Yes, I've sampled Monster. I don't have an opinion on it yet. (other than Johan is one twisted fucker.) I've sampled Spice and Wolf, but it's not exactly my cup of tea, even if the English cast sounds better. I've sampled Canaan on the Anime Network (Yeah, I signed up, but I don't have a subscription.). That show is a chaotic mess, although both dubs sound great . . . except for that blonde girl. Either she sounds like a bad imitation of Haruhi's Japanese voice, or a girl that just started puberty, although David Matranga, Shelley Calene-Black, and Jessica Boone all sound great.
But that's not what you're here for, right? You wanna know more about why I love Darker Than Black, don'tcha?
Well, here's the deal; I first saw DTB in Japanese starting with the 5th episode onward back in January, because that's all that was available back then. With the DVD, I watched the first four episodes in Japanese, but then switched to English. Okay, I think I've been a little too harsh on the English dub. True, some of the regular characters sound better in Japanese, and it isn't one of Funimation's better dub efforts, but it doesn't suck, though. There is one character who sounds better in English.
November 11.
He actually has an English accent now, unlike most Robin Hoods! Then again, you know who plays him, right? The voice of Excalibur! Also, I think I like Huang's English voice more also. He's more gruff-sounding, but I think it suits him better.
Now, let's do more voiceover trivia, and transition to another anime I've sampled recently.
Someone who's now on my radar is Jason Liebrecht. I first heard him as Shaoran in Tsubasa . . . in which he sucked. Although I don't think it was his fault; Monica Rial, Chris Sabat, and even Vic Mignogna sucked in that as well, so I blame the script. I later heard him as Hei from DTB. Now, I will say, I do prefer Hei's Japanese voice, if only because Hidenobu Kiuchi's take on his "Black Reaper" and "Li" voices sound more distinct, but Jason's interpretation doesn't suck by any means; just listen to the way he shouts, "SHUT UP!" in episode six if you don't believe me. I later heard him as Luck Gandor in Baccano! His attempt at a Brooklyn accent made him sound like a young Robert De Niro, which I found delightful. But now, I've heard him do something that's beyond even his performance in Baccano: his version of Akira from Eden of the East. He is perfect in that role.
And yes, of all the new (for me) anime I've sampled, Eden of the East is by far the best. Like the Bourne Trilogy at all? Then stop reading this and watch it already! I think I know what my next blu-ray purchase is gonna be . . .
Oh wait, wasn't I supposed to be talking about DTB? Oh yeah. It's definitely a series you have to watch more than once. There are things you won't catch on your first viewing. Also, the entire series is intelligently written, but it's episode 4 that it starts getting really good.
Oh wait, I have a "retcon" to perform, as well as another piece of trivia. Someone I recently learned about is Rebecca Forstadt. She was Konata's mom in Lucky Star. She was also the robot girl in the anime version of Metropolis. She was pretty good in both of those roles. And she was also . . . Nunally in Code Geass.
Now comes the retcon:
I never thought I'd live to see the day that Johnny Yong Bosch, Crispin Freeman, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, and Rebecca Forstadt all gave a terrible performance, and yet . . . (sniffle) Code Geass proved me wrong! WHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Thank Bones for DTB, otherwise I'd be losing my goddamned mind right now.
