The PowerPuff Girls Z Dub - All Sugared Up for your Kids.

[ChibiGoku]

Sorry about the awful topic title.

Anyways, PowerPuff Girls Z dub is currently airing in the philippines, and it's actually the Ocean Group dub that we were aware from back when it was originally announced I believe last year. Initially, I had thought the dub that was aired (the Tagalog dub) was based off the english dub... It wasn't. Instead, we're rewarded with Sailor Moon DiC styled dub.

Anywho, there is some speculation as to who is voicing who, since only the first half of the episode has been uploaded somewhere. Ignoring the problems plaguing the script, here's what my initial thoughts on it are, currently...

Professor Utonium and Miss Bellum's voices are fine, and actually sound natural and fit their appearance. The Mayor's voice is bugging me a bit. Infact, it's very similar to that of the original PowerPuff Girls series, and because of the size difference and appearance, the voice comes off sounding very high pitched and very unnatural for him.

Peach, or Poochie as this dub calls him, is... Ick. He has this older sounding voice, and doesn't have a high pitched voice like the original. It just doesn't fit him. We're only given really one line of dialogue, but it's enough for me currently. I'm mixed on Ken's voice, simply because he sounds a bit older than he should, but it's not as bad a Peach's.

Mojo's voice is probably the best, sadly. He actually seems to be matching more so of the Japanese voice than he did with the english voice. Not only that, but Mojo's performance on handeling his strange speaking tones is overall done well. Although, he has a strange accent, and almost sounds mexican, but this isn't anything that really is to be a bother.

The girls... God, honestly, I don't know. Momoko's voice sounds alright for the most part, but the rest of the girls I have a problem with. Miyako's voice comes off WAY TOO high pitched, and she doesn't even try to emulate neither the Japanese or Original Bubbles. The way the voice actor portrays her, makes her seem even more ditsy than she really should be, and alot more clueless as a result. Kaoru's voice also comes off sounding too feminine for my own taste, as well as high pitched.

The script, music, and op/ed I really don't want to get into. What I really want to bring up is about the sound effects. 80% of the sound effects have been replaced, and the remaining intact sound effects have been lowered greatly. Most of the new sound effects come across very cartoonish, and they don't fit the tone at all. Infact, alot of the sound effects feel really forced and unnatural.

Seriously... What the heck?

Anywho, I haven't been able to really identify any of the unlisted voice actors. I'll post some clips in a bit.

[Quarkboy]

Well, I found the clip, and I guess that kills any chance of it showing up on the US cartoon network. I highly doubt they'd show such a low-quality hack job like this for one of their premier franchises.
The replaced music and sound effects are on par with some of the worst work 4kids has done, and I don't even need to go back to the original Japanese to know how much they changed the script.
Plus, I agree with your comments for the voices in general: The mayor is just wrong, and the blossom and bubbles just sound really off. I think Buttercup is okay, though.
It's the smaller parts like the kindergarten teacher that really put the dub into the lowest class, though: They're just horrid.

If Cartoon network USA ever wanted to put this on TV, they'd have to redub it, if they didn't they'd just be harming their own property.

[bctaris]

Originally Posted by Quarkboy

If Cartoon network USA ever wanted to put this on TV, they'd have to redub it, if they didn't they'd just be harming their own property.

Cartoon Network was a production partner on this from start to finish--it would continue that they would be the ones verifying any changes on the English localization side, correct? This is perhaps what they wanted, whether or not it was the right decision, no?

Point being any responsibility (or fan ire) belongs with CN, and not necessarily with anyone or group in Vancouver (where many CN shows have been voiced over the years).

But I'll have to hear it for myself at some point before taking any thoughts online for granted. I was kind of looking forward to it.

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by bctaris

Cartoon Network was a production partner on this from start to finish--it would continue that they would be the ones verifying any changes on the English localization side, correct? This is perhaps what they wanted, whether or not it was the right decision, no?

Point being any responsibility (or fan ire) belongs with CN, and not necessarily with anyone or group in Vancouver (where many CN shows have been voiced over the years).

But I'll have to hear it for myself at some point before taking any thoughts online for granted. I was kind of looking forward to it.

It's on youtube, that's where I watched it.

And somehow I don't think that CN had a very direct hand in the dubbing. I'm sure _someone_ approved it, but I have no idea who that was or whether it passed the level of scrutiny that a show actually airing on the network would get. No offense to the phillipeans, but I'd like to think that CN USA has slightly higher standards to the production values of its programs. Well I'd like to think that, anyway...

[bctaris]

Oh, it's fine.

First, it's a show even more aimed at preteen girls than the original was, and (primarily) adolescent to middle aged men online complaining about it not being taken as seriously as they imagine it should be is always uncomfortably amusing (I realize this is slightly hypocritical since I'm in that demographic--but that's also why I say it).

I can't speak for changing music or sfx or the like since I'm not terribly familiar with the original Japanese incarnation (and I'm not interested in hunting down a stream of YT clips to get a better idea) other to say changing such things is not something I approve of, either.

But for the dub, it fits the material as presented quite adequately. I put down current negative reaction to it to the classic missed expectation problem of the sub/dub dynamic. In tone and style and vocal and acting characteristics respective to each culture (especially for the type of show and its target audience) it matches the Japanese. But non-Japanese fans of the Japanese track build up expectations that it doesn't sound this over-the-top or cheesy or trite, like they judge the intrinsically less exotic English track to be. But it does. This is I suspect, as with most other similar shows, about what native Japanese hear (albeit, potentially, with different music and sfx that may or may not sound more interesting). Sucks, don't it? Magic girl anime shows really are just for kids. The expectation problem has plagued the dub divide for years and will obviously continue.

Anyway, Nicole Bouma was Blossom. I've never been disappointed by Bouma and thought she sounded fine, but I know her unique voice has unnerved some before in previous roles. Couldn't get a bead on the other two too well for some reason. Wasn't listening terribly closely to others, but might have heard Nicole Oliver and maybe Trevor Devall in there as well in smaller roles. Really, these are all experienced cartoon voice over actors doing what cartoon producers have been wanting them to do for years on North American TV--they're not winging it, and you've likely heard them on CN before numerous times.

Like I alluded above, after finally seeing some of it, it all seems more childish than I recall the original. Or more trite and derivative anyway. Not going to bother much with it, or worry much about this; and as I'm sure wannabe otaku while bemoan it, this, intact, will likely do just fine on North American TV. And if one is really so emotionally vested in it that one thinks it's raping your inner child if it doesn't sound like you thought the Japanese sounded to your foreign ears--it's only the first episode. Give it time, like anything else.

[Brent Long]

I'm no Ocean expert (Vancouver, that is), but I believe the mayor was Alec 'Oolong' Willows.

[Legion]

Wow, altered music and effects? In 2008? I'll save my opinion on the actual voices until I hear them, but mucking with the audio like that doesn't sit well with me. Changing music and effects has always been a major bone of contention for me.

[ChibiGoku]

Originally Posted by Legion

Wow, altered music and effects? In 2008? I'll save my opinion on the actual voices until I hear them, but mucking with the audio like that doesn't sit well with me. Changing music and effects has always been a major bone of contention for me.

It gets wierder. According to the person, the Japanese ending was retained come episode 2. I haven't heard about the music or sound effects for this episode, though. If the original bgm returns in episode 2, as with the sound effects, then it means the first episode that was aired was nothing more than a test dub that for some reason the Philippines got a pilot dub.

Regardless, I compared to what WAS available to me, and there was absolutely no cuts in the first half. The episode was sped up, but none of the content itself was cut. I assume this might mean that we may see an uncut version sometime down the road. Otherwise, I seriously doubt we would've seen Mayonaka no Door restored as the ending song.

[Suwako Moriya]

I would say in some ways the dub is a bit lacking. Simply because even for a program aimed at young children some of it feels a bit too forced. However I've heard a lot worse. Still I have to wonder Why they removed things like the "Rolling Bubbles" or "Powered Buttercup"...

[Blackraven]

Hmm........

What are you talking about? The ending song for episode 3 (what I watched a while ago) was "LOOK" by HALCALI.