Brotherhood - in dub

[dragonimp]

The only thing I've consistently enjoyed in Brotherhood is the voice acting, so I didn't have much motivation to watch the dub. However, the talk about Al's new VA got me curious, and the episode that was showing Sunday was Scar's introduction, which was one I did like, so I went ahead and recorded it. My reactions?

• Vic's "little kid" voice still gets on my nerves. Like, fingernails on a blackboard kind of irritation. I'm just glad that scene was brief.


• I still don't like the way Hawkeye comes across in the dub. She's way too harsh.


• Al's new VA is quite good, I really like the range of emotions she pulls off. But if Al's supposed to be 14 (instead of the eternal 10-year-old he was in the first anime) then the voice she does sounds a bit too young in places. Still, if I hadn't been listening for it I don't think it would have intruded. And maybe it balances the way Vic's Ed sounds too old. (I liked Aaron fine in the first anime, but there were places where his reading came off flat or awkward. So far as I could tell from one episode, the new VA doesn't have that problem. I think that's going to be much better for Al's character in Brotherhood, even with the too young/feminine sounding moments.)


• Everyone else's acting was great, and there weren't any translation moments that jumped out at me.

I probably won't be watching any more of the dub. I can't even be bothered to catch up on the Japanese episodes, and Ed without Paku Romi's voice is just wrong to my ears. Still, it looks like they're doing a good job with the dub; it's too bad the quality of story is so hit and miss.

Comments

[pandoraculpa.livejournal.com]

Not to speak badly of him, but I've never really understood the fanclub for Vic as a VA, honestly. I have to agree with your assessment of 'annoying', although I'd almost go a step further to 'character assassination'. Paku Romi is the one I hear in my head as well; that's Ed, harsh and loud and not at all whiny.

But then, I nearly always prefer the Japanese versions. They get the characters right in a way that never seems to translate to the english castings. But whatever- if that is someone else's cup of tea, I'm certainly not going to get in a war over it (don't people have better things to do than shout about sub/dub?). I'm just gonna watch the subs and be content.

And while I can see what you mean about the quality of the series, I can't find it in me to be too upset by it. Considering what usually happens to books when they are turned into movies, and how dense the plot of the manga is, I think they're doing a fair job. Sure, it could be better, but it could also be so very much worse- I think their ability to hang reasonably close to the pertinent info of the story, considering the limitations of the medium they have to work with (time constraints, production costs, timing to end with the manga), has been decent. I actually think they've gotten better as the series has progressed (and Ed and Roy look a lot nicer now than when they started; I was very bothered by fugly!Roy early on).

But hey, if you don't enjoy it, at least you still have the manga! ROCKS FALL, EVERYONE DIES- OH WAIT NO THEY DON'T! Hee! Oh yeah, about that post... I think I read somewhere- and I can't recall if it was in the manga itself, or in some forum comments (too lazy to look)- that Father hadn't fully assimilated all the Amestrian souls yet, which was part of why they were so easily extracted. Hoho's countermeasures, yadda yadda. And dude- right there with you in wanting some action from Ling and Roy pretty damn soon. It's been bugging the shit out of me that Roy has just been sitting around shellshocked through the past few chapters. I mean, yeah, serious fucking lifestyle change and all, but this is a guy who's been through a war. He *knows* you can't just sit on your ass when the shit is flying. GET UP ROY! Pitch a rock or two, if you can't do your alchemy. Or better yet- CLAP YER HANDS!! XD

My two (or twenty, heh) cens. Stepping off the soapbox now.

[dragonimp.livejournal.com]

I've liked Vic fine in the other roles I've heard him in - just not as Ed. Whiny, yeah, and far too old. Part of the problem is the way the lines are translated, but he just doesn't quite make the right range of emotions. And he should never try to sound like a little kid, it just doesn't work.

Dubs are always going to change the material; it might arguably be a good change in some cases, but it's still going to be different. I like to hear the original. Not at all worth getting into a flame war, though, yeah ^^;

Brotherhood did hit its stride eventually. I was soured by the amount of early failures; the last straw for me was the inappropriate comedic with Ross in the jail. It's not something that can be explained away by time constraints - it added time - and it killed what should have been a tense and time-pressed moment. It did get better, and it's not unenjoyable, but as a series it really doesn't stand well on its own.

priestess_grrrl pointed out that soldiers wounded on the battlefield are trained to "lay low and keep out of the way", and that's probably what Roy's doing (in addition to the fact that, well, he LITERALLY couldn't have done anything in this issue). But I still think he would try to do something, now that alchemy's working again and they're not being blasted full force. He managed to pull himself together after being run through (and self-cauterizing the wounds! *_*), so he should be able to hold himself together until they're out of the crisis point here, too. I know she's got an awful lot of badass characters in one place right now and she can't focus on all of them at once, but it's time for Roy to get some action! And for Ling to stop being tacked on!

Hohenheim did say something like "they're not yours yet!" so it might be that he actually couldn't use them - but it still seems like Father was using much more energy than he had access to before, if only passively to "contain his god". I just wonder if it's even going to be addressed - or if that very brief explanation is going to be all we'll get.

[randomcheeses.livejournal.com]

Mmm. It saddens me, but I have to agree. Ed just sounds like a collosal whiner when Vic's voicing him. It annoys me so much. That said. . . I will probably keep watching the dub because it's nice to understand what's going on without subtitles.
Also I am shameless fangirl when it comes to Travis Willingham's 'Roy' voice. I can't help it! Don't judge me!

[dragonimp.livejournal.com]

Travis does a great Roy ^^. I was really digging the slight gravel he was doing for Brotherhood.

It is a lot easier to follow if you don't have to keep watching the bottom of the screen. I end up pausing and rewinding at times.

[fullmetalrose.livejournal.com]

I LOVE this post ... I am a dub lover because I just can't stand reading while watching the show (drives me nuts) ... and I am not a Vic obsessed fan girl but I do like him as Ed, especially when Ed goes on a rant he is good but yeah Ed is maybe a bit more whiney in the early parts of Brotherhood ... till he gets hardcore and that will be interesting to see the change in him and his voice. But to me Vic is Ed, I just don't listen so much to the sub because I am too busy reading hence why I hate subs.

I too like Maxey as Al I think she is doing well for someone who KNEW nothing of the series, etc. Just curious to see how she takes on the hardcore Al as the series progresses. But yeah do miss Aaron too.

I am most interested in how the voicing of Father will be as well as Greed/Ling as in the sub it appears the O! Greed VA is still Greed's voice as Ling is Ling's ... which is pretty neat.

Brotherhood is soooooooo different as you say hit or miss ... and very fast moving ... they should slow it down a bit to savor it more. Now the new Scar is different, completely and I like it because this Scar is pure hatred and out for a vengence. The first one was but not as defined as in Brotherhood.

Oh and Travis is just so Roy and who can't love Sonny Strait as Hughes and Chris Sabat as Armstrong ^^;

Ok that's my 25 cents worth, lol!

Still wondering who will be Ling's English VA ... no word of it yet ... and only 10 more eps till he arrives.

[dragonimp.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to wonder if the whininess is more a fault of poor directing, like maybe someone told him to "sound like a teenager". His voice acting in other parts hasn't struck me as particularly whiny. But either way they really should've gotten another actor to do the flashbacks to 5- or 7-year-old Ed - acting aside, Vic's voice just can't sound that young no matter how hard he tries.

Travis and Sonny as Roy and Hughes were so good in this episode, you could just hear the camaraderie in the easy back and forth ^^. Sonny Strait is one of my favorite VAs (and he's a comic book artist!), and I really liked the "rougher" sound Travis is using in Brotherhood.

[fullmetalrose.livejournal.com]

Agreed on that one ... but the ADR director again I think is Mike Mc Farland and is it Caitlin Glass ???? They were the directors for the first series ... hmmmmm

I know even if he TRIES to sound like a kid, its still teenager Ed ... of course I never see Ed as a teen more like a really short adult, lol!

I remember when I met Travis last May he was SO psyched to be playing Roy again and I think this time they were watching Brotherhood subs on Funimation so maybe he was getting the intensitiy of this version of Roy but yes OMG Sonny and Travis' scenes were pure awesome ... too bad Hughes dies too soon!

I especially loved when Hughes showed up AFTER the fight, lol!