Forum - View topicNEWS: Yo-kai Watch Anime's October 5 U.S. Debut & Dub Cast Revealed
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ChibiGoku
Posts: 676 |
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I'll comment on the dub cast later, but I'll say this right now:
Holy crap, Dentsu's ACTUALLY keeping the Japanese music (maybe not all, but..), after virtually keeping nothing in either Deltora Quest or Danball Senki/LBX? Color me shocked. I actually expected them to replace the entire soundtrack, but apparently not. Wondering if maybe the Yokai Watch partners (music labels, game developer, etc.) forced their hand on the music being kept this time around. Which is odd, because I'd figured they would've done it with Danball Senki, but apparently not. Either way, that's... a good thing. Now my only question is how extensive will the anime localization go. There definitely seems to be some... creative writing with the script, but wondering how extensive this'll be past these clips. |
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ParkerALx
 Posts: 194 |
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I can't abide the dubbers for using a grown man to voice a prepubescent boy. Johnny Yong Bosch can pull of a teenager fine enough, but they really should have found a woman to voice "Nate."
It's nice to hear the Japanese music in the trailer. Dentsu might still pull a bait-and-switch like The Pokemon Company International does sometimes. They'd keep the music for the first episodes before coming out with a replacement score. It all depends on how much money could be made by farming music royalty rights from other international distributors. To my knowledge, this dub has already committed a number of other cardinal dubbing sins, including renaming characters and failing to simply record an English version of the Japanese opening song (which is a shame, because its damn catchy!). Do we know if they're going to try to pass the setting off as American? Good luck with that. 
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SquadmemberRitsu
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Johnny Yong Bosch and a bunch of guys I've never heard of. I know what to expect from Bosch (Probably good things) but I'm in the dark about the rest of the cast. Will wait until I watch the episodes proper before I make my judgement.
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KarmaRocketX
Posts: 62 |
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Man, is it ever my pleasure to be able to deflate your irritating default {Sorry, but no, I'm not going to allow this. ~nobahn} by informing you that the original Japanese actress for the main character is actually a 25-year old woman. Meaning that not only was the gender AND the age inaccurate, but that the English dub actually gets at least the gender right if not the age, making it 50% more believable and faithful to the actual young boy character than otherwise.
Oh, wait you actually WANT it to be inaccurate. .....logic. What is that.
So.... have you not watched a single anime series based on a toyline or a game-based source developed as an English dub made for a major network release in your life before, or are you just calling this a "sin" because you're seeing it for the first time, or {Insults are not allowed. ~nobahn} even at this point, how it works, and how this has BEEN working for a while. Because this has been standard practice, for not just longer than you seem to realize, but also more RECENT than you seem to realize, as well. You clearly know of Pokemon, but apparently you don't know about Digimon, or Medabots, or B-Daman Crossfire, or Bayblade, or the other dozens of shows that are adapted exactly in this way, even as recent as the last few years, where this process has never changed becuase it clearly works and it's clearly doing something right for what it's intent is.... to sell things to young American kids. But it's this {No, I'm not allowing this either. ~nobahn} logic of demanding that everything be tailored exactly to your elitist purist Japanophile whims that makes no sense to hold so hard to in cases like THIS that are FAR different than most anime adaptations that AREN'T trying to sell toys to American 10year olds, when the target audience of this series, little kids, have never demonstratively been concerned about things like whether or not the score, or the music, or the names are the same as the Japanese version they've never frigging watched, nor will even care exists. It's this logic, of demanding that everything be tailored directly to YOU as someone outside of it, even though you're not even the targeted demographic or audience here, who doesn't seem to care about the concessions that are obviously being made for mass marketed west appeal, and then applying your own ignorance of the process as some indignant "THEY'RE DOING IT WRONG" towards people who clearly know more about marketing to American kids more than you seem to. This is a process that, whether you like it or not, gets done with every single franchise like this, and for perfectly valid reasons that you're not even allowing yourself to see because your elitist, purist mindset is blinding you from understanding or caring about any of the reasons this is done (changing things to appeal to the targeted demographic of small children of which you are not one), just so you can bitch and whine for the sake of hearing yourself bitch about whine and calling things a "sin" just for not conforming to your personal semantics of how you think it should be done. Since you seem pre-disposed to hate it for the sake of hating it without remotely understanding the process, here it is, explained to you.... it's a rebranding that is done for the sole purpose of widening the largest possible mainstream appeal to the west. Faithfulness is not the name of the game here, it is 'selling a product'. And that actually necessitates changes like these, whether they sit right with your purist mentality or not. Not only that, but as all the other examples have proven, when selling a product is a higher emphasis than being arbitrarily faithful to the original made in a different country with completely different values of marketing and product shilling, it is a process that has actually produced positive results for them time and time again, that has outlived even the 4Kids days, to recent series on Cartoon Network like Bayblade altered for mass appeal to the demographic that is most likely to buy the product they're being marketed to, and not specifically catering to fedora-wearing, hipster neckbeard {I'm not allowing this, either. ~nobahn} who cry about every step of the mass-markted localization process while pretending not to see the obvious benefits of a process that works for the sake of marketing, while dismissing everything as "wrong" just to hear yourself complain, simply for not being made for someone like you who isn't the target audience and isn't going to run out and ask your parents to buy all these things anyway. YOU'RE not a 10 year old child that is going to want to run out and buy the product because it relates to you as a small American child who wants to buy the toys and the game that is marketed directly to you. And a 10 year old child that does fit this demographic is not going to care whatsoever what names are changed, or what deviates from the Japanese version they don't even know exists, or could care less about as long as it's specifically branded for their televisions in their country for their specific western brand appeal. The point here is that this is a successful process that has been applied to literally every attempt at bringing over a Japanese toy or game product to the west from Japan for small children that has proven so successful to work every time, that you really have no right to judge it or talk down on it, regardless of whether or not you specifically "approve" of it. There are plenty of uncut, faithfully adapted Funimation or Sentai Filmworks produced anime out there to pick from that AREN'T obviously centered towards selling a product to 10 year old kids that necessitates this kind of localized marketing model that has been working for it for years. So go find one of those with a dub that you can feel free to pick apart and rip into for being completely optional on an uncut DVD for the sole purpose of hearing yourself whine, and let the people that are trying their best to market a Japanese product to American children by catering an adaptation to their young expectations continue to do the job that works best for them and do what they're doing. Because there is a HUGE difference between the two and if you don't understand that concept, that's your failing, not the show's or the network's. Yours. Last edited by KarmaRocketX on Fri Sep 11, 2015 11:49 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Raebo101
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So what if a grown man is voicing the little boy? The kids at home won't mind
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KH91
Posts: 6176 |
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Veronica Taylor or Linda Young. Take your pick. |
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DuchessBianca
 Posts: 562 |
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Defintaly excited to see this when it premieres and looking forward to the dub as well as the game
I will have to echo a bit of KarmaRockets points though this show is being brought over for mass appeal towards the 10 year old demographic and with the intent to sell a bunch of merchandise so while I won't say so as a dub lover and anime fan in general that I 100% support changes to pokemons "Jelly Donut" and the like the target audience of the show doesn't care about the differences and is more interested in a show that will entertain them and make them want to ask their parents for merchandise. So while again it's fine for older anime fans to voice concerns on its faithfulness, anime shows aimed at mass appeal to kids historically are altered to make them more appealing to the target audience and it is unfair to extremely ctritize the changes made because kids aren't going to understand/know of the differences and making them happy and getting the series to do well in the west is the goal and this is the best possible way. Having said all that can't wait until it airs! |
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bleachj0j
 Posts: 923 |
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While I'm not fine with the localization changes. God forbid we teach kids and expose them to a different language and culture. The acting and voice work sounds fine. At least they keep the Japanese music (at least in the trailers).
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Mr. Oshawott
 Posts: 6773 |
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After watching the clips, I find it refreshing, as well as surprising, that the original soundtrack has been kept intact. However, I'm uncertain if that will remain the case when the show actually starts...
I really like how Whisper sounds, eager and full of energy. As for Keita, a.k.a. "Nate," his voice is simply too old for his age. Johnny Yong Bosch is awesome at performing as teen males, but when comes to prepubescent males, he, as well as any other mature male VA, just aren't fit for them. However, I put the studio at fault for that. As for the Americanization of the human characters and the setting...needless to say, I despise them. But I'm past that now, so I am going to give Yōkai Watch a try. Last edited by Mr. Oshawott on Sat Sep 12, 2015 7:08 am; edited 1 time in total |
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GalicianNightmare
Posts: 124 |
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@Parker What does gender have to do with anything? There's no evidence that women are better at playing boys than men. If anything, the latter used to be boys and if possible, can tap into that younger voice. :/ If you're going for "naturalism" there's a few things to note. One, acting by definition is feigning and cannot be natural. The term "act natural" is an oxymoron because of this. Two, JYB's a male and Keita Amano's a male. So by that stance, it's more "natural" than the JP version. Last time I checked, Haruka Tomatsu wasn't a male.
@bleachj0j I don't think you know what "localization" is. Everything is localized, even accurate English dubs, in virtue of said product originally being in a different language in the first place. That and I could go through the hundreds of different menus in non US McDonalds' restaurants. This dub seems problematic and is more of a farce. Two, please cease and desist with the anti-Americanism. Non English dubs of kids show are done in the same way in a lot of circumstances. But nobody says that French children don't learn about other countries. No-one says that German children don't learn about other countries. French dubs of anime have only been decent in recent years, similar to the situation in North America. The track record of French dubs in the past is comparable, if not worse than North America (mainly the USA and Canada). You're not implying that French children are more "tolerant" and "open-minded" than American children, are you? You're not saying they're smarter, are you? Also, Yokai Watch is in English, so not exactly a different language. Also, if people don't want to expose their kids to a different culture, it's not DENTSU's fault. It's the fault of the parents and schools who don't teach them about other cultures and countries. Anime isn't going to do that. That's like saying that the Japanese know American culture by Disney or Pixar. |
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Just-another-face
Posts: 324 |
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I'm amazed some folks don't realize that Bosch is currently voicing Nobita in Doraemon and is doing a fantastic job of it. He can voice preteen boys, people. Come on, enough of this "get a woman to voice the main boy" stuff.
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Mr. Oshawott
Posts: 6773 |
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I'm aware of Mr. Bosch's voicing of Nobita. Even then, I thought his voice just wasn't fit for him despite his good performance. |
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belvadeer
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I think it's a good fit personally. He can make his voice sound high and kiddish without needing to be a kid himself. |
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ParkerALx
Posts: 194 |
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Most grown men cannot pull off a natural boyish voice, at least for preteens and younger. It's a simple consequence of how the male voice ages. While they're rarely able to perfectly match a boy's sound, female voice actors can at least get closer to the right pitch and tone than the vast majority of their male counterparts. Casting men as young boys simply makes little sense. It leads to unnatural, strained performances, such as Nicolas Roye as Shingo in Viz's Sailor Moon dub. I am well aware what the standard practices are for dubbing Japanese kids shows. Unless someone can come up with a reasonable explanation for how changing a show's background music can make it more appealing to American kids, for example, then I will continue to view most of them as largely unneeded. If it offends you that I hold all dubbing companies to the same professional standards, then I am sorry, but I don't believe Disney, 4Kids, Saban or TPCi deserve a free pass for mangling a show, even ones that are as admittedly silly as Yokai Watch. I respect the work of quality dubbing companies too much to not criticize companies that hold themselves to lower standards. For the most part, I can usually forgive name changes when they make sense. I understand it would a bit jarring for kids to watch a show filled with nothing but foreign names. I get that. I do believe it should be avoided when possible, especially with main characters. "Keita" is a perfect example of one such name that could have been easily retained. It's both concise and pronounceable, much like "Seto Kaiba" from Yu-Gi-Oh. I will say that "Nate" is at least a better-sounding English substitute than "Ash Ketchum," though. 
I'm not sure why you felt the the need to reply to me in such a rude manner. I can assure you that I am by no means a weeaboo. When an anime has a competent English dub, nine times out of ten I'll watch that instead of the Japanese track. I don't even consider myself an anime fan in particular, more so a fan of animation in general. I'd be equally critical of name and music changes in an European cartoon, for instance. It has nothing to do with blindly preaching the superiority of the Japanese version like a sub-only zealot. More-or-less faithful dubs for properties like Digimon and Pokemon could still have been just as successful as the current ones. At the very least, they would hold up much better when people who watched them as kids revisit them years later. |
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Hazinger Zeta
Posts: 53 Location: New York |
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Just because kids don't care doesn't mean it "works" or is proven to be successful, nor should it mean they should keep getting gutted shows when the original version airs with little to no edits just fine in the rest of the world. It merely means they like the show. Nothing more. We Americans, and us only 95% of the time, have to get the "SPECIAL" version that nobody asked for, except execs with their own reservations. Kids' toy shows can have detail and things to say, too, and often do. That's a damn defeatist attitude to have. and LOL at you calling people "weeaboos" on a comment section of an ANIME site, that are rightfully concerned about edits in a show about collect-em-all-ized ghosts/spirits/other apparitions from Japanese folklore, incorporating story elements from said folklore, and other things that could mean the difference between the show keeping together as a cohesive whole in localization, and the show falling apart by the plothole-created seams, barely making any sort of sense or no sense at all, like the LBX and Digimon Xros Wars/Fusion dubs. One example in this show is Jibanyan became a Yo-kai (being run over by a car) and how the show always references this for humor. If the dubbers in their high-mindedness think that kids can't handle themes of death, then there it goes. Anyhow, yeah, at least the dub SOUNDS good. And speaking of Doraemon, they really should put it and YW on an anime power-hour block that would benefit both viewership-wise, instead of languishing on AM death slots like it been lately.
They made an English version of the ED though, so it's a nice halfway meeting at least. |
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