[EVA] A-Kon 13 & Manga's End of Eva Dub

[Patrick Kottinger]

   Ok, here are my thoughts on the dub. I apolgize in advance if I get 
carried away, its why I don't post often and its pretty early so I may put 
things poorly. I saw it at Fanime, when they showed Death and Rebirth. 
Fanime 2002 was meant to have a huge Eva presence since Manga was originally 
going to release the movies at the time of the con. So as guests we had the 
majority of the dub cast, including Amanda Winn Lee, Jason Lee, Tiffany 
Grant, Spike Spencer, Allison Keith, Sue Ulu, Keith Burgess, Amy Seeley, and 
a bunch of others. Along with Hiroyuki Yamagi (I apologize if I mis-spelled 
his name) ,who always comes to Fanime, and, if he hadn't been getting 
married that weekend, creator Anno himself. I got to talk to some of these 
people and my opinions of them based on their acting changed as most of them 
were very nice. Keith told me the reason the movies got pushed back was 
because they were forced to switch distributors and that the current dates 
for the dub, sub, and DVD are solid. Alright, enough blabbering, onto 
business.

   My initial thought on the Manga release is that the video quality is 
supurb. I didn't know we were watching a VHS til they starting fast 
forwarding through the credits. If it looks that good on their projector, it 
should look great on my progressive scan Loewe. This pleases me, as the 
extras on the DVD don't really intrest me and the fact that this is probably 
the only time I'll watch the dub unless my sister forces me seriously makes 
me reconsider buying both the DVD and the subbed tape and instead just the 
tape, we'll see.  As for the dub itself, in a nutshell, it was sub-par. Now 
I've only seen a few episodes dubbed since KTEH and my library allowed me to 
see it otherwise, but I'd say there was a definate improvement in many 
characters. There were times when it all clicked and felt like this was the 
way its should be, and there were times when it felt awkward and ameteurish, 
with the cast of Fanboy Bebop, a fandub I had recently saw, giving it a run 
for the money. It bothered me that everybody broke into uproarous laughter 
when Shinji said "I am so fucked-up". Anyway here's a rundown of what I 
thought of some characters. It goes without saying that I greatly prefer the 
original actors but did my best to keep an open mind. Sorry if some of these 
sound mean.

Shinji - Spike Spencer -  Nice guy, I still hate him in everything I've seen 
him in. He did a little better than before, but still missed the mark.

Rei - Amanda Winn Lee - I'll be honest, I've always despised her as Rei. 
I've actually liked her in other shows but never Eva. At the Eva panal she 
said that she had trouble getting back into character, it shows. Most of the 
time it sounded like Rei had a sore throat. She is somewhat better as Yui. 
She also said at the panal that she believes the reason they chose her as 
Rei in the first place was so she had to keep her mouth shut as she is a 
very, and I mean this nicely, hyper person. Whether she was joking, I don't 
know.

Asuka - Tiffany Grant - What can I say. Another actress who I've liked in 
other roles, there's just something about Yuko Miyamura's voice that just 
out-does Miss Grant's as Asuka in almost every way. I did like her a little 
more in D&R than in the series, but even my friend thought she was miscast 
and he's a devoted dubbie.

Misato - Allison Keith - Thanks to my dub watching sister, whenever I hear 
her as Misato I can't help but see Sakura from Blue Seed, another show that 
I was watching dubbed on the Action channel. Truely one of the highlights of 
the dub, I loved her, "None Taken"

Ritsuko - Sue Ulu - I got the impression at the Eva panal the she doesn't 
enjoy playing Dr. Akagi. The why she put it, she looked at the script and 
sarcastically said, ""Yeah, I'm a bitch again". While I kind of like her 
voice in the role, Ido not see Ritsuko as the quintessential bitch she seems 
to.

Gendo - No comment, lacked menace in the series.

Fuyutsuki - I agree with Brendan on this one and about Keel. He sounds way 
too young and his scenes were almost painful to watch.

Hyuga - Keith Burgess - Not bad considering that Keith is a tall African 
American and Hyuga is a short wimpy guy.

Maya - Amy Seeley - Interesting how an actress who's voice is too low is 
replaced by one who is higher yet can't really act.

Kaji - No comment

   There, finished, it took two hours with my computer restarting constently 
but its done. Thanks to anyone who's actually reading this. Its so late I'm 
not even going to go into script changes. All I can say is that at least its 
more accurate than if ADV had dubbed it. However, did they really have to 
have Kaji say he's growing flowers instead of watermelons like in the ADV 
dub. I know it doesn't really change anything, but when did growing flowers 
become more manly then growing watermelons. I guess its for the people who 
only saw the show dubbed. I'm picking this one up subbed. I promise I will 
write no more really long e-mails.

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