Being a Brief Discussion of Anime Dubs: �X-Driver the Movie

By: Way Jeng
Date: Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Welcome to another look into the future of anime dubs. Today's subject of discussion is �X-Driver the Movie (hereafter �X-Driver), released by Geneon Entertainment and dubbed by Bang Zoom! I'd like to thank animeondvd.com for making this trip into the future possible.

For readers who are wondering about whether or not they will enjoy �X-Driver without any prior experience with the anime, I went into this movie having no knowledge of the �X-Driver world whatsoever. Despite this, I was able to understand everything that was going on. The first few minutes of the movie offer a short crash-course introduction for the characters and world. However, it's obvious that the movie is meant for viewers who already have an investment in �X-Driver. The movie is extremely short, only slightly more than an hour, and it doesn't have the time or ability to generate an entire world from nothing. The dub gets the job done, though it has a few rough spots. In some respect, this mirrors the movie itself.

I'm not sure if �X-Driver has a main character, but if it does it's probably Soichi. He's the most active of the three Japanese �X-Drivers we meet. The voice for this character was good. Energy and enthusiasm were both abundant, and there were no weak lines worth mentioning. The voice sounded a little bit too old considering how often characters make note of how young Soichi is, but it's not so much of a difference as to be unbelievable.

Next up is Lisa, another �X-Driver from Japan. This was one of the best performances in the movie. The voice actress for Lisa captured the anger and annoyance of her character well, but what makes this character stand out was the dynamic quality of the voicing. Lisa is one of the only characters who varies her pitch to any significant degree as her mood changes, and as a result Lisa feels more sincere than most of the rest of the cast.

Last of the Japanese �X-Drivers is Lorna. As the least talkative of the three main characters, it's difficult to judge this performance. On the whole the voice sounds slightly under-emoted, but it's not clear to me whether or not that's inappropriate because Lorna appears to be a reserved character in general. In either event, Lorna is a good character even if she's not a great one. There's are no major flaws in the performance.

Angela, a character presumably created for the movie, has a fair performance. Most of the time it's fine, but the characterization isn't complete. Angela could have been more angry and intense in a few scenes, though she never under-emotes per se. The quiet scenes are handled well, however, and otherwise the performance is good.

Last of the main characters is Joe, another person created for the movie. This role was handled well. The character's points of madness and near-insanity later in the movie have sufficient intensity, though it's hard to enjoy because the emotions are so badly supported by the plot itself that it almost feels as though the actor is going too far. It's a bizarre situation to be sure, but having a character that exceeds the material is preferable to a lifeless one.

On the whole, the dub for �X-Driver is somewhere between fair and good. While none of the performances make any glaring mistakes and the cast has a respectable ability to bring the material to life, the dub doesn't do anything brilliant. If anything, the dub has too much energy and too little subtlety. Several characters aren't fully realized. One example is the announcer at an �X-driver race. At first it seems that the VA has a good grasp of the character, exaggerating his voice exactly as one might expect for such an event. This works while the character is commenting on the race, but later on in the movie a few plot twists take place on the track and disrupt the race. The character's voice never changes to reflect the fact that honestly surprising and unexpected events are unfolding. We continue to hear the faux-surprise of sports announcing even though it's no longer appropriate. The voicing has many elements of technical proficiency mastered, but there's an overall lack of understanding when it comes to the character as a whole. The voice does not place the character in context, instead treating him as a stereotype.

Unfortunately, the lack of depth in the dub can be partially attributed to an equal lack of depth in the movie. �X-Driver has a number of exciting driving sequences as well as a few genuinely humorous scenes, but it isn't rewarding beyond that level. The plot of the movie is unsophisticated and shallow. It doesn't feel like a movie so much as a very long episode of anime. That wouldn't be so bad, given the movie's short run time, except that the plot gets exaggerated and lengthened by the addition of several contrived plot twists. Some of the good guys turn out to be bad guys, and vice-versa. These events are surprising, but they don't have much dramatic impact because there isn't enough time to form a proper emotional bond with any of the characters.

�X-Driver's biggest flaw is questionable humor in the form of ethnically stereotyped characters. There are a few characters who are given strong accents and often exhibit behavior as demanded by the stereotypes. In fact, these aren't characters so much as caricatures. It seems obvious that the characters have been included as an attempt at humor, but I did not find any of the jokes funny during my first viewing of the movie. The humor is firmly grounded in the comic exaggeration of likes and mannerisms associated with the stereotypes, and while it might be funny for some it didn't work for me. It does, however, match with the overall tone and mood of �X-Driver. This is a simple world where viewers don't need to dig very deep to understand what's going on.

If it weren't for some sexualized humor, I would recommend the movie for younger viewers. As it is, �X-Driver might be enjoyable for people looking to take in some easy entertainment that doesn't require a lot of thinking. I'm not well acquainted with the rest of �X-Driver, but those who are might want to consider this if they like what they've already seen.

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

Copyright 2004 Way Jeng