Cowboy Bebop Japanese

[JL Man]

I got some CB DVDs, finally, and I was just wondering what everyone thought of the Japanese voice cast. I mean the main characters, Spike, Faye, Jet, and Ed (who I haven't heard.)

Spike- Maybe it's just that I like David Lucas, but I HATE his Jap. VA. It's just too bland and does't sound like Spike should. And that final "Bang" in the end of RFB was just awful. D

Jet- Not too bad, but still pales in comparison to Beau. C-

Faye- I heard who voiced her on the internet, and thought "Yes! Megumi!" I love Megumi's songs from Slayers and most of her voice work, so that upped her rating a little, but she was too high-pitched. She also tended to overact, especially during her final words with Spike.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Spike--B
Jet--B
Faye--B
Ed--A

My opinion on the Japanese voices.

[Fata Morgana]

In my opinion, the Japanese voice cast is equal if not better than the English cast. The only person I would say was actually better in English was Faye, because Japanese Faye was totally unsympathetic. It's really a trade off - both dubs have weaknesses and strengths in different areas. Where the Japanese version is strong, the English version is weak, and vice versa. If you just take a cursory listen, though, your predjudice for which ever version you heard first will take over. :)

Fata Morgana

[Jake]

You're right, Spike's voice acting is much, much better in english.

[KingKoopa]

I like both versions.

Spike: I like his Japanese voice a little better. It sounds more careless, more cool, more calm. His English voice does the job, too, though.

Jet: Jet's Japanese voice doesn't work for me. He sounds alot different, but his English voice suits his character alot better.

Faye: She sounds like the average Japanese girl in the Japanese version, English much more fitting.

Ed: Um... they sound almost exactly the same... Her English voice sounds a little more crazy, so I'll go with that.

Vicious: No contest, English is better. His Japanese voice is really deep, and, well, not vicious.

Cases in side characters Japanese voices were better:

Pierrot le Fou, Andy, bad guys in Asteroid Blues and Stray Dog Strut, the Big Shot guys, Sympathy for the Devil kid

Cases in side characters English voices were better:

Mushroom guy, VT, Waltz for Venus guy, 3 old guys

Also, I used to be an anime purist. I watched the entire series in Japanese before I even thought about watching the dub. Now I just think that if a dub does the show justice, the dub is fine with me.

[Galaxia]

I loved Andy's Japanese voice - Engrish rules! XD

[randomguy]

I like the English better, almost by principle of language alone. The more I watch it, the more Bebop just seems like a Western show. It's Jazzy feel, and lack of country affiliations (this is space after all), seems to make English more logical. I mean, it's 2071, and everybody in the solar system speaks Japanese? English seems to be a more sensible language. The whole show just doesn't seem very Eastern at all (unlike, say, Tenchi, which is so distinctly Japanese), so I prefer to hear it in English. That said, Faye is a LOT sexier in the English dub (a lot more subtle), Jet sounds much more exhausted, which he needs to, Ed is truely hilarious in both versions, and Spike, in the English, sound a bit smoother, slicker, more in control, and has less of a nasel voice. So I think the English dub is tops.

[SSJ_Gogeta]

If any dub has Beau & David (Except Digimon which nothing can help), it is automatically better then the original IMO.

[RogueMartian]

I personally like the english voices more than the japanese ones. They seem to reflect the atmostphere of the show better.

[dolphin917]

The English voice cast pales in comparison to the Japanese. By far. Jive-talking Jet in English is way too much, Faye is not supposed to be that excitable, and Edward loses everything in the translation to English. Megumi Hayashibara is the Michael Jordan of voice actresses in Japan. Her name is at the top of every animator's list when they want a talented actress to play their character. Megumi voiced Faye, and I truly sympathize with the poor souls who were tainted by the English version first. Faye loses something very important in the translation to English that the American voice actress does not get at all. Faye is supposed to act older than she is. She's only in her early 20s, but she acts like a 45 year old woman. She is unflappable, unsinkable, and entirely too confident for her own good. I don't think the English VA gets it at all.

Jet is not supposed to sound like an African-American.

English Spike is pretty good. I prefer the Japanese because I saw it first, but from an objective standpoint, it's pretty good.

English Edward is so awful that she's practically a different chcracter. The whole joke in the beginning is that nobody knows whether Edwars is a boy or a girl. The English VA is immediately recognizable as female, nullifying this point. Edward is also maddeningly random, a point completely lost on the English VA.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

I vehemently disagree about Faye, Dolphin. Faye is NOT supposed to be a 20 year old acting like a 45 year old, she's supposed to be a 20 year old TRYING to act like a sophisticated 45 year old, and failing. Faye is by nature an immature person. Her schtick is that she acts mature and sophisticated, but everyone sees through her facade except her.

[Evil Dr. Reef]

Both voice casts are DAMN good, but I prefer the english one a little more than the Japanese. But "Cowboy Funk" is even funnier to listen to in Japanese.

[dolphin917]

Originally posted by Leaping Larry Jojo
I vehemently disagree about Faye, Dolphin. Faye is NOT supposed to be a 20 year old acting like a 45 year old, she's supposed to be a 20 year old TRYING to act like a sophisticated 45 year old, and failing. Faye is by nature an immature person. Her schtick is that she acts mature and sophisticated, but everyone sees through her facade except her.

Yes, Faye's facade is relatively transparent, but my point was that the English voice actress doesn'd do a very good job of portraying this aspect of Faye's personality. It defines her as a character, and the English VA gets it completely wrong.