OVA Dub Review: Gaiden and Legend
April 2, 2003

Yes! I, of course, being the complete and helpless Otaku that I am, ran out and bought the long awaited Ronin Ovas today. And I spent the rest of the night watching the dub and seeing what Bandai did with it. In the end, I had mixed feelings about it. I'm still trying to decide how much I like it. But these are my thoughts as they come. Take them for what it's worth.

First of all, I had trouble just getting into the dub as I started Gaiden. Most likely because I've seen it in Japanese so many times. But, as soon as Ryo came in, I started feeling better. Yes, he's still played by our beloved Matt Hill. That man is a great voice actor. He jumped right in on his character and played him like he never left. The worse hiccup in the works where Ryo is concerned is I think Bandai tried to make up for the lousy (in some Otaku's opinion) dub of the 80's and do a bit better translationwise this time around. They changed the pronounciation of Ryo's name. Instead of Ry-Oh like we're used to in English, it's now said more like Rio. It was wierd hearing Matt Hill introduce himself as Rio instead of Ryo. I'm just too, too used to that dub. And I like Ryo's name pronounced the original English way! So sue me.

And while we're on the subject of voice actors, let's see what Bandai dug up for us. Matt Hill, it seems, took a few X-Men Evolution voice actors with him when he returned to do the OVAs. We lost Mia's original voice and got the girl who did Kitty Pride (Also, Earthgirl Arjuna). It really didn't fit, in my opinion. She sounds too much like a teenager and not the learned, mature woman Mia is. I don't think Yulie was played by the same actor either, but the kid did a good job of sounding like a kid so I'm not gonna complain. And, the second biggest voice acting tragety of it all was that Jason Grey Stanford was nowhere to be seen! I've followed a lot of his stuff. (Fatal Fury, Please Save My Earth, Ranma 1/2, Mermaid's Scar) He's one of my all time favorite English voice actors. Hearing someone else do Kento just didn't do it for me. And even though it sounded like this other guy tried to fill his shoes, the feel and the tallent just wasn't there.

Luckily for us, Mike Donovan also came back to play our cute little Cye again. Yay Mike! He did a good job of it, too. Though you could tell he had never been angsty in an English accent before. But it was all good. HOWEVER, here is where the WORST voice acting tragety of all occurse. MIKE DIDN'T GET TO PLAY SAGE, TOO! What the heck, Bandai?! What were you thinking? He's right there! Let him do Sage, too! Sounded like they hired just some dork off the street--probably the producer's stupid nephew or something--to do it. His voice was so high and sharp. It didn't suit Sage's character at all. Why? When you've got the original voice actor right there, why won't you let him play his character? Lucky for us, Sage doesn't say much. But I'm dreading his monologues in Message. Why can't Mike do them???

Who am I missing? Oh yeah, Rowen! I really don't know who his voice actor is. Someone I'm not familiar with at all. I'm pretty sure it's not the same guy who did the original, but this guy did a not-too shabby job of sounding like the original Rowen. Sometimes he sounds right on. Other times, like when he's calling up he armor, it's just not there. And the Brooklyn accent is sometimes missing. As for the OVA originals, Luna (or should I say "Runa" Why did they change her name?) did a pretty good job. I don't think I've heard her voice anywhere before, but I liked it. The acting wasn't too bad and she had some cute lines. Gene Gray, from X-Men Evolution (also female Ranma in Ranma 1/2) played Nadia. And as strange as this sounds, it really fit! All together, it wasn't too bad of a cast. It's just that Sage thing that still boils me.

As far as the scripting went, it wasn't too bad. Some parts were right on with the Japanese script and when it wasn't, it fit pretty good. Though sometimes it felt like they were getting lazy and the dialogue got lame because it was TOO much like the Japanese dialogue. And they say things different than what we do in English. And well, it just didn't feel right. Other times, however, the dialogue was great and fun and there were some cute lines in the show as well. I don't know why I liked this, but I thought it was cute when Luna says "Later Skaters" to Rowen and Cye. The dialogue, to my surprise, still felt a bit like the eightes. I think Cye even says "Tubular" or some similar word. And I swear, Kento says "dude" more times in those two OVAS than the whole series combined.

But I was really grateful for the dubbing in the second OVA. I got confused. I know, I'm so simple. It really helped clear a few things up. They tried to explain what they could and that was nice. And it was also cool hearing the Ronins say their last names in the dub. I think Cye was the only one whose full name wasn't mentioned. That was kind of a treat for me. ^.^

As I mentioned earlier, it seemed Bandai was trying to get a few more of the translations right this time around. I was afraid they might even change the names of the armor. But, breathe easy my friends, they're still the same. The sure kills, however, did get fiddled with. I think the Iron Rock Crusher was the only one which remained in tact. So now we've got "Rage of Wildfire" (For BOTH Wildfire and Inferno armors) "Lightning Strike" for Sage. I can't recall Rowen's. He might not have even said it. And get this, no "Supah Wave Smasha" No! It's just "Wave Smasher" now. :p

I dunno, just doesn't feel right to me. Even though they were trying to make of for long past dubbing errors, I think they should have kept such things like that that same for the sake of consistancy if nothing else.