My Review of the Dub (No Spoilers)
Lee Thompson lt@seattlelab.com
Tue, 20 Jul 1999 19:04:33 GMT
My primary reason for going to Anime Expo this year was specifically the
Legend of the Galactic Heroes panel. I got interested in anime in the early
1980s as a source for science fiction (there was virtually none in the United
States at that time) - in 1989 my search for the ultimate science fiction
story ended with Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
Why a dub and not a subtitled effort? Simply put, for Galactic Heroes to
succeed in the English speaking world, it pretty much has to be dubbed.
There is so much dialogue in the series (and the dialogue is carrying the bulk
of the storytelling) that at some moments it would not be unusual to be
filling half the screen with text - and if you blink you miss a chunk of
story. The English "pilot" was produced at the behest of Tokuma Shouten by
Outis Productions for two purposes: as a treat for fans and to help find a
(serious) buyer in the United States.
The episodes shown were from near the mid-point of the series, episodes #51
and 52 ("Death Match at Vermilion" parts 1 and 2) to be more specific. So,
I hear you ask, "how was it?" It was good... as a proof of concept it was
great. To put the most common fears to rest, the Galactic Empire did not
have German accents and for the most part, the casting was excellent. I felt
the voices of Reinhard and Schenkopp in particular were very well cast.
As for what I would change? Yang should sound a little less confident and
Julian needs a younger voice actor. For some reason I didn't really like
the actor chosen for Oliver Poplan but I appear to be in the minority.
The translation itself was quite good, although there were (as there often
are) some rough areas. One blooper in the dubbing is the mispronunciation of
the word "forte" which the voice director should have caught.
I found being able to just watch these episodes to be an uplifting experience.
I didn't have to strain to catch the few hundred Japanese words I know... I
didn't have to stare at the screen trying not to blink to read all the
subtitles...
At this time there is no U.S. distributor and copies of the English dub are
not possible at this time. If you want to see this ever come to these
shores, write television networks, anime companies, book companies (there are
over a dozen novels...) and show the series to friends. Obviously Tokuma
cannot condone a "fansub" but heck, give it a try.
--
Lee Thompson lt@seattlelab.com
Seattle Lab Inc. http://www.seattlelab.com
Product Manager (Messaging Products)
