For me it’s the opposite direction of what you have described. I can think of tons of shows in which the Japanese seiyuu were screaming like mad, don’t sound the least cute and have huge changes in their tones whether they are talking casually or murderous, while the English dub actors just couldn't sound anymore bored.
Generally I find the Seiyuu's don't shout a lot, atleast the Anime I've seen, including Getbackers. Even if they do, they shout like they are holding their voice back. And yeah, there are English dubs who try to maintaining their pitch levels constant but inturn sound emotionless. They are also not very reactive.. like they don't sound hurt when injured, in Jap. They go down with pin drop silence or just a slight whimper.
Oh, and Kenshin was based on a real historical figure, an assassin who had so feminine looks that he disguised himself as a geisha to avoid being tracked by pursuers. Maybe the anime producers gave him a female seiyuu to stay true to that one fact, to make him passable as a woman? XD And Watsuki Nobuhiro himself, creator of Rurouni Kenshin, has said that he wanted Kenshin to have a soft-sounding, androgynous voice. In fact, when the first RuroKen drama CD came out (that had a different seiyuu cast from anime), Kenshin had a female seiyuu there too, and while Watsuki admitted that he liked her voice, he still thought it was a bit too rough-sounding than he had imagined for Kenshin. Or something along those lines, I don't remember the EXACT words. Don't be nitpicky.
Well.. even if he disguised himself, I doubt he sounded 100% feminine like Kenshin. Besides east asians generally have less body mass and least non-square faces which makes it easier to disguise. And it's not just Kenshin, but Goku as well.
The creators basically wanted a female voice for Kenshin, probably for Kawaii reasons.
I know that they are older in the anime than in the manga. That’s why I’m wondering why they sound like they are in their 40s?
Nah.. I'm in my 20's and I sound more or less like them, Lovux. And there isn't much of a difference between 20s and 40s when compared to a voice change from 15 and 20 in males. There's a drastic change in those years after puberty. Ginji and Jackal's voices are too soft in that regard, They sound too young than they actually are in Jap. And besides, the Animax Audio has a lower pitch in general because of low quality/low sampling rate.
I’m aware of that too. I can hear it happen in the sub as well. Listen to Akabane’s original seiyuu and you’ll hear the difference when he’s talking casually or or feeling thrilled. However, what grinds my ears in the Animax dub (and the ADV too, for that matter) is that they sound like they are straining their voices in order to sound like their assigned characters. They aren’t using their natural voice tones. Which is why, whenever they raise their voices, it cracks horribly and becomes painfully obvious that the voice they use for the character is just fake.
Not sure about ADV but in Animax, those are indeed natural tones. They occasionally speak for the channel in the earlier years. The difference between them and the Seiyuu's, atleast in GB is that, they go all out like they are normally acting. They don't hold back.
Oh, I ADORE Jackal’s Japanese voice. They couldn’t have gotten a better seiyuu for him, IMO. He sounds sugary polite and soft… and simultaneously so cold-blooded, heartless and intimidating in a way that you don’t know what he’s thinking, and that if you make even ONE wrong move, you’re dead. If I was talking to someone who sounded like Jackal does in the sub, I’d be a hair away from fainting in fear. For srs.
Not gonna argue with the gay comment though. XD
Dunno.. but I can only see him for only a sugary, polite & soft guy in the subs. When he attempts to sound serious or when he attempts to shout, it sounds like he is trying too hard not to break the barrier and lose his tone.
Yeah, I saw just the other day an episode in which Shido showed up, and I was pulling my hair off my head when I heard “Sido”. Well, the hair that was left after pulling off nearly everything I had on my head after hearing Kazuki speak... I’m not even gonna rant.
hehe.. I know how you feel. Several fans have said the same thing. But for me male voices FTW in Shounen Anime.
I don't mind if they use soft voices in Shoujo or other magical girl anime though. But even before the voices, dialogues take the center stage. Dialogues are the key.. the voices are just a medium.
the ADV had the exact same problem (everybody sounding exactly the same). And that dub, I watched high quality videos of. Hmm….
hmm.. Not sure why you find them similar. They sound different for me.
The only thing I reacted to was how Ginji said to Kaoru in the sub and ADV versions that he’ll never forget her feelings for him, while the Animax dub has it that it's the feelings they had for each other that he’ll remember. This makes it sound like they actually had a mutual fling, which definitely is an error. And a rather bad one at that.
Yeah, it's an error if you look at it that way.. but it doesn't have to be mutual feeling. Maybe Ginji just had a thing for kaoru and not love. The Anime didn't really touch that aspect much. The whole arc was made-up anyway. Anyway, it enhances the moment when Ginji remembers it, but is no longer the person he used to be. Maybe one of the reason why that fight was my absolute fav.
I still get goose bumps after watching that fight atleast 25 times. It captures Ban's and Ginji's personality perfectly. How cocky Ban deals with his opponents, and how soft hearted Ginji deals with his. Sub or Dub, it was a masterpiece. The way Ban says his lines and his dialogues increases the superb-ness of the moment in the Animax Dub. You can notice Ginji's voice in the sub was too young & soft there when compared to the 2 dubs.
Yep, we’re all entitled our own opinions! And I don’t mind discussing with people who disagree with me and hearing them out, I think it's interesting. ;P
Exactly.
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