Anyway...
I'd like to take a look at a few aspects of the show and its dubbing.
First, the opening and closing themes. Let me start by saying that I am a huge fan of the opening theme "For Fruits Basket" - It's a slow paced highly emotional and moving song with gently yet powerful lyrics. The moment I started the dub track of episode 1 I could hear a difference in the singing of the opening song, even in just the humming. I knew then that they had done what I hoped they wouldn't... They had dubbed the opening song. I was appalled, but I gave it a chance.. and you know, it's not all that bad. All things considered, they did a nice job translating the lyrics, changing them so they rhyme, but keeping the meaning of the song. The only thing the song lost was its flow from the original. The original song's lyrics and music flow together like a river of pure perfection... the flow of the dubbed opening left something to be desired.
The dub of the ending, however, is right on the mark if you ask me. They really could not have done a better job at it. All in all, I stopped being appalled and started being impressed - They really went all out with this show!
Next somes the most important part - The dubbing of character voices. Let's take these by character, shall we? I would go pop in my DVD and look at the liner notes to see who did the voices and list their names, but I don't feel like it. If anyone wants to know the names, I can get them for you upon request heh.
Honda Tohru - My first impression of Tohru's voice: Holy cow! I honestly don't think they could have picked a better actress to do her dubbed voice. It's a great similarity to her regular voice, and the actress plays the rold well. When she is supposed to sound happy, she does. When she is supposed to sound sad, she does. And the scene in episode 1 where she is in bed with a fever talking with Shigure.. Wow. She did such a great job.
Souma Shigure - The next character to pop up is Shigure. Again, I was impressed by this voice actor as well! A very nice similarity to the Japanese counterpart, knows how to act, and definitely does a good sounding Shigure. Even in Shigure's crazy comedic moments where he gets all hyper, the actor does a good job. Now, I would not say that this voice is perfect, but it's good.
Souma Yuki - Yes, I was a little afraid of what Yuki might sound like. I was worrying for good cause, too. THe actor picked for Yuki not only doesn't retain the more feminine voice tone Yuki had (Being voiced by a female and all in the Japanese version) - But suffers from one of my biggest dub pet peeves - monotone syndrome. It's like he's just reading the lines because its his job.. he doesn't put any real emotion into it, and it just doesn't sound natural. The voice the actor uses for Yuki soujnds downright forced, in fact. highly unnatural. He does get points for the scenes where he is yelling at Kyo. Definitely a good job at yelling.
Yuki's fan club - "Prince Yuki", the fanclub of Yuki at school, consists (For most of the series) of three obsessed girls who want to be Yuki's girlfriend. Not only are all three voice actresses total crap from what I can tell... they completely ruined the Yuki Love Song, and they just sound.. ugh.. gawd awful.
Uotani Arisa - Yet another pretty good fit to the original voice. And does a good job acting. Not a lot to say about her, really.
Hanajima Saki - Wow, they missed on this one big time. You will not here this out of me too often, but the actress in this case is not monotone enough
Hanajima is a creepy, monotone, mystic girl with psychic powers. The english voice for her just doesn't sound like it at all.Tohru's Mom - Whose name eludes me right now. It's on the tip of my tongue... ugh... Anyway. For the short amount of time she was voiced in flashbacks, she sounded to be right on the mark.. a good job.
Souma Kyo - OK at first, this voice really got on my nerves, but as time went by, I began to like the voice they picked for Kyo more and more. It really does kind of suit him. It is also kind of similar to the Japanese voice. By the time the roof scene came up with him and Tohru, I liked his voice. And then came the part where Tohru punches him, trying to show that she knows a little about marital arts... and bam, in comes a great little line. "You suck." with a chuckle behind the voice heh. That was a great little line, I tell ya. From that point on, I am a fan of the English voice for Kyo. Hehe!
Also, keep in mind, Kyo is my fave character from this show... I really thought I would end up being so picky about the choice they made, but he's too good a choice not to love.Souma Akito - Another very similar voice choice. So far, he has not had any big parts. But from what I can see, he is an okay actor. Maybe needs to annunciate a little better.. but then again, Akito speaks in a very quiet, almost whispering voice.. which the actor pulled off very well.
Souma Kagura - OK this is a DISGRACE! HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't say enough how SUCKY this voice actress is and how much she needs to be shot! AUGH! Not only does she do a horrible joib, has the acting ability of a child, and mispronounces things... but for crying out loud, it does ABSOLUTELYT NO JUSTICE to the Japanese counterpart.... of course, it's hard to do the jap counterpart any justice.. it's MITSUISHI-SAMA WE ARE TALKING ABOUT, HERE! THE GODDESS OF VOICE ACTING!!! Nuff said.
A couple other matters I want to tkae up is how the pronunciation of names is done so horribly wrong. I can understand changing the pronunciation of a complicated Japanese word, but honestly, none of these names are that tough. Shigure. Say it with me folks.. Shigure. Not "Sh'goooray". Kagura. KAGURA.. NOT "KAAAGOOORUH" Oh gawd I think I may vomit.
Anyway... Lipsynch! They did a STUPENDOUS job on lipsynch! That's all I can say about that.
Translation: Really really really well trasnlated and interperated for lipsynch. One of the best shows on that I would say.
Sound quality: Well, here's a little problem.. sometimes the dialogue seemed to get quiter, and sometimes it got luder.. like for no reason. Same thing with sound effects and background music. I say the guy at the mixing board needs to be shot and replaced with someone who knows what the hell they are doing. Also, for chrying out loud, get some windscreens for the damn mics. Some of the actors/actresses sound like they are breathing into the damn mic. If there's one thing I HATE is when an animation voice sounds like it is very obviously being spoken into a mic. It's supposed to sound like the character is talking naturally.. not like some schmuck behind a mic is talking for them.
OVERALL: I give the fruits basket dub a 7 out of 10. It could have been worse, but it could have been better. Who knows, maybe they will improve it over time. Lets hope so, because it definitely seems to have potential!
