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NEWS: Seiyuu Change Enrages Fans


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kj1980



Joined: 26 Feb 2004
Posts: 9
PostPosted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 7:55 pm Reply with quote
The point that many Japanese fans are outraged is because of the suspected rumor that Yukana got the part by having an affair with the sound director. Hence, some people take it to the extreme by posting nasty messages to her website by writing satirical posts along the lines of calling her a "makura eigyou" (literally "pillow sale" - an euphemism for getting a job/role by giving sexual favors).

Some state that the basis for this was that there was a rumor several years ago that Nogami Yukana was in fact Fujino sound director's mistress which lead to a nasty divorce between Fujino and his wife, Fujii Kayoko (also a seiyuu - see below). During the heydey, Nogami Yukana had a mysterious disappearance to the U.S. for six months and came back when the fuss was all gone, with her name changed to just Yukana.

Since then, many people in the industry and the fanbase would quote that Yukana was Fujino's favorite.

Also, not only was Shimazu Saeko's voice for Four changed, but also for Rosamie. Rosamie was played by Fujino's former wife, Fujii Kayoko. Now if that isn't enough evidence of the sound director usurping his job, what is?

Add that to the various inconsistencies from Ms. Saeko's weblog, one needs to wonder if it really was the decision/fault of the staff as a whole, or just the sound director's abuse of his own power to do as he please?
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mufurc



Joined: 09 Jun 2003
Posts: 612
PostPosted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 8:04 pm Reply with quote
Voice is an integral part of characters, especially important ones whom people get attached to. People have watched the character for 50 (or so) episodes - if she were to return with a new voice, it'd be like meeting an old friend only to find out that she had a major plastic surgery job. If they decided to change the voices of some no-name characters, no-one would protest, but in case of main characters, voice does matter a lot.

Similar thing happened in case of Legend of the Galactic Heroes where two voice actors, who voiced very important characters, died. The studio tried to replace one of them, but it didn't work - the new voice wasn't bad, but it just wasn't the same. It wasn't the character people have grown to love during those ~80 episodes he appeared in. So as far as I remember, in the end the studio gave up and decided not to create any more stories featuring that particular character.
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Disden_M



Joined: 25 Apr 2005
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 10:43 pm Reply with quote
Hmm...even though I really like Four's original voice actress, I still feel really sorry for Yukana; I hope she doesn't read her BBS or else she might feel awful. It must be bad to be attacked by rabid fans with nothing better to do than to insult her like that. Rolling Eyes
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Nagisa
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Joined: 19 Aug 2003
Posts: 6128
Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh
PostPosted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 10:57 pm Reply with quote
Colonel Wolfe wrote:
Kudo's to our fellow anime fans in Japan for sticking to their guns and God-willing, the studio removes the offending seiyuu as well as Tomino.


Now why exactly would the studio remove both the film's director and the original creator of not just Zeta Gundam, but Gundam as a whole? Especially since the most "dastardly" role Tomino played in this whole thing was being misinformed by an unruly underling.

Also, something that's kinda bugging me here, is the frequent comparison of the voice casting for this Zeta Gundam trilogy—which functions both as a slightly belated 25th anniversary project for Gundam as a whole, as well as a 20th anniversary project for Zeta Gundam—to the voice casting for the English dub of any given North American anime release. They are nowhere near the same; these Zeta Gundam movies are, to the Japanese audience, a commemoration of one of the biggest animated television shows of the 1980s, whereas _____ dub actor in _____ North American series release doesn't carry anywhere near that amount of weight over here. It's a big deal memorial project vs. a direct-to-video alternate viewing option stuck on the back shelf at your local Best Buy. And if a voice was being recast for highly suspicious reasons in a show that was much more cherished over here—say they went back and replaced Homer's voice in The Simpsons with some new guy all because some temp failed to properly contact one Mr. Dan Castellaneta—I believe there'd be similar outcry on this side of the ocean.
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 12:48 am Reply with quote
Joe Mello wrote:

The most upset I got was Wendee Lee replaced Sherri Lynn as Kiyone Makibi, but I got over that pretty fast. (Besides, it helped that the season she did it for stunk.)
Ms. Lynn was allegedly struggling to do both Sasami and Kiyone when she did the "Mihoshi Special" hence Wendee Lee for the TV universe. I hope Media Blasters take note and change their cast for Ah My Goddess TV series to the AnimEigo originals.
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Colonel Wolfe



Joined: 05 Aug 2004
Posts: 370
PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 1:54 am Reply with quote
From what I heard from a member on my own site who was able to purchase the first volume of the DVD series for the television series for Ah My Goddess and that the voice actors that Media Actors hired for this new series seem stiff and unfeeling in their roles.

I knew that they would screw up this series and my suspicions have been confirmed. I'll be watching this series in its original Japanese audio.
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hikaru004



Joined: 15 Mar 2004
Posts: 2306
PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 2:04 am Reply with quote
Quote:
I hope Media Blasters take note and change their cast for Ah My Goddess TV series to the AnimEigo originals.


I doubt that would happen. Saiyuki underwent a cast change in the current region 1 release and there wasn't an outcry.

Region 1 fans aren't that vocal or that obsessive.

Besides, what if the new VA was an improvement?
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wao



Joined: 04 Jul 2004
Posts: 224
PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 3:15 am Reply with quote
Remove Tomino from the project? That's one of the most bloody hilarious things I've heard in a long time, sorry...

But I expect a lot of people will be pissed off at Sadayoshi Fujino after this. I wonder why he did that - it was very unprofessional if what I read is true. Perhaps he did not like working with SHimazu, or he just doesn't give a shit about the fans' opinions. Still, the *director* wanted Shimazu back...
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kinnonyee



Joined: 28 Sep 2003
Posts: 14
Location: Toronto
PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 6:35 am Reply with quote
Yeah, but Four is also considered one of the highest ranked female characters in the entire Gundam Universe (remember that poll a while back), and is a major main character. While I love both Rosamia and Sarah, Four is a much more important role for Zeta in general.

I dunno. With all of this, and Tomino supposedly redoing or "fixing" the ending for Zeta... This 25th anniversary project looks more and more crappy.

It's ridiculous to me to see so many fans think that this is just a small change and that people should just get over it too. Gundam is still considered a major series in Japan, and for many of us older fans, a major series here too. And unlike crap like Wing or Seed, Zeta is largely considered a ground breaking series within the world of Gundam, especially those of us fans of the UC universe. Nagisa's comparison to changing Homer's voice is pretty much well dead on. Four is just that beloved by almost every "old school" Gundam fan. I know most fans here won't care, or notice the change, but this first of all, isn't a North American voice actress, and secondly, there's history to this series. Why they would impliment this change expect to get no backlash is ridiculous...
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Demaar



Joined: 29 May 2004
Posts: 84
PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 9:02 am Reply with quote
Nagisa wrote:
And if a voice was being recast for highly suspicious reasons in a show that was much more cherished over here—say they went back and replaced Homer's voice in The Simpsons with some new guy all because some temp failed to properly contact one Mr. Dan Castellaneta—I believe there'd be similar outcry on this side of the ocean.
Heh, beat me to the punch. This was exactly what I was going to liken it to. Instead I'll use Transformers as an example (because it also has robots and hooked a lot of people on them): Imagine if Optimus Prime was replaced in the animated TF movie by the guy who plays Optimus Primal in Beast Wars, even if the original actor was available and willing to do the job and all of the staff except the sound director wanted him back. Hardcore fans wouldn't be the only ones having a hissy fit.
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hikaru004



Joined: 15 Mar 2004
Posts: 2306
PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 9:20 am Reply with quote
Even if there was an outcry over <insert favorite live action or animation VA here> not returning, it would burn itself out within 1 week probably. Character would have a sad farewell if live action or something else for animation. I would like to think that region 1 is not that obsessive. We've seen lots of actors/actresses come and go usually due to money issues. This is nothing new.

Besides once a contract is signed, I think that you're stuck unless you want to pay more money to terminate.

Plus you're only hearing one side of an issue. I think that the problem went deeper. Perhaps money was involved here also.
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Nagisa
Moderator


Joined: 19 Aug 2003
Posts: 6128
Location: Atlanta-ish, Jawjuh
PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 10:38 am Reply with quote
hikaru004 wrote:
Plus you're only hearing one side of an issue. I think that the problem went deeper. Perhaps money was involved here also.


Actually, we have heard three sides of the issue. We've heard from the original voice actress, Shimazu, the director, Tomino, and the sound director, Fujino. Thus far, given how Fujino's story carries multiple inconsistencies to it when compared to Shimazu & Tomino's accounts, it's looking rather like he's been caught in the act.
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Colonel Wolfe



Joined: 05 Aug 2004
Posts: 370
PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 11:53 am Reply with quote
Sorry guys, I meant Fujino not Tomino. Just an error in the message I posted. Wink
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lantis



Joined: 21 Jul 2005
Posts: 23
PostPosted: Thu Aug 25, 2005 2:57 pm Reply with quote
[quote="Mohawk52"]
Joe Mello wrote:

I hope Media Blasters take note and change their cast for Ah My Goddess TV series to the AnimEigo originals.

My understanding is that Media Blasters did come checking on the originals from AnimEigo and some are not in voice acting anymore. Also the old studio doesn't exist and Scott Houle is in a different location now.

I heard the dub and I thought Keiichi wasn't great but I thought Belldandy was very good.

The other goddesses haven't appeared yet.

By the way I understand all the major voice actors are Broadway show actors.
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ParaParaJMo



Joined: 06 Jun 2004
Posts: 333
Location: Gilbert, AZ, USA
PostPosted: Sat Aug 27, 2005 11:49 am Reply with quote
Is there any reason why Fa's voice changed too? What happened to her seiyuu?
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