else to say.

Mikuru: The actor got the high voice perfectly, but it's always high. No breaks, no nothing. I'd appreciate it if they'd give her a bigger vocal range, even if just for my ears' sakes. Those squeals are beautiful, though. XD

Itsuki: Maybe I'm too used to hearing Johnny Yong Bosch's voice in everything, but the entire time I kept thinking that it was Johnny Yong Bosch, not Itsuki. Could he maybe change his voice a little?

I loved the bad acting jobs in Episode 00. Some of the lines were read worse than I remembered from Japanese, which was amusing. I'll probably rewatch that episode a few times just for Kyon's commentary.

One of the things I found really interesting was the different translation of the lines. I'm so used to a.f.k.'s translation that it took a little getting used to, but they made things flow really well in English. I also liked how they left moe but had a subtitle for people unfamiliar with the term. I still wound up explaining a few things to my friend who doesn't watch anime, though. He's newly converted to Haruhi-ism. !

Oh, and the box is gorgeous. *drools*

[Potatochobit]

I still cant get used to haruhi's voice. its gona take a long time. maybe its because I like Aya so much, but probably not.

the other characters i can deal with. mikuru is ehhhh passable. kyon i can live with him too.

edit: i figured it out! haruhi's english voice is missing that tsundere quality. her voice just doesnt grab you and say DO IT!

edit again: im getting used to her voice more, its more than decent :3

[Vexx]

Somehow all the dub remarks tend to confirm my secret horror but I *will* give the dubs a try when my box arrives. Just thank goodness these companies don't delete the japanese tracks.

[The Bloodlust Kid]

I kinda think Yuki is suited for Bridget Hoffman considering her role as Kos-Mos.