Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Summer Wars Cast and Inuyasha Final Act Re-Casts

Hey all of you English dub lovers out there! Richard J., blog navigator and blood-sucking lawyer in training, is here to talk about a few English dub news tidbits. You're probably aware of them but if not it's news to you and if so, hey, at least you get some giggles from watching some fool flounder about like a castaway adrift in a sea of pitch.

But enough about me, lets talk about the much-talked about Summer Wars!

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First, you might recall the lengthy rumor mill about the license back before it became a certainty. (EVA Rebuild #2 was also involved in that rumor mill and thankfully was also grabbed up by Funimation!) Basically, the rumors came from a UK company about an English dub being worked on for Summer Wars by Funimation.

Well, now we see the fruits of that labor. From one blog to another, I think that cast looks pretty darn good. It's actually a fairly diverse group if you look at the whole thing. Several major veterans and several rising stars. Maxey Whitehead is building a rather quality resume with Funimation, having worked on two of their higher profile series, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Soul Eater. Clearly the people who complain about a lack of new and/or young talent in Texas need to perk up their ears a bit.

Summer Wars appears to be getting a high level of treatment, though I've heard about some rather serious glitches at a screening. Hopefully, those will get worked out but I believe that a screening is a far different creature than a final production release. Sometimes, one takes the draft version to a screening or a problem that appears to be related to production is actually caused by technical difficulties. In any event, we'll have the chance to learn the truth soon.

Best quote from the Funi blog quotes:
WarGames re-imagined as a Japanese ensemble family drama. And then animated. – John Gholson, writer for Cinematical
Assuming he meant this War Games, that's like telling me they took an old Mercedes (cool car) and refurbished it, added enough electronics to practically allow for space flight and then painted it like these otaku lovelies.

Yeah, that quote alone puts this one on my Top Buy list.

And yes, I'd totally drive that to work. Even if I were PoTUS.

Especially if I were PoTUS! (Air Force One with Nanoha on it? Pure concentrated awesome!)

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On the Inuyasha: The Final Act front, we've got word of recasts starting on this page of AoD comments on Mania.com. Fairly reliable sources apparently. No outright confirmations from VIZ that I know of but hey, since when does VIZ really tell us anything?

As it stands, it is confirmed by the VAs themselves that Kelly Sheridan and Kirby Morrow are reprising their roles of demon hunter Sango and the lecherous monk Miroku respectively. ANN lists Jillian Michaels, Richard Ian Cox and Scott McNeil as reprising the roles of Shippo to fox demon, Inuyasha the loud warrior and Koga the wolf demon as well.

Confirmed recasts are Michael Dangerfield taking over the role of Sesshoumaru and Kira Tozer taking on the role of Kagome.

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This of course screws around with two of my favorite ships but I think Dangerfield can handle the role given some of his previous work I've heard (take Johann Trinity and just deepen the voice a bit, add a pinch of aloof gruffness and bake to taste.)

Tozer I'm not so sure about. Of course, Moneca Stori's voice for Kagome was always a bit of an acquired taste for many with some liking her work from the get go, others growing into it and others still being quite unhappy about her work. Me personally, I always liked her voice work on the show though I could never really figure out exactly why. (I know that sounds odd but I felt that there were flaws in the performance but I liked the performance in part because of them.)

For some non-anime performances of Kira Tozer, check here. Go here for some clips. This might be her first anime role.

So the question is, what about the last few major players? Will they be re-cast or reprised? VIZ isn't exactly a font of fan communication lately (or ever) so we've just got to keep our fingers crossed, our ears open and our teeth brushed.

So what are your thoughts on all of this? Are you excited about these English dubs? Are you apathetic? Will you donate money to me? (What if I post videos?)

Well, that's it for this blog posting. Stay tuned for more of my pointless posting!

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Bye-ni!

9 comments:

  1. Summer Wars has a pretty awesome looking cast! I look forward to seeing the movie whenever it comes out.
    Also, I'm glad to see Alison Viktorin in the cast! It seemed to me as if she hasn't been around on the voice acting front for awhile (not to mention her getting recast near the very end of 'Negima!?'), so I'm glad to see she's back!

    As for Inuyasha, I'm looking forward to seeing the dub for Final Act. It should be interesting to hear Kira's take on Kagome.

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  2. Well to be honest, I've never seen much of Inuyasha (maybe 10 episodes at the most), so the cast list won't bother me much. So I really have no comment, but if I'm not mistaken its been a couple of years since the last dubbing? As long as we get a dub, that what "should" matter.

    As for SW, the cast looks pretty strong. So as long as the hard stuff is fixed I'll be happy. It really looks like Funi went all out and tried not to get the same voice actor for roles.

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  3. @ bal-anime: Alison Viktorin's been in a few recent series but usually smaller roles or one-ep shots. Last really juicy part she had that I heard was Sasami in Sasami Magical Girls Club (not recent but still a nice part.)

    @ wilhelminaanime: Yeah, like Inu dubbing was several years ago but it's still a bit sad to lose some of the iconic voices. Still, it looks like VIZ or Ocean or whoever is in charge is trying to make it work so I accept this.

    I personally am always pleased when there is an English dub period but re-casts always bother me a bit. When they are necessary/unavoidable and I feel an effort was at least made to try, then I can accept them but total re-casts or re-casts that show that the company just didn't care generally drive me nuts.

    Plus there are just some dubs I don't think I could take being re-cast. Hellsing Ultimate and Shana are two I feel that way about. (Listening Funi? Don't even try to re-cast or I will freak out.)

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  4. Yes don't redub Shana. I do agree with you there. I'll probably re-watch the series before it comes out. I sort of can't wait for S2.

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  5. Summer Wars is going to be great! I was hoping it would be in theatres or even local like it did but in English. I don't care to see subtitled in the theatres.

    Inuyasha should be excellent as well! I'm pretty sure this is going on adult swim but uhh i hate how they treat anime now. Been horrible for years too...

    I too hate recasts. I mean HATE! It is pointless, I just don't understand besides absolutely having to recast due to horrific circumstances or something of that nature.

    Also when the hell is VIZ going to get on the ball and pop out the Monster box sets. I might have to drive or BART to SF and kick down their door! ><

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  6. @EG about Monster, I know this isn't the best source. According to Wikipedia they dropped the DVD's too low sales of the first set.

    But yeah I wish ViZ would do a better job, or at least pass their licenses of unfinished series to Funimation or Bandai.

    @Richard

    the follow night after you said don't redubbed Shanna. I had a dream they redubbed Wilhelmina, the voice Orson B. Wells. Then I woke up, but that's the only one I remember.

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  7. Wilhelmina, you have weeeird dreams

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  8. Lol funny dream. But for Monster well when I went to Wondercon in San Francisco this year the person at the VIZ booth didn't really know any release dates and so on just basically saying probally soon etc etc. Also at AX, VIZ didn't really have anything to say as well. To me I don't know how you can't release the rest of it since they actually have the whole thing dubbed, it just doesn't make sense. I can understand not going farther in the hole with some of their other series but for Monster this is different. They already spent the $ and made it. I would expect them to be released soon atleast that's what my friends and I think.

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