SHSL Danganronpa Topic ~ DR3 Announced

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Got DR;AE?

Yes!
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Not yet, but I want to!
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Total votes: 9

PhoenixRises123
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Re: SHSL Danganronpa Topic ~ DR3 Announced

Post by PhoenixRises123 »

SS Sleuth wrote:I can't wait to see how Junko's ghost possessing an animatronic suit is behind this all.
Spoiler : DRAE Spoilers :
OR maybe the main villain would be Monaca ( You know, W.O.H and all that..) and then people will have no idea who she is, because they thought DR;AE was non-canon. :twisted:
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Re: SHSL Danganronpa Topic ~ DR3 Announced

Post by enigma »

PhoenixRises123 wrote:
SS Sleuth wrote:I can't wait to see how Junko's ghost possessing an animatronic suit is behind this all.
Spoiler : :
OR maybe the main villain would be Monaca ( You know, W.O.H and all that..) and then people will have no idea who she is, because they thought DR;AE was non-canon. :twisted:
Spoiler tag that. It's major spoilers for the game.
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Re: SHSL Danganronpa Topic ~ DR3 Announced

Post by TheDoctor »

So, anyone besides me have a chance to check out the anime dub yet?
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Re: SHSL Danganronpa Topic ~ DR3 Announced

Post by enigma »

I did. I found it.... Really weird. I wasn't fond of it. Monokuma sounds like a smoker, Naegi was 2kool and... Idunno. It just felt really weird.
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Re: SHSL Danganronpa Topic ~ DR3 Announced

Post by TheDoctor »

If you've ever seen Danganronpa Abridged Thing, the Monokuma voice there is actually kind of similar. I think that's what the actor was basing his voice on. Naegi, on the other hand... yeah, he's kind of YMMV. I like his normal talking voice okay, and he's got a really forceful yell (as anyone who's seen the Attack on Titan dub can attest to), but his sad voice does get a little weird at times. The dialogue also sound almost like a parody on occasion, although I think that's a welcome change for the most part (albeit, it does give us lines like "screw that noise"). Monokuma's dialogue was pretty funny sometimes though...
Spoiler : 1-2 :
After Oowada's punishment, he said something like "Don't worry guys, I'm sure he's in a 'butter' place. Nyuk nyuk nyuk." In the original, he mostly just gives what sounds like an insincere eulogy.
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Re: SHSL Danganronpa Topic ~ DR3 Announced

Post by gotMLK7 »

I haven't seen the dub yet but I'll be sure to check it out just to judge the voices. I know Monokuma's Greg Ayres which is quite a different direction from Brian Beacock, but I'm surprised to hear complaints about Naegi since he's the ONLY recurring cast member from the original game, being Bryce Papenbrook in both incarnations. I'll let you know my thoughts when I hunt it down.
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Re: SHSL Danganronpa Topic ~ DR3 Announced

Post by enigma »

It's more... just bad dialogue is given to Naegi for some reason. "Heck yeah! Prime real-estate, much?" being the cringiest, imo.

Thing is, I really like DR:AT and consider it's Monokuma voice fantastic. But the major difference here is with the scratchiness and all, Faulerro goes high to balance it out. Making it sound weird and squeaky.

The VA here... doesn't. So it sounds gruff, rather than comical.

I'm okay with Monokuma's dialogue, he gets a few good laughs. But the other characters sound, well, like they're trying too hard to be funny or darkly-humorous.

I also want to say that I hate that they made Monokuma's laugh "nyuknyuknyuk". It just sounds weird to me.
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Re: SHSL Danganronpa Topic ~ DR3 Announced

Post by TheDoctor »

Yeah, kind of wish they'd kept upupu instead, but I still say it beats puhuhu.
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Re: SHSL Danganronpa Topic ~ DR3 Announced

Post by gotMLK7 »

Skimmed episodes 1 and 13 to give my thoughts on the dub:
Spoiler : Danganronpa spoilers and such :
First off, script is by J. Michael Tatum. He tends to add a lot more levity and westernization to his scripts - see Steins;Gate, Free!, and Attack on Titan. The script is a bit silly at times but it does have some amusing lines in it. It's definitely a more comedic take.

As for the actors:
Greg Ayres as Monokuma, not as good as Beacock and kinda forced to get the hamminess. It's not unfitting but after Beacock's perfect performance as him it's definitely not amazing. I don't mind the laugh change, though. Fits this portrayal more.
Pryce Papenbrook as Naegi. The script makes him a bit broier but his voice still fits pretty perfectly. Not much complaint there.
Caitlin Glass as Kirigiri. Better than Harlacher I'd say, who wasn't terrible but was a bit miscast. Glass keeps her cool really well and fits the role very well.
Josh Grelle as Togami. Probably one of my favorite changes. Togami wasn't bad in the original but Grelle's perfectly stuck up in this. An improvement, imo.
Monica Rial as Maizono. Typical Rial performance but fairly fitting for the character. No real complaints.
Felicia Angelle as Aoi. Cassandra Morris is my favorite voice actress so I can't say I prefer Angelle but she plays the character perfectly fine. Effective performance.
Christopher Sabat as Mondo. A bit forced, sounds like Kuwabara from YYH but angrier. Which fits, to be fair. Not Sabat's best performance but just being Sabat fits the character immensely so it's hard to complain too much.
Lindsay Seidel as Celestia. No accent but a good performance to make up for it. I prefer her acting to the game, though your mileage may vary based on how much you like the accent.
Rachel Robinson as Sakura. About the same as the game, really, a bit tighter actor I think.
Carli Mosier as Fukawa/Syo. Meeeeediocre. I'm not fond of Mosier's Sentai work and she rarely hits the mark. She's almost passable as Fukawa but she cannot ham it up enough to pull off Syo. One of the weakest performances.
Justin Cook as Leon. Okay. Not as fun as Grant George's take, kinda generic in comparison. But fairly passable so nothing really to complain about.
Kara Edwards as Chihiro. Not terrible but sorta forced. She's definitely trying to sound ambiguous and it works sometimes but not others. It's a fairly meh one, not really enough to kill the character but not amazing.
Austin Tindle as Ishimaru. Again, tad forced, but not terrible. The game's a bit better but it's still fairly hammy. Okay but not noteworthy.
Tyson Rinehart as Yamada. Again, okay. Hammy in a different way from his game but I prefer the game's version. Not really the worst thing to happen to the character.
Christopher Bevins as Hagakure. Playing up the dudebro way too much. Not as natural as Tang's performance in the game for sure. Not as bad as Mosier but about as forced.

And....Jamie Marchi as Junko Enoshima.

Holy crap.

I was skeptical at episode 1 when I heard her really playing up the valley girl voice, it sounded very much like she was just acting. But then I looked at episode 13 and jesus Christ it is the hammiest the character has EVER been. Marchi basically puts her whole range to use and chews so much scenery that I'm not sure there's much left. I haven't had this much fun with a villain dub portrayal hamming it up since Katze in Gatchaman Crowds. The dub's worth her just having fun with the final confrontation alone. I mean parts of it are still kinda forced but she just sounds like she's legitimately having a blast with the whole thing. It's probably the most I've enjoyed Junko so I'm glad to have skimmed the dub for that alone.
So overall I'd say the dub's passable if a bit too forced in certain areas. It's very different from the games but given the anime's lukewarm response in general I think the more amusing changes from the source material at least give it a little sense of identity. And the changes I like I REALLY like. So it gets a pass for me albeit only if you don't mind a very different take on DanganRonpa. It's worth a glance, at least, just to see the different takes on the characters.
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Re: SHSL Danganronpa Topic ~ DR3 Announced

Post by TheDoctor »

Regarding your assessment of Josh Grelle as Togami, he's also one of my favorite changes. I wasn't really sure how it would turn out at first, given my only other experience with him was as Armin in Attack on Titan (and to a lesser extent, Yuki in Future Diary, but I switched over to the unofficial sub of the televised version, as the dub had some imagery that was more explicit than I'd like, while the tv version usually had it covered up one way or another).

Anyway, hearing him as Togami was a rather pleasant surprise. Togami had one of my favorite voices in the Japanese version, as he had this really smug, arrogant tone that fit his character perfectly. The game dub's Togami just kind of sounded... bored and phoned in. So when I saw that the anime dub managed to capture the original feel, I was pretty happy with that.

Anyway, my assessment of the rest of the voices below.

(DISCLAIMER: The following assessment of the voices is simply my opinion, and not meant to be taken as fact. I'm well aware some of the voices I like will be hated by others, much like some the voices I hate will be liked by others).
Spoiler : Voice assessment (SPOILERS) :
Monokuma: Let me get this out of the way, I started this series via the Project Zetsubou translation of the original PSP game, and I loved his Japanese voice. So, when I found out there was a dub for the Vita, I decided to listen to it on YouTube. However, when I heard his dub voice, I nearly had to stop before I had the chance to hear the rest of the voices because his voice was creepy for all the wrong reasons. Later, when I finally got a Vita of my own, I bought Danganronpa 2 and saw that the dub had several voice actors I liked, so having heard that Monokuma's English voice does get better when he's not trying to sound sickeningly sweet, I decided to give the dub a try. After playing through most of the prologue, and being fairly happy with most of the voices, Monokuma showed up, and I had to switch back to Japanese because I'd forgotten how much I hated his English voice.

Later, I tried watching Danganronpa Abridged Thing, and his voice was a little scratchier than I was used to, but it eventually grew on me. So when he tried imitating Brian Beacock's Monokuma and all the characters cringed in response, I chuckled quite a bit.

So, when the dub came out, and Greg Ayres gave Monokuma a scratchy voice, not unlike the one from DRAT, I accepted it immediately. Granted, I kind of miss "upupu" (which I know could work since DRAT pulled it off), but "nyuk nyuk nyuk" fits his portrayal here, and beats "puhuhu" any day. Sure, his new voice lacked the "evil, cute thing" vibe from the original, but given how badly it went when I heard the game dub try to do the same thing, I wasn't going to complain about it. Given the script though, I'd say Monokuma's voice fits pretty well (not to mention, I love his dialogue here enough to wish J. Michael Tatum could localize Monokuma's dialogue alone whenever DR3 gets localized).

Naegi: I thought his portrayal was fairly good. I generally give a dub a free pass when they get a male VA to voice a male character that was originally voiced by a female seiyuu. Most of my problems with his portrayal stems more from the script making him sound totally radical at times. That said, I rather like his normal speaking voice, and his yelling voice is pretty awesome, but his sad voice (read: the voice he had mourning Maizono's death at the end of episode 3) sounds pretty forced.

(Side note: despite Nagito Komaeda sharing the same voice actor/seiyuu as Naegi in DR2, I most definitely prefer Nagito's seiyuu as she portrays certain aspects of his personality far better than Papenbrook does).

Kirigiri: My other favorite voice from the Japanese version, so my standards for her dub were kind of high. Admittedly, my first choice for her dubbed voice would have been Kate Higgins (C.C. in Code Geass), as her vocal aesthetics seemed to better match Kyouko's Japanese voice at first glance. That said, I knew Caitlin Glass was capable of pulling off the quiet moments based on what I'd heard in Fullmetal Alchemist, so I was actually looking forward to hearing how she did. Surprisingly, she didn't sound the way I expected, but she did such a good job with her portrayal I don't really care about the vocal aesthetics (esp. compared to the game dub, where she sounded kind of wooden).

Maizono: I've gotten kind of sick of Monica Rial's voice after watching A Certain Magical Index. I know this is more or less what her voice actually sounds like, but I still have a hard time with it when I know she has a really impressive range but doesn't seem use it on characters that would probably benefit from a less squeaky voice (side note: I did actually like her portrayal of May Chang in FMAB). But since Maizono's the first to die, it's not that big of a deal. As a side effect of this though, her Japanese voice didn't leave much of an impression on me).

Enoshima (Ikusaba version): She was okay. The valley girl accent reminded me of DRAT, so I didn't have a hard time accepting it at all. Much like the above though, she dies so soon, her Japanese voice didn't leave much of an impression on me.

Kuwata: Again, he was okay. Again, he dies so soon, his Japanese voice didn't leave much of an impression on me. His voice in the game dub was pretty normal too. No complaints anywhere.

Fujisaki: In an odd inversion of the typical practice I see with dubs, his seiyuu was male, but his voice actor was female. I wasn't horribly put off by the dub voice, but I wasn't particularly impressed either (same with the game dub). On the other hand, I didn't notice his seiyuu was male until after I found out Fujisaki was male, so the original wins here. Granted, your mileage may vary. Amusingly, my sister was surprised when the other characters learned he was male, but she was only surprised because she thought he was male the whole time, and didn't even realize he was pretending to be a girl.

Oowada: Sabat's portrayal was a little over the top sometimes, but otherwise a perfect fit. His game dub voice wasn't bad either, but I got more of the tough biker vibe from Sabat's version.

Ishimaru: Was Austin Tindle a little over the top? Yes. Do I care? No. His voice was another one that sounded like it drew inspiration from DRAT, so that's another win for me (I was kind of disappointed though that they never had him say "X is not acceptable in a school environment!" even once). That said, the over the top voice fit pretty well when he turned into Ishiwada. The game dub on the other hand seemed kind of reserved in comparison to even the Japanese voice.

Yamada: This was the only character I didn't like even a little bit, so I didn't care too much how the voice sounded as long as it fit. The game dub seemed fairly close to the Japanese version, but this one sounded closer to the DRAT version (again, a little disappointed they never had him say "do you like video games?"). All in all, I was fine with it.

Celes: Her voice, much like her original voice, matched the character perfectly. No complaints (I'm really not sure why the game dub gave her an accent, tbh).

Oogami: Her voice here was more obviously feminine than her original voice, and I'll admit it was a little off putting at first, but it eventually grew on me. Her game dub voice though sounded like her VA was trying too hard.

Fukawa/Genocider: I actually thought her voice sounded decent here. Maybe her seiyuu was a little more convincing as Genocider, but I didn't think she did a bad job. Considering the game dub had to get two different people play Fukawa and Genocider, I've got to give her some extra credit for pulling off both voices herself. That said, her seiyuu managed to pull off three distinct modes for Fukawa, that is, her normal mode, her "I <3 Togami" mode, and her Genocider mode, and they all were pretty distinct. Her anime VA was good in normal mode, passable in Genocider mode, and just kind of... okay in "I <3 Togami" mode. I didn't get a chance to hear her game voice in that mode, but her normal voice was just okay, and her Genocider voice reeked too much of "evil Chie" for my tastes.

Hagakure: I didn't really like his game dub voice at first, although after hearing it some more, it's not too bad most of the time, but when it's bad, it's pretty bad. Bevins' portrayal on the other hand seemed to match the original's vocal aesthetics pretty well, but like gotMLK7 said, played up the dudebro aspect a little too much sometimes. So, the seiyuu wins here.

Asahina: I like all of her voices, actually. Cassandra Morris was probably the best of the game dub portrayals I've heard, but I find Felicia Angelle's portrayal to be pretty equal (haven't really heard Morris in anything else other than the Persona 4 animation, so I like her okay, but not so much to where I could say I like her better than Felicia Angelle, who I also haven't heard in much). And both are on par with her seiyuu's portrayal. No problems here at all.

Junko Enoshima: I have to agree with gotMLK7 here. She was done incredibly well, and I really have to give her credit for pulling off Monokuma's scratchiness while in her Monokuma mode. Really, about the only voice she did that didn't seem to work that well was her valley girl voice when reverting to "normal" mode, but I have no idea if there was some kind of vocal or dialogue aspect in the original that was best localized that way in order to get the point across. So, as far as the dubs go, the verdict goes to Jamie Marchi for the majority of her modes, while normal mode goes to Erin Fitzgerald. As for whether Jamie Marchi beats Junko's seiyuu, I honestly couldn't say. They're both good, so I don't really have too much of a preference.

Monomi: What's that? You didn't know she was in this? Well, she is, and she's at the end of the credits as a teaser for a second season that may or may not eventually see the light of day. The first voice of hers I'd heard was her game dub voice, which wasn't bad, but I wasn't horribly fond of it (I had the same problem with Nunnally's voice in Code Geass), but when I switched to the Japanese audio, I thought her voice was kind of adorable (particularly her "uhuhuhu"). Her voice in the anime dub though was just awful. Way too scratchy, which could possibly work if they explained it as Monokuma's doing, but they didn't, so for all I know, her Usami voice would sound the same. So for now, my preference goes seiyuu > game VA >>>>> anime VA.

-----------------
Amusingly, Junko's seiyuu played Winry in the Japanese version of Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), whereas Kyouko's voice actress played Winry in the English dub. Doesn't have any bearing on their performance here, but it's kind of funny nonetheless.
Overall, I thought the cast was pretty good. Really, my biggest complaints are them pronouncing "Naegi" as "Ny-eh-gi," and "Togami" as "Toga-mi." And much like gotMLK7, I think the more amusing changes from the source material at least give it a little sense of identity. And the changes I like I REALLY like. I mean, I couldn't take the game plot seriously after...
Spoiler : ENDGAME SPOILERS :
Mankind’s Most Despairingly Maleficent and Monstrous Malefaction turned out to be what seemed to be monuments being defaced with Monokuma heads. The second game explained it a little better, but it was still pretty stupid. And then, the final Nonstop Debate devolved into an episode of My Little "Super High-school Level Pony": Hope is Magic. Ugh. (the second game's sappy final Nonstop Debate handled that a little bit better too, but only just).
So, with that in mind, I'm more than okay with them embracing the silliness in the dub, and basically making a black comedy out of it. Bad things happen when you treat something ridiculous as serious, so I'm sure I'm not the only person who thought the first game would have been better without that particular aspect (heck, I know a few people who wish they'd gone with the Distrust beta model instead of what we got).

Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the series, otherwise I wouldn't even have bothered with the anime or the sequel, but there are certain aspects of it I could live without.
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Re: SHSL Danganronpa Topic ~ DR3 Announced

Post by Gumpei »

Looks like we're getting a new anime to wrap things up with the cast of the first game. (Naturally, spoilers for that inside if you haven't played/finished.)
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Re: SHSL Danganronpa Topic ~ DR3 Announced

Post by PhoenixRises123 »

Gumpei wrote:Looks like we're getting a new anime to wrap things up with the cast of the first game. (Naturally, spoilers for that inside if you haven't played/finished.)
Spoiler : :
Sniff, they're all grown up now.. :cry:
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Re: SHSL Danganronpa Topic ~ DR3 Announced

Post by TheDoctor »

Anyone think that Naegi looks more like Hajime in that promo?
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