Dub Jinnai or Sub Jinnai?

[xxdemongodifuritaxx]

I got to thinking and I was wondering which laugh did you like better, my Master's laugh in dubbed or my Master's laugh in subbed?

to me, it doesn't matter if its done by a japanese man or an american, they both send shivers down my spine and would cause me to jump a mile high if I heard it in a dark alley on a quiet deserted night.

I do think that the dubbed laugh though has a more maniacal feel to it. *shrugs*

either way, it still chills me to the bone.

psst! but don't tell Master I said so because he'd punish me good and I don't have the strength for his punishments. it isn't fair that I'm ticklish everywhere!

[Captain Southbird (EHOL Creator)]

Ah, dub versus sub.  The general concensus is that the El-Hazard dub actually adds to the overall quality of the show, which is somewhat rare in today's market.  (I even did a panel at this past Otakon and got personal confirmation on that from a particularly active member in the audience.)  Of course, you bring in someone like Saucer, who "likes his anime like he likes his wome-...", er, well, actually I dunno about that.  I do know he likes subtitles no matter what, though.

On the specific note of Jinnai's laugh... Japanese seem to be generally soft-spoken people.  Perhaps it's their language phonetics, which are generally softer sounds, compared to our "son of German" language, which contains a lot of coarse, rough sounds.  (Though perhaps not as harsh as German itself!)  In that respect, it appears to me that Jinnai's laugh is more boisterous in the dub and his overall voicing a bit more frantic and loud than his Japanese counterpart.  But, again, I owe the differences to the radically different sound of Japanese.  Performance-wise, I think both actors do about an equal job, and if the Japanese is as good as the English, I think that's terrific.

[Wayne]

Both of Jinnai's voice actors are very, very good at representing both his speaking voice and his cackle. If I had to pick, though, I'd probably lean slightly in favor of the Japanese seiyu, just because the laugh is that much funnier with the Japanese accent to it.

I do like the El-Hazard English dub; all of the characters fit their roles and the variety of accents and styles makes the Japanese dubbing seem almost boring in comparison. (I say "almost" because the Japanese voice work is incredibly good too, and I find that pretty rare in most anime; I'm usually not that impressed by "the original" voice acting.)

The unfortunate exception is Shayla's voice actress. When I first heard her ask about "that Nah-naa-me chick" in her horrible Southern drawl I wanted to jab my bokken in my ear. :-/

And slightly off-topic, I still have to give the award for the best anime cackle to Rumi Kasahara's Pixy Misa. :]

[smkviper]

Not sure if I'm qualified to post my opinion since I've only seen the dub, but that dub laugh just has that *twitch* factor that makes you want to strangle the guy Of course, watching the dub is purely by choice, I like to see dubs first and then stick with them if they are good. I don't think I could stand watching it in Japanese now that I've seen it in English too much and associate the voices with the characters now.

[Captain Southbird (EHOL Creator)]

Of course, watching the dub is purely by choice, I like to see dubs first and then stick with them if they are good. I don't think I could stand watching it in Japanese now that I've seen it in English too much and associate the voices with the characters now.

Yeah, I'm just about as bad.  

[Saucer]

 Of course, you bring in someone like Saucer, who "likes his anime like he likes his wome-...", er, well, actually I dunno about that.  I do know he likes subtitles no matter what, though.

I just knew you were going to beat me to the punch.

[dooky]

For me, it has to be dub Jinnai. Possibly one of the greatest performances in an anime dub.

As for the laugh though... it's hard to tell the difference. The English and Japanese laughs are pretty similar. What makes the English performance stand out is the regular lines. When I eventually watched the Japanese version, I was amazed my how deep and menacing the original voice was.

The general concensus is that the El-Hazard dub actually adds to the overall quality of the show, which is somewhat rare in today's market.

As a bit of a dub devotee, I'd have to disagree. El-Hazard still stands out as one of the best dubs ever, but I'd hardly say that todays dubs are of substandard quality. Take ISM's Azumanga Daioh dub... a pretty much spot-on transition with appropriately subtle and/or insane performances. The Read or Die TV dub goes down the El-Hazard route of tweaking lines here and there to make the whole thing funnier (Anita's line in the dub when receiving a signed book from Nenene, "I wonder how much I'll get for this on eBay", seemed altogether ruder than the flat Japanese "Maybe I can sell this"). The overall quality of dubs has improved dramatically since the mid-nineties, even if truly stellar dubs like El-Hazard will always be few and far between.

The unfortunate exception is Shayla's voice actress.

You see, I'd completely disagree there... but again, I saw the dub first. For me, Shayla's voice works perfectly in English, although I did notice somethimng interesting when I first watched the Japanese version. You know the scene in Episode 5, where Shayla and Nanami approach Makoto, only for him to say "Ifurita"? In the English version, Shayla runs away screaming, but in the Japanese, she's actually crying. Which is something I couldn't imagine from her English voice, who seems altogether harder.

When I first heard her ask about "that Nah-naa-me chick" in her horrible Southern drawl I wanted to jab my bokken in my ear.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Shayla's Japanese voice have some sort of strange, non-standard accent? I might be remembering wrong... I'm quite bad at noticing Japanese accents, but a friend of mine pointed it out... the only thing is, I can't remember if it was Shayla or Afura.

There are only a few voices in the dub which have ever given me problems, and they are Schtalubaugh, Nahato/Parnasse, Ifurita and Arjah. Schtalubaugh is generally very good, but there are a few parts where he completely overdoes it (listen to that "long shrouded in ancient legend" line from Episode 1 and tell me it doesn't sound like an advert for a theme park or something). I list Nahato and Parnasse together since they clearly have the same voce: Nahato just sounded odd at times, nothing I can quite put my finger on, perhaps it was the accent. For such a quiet, understate character the voice didn't work. Parnasse's performance was much more energetic and the voice worked a lot better... but again, started to sound weird when he quietened down.
Iffy's voice, conversely, worked fine for the quiet scenes, or even her stern, emotioness ones, but started to crack when she got louder (I'm thinking the start to Episode 6) and she was suddenly in danger of turning into Washu.
The only truly disappointing voice was Arjah's. Admittedly the character was a diasppointement too, so maybe it fits anyway. He can't have been helped by the lacklustre direction, but the guy always sounded bored, even when he was ranting. And his evil laugh was shite.

I feel a bit bad what with all this negativity (particularly when I'm deconstructing otherwise excellent performances in minute detail) so let's emind ourselves of some of the high points of the dub. Jinnai, Fujisawa and Alielle are basically flawless. Almost as great are the actors portraying Makoto, Nanami, Fatora and Miz. In terms of guest characters, Galus and Dall both have wonderful voices (Dall's dub voice represents one of the highlights of Alternative World for me. That, and Gilda just being gorgeous... ahem)...

El-Hazard has earned a place in anime history as the greatest dub of its day. That said, I'm keen to see other dubs learning from its example, and hopefully exceeding its achievements.

dooky (not dead, just waiting for something worthwhile to say)

[Captain Southbird (EHOL Creator)]

Good points.  I overstated what I meant.  What I actually was thinking of, but incorrectly stated, was that of the popular, marketed anime market.  I'm thinking very specifically of a recent entry, One Piece, which had another forum I attend go on a several page violent rant over so many things.    A major point being that it was a 4Kids dub, which should've been a promise to failure right there, but 4Kids apparently "promised" to make the dub much more loyal to the original source than their usual work.  They even previewed an English version of the theme song to show their detication.  But by the time it aired, the theme music was replaced by a "Pirate Rap," and several pointless, stupid audio adjustments were performed such as cannon balls making laser sounds.  So that's where it all really hurts.

... apparently though they decided to have a little guilt by releasing an apparently unedited "uncut" DVD.  (It's important to note that distinction, since a lot of times "uncut" is still censored when dealing with these things!)  The suggestion of course was to buy into that one to prove that money is to be made in those who are loyal, such as the good people of Pioneer / AIC.

(Did you know Pioneer's name has changed?  I need to get updated on that one.  Genion or some such.  Tim knows, so I feel stupid.  ;P)

[nescaro]

I'm more for the dub myself. Might be because I heard that first but I didn't think much of the Japanese at all. And just so I know didn't the same person do the english voices for Washu and  (all but wanders) Ifurita? Then again I thought end of eva was a comedy so what do I know?


"When everyone agrees with you it's time to change your opinon."
Or learn how to spell.

[Lord God Jinnai]

Well, I for one prefer the dub voice, and I watched the Japanese version first. I could go on and on about the dub vs sub thing and all the reasons why I prefer dub over sub, but I ain't going to.

Perhaps the basic reason that I like Bob Marx's portrayal better than the Japanese guy's (aside from the fact that it is one of the best voice over works EVER) is the fact that I understand it. It's in English, a language I can speak. I can't really have an opinion on Jinnai's original Japanese voice since a) I'm not fluent in Japanese and b) I'm not fluent in Japanese.

So English Jinnai gets my vote. Enough said.

[Kathy Guinea]

I just knew you were going to beat me to the punch.

So Saucer... how do you like your women?  

[Spanner]

So Saucer... how do you like your women?  

Erm... Subtitled, I'm guessing?

[Lord God Jinnai]

Erm... Subtitled, I'm guessing?

Them's fightin' words. You gonna take that from him, Saucer?

[Saucer]

So Saucer... how do you like your women?  

I prefer art teachers with curly hair.

[Captain Southbird (EHOL Creator)]

... and up until now I was only suspecting.  ;P