I recently started rewatching a “remastered” anime classic that I grew up with – Gundam SEED. It was a little flawed, and basically a remake of the original series, but it was still fun. However, there was just one little fly in the ointment – the dub. I watch my anime dubbed. Not ashamed about that. I refuse to read an entire series. For some of my favorite classic anime, that makes it even better. Hearing the OG voice actors from the best years of anime again, it recaptures a part of my youth that is all warm and nostalgic.
But then you have the anime which redub their blu-ray versions, and that is where I lose my shit. Why?! Why do you do this?! I remember how excited I was that the entire original Evangelion series had come to blu-ray. I got it off Amazon and was so excited…only for the redub to be TERRIBLE! All the personality of Spike Spencer, Tiffany Grant, Wendee Lee was replaced by no-name nobodies who couldn’t voice act their way out of a paper bag. This was terrible! The whole time, I’m trying to figure out why they couldn’t get the original cast’s takes. This was released by FUNimation. They have enough budget to get the audio from the original DVD. They, they could probably get the audio from the Silver Collection that they released. Sure, they are hard to come by now, but they have the money. So why didn’t they do that? Did they not want to pay the original cast royalties?
Seeing the new cast for Gundam SEED, I got a lot of the same feelings. I LOVE hearing the old Bandai stand-bys for the Gundam series. So many of the same voices, used again and again, but always in unique ways. There was a kitsch-y quality to it. Especially since, tragically, some of these people aren’t around anymore. Like Kirby Morrow, who you might remember as the voice of Trowa Barton in Gundam Wing. Sadly, he took his life at 41. I remember it breaking my heart to have such a talented man lose himself to depression the way that he did. It does a disservice to his memory to just redub over his work on Gundam SEED. It would be one thing if there was at least a version that had the original voice-acting. They did that for Escaflowne, which also had Morrow as the main character.
What people who redub over these series don’t seem to understand is that they have a piece of history that they are dubbing over. For better, and for worst, this is history. Sure, some of the dubs that came out of the 90s and early 2000s were bad stuff. But, in this oldtaku’s opinion, some of the greatest dubs that have ever or will ever exist also came from that era. Seeing pieces of history from that era be lost, it saddens me.
It’s like when I think about the fact that they are remaking Final Fantasy X, and rumor is that it’s going to be much in the same vein as the Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy. I think about the OG of OG voice actors, making some great work (and the single-most cringe scene of all time. You all know which one I mean), thinking about them being replace kinda bums me out. Especially Auron. These are people who left a mark in history, and that mark should be respected. I kinda love that James Alan Taylor comes out of retirement to do Ratchet and Clank games. He loves the franchise enough to come back for it. I am DESPERATELY hoping that when he is older and can’t do this kind of work anymore that they give him a proper send-off.
Part of this definitely has me feeling old. Pieces of history that I grew up with are being stripped of what made them wonderfully. I will never want to be a parent, but there is this part of me that always wanted to introduce a kiddo or a niece/nephew to the anime that I grew up with and have them hear some of these actors (some of whom aren’t with us anymore, to reiterate) put in amazing performances. Just something to think about.
Until next time, a quote,
“Those who laid eyes on a Gundam shall not live to tell about it. Those are the orders I was given.” – Trowa Barton, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Peace out,
Maverick
Lucien Maverick's Den 