Wow. It's great to be back. I'm happy to say that the problems with Akadot have been worked out, and I plan to produce a new Dub Track column each month from now on.

Thanks to all those that kept the faith, even when I flat out told people in email that I believed the column to be dead. I've never been more happy to be wrong. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a ton of email to share with you, letters sent to me over the last five months.

I read your latest article that mentioned Escaflowne. I just wanted to let you know that it was Michael Dobson who did Dryden in the dub, not Ward Perry. As for him taking a while to get into the role (along with mostly every other character), I can't help but agree with you. What's even worse is that he had already done so many other voices earlier in the series (Plactu, Van's Father, General Adelfos, Duke Freid) yet he couldn't really get Dryden to sound right for a while. I usually love Ocean's dubs although I feel Escaflowne's one of their worst due to the absolutely horrible script writing and lack of emotion in the character's voices. Keep up the great work :D

Just a comment. I got the feeling from your review that you wached the series in Japanese and then compared the Japanese voice tone to the American voice voice tone. I don't speak Japanese and I don't read manga, I just like to watch anime and look at what I am watching as an origional performance. From that point of view I found 3x3 Eyes one of the nicest anime series I have seen and one of my favorites, and I have a collection of over 400 English dubbed titles from Tenchi to Zenki(I must admid I didn't care for Zenki all that much). After reading your review I rewatched 3x3 Eyes, listened to the voices and even though they tend to Americanize the humor (with low key voices) I still chuckled at the spots you mentioned. Try just watching the series without turning on a "critical ear" just once. Also, are you fairly critizing the performance without seeing the entire DVD?

I watched the series in Japanese a long time ago, back during the fansubs-only era. I stand by my review. Pai is a silly, humorous character that is played far too straight. As for not using a "critical ear," how good a reviewer could I possibly be if I did that? :-)

People didn't believe me when I told them that they didn't have to worry about the dub job on Cowboy Bebop on Cartoon Network, that it was very well done and as good if not better than the Japanese track. Otaku being who they are, they weren't about to admit that they liked it after the fact, responding instead that it merely "didn't suck as horribly as I thought" in one such case. I heard other similar things, but on the whole, it seems the local fans might be waking up to the fact there CAN be good English voice tracks. Of course, they were brought up on the original English job of Bubblegum Crisis, so it might be understandable, that being the worst offender they tend to bring up (as a side note: 2040 doesn't really exist for them).

Which brings me to your latest column (No! Really! I'm almost done!), and a serious point of contention I have with a few others in the area. The dubs of both Trigun and Nadesico. I thought that, in both cases, the leads did very good jobs (who knew Spike Spencer was such a polarizing influence, by the way? Folks either adore him or wish him dead; me, I just need to get used to his voice after an episode or two, then I quite like him). For instance, Johnny Yong Bosch (whom, I admit, I was surprised to find out he was a Power Ranger, but what the heck, he's good in the role) managed to make me tear up a couple of times during the series, and was goofy in a better way than his Japanese counterpart. As for Nadesico, Earheart and Spencer both did great jobs, as well, though even I admit ADV's Texas Curse showed up in a couple of the characters, but even that's something I kinda come to look forward to. As for Tamara Lo and her portrayal of Izumi (what in fact started this long rant of mine, so if you must blame someone, blame her), I feel compelled to defend her. I am, perhaps, too much of a sucker for bad puns, but she made me laugh the most in the whole series (though notable mentions go to Earheart, Tiffany Grant’s Ryoko Subaru and Brett Weaver’s Gai Daigoji). I've never thought I had a sophisticated sense of humor, though, so it's probably easily explainable. You were right in that sometimes you just -can't- make out what she's saying, something that once drove me to press my ear to the TV and turn up the volume to ear-bleed levels. You've probably seen it, but if you'd like to see something in which she really shines, make sure to check out Ruin Explorers, another example of the English track being better than the Japanese one.

I just got back from watching the Oh! My Goddess movie, and I was just thinking, maybe you can do a double review (of the Movie and the OAV series)? It seems like most people enjoyed the original Coastal dub a lot, but the Animaze dub of the movie has its merits, too? I think it's worth looking into...

I would love to do a "Dueling Dubs" column for Oh! My Goddess. I just need to get my hands on a copy of the OAV dubs, since they're currently not in my collection. (Did I mention I do this column for free? :-) )

2) Japanese voice actors are sometimes a little annoying to non-Japanese. I have several friends that I have been able to convert into anime die-hards, that had only been exposed to subtitled anime. They absolutely HATED the high squeaky unrealistic girls' voices (I don't hate them myself, but they're not terribly realistic... neither are the huge eyes but that's another story!) and when they watched El Hazard and beautifully dubbed shows like that, they became fans for life.

The first anime that my son (he's now 10) and I watched together was The Guyver. This also featured several excellent ANIMAZE voice actors, such as Melissa Charles (who, if I'm not mistaken, also sings The Wanderers closing theme using the name "Melissa Fahn"). When I would recognize a voice actor from Guyver I'd always be pleasantly surprised. After El Hazard, I started keeping track of who played what role. It's safe to say that I would buy ANYTHING that Bob Marx performed in; his "Jinnai" was a phenomenal effort, and I am an eternal fan.

Did you notice that scene at the beginning of "Jamming with Edward" where Spike is watching the news, and the anchor is very obviously voiced by David Lucas?? Ugh, that gets my vote for worst instance of double-used VAs in Cowboy Bebop. It's like Spike's watching himself on TV! >:(

Actually, no, I hadn't noticed that. I'll have to watch it once again and pay close attention.

Thanks again to everyone who wrote me during the long layoff! I'll see you all next month!

Send all comments and criticism regarding The Dub Track to mathews1@ix.netcom.com. If you don't want your letter printed, or wish your name and/or email address withheld, just let me know. I reserve the right to edit your letter for length and/or content.