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Fullmetal Alchemist: a review of sorts
Edit: 2008 October 18 (oddly enough I swear it's just coincidence) I don't necessarily agree as strongly with this view now regarding Edward's English voice actor. I think that probably child Edward and 12 year old Edward should have been voiced by a younger boy, or a woman, as I got into the series further I have to admit that Edward's VA developed Edward's voice pretty well after those first few episodes. I think the reason I took such exception really was those first few episodes did include enough flashbacks to when Edward should have had a younger voice that it sort of soured me on the voice all together. That and really, it's a lot to ask to stack up to Romi Paku, and her voice is the voice I was used to for Edward, so the change was rather a shock for me.
Let me just state for the record that I find the English dubbed dialog track (and soundtrack in general) of this Animé (as with most) to be completely inferior to the original Japanese. The VA choices for the main characters seem to be the worst of all of them. I'll pick on Edward in this case since he's the lead, and his voice presumably the MOST important one should obviously be the best, and frankly it's one of the very worst ones. (sort of like Himura Kenshin's English speaking voice... in fact, they are almost identical, though I dislike the choice for different reasons in Kenshin's case, and still prefer his Japanese VA.)
In Edward's Case for starters, (and I'm probably repeating myself) a 12-15 year old boy typically does NOT sound like a 20 year old man speaking in a soft voice no matter how brash the boy he may be. This is especially true in situations which are highly emotionally charged. Most men can't get their voice to break high enough to express strong emotion, (hate, sorrow, fear, horror, anger) the way a boy would vocally. When he's 12, his voice hasn't changed. He should scream like a girl, and weep like a child no matter how strong he is. Given that in both tracks he has essentially the same voice at 15 tells me that while his voice may be slightly lower his voice still hasn't broken. (incidentally, I find this believable since he is still small for his age. Psychological maturity doesn't necessarily mean that a boy can't be a late bloomer physically... actually it's usually just the opposite in my experience. Anyway, so at 15 the same rules apply when this boy expresses strong emotion. There is also plenty of evidence that he has plenty of buttons that can still be pushed and that indicates that while most of the time he has a pretty tight control of his emotions, he is still emotionally immature. His characters should be played that way by his VA.
The English speaking producer's choice to have a man speaking in a some kind of light soft voice play Edward is terrible. His diction is too precise, which makes his speech sound slow and careful, his emotions almost non-existent most of the time. If feels like he's being so careful to make sure every word is clearly spoken and understood, as if those listening would be unable to follow the story if the Edward spoke naturally. (Obviously the pretext here is that in every day situations, if we miss a word we are completely unable to function because we are unable to extrapolate through context, emotion, expression, or situation what was probably said.) The result is that in almost everything he says, Edward sounds authoritative, and emotionless. Even when he should sound sullen, Edward sounds thoughtful instead. When he should sound angry, he barely manages to sound indignant. When he should sound terrified, it sounds artificial, because his VA refuses to allow his voice to break, or words to run together... When he is supposed to be openly weeping, why does the VA feel the need to make it sound like this boy is trying to be manly and restrain his sobs? The track doesn't allow anyone to interrupt anyone else even when it's appropriate. I could give examples, but don't want to list a bunch of spoilers hahaha... Frankly, most of the time the VA sounds like he is just reading a script, and hasn't really put any thought at all into what Edward is actually feeling or experiencing at a given moment in time. He utterly fails to bring him to life for me.
The Japanese choice to have a woman play Edward is excellent. His speech sounds natural, and his emotions real, and in highly charged situations his voice breaks. He screams like a girl as he should, in his sullen moods, he mumbles, interrupts himself, talks through his teeth just like anyone else does. When he's angry, he shouts, his voice cracks. He gasps for air when pushed beyond his limits, growls, pants. On a little more visceral level, when he vomits, it sounds like he is throwing up, rather than just making some vague coughing sounds. When frightened half to death, he sobs and shrieks in fear, weeps openly, hiccuping between his words because he is too overwrought to say what he wants to, or speak clearly or do anything but weep. What one would expect from a child. A voice that hasn't changed takes on a different edge when raised than one that has. A woman's voice has not changed in the sense that I mean, and was just so far superior for this part that I can't express it enough.
I don't understand why English production companies (and by that I mean English speaking, not necessarily from England as most of these voices are using American English.) are so afraid of having women VA for characters like this. It's like it's some kind of taboo or something. "Oh we can't have our VA's cross-dressing... what would people think" I'll tell you what they'll think. They'll think that the appropriate voice regardless of gender will capture the character, and carry it. The idea that diction is oh so important is just a fallacy that the English track producers keep sticking too. My Japanese is too poor at this time to watch it without the subtitles, however, even though the diction is no where near as careful, slow, (pedantic) I am still able to understand it if the words used are ones that I know, or can at least figure out what the verb is, even if it's an unfamiliar form or courtesy level. Even so, I'd rather read the subtitles when I need to, and hear the voices speak freely, than have the added convenience of understanding the language if the audio then becomes pedantic and emotionally falls flat. Blah! Nuff said. I know not everyone agrees with me on this hahaha... but man... they should! ^_^ I don't like convenience if it sucks. Kind of like paying $2 for one roll of toilet paper because you went to the Stop-n-Rob on the corner instead of driving to Wally World and getting 4 for the same price. *snicker*
Let me just state for the record that I find the English dubbed dialog track (and soundtrack in general) of this Animé (as with most) to be completely inferior to the original Japanese. The VA choices for the main characters seem to be the worst of all of them. I'll pick on Edward in this case since he's the lead, and his voice presumably the MOST important one should obviously be the best, and frankly it's one of the very worst ones. (sort of like Himura Kenshin's English speaking voice... in fact, they are almost identical, though I dislike the choice for different reasons in Kenshin's case, and still prefer his Japanese VA.)
In Edward's Case for starters, (and I'm probably repeating myself) a 12-15 year old boy typically does NOT sound like a 20 year old man speaking in a soft voice no matter how brash the boy he may be. This is especially true in situations which are highly emotionally charged. Most men can't get their voice to break high enough to express strong emotion, (hate, sorrow, fear, horror, anger) the way a boy would vocally. When he's 12, his voice hasn't changed. He should scream like a girl, and weep like a child no matter how strong he is. Given that in both tracks he has essentially the same voice at 15 tells me that while his voice may be slightly lower his voice still hasn't broken. (incidentally, I find this believable since he is still small for his age. Psychological maturity doesn't necessarily mean that a boy can't be a late bloomer physically... actually it's usually just the opposite in my experience. Anyway, so at 15 the same rules apply when this boy expresses strong emotion. There is also plenty of evidence that he has plenty of buttons that can still be pushed and that indicates that while most of the time he has a pretty tight control of his emotions, he is still emotionally immature. His characters should be played that way by his VA.
The English speaking producer's choice to have a man speaking in a some kind of light soft voice play Edward is terrible. His diction is too precise, which makes his speech sound slow and careful, his emotions almost non-existent most of the time. If feels like he's being so careful to make sure every word is clearly spoken and understood, as if those listening would be unable to follow the story if the Edward spoke naturally. (Obviously the pretext here is that in every day situations, if we miss a word we are completely unable to function because we are unable to extrapolate through context, emotion, expression, or situation what was probably said.) The result is that in almost everything he says, Edward sounds authoritative, and emotionless. Even when he should sound sullen, Edward sounds thoughtful instead. When he should sound angry, he barely manages to sound indignant. When he should sound terrified, it sounds artificial, because his VA refuses to allow his voice to break, or words to run together... When he is supposed to be openly weeping, why does the VA feel the need to make it sound like this boy is trying to be manly and restrain his sobs? The track doesn't allow anyone to interrupt anyone else even when it's appropriate. I could give examples, but don't want to list a bunch of spoilers hahaha... Frankly, most of the time the VA sounds like he is just reading a script, and hasn't really put any thought at all into what Edward is actually feeling or experiencing at a given moment in time. He utterly fails to bring him to life for me.
The Japanese choice to have a woman play Edward is excellent. His speech sounds natural, and his emotions real, and in highly charged situations his voice breaks. He screams like a girl as he should, in his sullen moods, he mumbles, interrupts himself, talks through his teeth just like anyone else does. When he's angry, he shouts, his voice cracks. He gasps for air when pushed beyond his limits, growls, pants. On a little more visceral level, when he vomits, it sounds like he is throwing up, rather than just making some vague coughing sounds. When frightened half to death, he sobs and shrieks in fear, weeps openly, hiccuping between his words because he is too overwrought to say what he wants to, or speak clearly or do anything but weep. What one would expect from a child. A voice that hasn't changed takes on a different edge when raised than one that has. A woman's voice has not changed in the sense that I mean, and was just so far superior for this part that I can't express it enough.
I don't understand why English production companies (and by that I mean English speaking, not necessarily from England as most of these voices are using American English.) are so afraid of having women VA for characters like this. It's like it's some kind of taboo or something. "Oh we can't have our VA's cross-dressing... what would people think" I'll tell you what they'll think. They'll think that the appropriate voice regardless of gender will capture the character, and carry it. The idea that diction is oh so important is just a fallacy that the English track producers keep sticking too. My Japanese is too poor at this time to watch it without the subtitles, however, even though the diction is no where near as careful, slow, (pedantic) I am still able to understand it if the words used are ones that I know, or can at least figure out what the verb is, even if it's an unfamiliar form or courtesy level. Even so, I'd rather read the subtitles when I need to, and hear the voices speak freely, than have the added convenience of understanding the language if the audio then becomes pedantic and emotionally falls flat. Blah! Nuff said. I know not everyone agrees with me on this hahaha... but man... they should! ^_^ I don't like convenience if it sucks. Kind of like paying $2 for one roll of toilet paper because you went to the Stop-n-Rob on the corner instead of driving to Wally World and getting 4 for the same price. *snicker*
Note on Japanese verb forms and courtesy levels: Japanese has three basic levels of politeness, [and some sub-levels between]. A native speaker will use all three depending on the situation and who they are talking to. There is the basic 'polite' form that is primarily what I know, "wakarimasu/wakarimashita/wakarimasen" (I understand/I understood/I don't understand) there is familiar form used with friends and family etc. "wakaru/wakatta/wakara nai" (I get it/I got it/I don't get it) and the extra polite forms that are used by an inferior to someone who is greatly superior to them... for example a bottom rung subordinate, speaking to the president of the company. I can't give you an example using the verb wakari- because I don't actually know that form... usually, it I find that it involves adding more and more syllables to a word the farther up the social ladder the person you are addressing is compared to yourself. For example, one might say 'mizu ga nomimasu' (i'll drink water) to an equal and be quite polite... the root word is nomi- but talking to the president it might be better to say 'O mizu o nomitagaterun desu ga' which is like saying 'I would like to drink water if that's all right with you.' (the little o's added in there are also added for extra politeness, and there are other words that can also be added to make it even MORE deferential like referring to ones self by 'sessha' (something like: this unworthy person) and to the person you are addressing as 'onushi' (which is 'you' but it's like saying 'you who is oh so far above me that I can't even use the word 'you' to refer to you). Now your Japanese lesson is over. You now I couldn't talk about any language in the world without having this happen...)
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Totally agreed on the ick at having a male voice play Edward, though...ESPECIALLY when he's twelve. Even if they went with a guy for when he was fifteen, but had a female voice actor for when he was twelve, it would have worked.
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