The Licensing of Haruhi Suzumiya

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Ultima_Rasengan05

makes me wonder if this whole SOS thing coming to America is becoming a bit out of hand with these myspace accounts being made based off the characters

Everything about the series has been out of hand for a long time. Though it will probably never dethrone the Naruto Brigade of rampaging Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa????!!! Then again Myspace is not exactly a good example of the real world at all. I mostly attribute myself to people who are emitting a desperate cry for help and wish they had another life, possibly there favourite anime or game characters life. You know like all those Sephiroth avatar and sig users. You know when you look at things it could be a bit worse I guess.

Still if there's one lasting problem I think the series has left us with it's this notion that the Major cast of the series, Sugita Tomokazu, Aya Hirano, Gotou Yukou are somehow infallible acting gods who can do no wrong and are perfect in every single role they do. You know they all worked together in this show and played off each other, but seperately, Sugita Tomakazu kind of sounds arrogant at inappropriate times, Aya Hirano is a bit of a ditz who can't really stay in a serious role for very long without slipping into her real voice after a while, and Gotou Yukou is well...... I don't really know much about her other than she basically works the moe in like every role and is more typecast than Aya Hirano will probably ever be. All these guys simply do not have the experience yet to be called true heavyweights in the voice acting industry, they have a lot of work to go.

By far I think the person with the most potential for improvement is Sugita Tomakazu. He has seen a lot of work recently and has been standing out quite a bit amongst his peers from Haruhi and I like his voice when he is just talking normally. If he can learn to emote without sounding like he's having a nervous breakdown I think he could be one of my favourites. Aya Hirano may improve if given the chance to do more serious roles as well, experience pays off after a while and if she can avoid slipping too often she may make it into another starring role. Gotou Yukou is a pass though probably.

With that being said about voice acting I can't wait to see all the people complaining about the North American cast, because the belief that the original cast was somehow the only group that can pull it off pervades like I've said.

[Vexx]

Actually... I've never seen a dub that came close to the original VA work, be it Japanese, German, Russian, French, Chinese.. whatever (live action or animated). It has more to do with cultural texture than skill --- though in the case of anime, the english dubs of japanese anime suffer from the problem that while the japanese industry carefully cultivates voices (hell, they even have colleges to churn out hopefuls), the american companies use a very small talent pool that basically consists of people they've worked with before who meet the comparatively meager budget restrictions. With the exception of a few productions, I find the dubs poorly cast and poorly acted... really badly acted in some cases.

On the other hand... its gotten better in the last year or two. I've actually complimented a few distributors of actually sounding like they took more than 30 minutes to cast the parts and those people actually sounded like they had studied the characters a bit. Disney has actually pushed the quality bar up because they've always been careful with their internationalization in the outbound direction and they've done much the same with their imports (like Totoro, etc).

Yeah, its a harsh assessment, but don't think because people are unsatisfied with the Haruhi dub that its somehow special or unique to that series.

As for the "viral market campaign" .. frankly I find it rather annoying and ... well, stupid. They're having to be so oblique with these "hints" that the dialog often sounds ... well... lame compared to the source material. Like a bunch of kids trying to sound cool and failing miserably.

(wow, I'm being curmudgeonly tonight...)

[Ultima_Rasengan05]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin_Sama

Everything about the series has been out of hand for a long time. Though it will probably never dethrone the Naruto Brigade of rampaging Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa????!!! Then again Myspace is not exactly a good example of the real world at all. I mostly attribute myself to people who are emitting a desperate cry for help and wish they had another life, possibly there favourite anime or game characters life. You know like all those Sephiroth avatar and sig users. You know when you look at things it could be a bit worse I guess.

Still if there's one lasting problem I think the series has left us with it's this notion that the Major cast of the series, Sugita Tomokazu, Aya Hirano, Gotou Yukou are somehow infallible acting gods who can do no wrong and are perfect in every single role they do. You know they all worked together in this show and played off each other, but seperately, Sugita Tomakazu kind of sounds arrogant at inappropriate times, Aya Hirano is a bit of a ditz who can't really stay in a serious role for very long without slipping into her real voice after a while, and Gotou Yukou is well...... I don't really know much about her other than she basically works the moe in like every role and is more typecast than Aya Hirano will probably ever be. All these guys simply do not have the experience yet to be called true heavyweights in the voice acting industry, they have a lot of work to go.

By far I think the person with the most potential for improvement is Sugita Tomakazu. He has seen a lot of work recently and has been standing out quite a bit amongst his peers from Haruhi and I like his voice when he is just talking normally. If he can learn to emote without sounding like he's having a nervous breakdown I think he could be one of my favourites. Aya Hirano may improve if given the chance to do more serious roles as well, experience pays off after a while and if she can avoid slipping too often she may make it into another starring role. Gotou Yukou is a pass though probably.

With that being said about voice acting I can't wait to see all the people complaining about the North American cast, because the belief that the original cast was somehow the only group that can pull it off pervades like I've said.

yea i can also see your point about the main japanese cast for Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu
there still can be room for improvement especially with all the rumors about the second season of happening

but as for the japanese voice cast
i am even more anxious to hear the American voice cast for this show also!!
but it seems that some people may have doubts that there will be a good english dub cast for this show!!
but from the VA polls at the asosbrigade website
seems like theres not much to worry about since they wanted feedback from the fans of this show about the sample VA we heard from the past week

[Vexx]

I wasn't terribly impressed with most of the candidates (there were a couple that sounded like they had thought about the role). But then... they were given some pretty lame dialog to test read in some cases (actually Mikuru's test-read material was an awful choice).

It would have been more courteous to the candidates to at least give them 2 or 3 pieces to read each, so you could get some feel of their acting range.

[Ultima_Rasengan05]

Originally Posted by Vexx

I wasn't terribly impressed with most of the candidates (there were a couple that sounded like they had thought about the role). But then... they were given some pretty lame dialog to test read in some cases (actually Mikuru's test-read material was an awful choice).

It would have been more courteous to the candidates to at least give them 2 or 3 pieces to read each, so you could get some feel of their acting range.

yea true they could have gave them more lines to read from the show
but i found Mikuru"s VA candidates a bit wierd maybe due to the fact that it was almost moans all the time

but then again i would say that the polls were a good experience for us fans
and it gave us a certain outlook on how they would try to copy or imagine how the voices would fit with the character

my biggest problem with this whole VA poll thing was when it came down to Kyon"s American VA
it was a hard choice none of them sounded like him
so i just went with the most popular one that everyone kept on voting for and went with it ( i forgot what candidate number it was)

as for Haruhi making it "big" in America like Inuyasha and Fullmetal Alchemist
i dont think it can do that
the release of this show will be big but not that big
it will only remain popular to fans like us who have already seen this show through fansubs
unless cartoon network or adult swim got the guts to televise Haruhi
then i could possibly see it making it "BIG" but other than that
i think it wont happen
i just cant see Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu being televised in adult swim or even worse in toonami
hhahahahhaha thinking about that makes me laugh somehow
(all those little kids would get the wrong idea about high school)

[dodgethis_sg]

http://www.myspace.com/smokedcheese

And she's bi, apparently.

[Nightengale]

I miss the flexibility of ancient dubs like Speed Racer/Mach Go Go Go. They weren't exactly 100% true to their original source materials and some form of personal input can be seen in the respective characters, but they were able to somehow create a respective distinction of the characters, making them sound themself while somehow creating a parallel closeness to the original Japanese seiyuu even if not in sound exactness but in spirit.

Suzumiya Haruhi is the kind of series that can actually work well with that kind of change. But I highly doubt such actions will be taken, really. I don't really care so much about how close the character's voice are to the original, but capturing the essence and spirit are important.

[Setsuna Asuka]

They'll end up upsetting someone in the end but what can you do<_<

As for the dubbing of the show, I'm not too worried sine it looks like they want it to succed in the US.

[Ezekiel Rage]

Ok, I HAD to log in to say this...I usually don't post unless it's important...I lurk alot :3 Anyway, Tsuruya's Myspace is CREATED BY A FAN. Someone who's just trying to get in on the fun...but they're leading people to believe that her profile is also by the Bandai people...it's not. The only official Myspace is Kyon's.

I'd also like to point out how many people are making believe it's real...well as someone posted earlier...it's like they're crying out for a more interesting life, such as those of the SOS-dan.,..I'm one of those peoplke :3 There's no harm in it...just get's me depressed once in a while because I realize how much reality SUCKS

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by LCeh

Here's a piece from John from AnimeNation:



I think he made some good points, but I still think Haruhi can break into the main stream in US. I think it has the drawing power to get a lot of people interested, because it has many different appeals that can reach many different people. Simply calling it a "highschool comedy" is a little too generic for SHnY. In fact, I find it hard to put the show in a genre, since it has a little bit of everything, and because of that, I think it can be successful too in America.

Your also expecting that the American market would be at all impressed that it has different appeals or varying genres. It's like I said a long time ago, that it will not be put on Adult Swim, because it does not fit the criteria of shows that are usually on there. There are rare exceptions, but its not terribly likely as there is simply not enough action in the series that I think the executives could be convinced to take a risk. I know its nice to dream and believe that a lot of people will be interested, but most likely mainstream America will either miss the point of the show entirely or simply not care. Not everybody is willing or even capable to look deeper and peer into the layers beneath the surface of a show and see past the dominant genre it falls into, nor are they likely to not judge a show immediately by the cover of a DVD and what it says on the back. You may just have too much faith in the average human being, and you know that's kind of a nice thing to have, wish I still did.

[Setsuna Asuka]

Another Source Code:

<!-- The Council meets now -->
<!-- We determine tomorrow -->
<!-- THE oTHER IS HERE -->
<!-- Secure the vicinity -->
<!-- It has been a journey of several months -->
<!-- All will be decided -->
<!-- The end draws nigh -->

[CrowKenobi]

Originally Posted by Kaioshin_Sama

Your also expecting that the American market would be at all impressed that it has different appeals or varying genres. It's like I said a long time ago, that it will not be put on Adult Swim, because it does not fit the criteria of shows that are usually on there. There are rare exceptions, but its not terribly likely as there is simply not enough action in the series that I think the executives could be convinced to take a risk. I know its nice to dream and believe that a lot of people will be interested, but most likely mainstream America will either miss the point of the show entirely or simply not care. Not everybody is willing or even capable to look deeper and peer into the layers beneath the surface of a show and see past the dominant genre it falls into, nor are they likely to not judge a show immediately by the cover of a DVD and what it says on the back. You may just have too much faith in the average human being, and you know that's kind of a nice thing to have, wish I still did.

Then how do you explain Adult Swim airing "Paranoia Agent?" And how does that fit into your criteria????

[Ultima_Rasengan05]

Originally Posted by CrowKenobi

Then how do you explain Adult Swim airing "Paranoia Agent?" And how does that fit into your criteria????

if that is possible what are the chances of Haruhi airing on Adult swim??
to me paranoia agent seemed violent enough to fit adult swim"s criteria

[FatPianoBoy]

Originally Posted by CrowKenobi

Then how do you explain Adult Swim airing "Paranoia Agent?" And how does that fit into your criteria????

It fits in because [as] was testing the market for psychological thrillers. The market apparently failed the test, as it only reran once, if I remember correctly. Interestingly and somewhat related, I heard (did not watch, do not know) that [as] also omitted the final two episodes of Evangelion.

[GyroidFanatic]

No, they aired all 26.

[CrowKenobi]

Originally Posted by CrowKenobi

Then how do you explain Adult Swim airing "Paranoia Agent?" And how does that fit into your criteria????

Originally Posted by FatPianoBoy

It fits in because [as] was testing the market for psychological thrillers. The market apparently failed the test, as it only reran once, if I remember correctly.

I'd like to point out that when I made my post, an episode of Paranoia Agent just finished airing.

[Ultima_Rasengan05]

so the chance of Haruhi being aired on adult swim is slim or atleast fifty-fifty??

or maybe none

[Southern Cross]

I think Haruhi will be a bigger internet meme when it airs, at the very least. xD

Maybe the distributors are aware of Haruhi's capable "God-mode" and will inflict it upon the U.S. in an orderly fashion. I found that the whole ASOS thing seemed to appeal to those "aware" of memes and Haruhi itself. (i.e. the clear Esper reference and the shoved in though humorous "O RLY.. YEA RLY" sequence - and in it's essence.

But, realistically, I think a lot of people are worried about actually airing it. The way the distributors are taking it slowly, now, isn't too bad at all. Through that, acutally, I learned that a wider range of the American culture found SHnY more respectable than previously, although dismissed elsewhere due to the basic "anti-Anime Western -cynical-internet-er feeling" (I myself have actually been guilty of it, not too far back in life, but I'm really getting past it xD)

I myself am actually trying to get some of my reasonable, open-minded friends toward it. xP

Regardless, I think we're all aware of the current target of this "Stage-1" of the marketing scheme, I guess.

Although, I do believe, this may be so overhyped, some of the more typical Americans may get shocked at what they see and then easily dismiss it due to "unawareness", which I feel is always wrong, but what I also feel is a recurring human belief, or fear, however one may argue it as. xP

I'll stand firm with Haruhiism, though, I know that much. xD

[dkellis]

<!-- The Council meets now -->
<!-- We determine tomorrow -->
<!-- THE oTHER IS HERE -->
<!-- Secure the vicinity -->
<!-- It has been a journey of several months -->
<!-- All will be decided -->
<!-- The Chamber must be prepared for the hosts -->
<!-- The end draws nigh -->

DOOOOM, possibly.

[darkchibi07]

Mmmm, our impeding doom.

It's more likely the release of episode 1 of the ASOS Brigade with hopefully the English cast announcement!