OK...so I'm looking at the old 1.11 thread to try and figure out what's so different between it and 1.01 (yeah, old news that I never bothered to look into)...and after briefly looking though it, the best I can come up with is some slightly different animation (halos) and the film looks brighter. Is that the gist of it?

I mean, is there a very good reason for me to wait until spring to get the movie? Though...I may end up waiting for the DVD to go on sale, anyways. But then that brings up the question of why they don't just release 1.11 in the first place?

Bah...well, might as well make this post be somewhat on topic.

SSD: Would you consider Palencia to be better than Winn-Lee? Even though it was the "accursed" dub, I always thought her performance was pretty good, giving Rei the right amount of creepiness to make it obvious that she was...well...creepy. Does Palencia manage to give Rei that "I'm a creepy ass clone of your mother" vibe?

2nd edit...or maybe the 3rd:
Thanks for clearing that up.

The darkness issue of 1.01 is fixed and there are some new cuts near the start.


Edit: I thought new Rei was nice and creepy, yes. And imo, her performance overall was better than AWL.

Senel17 wrote:

Blasphemy!

I concur. In fact, I originally posted the following comments about a month ago in a different thread, but I think they're probably more appropriate here:

As long as it gets the correct point across (Touji's punch affects performance against 4th Angel, wtf?) the dialogue smidge doesn't bother me.

Well, it's been over a month since I saw Rebuild 1.0's dub, and I already posted some remarks/spoilers regarding Funimation's script (see above), so I figured I would take a few minutes to comment on the voice acting.

I should probably briefly add that I'm a big fan of ADV's original dub to the point where their voice actors have achieved quasi-celebrity status in my mind. Just wanted to make that clear ahead of time, so that anyone reading this can take my personal bias into account.

Spike Spencer and Allison Keith-Shipp: What can I say? If Funi had tried to replace either of them, I probably would have been leading a protest outside of the theater. I thought they were just wonderful all those years ago and IMO they're still perfect in their roles. Alright, let's move on...

Colleen Clinkenbeard: It seems like a lot of people dis Sue Ulu's original performance as Ritsuko. I'm not exactly sure why. I've read criticism on other threads stating she was too shrill or that she played the role too much like a villain. Whatever. I, for one, thought she did a fine job. She sounded intelligent, as a scientist should be, but also jaded and somewhat mysterious, in the sense that you suspect she is concealing things about NERV, as well as her own emotional baggage. Yes she had a bit of a temper, particularly when she does not get the results she expects. I always felt her voice worked especially well when her character was conversing with Misato.

Oh right, getting back to Colleen Clinkenbeard as the new Ritsuko, I guess her voice was serviceable. Unfortunately, I can't really say anything much more positive than that. I mean, she still sounds intelligent and a bit intimidating in a way that would probably make me think twice before getting into an argument with her, but I thought she sounded a little older and I didn't quite detect the same underlying tension when her character was chatting with Misato. Not a big problem for me, but I don't feel like she added anything special to the role.

Caitlin Glass, Mike McFarland, and Phil Parsons as Maya, Hyuuga, and Aoba: Nothing bad to report here. Don't get me wrong, I still prefer the actors ADV used in the original series dub, but I also remember watching the Director's Cut episodes recently and feeling that Monica Rial and Vic Mignogna just didn't sound right as Ibuki and Aoba, so I'm glad Funimation found different, but still competent actors, to fill these roles. Basically, I found that during all the battle sequences when the bridge crew at NERV were yelling out various technical details, none of these new voices felt out of place or detracted from the scene, and that's good enough for me.

John Swasey: When I first watched the director's cut episodes a few years back, the thing that disappointed me the most was that ADV did not bring back Tristan MacAvery to play Gendo Ikari. I was actually kinda heartbroken (yes, he was that good). Maybe because of that, I overreacted and declared my hatred of John Swasey's performance. Well, either he's improved over the last few years or I've mellowed out a bit, because I thought he actually did a decent job in Rebuild. I still wish Funimation could have found Mr. MacAvery and made him an offer he could not refuse, but at least I no longer get a nervous twitch whenever I hear John Swasey's voice. I’m placing that in the “W” column.

Come to think of it, I had a bigger issue with the selection of Kent Williams as Professor Fuyutsuki. He seemed like a good enough voice actor and all. It’s just that I thought he sounded much too similar to John Swasey, and when you consider most of his scenes take place standing right next to Gendo and talking to him, it could get a little bit confusing. Sometimes I wasn’t entirely certain which character was speaking. I was trying to use lipflaps as a guide, but as we all know, that is not always the most reliable method when watching Eva. I was briefly discussing this issue with someone I met at the theatre after the ending credits and she mentioned having the same problem.

Brina Palencia as Rei: This is where I suspect a lot of people will disagree with me. Once again, I thought ADV’s original voice actor (no surprise), Amanda Wynn-Lee, did a phenomenal job and I was really hoping they could have found a way to have her reprise the role. I don’t know. Ms. Palencia wasn’t awful or anything, but she sounded almost too normal to my ears and I can’t help but wonder whether they could have found someone a little better. Despite what many people say, I believe there is a whole lot more to portraying Rei Ayanami properly than just speaking softly or in a monotone.

Perhaps the real issue is that my assessment of Rei might be somewhat different from what most people out there (or, at least, the Funi’s casting director) have for the character. She’s usually described as mysterious and emotionless, but I view her more as a rather gentle young lady who, due to her utter lack of any social experiences, has no concept of how to communicate with anyone unless it’s concerning her job as a pilot. Sure, when she does speak, she tends to use only brief, cryptic phrases, but I always felt that had more to do with Gendo’s influence.

For example, I love the scene when they’re discussing piloting and Shinji tries to compliment Rei by saying how he thinks she’s stronger than him (paraphrasing). Rei responds by telling him, “I have nothing else” and elects not to elaborate. I’m always blown away by her wonderfully naïve absence of anything resembling a self conscious attempt to conceal how empty and (let’s face it) pathetic her life probably appears to someone else. I’ve always felt that this level of pure sincerity probably makes her the most genuine character in the entire cast. I honestly can’t think of any other person I’ve come across who would make such an admission so straightforwardly.

Sorry for that whole tangent. Basically, these were the qualities I kept listening for traces of in Brina Palencia’s performance, but none of it was reaching me. I also couldn’t detect much “chemistry,” so to speak, during the conversations her character has with Shinji. The magic just wasn’t there. It’s almost enough to make me hope she doesn’t recite “Rei’s poem” in any of the other Rebuild films.

Let’s see, who’s left?

Leah Clarke as Hikari: Not much dialogue to go on from this character, but at least she didn’t make my ears bleed like Kimberly Yates from Manga Entertainment’s release of Death & Rebirth. For the record, I still like Carol Amerson from ADV’s dub (tough as the Class Rep, but tender when she got all mushy over Touji), but there’s no problem with this new actress.

Justin Cook as Touji Suzuhara and Greg Ayres as Kensuke Aida: Wrong and wronger! Sorry to be so blunt, but I think these two were probably the most miscast of the whole production. I realize that ADV used three separate actors to voice Touji in the series and I would have preferred any of them instead of Justin Cook. His voice just wasn’t deep enough. I mean, come on! Wasn’t Brett Weaver available? Major downgrade IMO.

As far as Greg Ayres is concerned, I didn’t think he was a good choice as Kaworu in the director’s cut episodes and he seems just as ridiculously out of place voicing Kensuke in Rebuild. I know there are probably a lot of people who enjoy Mr. Ayres’ work and I’m sure he’s probably a very nice guy in person, so I don’t want to be mean about this. It just seems like he has a very high pitched, young sounding voice that IMO is best suited for little kids, cute disneyesque talking animals or magical elf type characters sprinkling pixie dust.

I’d like to pass the hat around and see if we can raise enough money for Funimation to go back to the studio and re-dub these two character’s dialogue using Brett Weaver and Kurt Stoll (as God intended) before they start releasing this on DVD.

Finally, Jerry Jewell seemed fine as Kaworu. Granted he only has like one line at the end of the film, but I’m giving him the thumbs up.

Maybe some of my comments seem overly critical. I hope I didn’t upset too many people. I don’t really hate Rebuild’s dub or anything. I guess I just wish they had tried to be a little more faithful to what fans of the original dub had grown accustomed to over the years.

I'm utterly crying at your naïveté BC, most people here have nothing but curses to shrill at the original English VA cast, some are given leeway varying on person to person, but for the most part they are either ignored or hated with a fevering passion of a thousand 2nd impacts, especially when we come to talking of ADV itself.

Don't get me wrong,

Trust me, it be better if we did.

You're the first human I've ever read call those "things" that voiced ADV Touji and Aida, human.

And Hick-I mean, Hikari was just random dialect. She's not even from Osaka, for that lame excuse.

Yes, yes, we all know about the drawbacks in the original ADV dub, but that doesn't mean people aren't allowed to like it.

Besides this is about the Rebuild dub, so save any love/hate for ADV for Chit-Chat/Discussion.

On a semi-related note, I think Clinkenbeard is a fucking hilarious name.

master_lloyd wrote:Yes, yes, we all know about the drawbacks in the original ADV dub, but that doesn't mean people aren't allowed to like it.

That doesn't mean we can't think less of them.

Hello again,

To Alaska Slim: I guess I am still a bit naive when it comes to NGE. I've been a fan of the series and movies since around '99, and I've done a lot of thinking about it, but it's only been for about the last month (since I decided to register at this site) that I've tried to discuss it with other people.

I realize that many of my opinons may not conform to how most of the veterans around here feel, but I still think I should endeavor to be honest in my posts, or else why bother to participate? As I'm sure was the case for many people, Eva resonated with me in a very personal way. I just happen to feel that hearing the characters speaking my own language played a partial role in how I interpreted everything. Since English is my first (and only) language, and I've been listening to it all my life, I feel like I'm somewhat in my comfort zone debating the merits of script and voice acting choices. Hope I didn't bore everybody with all that.

To Taekmkm: Well, I think all the voice actors (ADV or Funi) are human beings with real feelings. While I may appreciate some performances more than others, I hope I didn't cross the line into venom territory with my review. I'm pretty sure if I were to ever meet these people in person, I would probably find them to be very pleasant individuals.

Not sure what you meant about Hikari's random dialect. I thought Carol Amerson had a pleasant sounding voice and felt it was distinctive enough that it didn't blend into the background of the other students of Class 2-A. As I said, I also liked the new actress, Leah Clarke, who plays the role in Rebuild, however I continue to believe that Kimberly Yates from Death & Rebirth's dub was a poor casting choice. Accents or whether or not the character was from Osaka didn't factor into the equation for me.

To master_lloyd: Sorry if I strayed too far off topic. Most of my impressions of Rebuild's dub are based on opinons and expectations I formed while listening to ADV's dub for their original release, the director's cut episodes from the Platinum edition, and Manga Entertainment's dub for the films. It's difficult for me to discuss the voice acting in Rebuild without making comparisons to what I've already watched.

I tried to preface my remarks with a disclaimer so that anyone who felt my personal bias invalidated the rest of my review would not waste their time reading all of it. For what it's worth, I did briefly discuss the quality of Rebuild's dub with someone who was sitting in the row behind me after the ending credits. Her main opinion was that, "it could have been a LOT worse." Not exactly a ringing endorsement, unfortunately, and not very in depth.

I was attempting to give an explanation of how each character sounded to me and why I felt that way. Perhaps posts from people who have never seen Eva before, individuals who never listened to any previously existing English dub audio tracks, or those who are unfamiliar with any of Funimation's voice talent would provide for more objective commentary. I was hoping to add a little variety to this thread and, I admit, I was a little curious as to whether anyone else out there shared some of my views. Didn't mean to rock the boat.

To backseatjesus: By this point in my life, I guess I'm quite accustomed to people thinking less (or, in many cases, nothing at all) about me. I just hope everyone might defer judgement until I'm able to provide a little more info for their consideration. I realize, however, that those types of choices are completely out of my hands. Bummer...

BC Baron wrote:
To master_lloyd: Sorry if I strayed too far off topic. Most of my impressions of Rebuild's dub are based on opinons and expectations I formed while listening to ADV's dub for their original release, the director's cut episodes from the Platinum edition, and Manga Entertainment's dub for the films. It's difficult for me to discuss the voice acting in Rebuild without making comparisons to what I've already watched.

No worries man, comparisons with the original dub are expected. I was just trying to be diplomatic and keep stave off a "Fuck ADV" tangent.

Well its just a few days away before a whole bunch of us including myself get to see this new Dub on the big screen. Thank goodness i only live about 10 min drive from my local theater.

I can't wait. I'm just brimming with excitement even though i've pretty much watched the movie more than 25 times. Jesus. I'm such a nerd.

Full details to come soon and impressions of the dub cast to come after Wednesday.

Taekmkm wrote:You're the first human I've ever read call those "things" that voiced ADV Touji and Aida, human.

And Hick-I mean, Hikari was just random dialect. She's not even from Osaka, for that lame excuse.

I didn't think they were bad.

For those that have seen the new Funimation version of Eva 1.0 in theaters i do have a final question before seeing it tommorow.

How was the clarity of the picture? Or should i say how was the image quality? As we all know the DVD releases that came out in Japan all had a terrible case of the darkness issues present-obscuring the night scenes and other details in the film. You would think that would have little to do with theater copies i suppose.

But for Funimation's case I'm not too sure where they got their copy of the film. Anyways long story did anybody here notice any issues with the image quality when watching the funimation dub?

Electric Sachiel wrote: Did anybody here notice any issues with the image quality when watching the funimation dub?

Yeah the darker frames were almost impossible to make out I noticed. Namely the frames of Unit 00 writing in pain and shots of unit 1 in the darker scenes of nerv HQ. Other than that quality was great but it def was not 100% crisp.

Since I'm posting here, I thought the dub was well done. I'm one of the (few) people who enjoys the sub as well as the dub by the way. Spike Spencer sounded pretty god damn whiny to start but he got his act together quite well and the screams are epic sounding now @_@. All the other characters get my passing grade. The new Ritsuko grew on me with every line and I think the new Maya is fantastic. Hikari's character also had a lot of potential, so far it seems lightyears better than the old one(s?). Kaworu similar to the previous dub which is also a good thing imo. The stand-out fail was the new Kensuke (made me want to put knives in my ears) and the new Fuyutski sounds younger than Gendo. The new Gendo is good but personally I believe Tristan McAvery is irreplacable in that role. The guy simply has so many awesome one liners in that old dub. EDIT: Forgot to mention Allison Keith as Misato. She's spot on to her old method of the character only a little more professional sounding time around.

Watched the Funimation dub in Vancouver last night. I hadn't seen 1.0 before, and I was pleasantly surprised. However:

* OMG the darkness ! The nighttime scenes were very hard to make out. I hope this is fixed for DVD. Apart from this, the picture and sound quality were excellent.

* I don't usually watch dubs, but this one was good; however I'll have to disagree with everyone in this thread and say the weakest link was Misato, who sounded like the genki VO for the ads for NewType or the Anime Network that you get on some DVDs. Bleh.

* There were only 40 people in the theater. This theater chain makes an effort to be anime-friendly, they showed the Death Note live action movie last year and had pretty good attendance, but I guess Eva is a much smaller niche. I hope this doesn't put them off showing 2.0. They also had a cosplay contest last night, which I won by being the only participant so it kinda worked to my advantage.

Orphan Of Darkness wrote:

Electric Sachiel wrote: Did anybody here notice any issues with the image quality when watching the funimation dub?

Yeah the darker frames were almost impossible to make out I noticed. Namely the frames of Unit 00 writing in pain and shots of unit 1 in the darker scenes of nerv HQ. Other than that quality was great but it def was not 100% crisp.

I see.....I managed to catch one of the Canadian screenings of Eva 1.0 yesterday evening. But i was extemely disappointed with the showing. Very disappointed. Reason being? Somehow the theater i visited presented the film in a very half assed manner. Specifically there were big issues to be had with the picture quality. The sound and dub was fine. But the image on screen....there were serious issues!

For some reason or another, the image projected on-screen was blurry-off-focus. To make matters worse the colours.....the colours were all faded and the lighting levels in the film were all oversaturated. Details were all washed out especially in the daytime scenes. Trees and buildings that would normally have a lot of detail were all washed out. And the beautiful 3-D imagery of the digital displays showing Unit 01's entry plug connections were all WASHED OUT!!!

Honestly. I have to say the experience i had last night sucked on the account that the image quality on the picture was only slightly better than that of the camrip we had for 2.0.

Yes I did complain to the theater operators about this. But they had issues with the theater projector and later told me the DVD copy that Funimation provided had issues with faded colours already....WHAT!!???

Blasphemy!!! I expect much better from Cinplex theaters than this. I blame the ****ing theater for using a projector only used for special screenings and or FUNIMATION itself for POSSIBLY providing a terrible copy of the film.

Either way. I was pissed with the subpar picture quality. I know Eva 1.0 is a nice film to watch in theaters as well on DVD and blu ray. But damn it..i guess i wasnt so lucky. There was one upside if there is even anything to be said about the picture quality is that due to the highly saturated lighting levels….the darker scenes were actually made much more visible. Especially during the Ramiel battle.

I’ve heard some people here that complained about the darkness levels and the inability to see the blacks and darker scenes. I had no problem in that department. But since the picture wasn’t focused properly…..bleh….

The frustrating thing was that I was pretty much the only person that complained to the theater managers that day. And god damn it the most they could do was focus the lens on the projector just slightly. Jesus….. I tried calling in to forward a complaint to Cineplex theaters…the corporation responsible for running this particular theater location that we visited. It seemed that the person taking the complaint calls was actually accusing us of fraud just for complaining? Like **** I am.


Whatever….just royally pissed at the whole affair……very pissed…..

P.S.
I’ll give my own impressions on the dub and the quality of the sound in a separate post. Sorry for the rant but I just had to vent this out and let it be known to other Eva fans that not all showings for Eva 1.0 went smoothly…..

Wow, they actually blamed FUNi.