Mike Mr. Groovy Toole (chiefdork@ANIMEJUMP.COM)
Sat, 20 Feb 1999 00:20:30 -0600
X-Mailer: Microsoft Internet Mail and News for Macintosh - 1.1 (34) Message-ID: <199902200620.AAA31506@saffron.propagation.net> Date: Sat, 20 Feb 1999 00:20:30 -0600 From: "Mike Mr. Groovy Toole" <chiefdork@ANIMEJUMP.COM> Subject: Sakura Wars OVAs dubbed in English!
Hi guys-- I just watched the dubbed volume one of ADVs forthcoming release
of the Sakura Taisen OVAs. Thought I'd share some thoughts.
First of all, the voices, obviously. I was ready to be mortified, but
they're actually cast AMAZINGLY well. Each member of the Hanagumi has an
uncannily appropriate-sounding actress. Particularly of note were Kanna
and Sumire's voices, who were dead on. Sakura's was quite good, as well.
The only sticking point was the accents.
Accents? Well, yeah. Actually, Maria's faux-slavic accent was pretty OK,
IMO. It was very noticable, but not really obtrusive. I can't say the
same for Iris' french accent (it sounded like she was just slurring words,
though it still isn't as bad as that horrible faux-French Kenji Murasame
in the Giant Robo dub) or for Kohran's accent. Instead of speaking in
"Kansai dialect" (some sort of English-language analogue, which nobody
seems to agree upon anyway), she speaks with what sounds kind of like a
cute-Chinese-girl accent, but doesn't succeed. It's as though she's
speaking in the same manner of the dubbed Shampoo from Ranma 1/2, though
her voice is much lower and she doesn't speak broken English. This is
really a shame, as the English Kohran's *voice* is right on the money,
particularly when she shouts "Steam bazooka!" in the first episode.
Males weren't bad, either-- Oogami didn't really say much, so not much to
say about that. Yoneda came across as a little too straightforward and
dignified, though that's probably just because he hasn't gotten plastered
yet. Ayame was also fairly good.
Name pronunciation: PERFECT! Well, almost. There is not a single
instance of actors misplacing accents in Japanese names (ex. pronouncing
"Yoneda" as "YoNAYda" or "Kirishima" as "KiriSHIma"), but there is one
mistake. With the exception of Ayame's actress, all the actors pronounce
"Sumire" with a short 'i'. Who the hell is Sue Murray?!
Translation: Not bad, but some weird inconsistencies. For some reason,
the dub actors insist that they're preparing to defend Tokyo. Wasn't it
Kyoto, the IMPERIAL capital? Sakura's last name is romanized as
"Shinguchi" in subtitles, but still pronounced with a 'j' instead of a
'ch' sound. The koubu are referred to as "oubu" (no 'k') in the first
episode. The name of the unit is translated as "Imperial Floral Assault
Team", which is quite good IMO. Interesting note: Sakura's special
attack is referred to as the Cherry Blossom technique, but she uses it,
she actually yells out the Japanese words-- even in the dub.
Overall: Surprisingly good! Folks who just don't want their anime in
English (like Terrence and Tom Cheng) won't get too much out of it, but I
strongly encourage all you Sakura Taisen fans to try renting it or
something. I was pleased with the quality of the OVA animation (and
especially the music!) and hope to see it out on DVD at some point.
Thoughts?
--Mike
"Hey, it's Ben Affleck! And Cuba Gooding Jr.!"
--my girlfriend, upon seeing Oogami and his senior officer squabbling in
episode 1