![[ANIME REVIEWS]](images/section_anime.gif)
 |


AnimEigo Dubbed Release
by Roderick "Agitator" Lee
When it comes to "pure fans," dubs will always be a hard sell.
Throw in a favorite character voiced by a popular seiyuu, such
as Hayashibara
Megumi or Tsuru
Hiromi, and said company might as well have been thrown to
the wolves.
AA! MEGAMISAMA's Belldandy is not only a fan favorite,
but she is also one of the most popular anime characters of all
time. She topped the ANIMAGE character
polls for many months during her heyday, and still sits in the
top ten; in the 17th Anime Grand Prix in 1995, Belldandy was
third on the all time Best Character list. Furthermore, she is
originally voiced by the illustrious Inoue
Kikuko, whose quiet, reserved portrayal brings a
graciousness to her character that no doubt contributes to her
popularity. Thus, AnimEigo had its work cut
out in attempting to bring Belldandy and her sisters to the
English speaking world with their dub release of OH MY GODDESS! Last year, though, AnimEigo
silenced many of its critics with their dub version of GODDESS creator Fujishima Kosuke's earlier
work, YOU'RE UNDER
ARREST.
Does the OH MY GODDESS! dub meet the
quality standards that they themselves set? Or is the ARREST dub a fluke?
For the benefit of those unfamiliar with the series, OH MY GODDESS! is a five-part romantic OVA
series based on the continuing fifteen volume manga series,
AA! MEGAMISAMA, by Fujishima Kosuke.
Currently, Dark Horse and
Studio Proteus
release the manga series, also under the name OH
MY GODDESS!
In the opening of both anime and manga, college student Morisato
Keiichi dials a wrong number while attempting to order food for
delivery. Instead, a female voice answers "Relief Goddess
Office," and says she will arrive shortly for a consultation.
Suddenly, the goddess Belldandy (the voice on the phone) pops
out of the mirror and promises Keiichi that he has been granted
one wish. Thinking that he has been set up by his dorm mates,
Keiichi declares "I want a goddess like you to be by my side
always." Thus, begins the new life and budding romance between
Keiichi and Belldandy. Later, the series introduces Belldandy's
sisters, Urd and Skuld, also goddesses, not to mention a wide
assortment of romantic complications.
Obviously, what makes or breaks a dub are the voices, and
casting director Scott Houle deserves recognition for his
selection ofdespite their inexperience to anime
dubbingprincipals Scott Simpson as Keiichi and Juliet Cesario as
Belldandy. In two words, Simpson and Cesario are "Dead On."
And their outlook on what they do and how they approach it (see
EX's profile
from earlier this year) is refreshing and promising. Cesario
will never replace Inoue Kikuko for this reviewer or for many
other longtime fans, but it is easy to see (or rather hear) how
fans who view the dub can prefer Cesario. Simpson also performs
commendably in comparison to his Japanese counterpart, Kikuchi
Masami, but as this is a shonen series, the emphasis is
naturally on the female voices.
It used to be that dubs were such a hit-or-miss issue that better
than average performances by a series' main characters
independent of the supporting cast were enough to classify a
title as a "good dub." But, AnimEigo helped raise the bar on
dub quality with their stunning ARREST
dub. And, conversely, AnimEigo clears their own bar. Lanelle
Markgraf infuses Urd with a tarnished elegance, very
appropriate. Meanwhile, Pamela Wiedner, who seems miscast as
ARREST's meddling Yoriko, is just the
opposite as Skuld, another great voice match. Keiichi's younger
sister, Megumi, as played by Amanda Spivey, is too immersed in
youthful slang (For example, she first greets Skuld with a very
timely, "Tsup?"). She suffers from an overly colloquial dub
script; if the translations were more literal like the sub, her
voice would probably sound more appropriate and less jarring.
Marc Matney's Tamiya even sounds like the original. Scott
Bailey as Aoshima is disgustingly arrogant, like he should be.
(Unfortunately, in reviewing OVAs 1, 3, and 5, the reviewer
missed the chance to hear Sayoko.) Only Ootaki seems to have
been played one dimensionally, the typical "hey dude" approach.
But at least in the anime Ootaki is a one dimensional character,
so that can be mostly forgiven.
The second component of a dub
is the script, which for reasons that will never be completely
clear, always has to be markedly different from the sub script.
Granted, there are some cases where voice synchronization issues
force creative translation techniques, but this does not happen
with every line. For all the good that they did in keeping the
sub and dub scripts of ARREST as similar
as possible, this effort did not appear to carryover to GODDESS. In fact, some critical changes even
modify characterization and plot.
Take, for starters, the signature line and entire premise of the
series: "I want a goddess like you to be by my side forever."
(This is a fan translation, but it is not far from Studio
Proteus's "I want a goddess like you to be with me always.")
Rendered this way, Keiichi, who still thinks this is a joke, is
asking for a girlfriend to be like Belldandy, not necessarily
Belldandy herself. AnimEigo's sub is: "I want a girl like you
to be with me forever," swapping "goddess" for "girl," but not
really changing any meaning. Contrast this with: "I want you
to be my girlfriend forever." And just like that, the
relationship (and some extreme purists might even say the entire
series) is different.
And this is not an isolated incident, either. In the "Burning
Hearts on the Road" dub, Bell lectures Aoshima that the Goddess
of Victory does not smile on those who only think of winning
because "real victory is compassion for others." What??? Where
did that come from when the sub script reads: "The Goddess of
Victory smiles on those who already have burning hearts."?
Granted this is not critical to plot like the previous example,
but it is just a "translation" from nowhere. More striking is
the scene from "For the Love of Goddess" in which Bell is
preparing to depart. In the dub, she tearfully recalls "nine
months of memories, and I can't even leave those with him,"
focusing on the fact that she will soon be not even a memory for
Keiichi. But, change just a few words and the sub says, "nine
months of memories, but I can't take them with me," shifting the
focus from Keiichi to herself. If there was ever any doubt of
Bell's love for Keiichi, then this sub line erased those doubts.
The dub line, while certainly emotional in its own right, does
not quite have the same effect since it reveals less about
Belldandy's own feelings.
Cheap humor appears to be another reason for some translation
changes. When Megumi first shows up and explains that it is
better for her to live with Keiichi because she would be safer,
the dub response is: "That's me, a real samurai warrior." Not
at all like the sub's "I'm not safe at all." Or in a slightly
earlier scene, the more literal "If you say so, I'm sure it will
be all right" is replaced by the joke "I make it a point never
to argue with goddesses when it comes to luck." This is the
kind of creative liberties that fans complain about from Viz.
Now, we have to put up with it from AnimEigo, too? Finally,
there is "Tamago no Uta," Bell's cute little baking song from
the opening to "Burning Hearts." Already tweaked once in the
sub, the song undergoes a full overhaul in the dub, and one that
longtime fans will likely be none too pleased with.
AnimEigo is to be commended for finding surprising voice talent.
Longtime fans should be suitably impressed by Juliet Cesario.
But this reviewer cannot get past the inexplicable and
unnecessary translation changes. For that, AnimEigo earns an A
for voices, but a C+ for dub translation. Newcomers unfamiliar
with the subs should have no problem picking the series up since
they will have no preconceived comparisons. And since most dubs
are aimed at new fans rather than old ones, AnimEigo has done
its job well, despite the translation transgressions.
|
Scott Simpson
Juliet Cesario
Lanelle Markgraf
Pamela Wiedner
Amanda Spivey
Marc Matney
Sean P. O'Connell
Scott Bailey |
|
Keiichi
Belldandy
Urd
Skuld
Megumi
Tamiya
Ootaki
Aoshima |
|
AA! MEGAMISAMA / OH MY GODDESS!
Copyright © KSS / Kodansha
Video
Released in North America by AnimEigo
Episode 1, "Moonlight and Cherry Blossoms"
Episode 2, "A Midsummer Night's Dream," 30 min each,
Hybrid CLV LD $34.95
Episode 3, "Burning Hearts on the Road"
Episode 4, "Evergreen Holy Night," 30 min each, Hybrid
CLV LD $34.95
Episode 5, "For the Love of Goddess," 40 min, Hybrid
CLV LD $34.95
VHS, one episode per tape, $13.45
|
|
 |