Written By: M. Douglas
Published: 07/09/09
Disclaimer: This article is copyrighted. Please do not reproduce this article in whole or part, in any form, without obtaining my written permission.
I went to see the July 8th showing of Evangelion in Seattle (I actually saw it twice, once at 7:00 and again at 9:00!). Here is my personal opinion on the English dub.
Shinji: A significant improvement over the TV series. Spike Spencer really took control of the character and he didn’t seem to force the “whininess” that was necessary for Shinji at times. In the TV series he unnecessarily fluctuated his range a lot, which led me (and I’m sure a lot of other people) to laugh at his delivery of lines that weren’t supposed to be laughed at. Spike addressed this in the film, and really took control. His “screaming” is also better!
Misato: Another fantastic improvement. When I first heard the English dubbed trailer, I couldn’t tell that was Allison-Keith, her voice was drastically different. After watching the film, I must say that the “perkiness” of the voice in the series is almost completely gone, but it does manage to slip through at the “necessary” moments, rather than a majority of the time in the TV series (similar to Spike’s TV series delivery). She definitely sounds more mature, which is more appropriate for her character and the film overall.
Rei: I wasn’t too worried about this one due to the character being…well, Rei. A soft spoken girl who doesn’t show much emotion, Brina Palencia actually does a better job than Amanda Winn-Lee in my opinion. While Amanda was almost “robotic” in her delivery (which I could see was necessary given her character), Brina Palencia does the same, but also adds a sense of personality to the character that makes Rei more “distinguishable” as a character.
Gendo: I’m a bit torn between on this one. I will say that I enjoyed Tristan McAvery’s performance, but John Swasey does a fantastic job as well. Still rather “determined” in his delivery, he overall retains the bastard quality showcased in his voice.
Ritsuko: More stringent than before, I actually preferred the original VA. This is not to say that Colleen Clinkenbeard did a bad job, it’s just that this change of VA’s was definitely the most noticeable in the bunch. Still, Colleen did a great job for the role that was given to her.
Kensuke: Greg Ayres as Kensuke? I couldn’t believe it at first, but he is a significant improvement over the original. One problem I have with Ayres is that he doesn’t have that much of a vocal range in the film, and he basically speaks his normal talking voice throughout.
Touji: 110% improvement over the original. Justin Cook actually gave the character better delivery than the original VA. Still, the line “I had to hit you…” still made me chuckle, and I discovered it’s the actual line rather than the VA that’s bad.
Hikari: MUCH better than the original. The country-hick accent is total absent, and Leah Clark actually makes Hikari sound like your average school girl. Again, not enough dialogue to justify if it was great or not.
Kaworu: Similar to the Kyle Sturdivant’s voice, Jerry Jewell did pretty good. Remind you that this is based off a couple of lines of dialogue though, so it would be stretching it to say it was a “fantastic” job, but it was good.
Yui: A couple of lines of dialogue, so I can’t really judge yet.
Fuyutsuki: Another one I’m torn between. Kent Williams did do an adequate job though.
Kiel: Only has 2-3 lines of dialogue in the film, so can’t really say yet.
Ibuki, Aoba, Hyuuga: Another roster of voice talent that were much better than the original. That’s saying a lot!
Overall, I thought it was a significant improvement over the original TV version and subsequent director’s cut versions of the TV series. Fans of the original dub will probably find the changes/improvements for the better.
