penguintruth wrote:I never appreciated how Spencer always exaggerated Shinji from being this insecure kid, kind of meek and weak, into this cartoonish whiny coward. His toning it down this time is what's made him tolerable for me. I don't remember laughing at anything he said. I could tell he was trying to be funny, but it wasn't impressing me.
See, I don't agree with that. (Surprise, surprise.) I do think he was more externally expressive compared to Ogata, who tried to sound more repressed, and I know for a fact that this was a conscious decision. In comparing the two performances, I tend to think that Ogata played Shinji like a child, while Spencer played him like a teenager. Ogata was fantastic, of course, but I think Spencer was very good in his own way, and there are at least a few scenes in which I actually like his performance better (the hospital scene springs to mind).
Actually, yes, Allison Keith did have her time with Mike McFarland (the "commentary" was little more than one-on-ones during the movie, and not really any commentary as the scenes played, much like the FMA movie's dub commentary). I don't recall that much about her talk except that she seems very nurturing-sounding (she is a mother, so I'm not surprised) and talked about getting fan mail from soldiers overseas.
That's pretty awesome. What little I've seen and heard about Keith has always made it seem ironic to me that she's best known for playing these freewheeling, ass-kicking, hard-drinking, sexy characters (e.g. Misato and Melissa Mao). She seems like a totally sweet, soft-spoken and wholesome lady (she teaches elementary schoolers, for goodness' sakes - imagine if any of them are into anime). But then, I think she did a great job of selling Misato as a character who appears to be irresponsible and promiscuous, but behind the facade is very caring and nurturing to those close to her. Maybe she was TOO good at it - it's hard to take some of the more cynical interpretations of her character suggested by the last few episodes and movie seriously when she sounds so damn nice. Also, I note the irony of a situation in which the English voice actor for a character has a more high-pitched voice than the Japanese one (with the Japanese one coming off of Sailor Moon, no less).
Regarding McFarland's commentary format of choice: what he told me is that basically he finds most movie commentaries boring, so he figured his time would be better spent in short segments talking to a bunch of different people than have them all sitting in a room for nearly two hours. I asked him if he'd seen the Manga commentaries, and he said he didn't remember, which in this case probably means he hadn't. (And that is all that I will say about that.) Also, I figure he doesn't think he can really offer much of substance on the actual content of the film, seeing as he wasn't actually involved in the original creative process, and I guess doesn't want to just fling around pure conjecture. Would that a certain Mr. Greenfield could be so humble.
SSD wrote:And you can certainly tell by hearing the voices that they're treating to match the Japanese counterparts as close as possible...which is part of how dubbing should be anyway.
I DISCONCUR, TO THE OMEGA DEGREE. The purpose of a dub (or any translation of a work of art or entertainment) should be to recreate the INTENT of the original, not the FORM. Voice actors should be allowed to ACT, not just required to mimic. Try to get all the voice actors to sound EXACTLY like the Japanese originals and you end up with something like the abomination that was FLCL's dub, where everyone tried to sound EXACTLY like the Japanese voice actors but instead sounded like people from another planet trying unsuccessfully to convince us that they have human emotions. The pitch, tonal inflections and dialogue pacing that work in the Japanese language DO NOT WORK in English. Besides, if you want to hear the Japanese voice acting, WATCH IT WITH THE Japanese VOICE ACTING. This is the twenty-first century, bilingual DVDs are everywhere, illegal fansubs even moreso; we have long since reached a point at which the dub vs. sub debate is purely a matter of personal preference, and no one who has a set-in-stone preference for Japanese is likely to be swayed by any dub, no matter how good it is. The only reason for which dubs should be directly compared to the originals is to determine whether they preserve the authorial intent of the scene; apart from that, they should be judged on their own merits, not by comparison. Voice actors should be encouraged to make each role their own, not forced to languish in the shadow of the Japanese originals. Trying to get professional voice actors to mimic rather than act is insulting to both them and their audience. [/rant]
And I still feel Funimation having dub Shinji and Rei refer to each other on a first-name basis is a terrible mistake in case they become closer in the last two films, but what can you do. Basically, if they actually refer to each other by their first names instead of "Ikari-kun" and "Ayanami"--especially for a dramatic moment or what have you, how is Funimation's dub going to work around that? Just ignore that? But that would remove the emotional impact if so...
I do agree with this, though. I'm really not sure why Funimation felt the need to change this. Sure, having characters refer to each other on a last-name basis might sound a bit formal to Western ears, but it's not like, say, honorifics, a concept that Westerners simply can't understand without outside knowledge. Shinji and Rei are supposed to be kind of distant; their relationship is supposed to be a little off. And what's next, having everyone call Kaji "Ryoji"? I don't think anyone ever complained about people referring to each other on a last-name basis in the original dub. Hell, I don't think anyone ever complained about people referring to each other on a last-name basis in Harry Potter. This is not a concept that does not translate into English; it translates just fine. So why change it? For added irony/hypocrisy on this front, I am pretty sure there's one moment during the climax of the film where Shinji/Spike Spencer actually uses "-chan" when calling out to Rei. I REALLY hope I heard that wrong during the screening I attended, because that would be misplaced and jarring as hell. (Please, Evangelion, don't start doing that FLCL dub thing where you change your mind every other scene as to whether you're going to use honorifics. In fact, we're speaking English here, so don't use honorifics at all.)
