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Fushigi Yuugi
Miscellaneous:
Dub Review
Fushigi Yugi - The
Mysterious Play has now been released in North America by
Pioneer Entertainment. This is IT: the English dubbed version of
Fushigi Yuugi.
Being a buyer and lover of Tomodachi Anime's fansub of the show, I
admit that the idea of an English dub, when Pioneer announced it,
kinda made me squirm with fangirlish discomfort. However, I put it
out of mind - it's worth it to have the show licensed, right? One
day, I walked into a local video rental place, and BANG, there it
was: The Mysterious Play. The English dub, staring me
face-to-face. Two emotions conflicted in me at that moment -
curiosity and reluctance. With hesitant fingers, I plucked it off
the shelf. Still more hesitantly, I plugged the VCR with the tape.
The English-dubbed version of FY possesses a hint of the
excellence the original voices had; you can't really quash the
quality of the show with bad dubbing alone. It's not that the dub
was terrible, only it had the potential to be much better,
especially when compared with the quality of the Japanese version.
Pioneer got the dialogue pretty close. Though I didn't like the
cutting of such Japanese terms such as "Miko" and "Seishi", I have
to grudgingly admit it was to be expected. Watchers of the English
dub would potentially be lost without an explanation of such
terms. So, although I missed my "Suzaku No Miko" and "Shichi
Seishi", I wasn't outrageously offended by "Priestess of Suzaku"
or "Star Warrior". The original terminology is my preference, but
the translation is to be expected - and sometimes licensors veer
away from too-Japanese terminology to avoid confusion. That seems
to be the case here.
The first thing that really bothered me was the mis-translation of
the incantation of the "Shi Jin . . ." Oops, I mean "Universe of
the Four Gods", as the dub puts it. The way they translated it was
weird - it makes it sound like there is already a heroine in the
book, and whoever gets pulled in simply becomes "like" the heroine
of the story. In the dub incantation, there's no mention of "The
story becoming the truth and beginning". At the end of the
incantation, it is stated, "Whoever finishes reading will be
granted a wish like the heroine". The whole main point is lost,
that a girl would be pulled into the book, and BECOME the heroine
of the story. More careful translation should have been used for
such an important passage.
The second irritation came with the mis-pronunciation of, well,
just about everything. Miaka became "Mee-aww-kaw", instead of "Mii-yaah-kaah".
"Tamahome" and "Hotohori" were okay, as was "Yui", but they made a
goulash out of "Suzaku". Even worse was "Seiryuu", it was
pronounced something like "Saay-eer-ee-yoo". The worst was the
pronunciation of "Mitsukake", which came out as "Mee-tsoo-kaw-kay".
Oddly enough, "Tasuki" was pronounced just fine, they had no
problem with the "-su" there. Hopefully, Pioneer fixes the
pronunciation of the Seishi's names in the future. I don't know if
I can stand hearing "Nuhr-EE-ko" all the time.
This might just be pickiness, or just me being unused to it, but
it's my opinion that nobody's dub voice seemed to suit them.
Miaka's voice was high-pitched, and breathless; she sounds kinda
like she was either punched in the stomach or forcing too hard.
She's whiny and unnatural, and loses the original cuteness, pep,
and vivacity of Kae Araki. Yui's English voice is an improvement
over Miaka's, but too young for her. Yui is more natural than
Miaka, but she sounds like a little girl, something that just
won't work for later episodes. Yui requires a more mature, womanly
voice to express properly the ragged pain and confusion she
experiences; in her little kid voice, it's going to be interesting
to see her try to express the depth of the character. Hearing a
voice like a baby having a temper tantrum is going to be strange
when coming from the mouth of a young woman being brutally raped.
What Pioneer should have done was give Yui's voice to Miaka, and
found Yui a different voice.
Tamahome's voice didn't really suit him either. Pioneer was
concentrating way too much on making him sound like a suave,
smooth gentleman, that the cuteness and sparkle of wit, sarcasm,
and charm of Hikaru Midorikawa was all lost. Tamahome's sharp,
clever lines, meant to be playful, made him sound like a complete
asshole when delivered by his English voice. His voice is way too
serious for him, something completely inappropriate for the
teasing Tama-chan. His English voice didn't have the degree of
passion it should have. It left the reviewer wondering with such
uncertainty what difficult scenes in the future will be like -
static lines delivered from a man who's just had his family
slaughtered. Oooh, I hope not ^_^; . . .
Hotohori was given a very ordinary voice. I can't really
complain/praise his voice, either way, it was just so . . . so . .
. ordinary. I missed the deep, rich, gentle tones of Takehito
Koyasu, who was just perfect for Hotohori-sama. Nuriko's voice was
okay, I was glad to see that Pioneer had the consideration to
leave it ambiguous-sounding. It could be either male or female,
which did please me. However, it too lost a little of the charm
and fun of the original Chika-Sakamoto-Nuriko, which I hope it
picks up in the future.
In conclusion, for those of you who are just starting out with
watching the dub for the first time, or are just starting to check
out the show, I believe that you'll like it none the less. It is
wonderful that Pioneer is bringing FY to North America and, after
all, it IS only Volume 1. There's still lots of room for
improvement. What I do hope is that Pioneer does use this
improvement space to make even better the dub of a show that's
already great.
Don't believe me about FY's poor dub? Here is the opinion of other
reviewers!
Top Ten Fushigi Yuugi Dub Nightmares
- This little gem from Anime News Network addressed fans' concerns
even before the English-dubbed version was released. It's a useful
reference for FY newcomers about how much passion was generated
over this topic 'way back in the day.
AnimatedBliss.com's review
states, "The English dub however, with its stiff and off-key voice
work, harkens back to the dark age of anime voice acting. Both
Ruby Marlowe (Miaka) and Wendee Lee (Yui) screech their lines with
forced cheerfulness. Their male co-stars are even worse, with
delivery that sounds alternately wooden and strident."
According to
DVD Verdict's review, "The
English dub is so hilariously bad that I suggest not even
bothering to test it."
TheOtaku.com review remarks, "The
English dub really messes up a few of the characters' voices and
gets rid of the fan-loving Chichiri slogan, "No Da!"
Anime News Network's review
states, "The English dub can be best explained by recalling that
this is a re-packaging of an earlier Geneon (back when they were
Pioneer) release. Miaka and Yui sound too much alike, and they
both suffer from the squealing schoolgirl syndrome that used to
plague almost every young female in an anime dub. Comic relief
Chichiri, meanwhile, has had his mannerism of adding "no da" to
every sentence converted into "ya know," which theoretically makes
sense, but will probably drive people nuts—especially in the light
of linguistic gaffes like the dubbed version of Kenshin. Even
this, however, isn't as irritating as the episode recap narrator,
whose attempt at the "aged storyteller" voice sounds more like a
distressed granny. The best way to handle the dubbed version of
Fushigi Yuugi might be to just switch to the subtitles."
* * * * *
The verdict? Watch the show in Japanese with
subtitles. You won't regret it. |
