Forum - View topicHow would you rate Ocean as an anime dubbing company?
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UchihaProject
 Posts: 8 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia |
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I don't know if this goes here, if not I'm sorry.
I'm just wondering, I've seen a lot of people that hate Ocean because of their DBZ dub that they made back in the 1990s I believe. But no one has ever really talked about their other dubs such as Gundam, Death Note, Inuyasha and Black Lagoon. So I was actually kind of curious, if you have seen other dubs Ocean has worked on aside from DBZ, how would you rate them as a dubbing company? |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 8016 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Well, there's better dubbing companies but also way worse dubbing companies than Ocean too. Average I guess, though they occasionally do do above average work like the fore mentioned Death Note and Black Lagoon dubs.
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Surrender Artist
 Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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I'm very fond of their English versions of Galaxy Express 999 and Adieu, Galaxy Express 999. That's probably partly because those dubs carry the warm comfort of yesteryear for me, but I really do like them. What I've heard of Black Lagoon sounds very well done.
I used to have a low opinion of The Ocean Group, but upon reconsideration, I think that they have a respectable talent pool to drawn upon, can do good work and suspect that they might just have been stuck with a lot of cheaply produced dubs that had too small a budget to yield a good product and the reputation from those has stuck. They probably also suffer some for their association with the generally less artistically successful Blue Water Studios. Last edited by Surrender Artist on Sun Sep 18, 2011 4:14 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Sea Lion
 Posts: 307 |
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For me, it depends on when the dub was done. My magic cutoff date seems to be 1995. Most dubs done pre-'95 I don't like, while dubs done post-'95 I like.
Cases in point: Ranma 1/2 and Black Lagoon. I won't watch Ranma 1/2 dubbed because I just don't like it. However, the only reason to watch Black Lagoon subbed, IMHO, is to snicker at the Engrish in the Washimine arc. Side note: I can't wait until they get Roberta's Blood Trail dubbed. They better get the Ocean cast back, especially Maryke Hendrickse. I'd also pay extra to see the omakes dubbed on this set. |
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Kelly
Posts: 868 Location: New York City |
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I guess I'd rank it the same as any other company - some downright bad, some very specially good, and most in between.
For me personally, the dub for Infinite Ryvius is one of the few dubs that I outright just couldn't listen to. On the other hand, I agree with Sea Lion that the Black Lagoon dub and Maryke Hendrickse's Revy in particular were phenomenal, and I also loved the dub for The Girl who Leapt through Time. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 19151 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I agree with the others that their dubs have been hit-or-miss over the years, although the ones done in the 2000s have only rarely been "misses" for me. I am a big fan of the Inuyasha dub, which generally - though far from exclusively! - gets positive reviews, and Black Lagoon was a "best dub of the year" pick for me. OTOH, Starship Operators had a mix of good and lame performances.
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 12083 Location: Frisco, TX |
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I've been a big fan of Ocean-Vancouver since the mid-90s, primarily since I grew up hearing their dub of Dragon Ball Z and Gundam Wing. Granted, the script for DBZ is corny beyond belief, but I've always liked the sounds of their VAs' voices. Other favorite dubs of theirs I like include:
Black Lagoon Escaflowne Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture Inuyasha Master Keaton Ranma 1/2 (after Richard Cox started playing Ranma) The lineup I like usually includes Mark Hildreth, Scott McNeil, Ted Cole, Lisa Ann Beley, Brain Drummond, and the always awesome Paul Dobson. The group in Calgary sucks ass. The only passable dub of theirs I can tolerate is G Gundam, but everything else is crap. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 19151 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Ah, yes, I had forgotten that Ocean Group also did the commendable Escaflowne dubs. While I do like Paul Dobson's work, though, I am more a fan of Kirby Morrow and especially Kelly Sheridan. Don't think I've ever heard even a mediocre performance from either.
Other dubs of OG's that have been highlights for me have included Shakugan no Shana and The Story of Saiunkoku. On the downside, they were also responsible for the very substandard Crest of the Stars dub. |
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 12083 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Oh, yeah~ I forgot about Sheridan. Oddly enough, I feel she has the range to do either male or female characters. Don't know how low her voice can actually go, but I always imagine her playing Kenshin when I read the manga.
Oh, and I think Janyse Jaud has one of the more sultry voices amongst English VAs. She hasn't done too many major roles, but I'll always remember her most for playing Panni in Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture - hot character with a hot voice. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 19151 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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She also showed that playing Kocho, the Madame who employed Shurei (as an accountant) in The Story of Sainkoku. Thought she was a good fit in a bigger role as Margery Daw in Shana, too. And I never realized, until I just looked up her profile, that she also voiced Kanna on Inuyasha, so does she has some range. Unfortunately the pitch of her voices makes her ill-suited for teen roles, and there's typically little call for sultry adult female characters in major roles, so her options will always be limited. |
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ArsenicSteel
 Posts: 2370 |
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I am going to saddle up to Tony K. on this one. The DBZ dub was corny, as were most dubs back then, but the group that did them sounded good to me. Only a few Ocean dubs failed to entertain me. As a anime dubbing company Ocean is ahead of the curve in my eyes.
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EricJ
 Posts: 876 |
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And the sisters Costain (Angela and Elaina)--Back in the 90's, we didn't think ANY US voice could capture the criminal genius that was Nabiki Tendo. 
(I remember, back in the '92 days of college raw-VHS clubs, our first breathless moment of seeing the Ranma OAV's in English, and hearing Cathy Weseluck's Shampoo SOUND like what we imagined Shampoo to be was nothing less than a cultural thunderbolt.) |
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Tony K.
Subscriber Moderator Posts: 12083 Location: Frisco, TX |
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Yeah, I think Ocean-Van does an excellent job at foreign accents. They didn't use too many in Ranma, but Master Keaton is full of European ones (British, German, Russian, Irish, Spanish, and a bunch of others). Shampoo and Kodachi in Ranma, though, were awesome. I'm surprised they got Kodachi's laugh down so well.
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cl-shojo
Posts: 70 Location: New York |
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When I first bought Ranma 1/2 several years ago, I was fully expecting the dub to be awful because that was the standard during the mid-90s. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that the dub was pretty good, especially for its time. I even thought some of the English voice-actors' performances were better than their Japanese counterparts, such as Nabiki.
Other than that, I've also seen Death Note and Boys Over Flowers. While Death Note's dub is very good, I feel that Boys Over Flowers' dub is underrated. Even though some of the background voices and secondary characters don't sound very good, the main cast does suit their roles very well, especially Kelly Sheridan as Tsukushi and Michael Adamthwaite as Tsukasa. |
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TheSwedishElf
Posts: 300 |
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Overall, they're pretty good. They had a few misses, but who hasn't?
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