Thoughts on the Revolutionary Girl Utena dub.

[Dylonius Funk]

This is a title i've been meaning to check out for a while. So i picked up the first volume at the Anime Boston dealer room. I check the cast list and see that there are some names i recognize such as Chrispin Freeman, Rachael Lillis and Liam O'Brien. What do you guys think of it?

[Fencedude]

Meh

[AdamSchenker]

Lots of talent in the dub, but for whatever reason it didn't turn out so good. [img]/images/graemlins/depresse.gif[/img]

[bctaris]

The criticism I've always heard about it is that the first 13 episodes are not great except for a couple leads. When Anthony Salerno (director of Tylor and Slayers) takes the director helm at 14 however it's supposed to improve greatly. (The dub was done in two separate time periods, I believe, similar to what happened to the first Slayers season.)

I'll leave more to those who have heard it more than I have. I need to finally get around to checking the show out myself.

[machineger4]

Starts out average/unimpressive, but it gets much better in the later volumes (basically after the first arc). Rachel Lillis' Utena is really, really good by the end of the show.

[evilarrex]

I agree. Dub is distinctly lacklustre for the first 13 episodes. While Crispin Freeman does Touga well and Rachael is good as Utena - the VAs for much of the balance of the supporting cast
Juri, Anthy, Nanami, Shadow Girls are pretty limp.
When compared with a star-studded Japanese cast. The dub doesn't hold a candle. Save yourself some pain.

[Dagger]

I watched the series dubbed first, so I guess it's survivable. The dub actually does get quite good later on, but I'd agree with those telling you to spare yourself the first season. Of course, by the time you've seen thirteen episodes, it's hard to transition between languages, so it's kind of a lose-lose situation. [img]/images/graemlins/sweat000.gif[/img]

[Shale]

[ QUOTE ]
Machineger4 said:
Starts out average/unimpressive, but it gets much better in the later volumes (basically after the first arc). Rachel Lillis' Utena is really, really good by the end of the show.

[/ QUOTE ]

Starts out average for the time, mind you, which makes it downright awful by today's standards. Most characters do improve a lot by the end, Lillis especially so, but Sharon Becker's Anthy never gets better than tolerable in her best moments, and that really drags the dub down. Compared to the fantastic Japanese version, there's really no reason to choose the English audio unless you're rewatching the show (which is my excuse).

[DKL]

Oh, so they change directors?

Because, god, the first 13 episodes were awful

[AbeChinchilla]

I've easily assumed that the director for episodes 1-13 did a HORRIBLE job. Apparently the actors weren't given anything to go on for their characters, the leads that were spot on (Crispin Freeman) had to do research on their roles beforehand.

The movie came out, and the dub was handled by a new director, whom as shown in the behind-the-scenes extra appeared to be heavily involved with his work and the movie dub turned out excellent, in my opinion.

So glad he directed episodes 14-39 afterwards.

The dub is awesome 2/3 of the show.