Being a Brief Discussion of Anime Dubs: Divergence Eve, Volume Two

By: Way Jeng
Date: Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Hello, and welcome back for another look at English dubbed anime. Today's issue focuses on Divergence Eve, volume two, released by ADV Films and dubbed by ADV Studios. While fantasy horror has always been something of an anime staple, science fiction horror is a little more rare. But fans of the genre need not despair, because Divergence Eve is an enjoyable show with plenty of suspense and mystery to satisfy fans.



Kira Vincent-Davis plays the lead character, Misaki. It's one of the best performances of the cast. The character displays anger, fear, relief, and sadness throughout the volume. Almost all of the emotions sound sincere, though the anger tends to sound the best.



Shelley Calene-Black plays Lyar, leader of the cadets and commander of the Seraphim Squadron. This is a good performance, though it's a bit over-inflected some of the time. The strongest moments come in the middle and end of the disc. Lyar remains firm and continues to carry a strong air of authority, yet the care and compassion she feels for the people under her command comes across well.



Jason Douglas does commendable work as Jean-Luc Leblanc. This is one of the most interesting characters in the cast, and characterization helps bring that out. The character's confidence continues to match the standard set in the first volume. There's a bit of awkward dialog, but it's a fun performance to listen to as the series becomes darker and Leblanc's true intentions slowly become more obvious.



Jay Hickman plays Bernard Firestar, a reporter who digs a little deeper than some people find acceptable. It's an enjoyable performance and a smooth delivery. In fact, Mr. Hickman's few problems are occasionally the opposite of those seen in the other cast members. While the majority of the dub's cadence issues come from pauses held too long or slight pauses where none should exist, this performance had a slight tendency to sound too fast for comfort.



Luci Christian is somewhat disappointing in her role as Prime Snowlight. This was one of the most interesting and exciting performances of the first disc, but the characterization seems to have changed slightly in this volume. The voice is a bit lower and slower, and as a result Prime loses some of the playful and coy attitude that made her so much fun to listen to. It's still a good performance, and is a fair match for the character, but it's more serious and not quite as much fun to listen to.




Jessica Boone, Christine Auten, and Emily Carter-Essex appear as Kiri, Luxandra, and Suzanne, but none have a great wealth of lines. For the most part these performances sound fair, sometimes dropping down to problematic. Both Ms. Boone and Ms. Auten show irregular cadence during the early and middle parts of the volume, though they sound a bit better towards the end. Sasha Paysinger has a good performance as Kotoko, the support android. The voice matches the character well, and it has a natural rhythm.



Unfortunately, the Divergence Eve dub shows more than a few problems. Most of them come from of awkward cadence and inflection issues. These problems are extremely common in dubs, and almost every dub has them to some extent, but the frequency and magnitude of the instances in this volume were much higher than most other dubs. Almost everybody in the cast has at least a few weak lines. The problem is so widespread that it's not helpful to point out any specific actor, because the problem is not the fault of any one individual.



In fairness to the dub, it's worth noting that a lot of the cadence problems seem liked to lip flap timing. There's no doubt that inconvenient timing on the lip flaps creates additional challenges, but all the same it seems that the dialog could have been slowed down or sped up, as the case was necessary, to compromise between finding a good synch and giving the dialog a conversational rhythm. Most dubs get better as time passes, but this volume doesn't show a great deal of improvement compared to the first. Many of the actors don't sound comfortable with their lines. The supporting cast sounds slightly less problematic, and many of the nameless extras do fine work with the few lines they have.



As far as the general story goes, Divergence Eve remains an interesting and entertaining show. This set of episodes is a bit more serious than the first, and only contains real happiness at the end of the disc. However, that's not necessarily a bad thing. This has been a series with a grim atmosphere from the beginning, and also one that posed many questions early on. Many of those questions are answered, though the answers generally pose more questions than they solve. It's difficult to say any more than that without giving away spoilers that would ruin the disc for many, but people who have enjoyed watching the show up to this point will most likely welcome the new developments. They're all reasonable events, considering what has happened so far, and Misaki shows enough vulnerability to make the show exciting as well as enough strength to stop the show from sliding into disaster.



Outside of the core plot, the show is a bit of a mixed bag. The quantity of fanservice remains relatively high in this volume. It's not quite as prominent as in the past, but it hasn't disappeared by any means. On some level it clashes with the extremely serious tone of the series, but the character designs and uniforms in the show aren't likely to change. The CG sequences follow the standard set in the first volume. Fans who were satisfied with them in the past will probably continue to enjoy them. It's not extraordinary CG, but it works well enough for the show because the plot doesn't focus too much on the fighting and action. The series spends more time concentrating on generating suspense and fear, and as a result it doesn't need visual splendor as much as other shows.



Divergence Eve, volume two, is a fair follow-up of the first volume. The story is developing well and the characters are interesting. However, dub fans looking for a captivating experience should probably turn their attention to other titles.





Questions? Comments? Suggestions? E-mail me at way.jeng@gmail.com



If you enjoy reading this column, you may also enjoy my book, Getting Things Just Right. ISBN 1-4116-0881-X.



Copyright 2005 Way Jeng