Characters whose voice seems to mismatch appearance &/or character [Archive]

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Njr Scrawl

03-17-2006, 07:33 AM

Have you ever watched a show where a character has a voice that sounds too high, too low, too young, too old, has an uneccessary accent, is too masculine or too feminine for how a character looks &/or acts? Anything like that, extreme hypothetical example - Motoko Kusanagi sounding like Usagi Tsukino /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Comments about any language track welcome, but no disfavourable comparisons between different languages please.

Pfil

03-17-2006, 08:53 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Wrath of the Njr said:
Have you ever watched a show where a character has a voice that sounds too high, too low, too young, too old, has an uneccessary accent, is too masculine or too feminine for how a character looks &/or acts? Anything like that, extreme hypothetical example - Motoko Kusanagi sounding like Usagi Tsukino /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Comments about any language track welcome, but no disfavourable comparisons between different languages please. 

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, I know lots of people praise Suzukaze Mayo for her portrayal of Kenshin, but for my part I have huge difficulties accepting her voice as that of a boy. It's not just that she sounds like a girl, it's that she sounds like a girl trying to sound like a boy. I found it very distracting, so much so that I stopped watching the series before even finishing the first season.

A similar situation with Jinto of Crest of the Stars. It doesn't help that the character is just plain annoying in so many ways. (Please don't kill me.) Then there's Hisakawa Aya as Souma Yuki in Fruits Basket; she doesn't sound even remotely masculine. And finally, whoever did the annoying voice of that annoying rich kid in Pita-Ten pretty much ruined the series for me. There have been others, but these are the ones that have bugged me the most over the years.

(Incidentally I don't usually have problems with female VAs voicing males, it's just that sometimes it really doesn't work...)

yatsuhashi

03-17-2006, 09:03 AM

How about that hulking school girl in Project A-ko? The first time she spoke I nearly wet my pants. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

HarlockHero

03-17-2006, 09:47 AM

Definitely the aforementioned "hulking schoolgirl" from Project A-ko, and in a similar (yet ENTIRELY DIFFERENT) vein, Asaka Rei (aka St. Juste) in Oniisama E.

TuxedoFred

03-17-2006, 09:59 AM

Splitter

03-17-2006, 10:10 AM

Takumi from Mai HiME / Otome. WAAAAY too low for his kind of character.

BluWacky

03-17-2006, 12:40 PM

[ QUOTE ]
TuxedoFred said:
I find that to be the case all the time in English dubs (regardless of whether I've seen it in Japanese before or not). Especially when it comes to the stereotypical crotchety old man role. I've never met anyone in real life who talks like that.

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It's funny because I thought the same about Japanese "old man" voices until I discovered that Japanese old men really DO talk like that, with the wheeziness and everything. Very odd.

I guess it's just a charicature when done in English dubs.

EmperorBrandon

03-17-2006, 03:48 PM

I have to agree on any of Aya Hisakawa's young male roles. She's one of my favorite VA's but doesn't fit male characters at all (except Kero, but he's a stuffed animal mascot, so I'll make an exception there /images/graemlins/wink.gif). Of course, maybe she's not all that mismatched with appearance since Miki and Yuki look really girly (to the point where it even seems a little odd hearingly distinctly male voices come out of them in English)

In Princess Tutu, Femio's voice is rather deep, when look at this character design you would it expect it to be girly. I think it did work out well that way, though.

Pfil

03-17-2006, 07:42 PM

[ QUOTE ]
EmperorBrandon said:
I have to agree on any of Aya Hisakawa's young male roles. She's one of my favorite VA's but doesn't fit male characters at all (except Kero, but he's a stuffed animal mascot, so I'll make an exception there /images/graemlins/wink.gif). Of course, maybe she's not all that mismatched with appearance since Miki and Yuki look really girly (to the point where it even seems a little odd hearingly distinctly male voices come out of them in English)

[/ QUOTE ]
I like Hisakawa as well, especially when she's doing her native Oosaka-ben. (My favorite role of hers is as Icchan in Battle Athletes.) But although Miki (which I forgot about) and Yuki are supposed to be feminine, hearing their voices like that just takes me out of it.

[ QUOTE ]
In Princess Tutu, Femio's voice is rather deep, when look at this character design you would it expect it to be girly. I think it did work out well that way, though.

[/ QUOTE ]
Femio, was he the... prince type character who tried to pick up the all girls at Ahiru's school or whatever? I watched it without subs and got absolutely no sense out of that episode. /images/graemlins/cry00000.gif

EmperorBrandon

03-17-2006, 07:57 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Hunter Pfil said:

Femio, was he the... prince type character who tried to pick up the all girls at Ahiru's school or whatever? I watched it without subs and got absolutely no sense out of that episode. /images/graemlins/cry00000.gif

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Yeah, that's him. /images/graemlins/happy.gif (watched that episode recently since it's on Vol. 4)

Pfil

03-17-2006, 07:58 PM

[ QUOTE ]
EmperorBrandon said:
Yeah, that's him. /images/graemlins/happy.gif (watched that episode recently since it's on Vol. 4)

[/ QUOTE ]
OK, thanks. Sometimes my memory isn't so good. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

Lovely

03-17-2006, 08:01 PM

In the later episodes of Hikaru no Go, I find that Hikaru's and Akira's voices just do NOT fit their looks. The look like older teens, but still sound like they are twelve ^^;.
The voices were fine when the characters themselves were younger. But towards the end, I just found it a bit akward.

balthier2012

03-17-2006, 09:28 PM

Actually the first time I noticed "that voice should most definitely not be on that character" was just last night watching GITS SAC Vol. 3 I believe it was the first or second episode on the disc. It's the chatroom episode talking about Laughing Man. The one who's voice is far out of context .. well I'm not sure he has a name (but even for a side character, it's way off) He appears older, he's kinda scrawny but his voice sounds like a 14 year old. I'm not sure which studio dubbed or hired VAs, but I think it was Greg Ayres or sounded like him anyway ( no offense to Greg Ayres voice, he's just better off dubbing characters like Goku from Saiyuki ) if it even was him.

All I know is I have never felt even half as strongly about a voice not matching a character. Infact I don't think it's ever bothered me in the past 183 anime shows I've watched. Atleast not to the extent of it retaining in my memory cells longer then 10 minutes.

GITS fans help me out if you know who it is.

jaylee

03-17-2006, 09:28 PM

the english VA's for Shu in NTHT and Tima in Metropolis sounded too old. There's also someone in Comic Party that was voiced a lot older than she looked, but can't remember her name. i guess any charactor voiced older bugs me. Don't get me started on Bible Black's dub /images/graemlins/icon_rolleyes.gif

Victor Lewandowski

03-17-2006, 09:53 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Inu VASHa said:
There's also someone in Comic Party that was voiced a lot older than she looked, but can't remember her name.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think Yuu Inagawa was the character that comes to mind here (Helped Kazuki out at the first convention...).

EmperorBrandon

03-17-2006, 10:19 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Balthier said:
I'm not sure which studio dubbed or hired VAs, but I think it was Greg Ayres or sounded like him anyway ( no offense to Greg Ayres voice, he's just better off dubbing characters like Goku from Saiyuki ) if it even was him.

[/ QUOTE ]

That was Joshua Seth, actually (they do have somewhat similar voices). Could be remembering wrong, but didn't he have that kind of voice because that was only a chatroom avatar and the real person he represented was a child?

balthier2012

03-17-2006, 10:23 PM

[ QUOTE ]
EmperorBrandon said:
[ QUOTE ]
Balthier said:
I'm not sure which studio dubbed or hired VAs, but I think it was Greg Ayres or sounded like him anyway ( no offense to Greg Ayres voice, he's just better off dubbing characters like Goku from Saiyuki ) if it even was him.

[/ QUOTE ]

That was Joshua Seth, actually (they do have somewhat similar voices). Could be remembering wrong, but didn't he have that kind of voice because that was only a chatroom avatar and the real person he represented was a child?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well don't ask me, I've only seen up to v3 so far and about to marathon the remainder + all of what's out for 2nd gig this weekend. I assume his character is brought back later if his real identity is to be revealed outside of the chatroom. If he is a child speaking through an older avatar, atleast it would justify the odd voice.

Lego

03-17-2006, 10:48 PM

For a while I actually really liked the high school girl that was in that "chat room" also. She had a couple speaking lines, but I dunno, something struck a chord I guess heh.

bctaris

03-18-2006, 12:14 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Balthier said:
[ QUOTE ]
EmperorBrandon said:
[ QUOTE ]
Balthier said:
I'm not sure which studio dubbed or hired VAs, but I think it was Greg Ayres or sounded like him anyway ( no offense to Greg Ayres voice, he's just better off dubbing characters like Goku from Saiyuki ) if it even was him.

[/ QUOTE ]

That was Joshua Seth, actually (they do have somewhat similar voices). Could be remembering wrong, but didn't he have that kind of voice because that was only a chatroom avatar and the real person he represented was a child?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well don't ask me, I've only seen up to v3 so far and about to marathon the remainder + all of what's out for 2nd gig this weekend. I assume his character is brought back later if his real identity is to be revealed outside of the chatroom. If he is a child speaking through an older avatar, atleast it would justify the odd voice.

[/ QUOTE ]

It never gets back to those chat characters, but I would assume it was intentional. The dub producers are usually given notes and directions from the original production in addition to the scripts--one might assume one such note was to cast that character young.

But I haven't yet listened to it in Japanese to verify if that's meant to be.

EmperorBrandon

03-18-2006, 01:33 AM

[ QUOTE ]
bctaris said:

It never gets back to those chat characters, but I would assume it was intentional. The dub producers are usually given notes and directions from the original production in addition to the scripts--one might assume one such note was to cast that character young.

[/ QUOTE ]

That particular character voiced by Joshua Seth resurfaces two episodes later as one of those kids that was in some sort of rehabilitation center. I haven't heard GitS in Japanese (only saw the episodes on Adult Swim), but his Japanese voice actor is teen seiyuu Miyu Irino (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=1207) so I'd assume he would have a very young-sounding voice in the original too.

bctaris

03-18-2006, 01:47 AM

[ QUOTE ]
EmperorBrandon said:
[ QUOTE ]
bctaris said:

It never gets back to those chat characters, but I would assume it was intentional. The dub producers are usually given notes and directions from the original production in addition to the scripts--one might assume one such note was to cast that character young.

[/ QUOTE ]

That particular character voiced by Joshua Seth resurfaces two episodes later as one of those kids that was in some sort of rehabilitation center. I haven't heard GitS in Japanese (only saw the episodes on Adult Swim), but his Japanese voice actor is teen seiyuu Miyu Irino (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=1207) so I'd assume he would have a very young-sounding voice in the original too.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah, right. I forgot about that episode. And I guess that answers the question, too.

pianocello

03-18-2006, 02:23 AM

(refering to Japanese VAs):

Goku (DBZ) - C'mon a macho character like that needs to have a macho-sounding male seiyuu not a female trying to sound male.
Forte (Galaxy Angel) - I really thought that she was a cross-dressing male.

O-chan

03-18-2006, 10:14 AM

I pretty much agree with the whole Yuki's voice thing. The Japanese voice just sounds too feminine. Even though it took me a bit of time to get used to Kenshin's and Goku's voices I eventually clicked with them but Aya's Yuki is just tooooo girly.

O-chan

Legion

03-18-2006, 11:16 AM

[ QUOTE ]
bctaris said:
[ QUOTE ]
Balthier said:
[ QUOTE ]
EmperorBrandon said:
[ QUOTE ]
Balthier said:
I'm not sure which studio dubbed or hired VAs, but I think it was Greg Ayres or sounded like him anyway ( no offense to Greg Ayres voice, he's just better off dubbing characters like Goku from Saiyuki ) if it even was him.

[/ QUOTE ]

That was Joshua Seth, actually (they do have somewhat similar voices). Could be remembering wrong, but didn't he have that kind of voice because that was only a chatroom avatar and the real person he represented was a child?

[/ QUOTE ]

Well don't ask me, I've only seen up to v3 so far and about to marathon the remainder + all of what's out for 2nd gig this weekend. I assume his character is brought back later if his real identity is to be revealed outside of the chatroom. If he is a child speaking through an older avatar, atleast it would justify the odd voice.

[/ QUOTE ]

It never gets back to those chat characters, but I would assume it was intentional. The dub producers are usually given notes and directions from the original production in addition to the scripts--one might assume one such note was to cast that character young.

But I haven't yet listened to it in Japanese to verify if that's meant to be.

[/ QUOTE ]
The Japanese version has a similarly young-sounding voice that doesn't fit the character's appearance. It's intentional.

Legion

03-18-2006, 11:31 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Wrath of the Njr said:
Comments about any language track welcome, but no disfavourable comparisons between different languages please. 

[/ QUOTE ]
Oh, you're no fun...

Japanese: first miscast/mismatch that always comes to mind first is Megumi Hayashibara as Faye. Not good casting, these sort of sultry roles are as well suited to Hayashibara as male roles are to Aya Hisakawa. There are so many other female VA's in Japan that would've been SO better suited to playing Faye.

In Cosmo Warrior Zero, the Japanese acting in general wasn't very good but inparticular one character, whose name I forget but he looked a little like Bebop's Jet, had an awful voice. The VA sounded like he was trying to do an impression of Cookie Monster. I don't care where you're from, nobody speaks like that.

EDIT: Not exactly a mismatch, but I've always kinda wondered about Takehito Koyasu's take on Hanigata in the Saber Marrionette animes. Most of the time he's pretty funny in the role but he also spends a lot of time making the damn weirdest noises. There may be a sound reason why that would be funny to a Japanese audience but to me it sounded excessively silly-sounding and was a little distracting.

English: What was with that awful Southern accent for that little character in 801 TTS Airbats? Yuck. When Gary Dehan was working for Monster Island, his casting decisions were usually pretty sound but that character was a heck of an exception.

Marcy Rae as Ryoko in Blue Seed wasn't cast so well. Ai Orikasa's take on the character was somewhat deep and husky and it seems they took that trait a bit too far in the English casting. A real shame too, because she's actually acted surprisingly well in English, especially when her feelings for Kunakida (sp?) start to surface. She just didn't sound right.

EDIT: Oh man, how could I forget David Moo as Xellos in Slayers? That... was a weird voice. The Slayers has a fair share of mismatched voices for random characters and a even a few supporting ones (Sylphiel, anyone?) but all the other prominent characters were well-voiced... just not Xellos.

O-chan

03-18-2006, 06:35 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Legion said:

Japanese: first miscast/mismatch that always comes to mind first is Megumi Hayashibara as Faye. Not good casting, these sort of sultry roles are as well suited to Hayashibara as male roles are to Aya Hisakawa. There are so many other female VA's in Japan that would've been SO better suited to playing Faye.

EDIT: Oh man, how could I forget David Moo as Xellos in Slayers? That... was a weird voice. The Slayers has a fair share of mismatched voices for random characters and a even a few supporting ones (Sylphiel, anyone?) but all the other prominent characters were well-voiced... just not Xellos.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought I'd comment on these two. I'm pretty much in full agreement on the Faye issue.
Not David Moo's Xelloss definately doesn't top Akira Ishida's performance but being a big fan of the Slayers dub I never felt his performance was so distracting that it took away from my enjoyment of the dub. I often times felt this a was a huge exaggeration on most fans part and if anyone hurt the dub it was the English Sylphiel who sounded like she was constantly on crack. She got a bit better in NEXT but her performance in the first season was just...ugh.

O-chan