Dub-Destroying Performances

[Buckeye]

Now here is a question I would like you to give your opinions about. For dubs that were downright awful, which performance single-handedly was the one that caused it to really suck? In other words, if the dub for an anime sucked, which performance can you attributed it to being the one that ruined the dub the most? What I am not asking about are good dubs with one performance that stood out like a sore thumb amidst the other solid performances. Here is my list of top five dub-destroying performances among the anime that I have watched at least enough episodes in English to call them duds rather than studs:

Crest of the Stars: Lafiel
She sounded like a valley girl who has trouble speaking. Way lacking in emotion and the execution was terrible.

One Piece: Sanji
Out of the sea of bad performances, Sanji's voice is easily the worst of them. The voice is too nasal, too gruffy, too low, and too unlike what Sanji is supposed to be. That is why we don't trust 4gedabouditKids when they do anime. I could have maybe withstood this dub, if it weren't for David Moo's awful performance as Sanji.

Cardcaptors (not the CCS movie 2 one): Keroberos
Kero-chan is supposed to sound cute and energetic. But instead, we got a scruffy, tough-guy version of him.

Sailor Moon: Luna
British accent gone terribly wrong and sounding too old for a cute cat is a recipe for disaster.

Love Hina: Kaolla Su
This one is a toss-up between Kitsune and Su for having terrible accents to run this dub to the ground. But in addition to the botched accent, the voice was too old for Su and not enough playfulness that is needed for her.

I picked on performances where accents were horribly executed since a bad accent can really drag a dub down. Once again, there are just for anime I heard enough of in English to absolutely despise them and I picked the weakest link out of the main cast. For several bad dubs, I usually read about them ahead of time so that I skip them.

[Splitter]

It didn't destroy the dub, but Tiffany Grant's Satella in Chrono Crusade ruined the mood quite a bit.

Then there was the dynamic duo of Barbara Goodson and Wendee Lee in Love Hina. First off, Wendee should have been playing Kitsune WITHOUT THAT FREAKIN' ACCENT and Su should have been at the master cute voice of Sandy Fox. Then the dub may have been tolerable.

David Umansky's Suguru in Mahoromatic made it so I had to watch the sub after Vol. 1. Sad too, because Ellen Wilkinson was a fantastic Mahoro.

I couldn't bear another second of My HiME after hearing Shizuru and knowing what awaited later on and how it would destroy the best part of the series.

Kudos to the tag-team of Allison Keith and Bryce Papenbrook. Your constant screamings of "Shugo" and "Rena" throughout the midway point of .hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet made me want to never see this series again.

And finally, Jillian Micheals, whose incredibly shrill Shippo drove the Inuyasha dub into the ground.


Man, I hate to be so negative on dubs. There are so many good ones out there, but alas, like all forms of entertainment, there's always going to be crap.

[bci110]

Originally Posted by Splitter

I couldn't bear another second of My HiME after hearing Shizuru and knowing what awaited later on and how it would destroy the best part of the series.

That's precisely why I don't watch My-HiME in English.

[JTurner]

Hmm.... This is a tough decision, but here goes:

Cam Clarke (Kaneda) in Streamline's Akira--A lot of people are going to jump on me for this, but I stand behind this example. Clarke may be a good voice actor, but Kaneda just isn't one of his finest roles. The performances in the rest of the dub were all uninspired, but his was the absolute worst. Monotonous, lacking in emotion, and badly acted, this is a performance that I detest.

Stanley Gurd, Jr. (Tetsuo) in Streamline's Akira--As bad as Clarke's Kaneda was, this guy who did Tetsuo only comes close to trumping him in awfulness. Sounding nothing at all like a teenage biker, and uninspired in every line read, this "performance" is pretty much non existant.

Lara Cody (Dan) in Vampire Hunter D--This dub as a whole was mediocre, but Kurtz's Dan made it even weaker. She sounds nothing in the least like a young boy, nor does she come across as convincing. It sticks out like a sore thumb because she sounds like a woman acting like a boy, and unconvincingly so.

J. Shannon Weaver (Kenshin) from Samurai X--I really hate to slamdunk a Monster Island dub; after all they did produce an amazing effort for Nadia and several other shows like Steam Detectives, The Devil Lady and numerous other titles I have yet to experience, but they misfired with this high-profile title. Part of the problem is that the actors sounded like they were reading from a script rather than actually acting--Weaver's Kenshin in particular was especially lacking in emotion, which disappointed me since he's supposed to be the strongest character in the dub. I excuse Weaver, though, because I know he's done better since this role, which was, after all, his first acting job.

Jason Beck (M.D. Geist) from M.D. Geist--No, it's not on this list because the character is unlikeable in a dismal show to begin with but because his performance is plain boring. Monotonous, uncharismatic, and uninvolving, this is a detestable lead. I haven't seen this in a while, but I regretted sitting through this dub and this show, too, for that matter.

Otherwise, I haven't seen that many bad dubs with performances I remember grating on me. Now granted I have seen good dubs with a few lesser and/or OK only performances, but aside from the aforementioned examples, I can't think of anything else.

-Jon T.

[The Great Bear]

Originally Posted by NFC Shounen

Love Hina: Kaolla Su
This one is a toss-up between Kitsune and Su for having terrible accents to run this dub to the ground. But in addition to the botched accent, the voice was too old for Su and not enough playfulness that is needed for her.

Agreed.

I tend to switch tracks if the dub is really bad, so I can't think of others where it was only one voice. But I can think of a couple where all or most of the voices were bad.

[Brent Long]

Originally Posted by JTurner

Joyce Kurtz (Dan) in Vampire Hunter D

Actually, Dan was played by Lara Cody.

[EmperorBrandon]

Hah, "dub-destroying" is a bit harsh I'd say. In general, a less-than-stellar dub tends to have quite a few performances that miss the mark rather than one, so I don't get the vibe too often (more often to have one performance that really stands out in an otherwise poor dub).

As far as my thoughts go, probably Sue Turner-Cray in the first episode of the Pretty Sammy OVA. My feelings are a bit tampered by hindsight bias at this point (as I judge Misao/Pixy Misa as she is in the TV series to be a standard, even with the OVA). The voice just seemed way too exaggerated for a young girl, though, and even her portrayal of Misa did not work that well. Maybe more to do with bad casting than necessarily a bad performance, though. There were some good parts with the dub in the episode, but otherwise I tend to think it is very lacking compared to the later two episodes of Pretty Sammy OVA, which are really fun dub-wise.

[Puppet Master]

Andrew FRANCIS as Dilandu in Escaflowne just far too annoying for words. I know theres others but that's the first one to come to mind.

[Wpt1031]

Originally Posted by JTurner

Hmm.... This is a tough decision, but here goes:

Cam Clarke (Kaneda) in Streamline's Akira--A lot of people are going to jump on me for this, but I stand behind this example. Clarke may be a good voice actor, but Kaneda just isn't one of his finest roles. The performances in the rest of the dub were all uninspired, but his was the absolute worst. Monotonous, lacking in emotion, and badly acted, this is a performance that I detest.

I agree with you wholeheartedly he down right ruined that role. Of course I think Cam Clarke is a poor excuse for an actor to begin with but thats besides the point. Of course i'll admit the entire time i was thinking of the Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles everytime he spoke.

[Pachi]

Only one I can think of off the top of my head is Wendee Lee's Yahiko in Rurouni Kenshin. Her voice along with the actress for Kaoru (I forget her name) provided some of THE most annoying sounding voices in the entire dub. And it didn't help much that most of the scenes where Yahiko and Kaoru sounded the most annoying were when they were in the same scene, talking at the same time.