"Where's the apple-flavored Mountain Dew?" "In the fridge, duh!"

[amanuensis1]

I've watched the first episode of Death Note with the English dub, to see if the dub was enjoyable, 'cos I love this series so much I'd like to experience it every way available. I think it's well done, but I'm not so happy with Ryuk's voice. Not that the actor isn't good, it just makes Ryuk a different guy. Japanese-voice Ryuk sounds like the kind of lazy good-for-nothing friend of yours that lies on your sofa eating your Cheetos and watching your cable, but you let him hang around because he's fun to play Gran Turismo with and he never asks you when you're gonna clean the place up. English-voice Ryuk, on the other hand, is not a friend but he's this guy a friend of a friend of yours knows, and you never ever hang out with him because they say he has mob ties and drives around with three shotguns and a drum of kerosene in his car trunk, and you only call him if you have to get rid of a body, and he says, "I'll meet you at ninth and Gateridge; bring fifty feet of garden hose and $8000," and while you're still saying, "Where the f**k am I gonna get $8000 and garden hose at this time of night?" he's already hung up on you and is heading over.

So, um, yeah. Different.

Comments

[reddwarfer.livejournal.com]

I think I have officially fallen in love with you. The way your brain works. It's delicious.

[fyrie.livejournal.com]

I think this is the case for most anime voiceovers. The one that makes me wince a lot is the Hellsing one, wherein the guy who plays Alucard in Japan is this growling-voiced demon of a man, but the English 'actor' is basically the complete opposite and brings very little to the character at all. Subtitles are shiny things.

[silverhielm.livejournal.com]

XD I lovelovelove your Death Note posts! Unfortunately, as I said, I'm struggling with an impending deadline and can't say all I'd like to say, but I'm enjoying each of your words! I'm happy because I do not know any of the series you have commented in the last months... I missed knowing what your posts were about ♥ Your brilliant posts *_*

[vikingcarrot.livejournal.com]

... I haven't heard Ryuk in Japanese, as I've only seen the dub on TV at the moment.

But fuck, Ryuk is my favourite, favourite character, no competition. *goes a-searching*

[starcrossedgirl.livejournal.com]

Dubs are strange, strange things. They frequently filled me with rage at complete and utter mistranslations in Star Trek or Buffy.

And then I downloaded a specific Highlander episode the other day, and the voice for Duncan was fine - but Methos' was just utterly, utterly wrong. It also made it obvious just how much an actor can actually do with their voice, intonation, sound other than scripted words... It's pretty impressive, actually.

Anyway, I'm sure you don't care. ;) Really just meant to say I'm all for subs all the way.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_hannelore/]

I could care less about Death Note, but this analogy has hilarious images. :D

Fifty feet of garden hose would be a good ficlet prompt!

[miyukiryuu.livejournal.com]

Ahahahahahahhahahhaa.
Ahhh.
That is GENIUS.
I love those descriptions of Ryuk.
Agreed.
:D :D :D

[mosrael.livejournal.com]

I had a similar experience recently, watching Howl's Moving Castle. The English dub was OK for every voice but Howl's, which ended up sounding too old for his actions IMO. Everybody else seemed fine. (And for some reason, I got through most of The Brotherhood of the Wolf before realizing it was dubbed at all...)

[lycoris.livejournal.com]

*cracks up and DIES*

You have ... somehow just made me love English!Ryuk even more. I just ... want to see him saying that to Raito and Raito just going "..." and writing down more names. IT'S THE BEST THING EVER! :D

[persephone-blue.livejournal.com]

This is a good analogy and you should feel good. :D

[masakochan.livejournal.com]

he's fun to play Gran Turismo with

Or Mario Kart. x]

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

You know, English-Ryuk DOES sound like that. I think that actually makes him a good foil for Light, because Light's all plotting and muahaha, and Ryuk's all, "Kid, you do not begin to know what plotting and muahahaing are REALLY about. Muahaha. Now where are my apples?"