Do the 'English Dub' 2005-Present voice actor still bother you?

[HatersGonnaHate]

Veronica gave Ash so much life and personality. That's one of the reasons our childhoods are so special. Sarah doesn't have that with her Ash voice. He comes across as boring and one dimensional. You can't duplicate personality.

 

[TheJLeeTeam]

I do miss the original voice actors but the current ones are not bad. I was more open to the change. And I like Ash's newer voice because he sounds more mature.

It still baffles me that there is still a petition to bring the original VA's back. At this point the chances of the original VA's returning are slim to none. They could bring them back but TPCi stated they are keeping the current actors for consistency. As much as I miss the old voice actors, it would be weird for them to switch back because Ash would sound younger again. Also more episodes have been dubbed by TPCi than 4Kids now. If you take off your nostalgia goggles the newer voice actors are fine.

It's ironic how loved the 4Kids dub and hated the TPCi dub is when 4Kids was infamous among the anime market. While you might hate the newer voice actors, the 4Kids dub wasn't perfect because they digitally edited food, signs, etc. and in some cases they rewrite entire scripts. For instance 4Kids changed the First Movie's plot to be different from the japanese version and it's considered to be the One Piece of the Pokémon 4Kids dub. And as a result the japanese version is considered better than the english version.

Overall I feel like the TPCi dub has more consistent writing, there aren't many edits, and I feel it's closer to the japanese version. And at least rice balls are referred to as their proper name.

If there is one thing I don't like about the TPCi dub, it's most of the theme songs. I think most of the theme songs are too laid back and generic with the exception of a few.

 

[DatsRight]

I like both voice casts equally, though I do think Veronica had an edge over Sarah for Ash, and Meowth's current voice actor is better than Maddie was in her last two seasons. Sarah Notchenny has improved a great deal IMO with Ash.

You know I have to kind of admit that. People forget that by the time 4Kids' run was ending some of the actors were taking on an unpopular vocal evolution. James was sounding more dumb and over pronounced for example while Meowth was starting to gain this sort of Elmer Fudd type baby talk. Zoppi at least undid both of those aspects with his takes.

This could have ended up worsening with each season, to the point the actors may have sounded even less like their original performances than their replacements. Seriously, listen to how dopey and forced The Simpsons sound these days.

Add to that most of the script writing was the same between the two companies, with the early TPCI writing only as juvenile and corny as the 4Kids ones had been by that point. Even if Taylor had a better voice for example, it wouldn't change the completely bland or cringeworthy lines the dub often gives Ash compared to the early episodes. It's sometimes easy to forgive Natchenny because she doesn't really get a lot to work with.

 

[Kutie Pie]

You know I have to kind of admit that. People forget that by the time 4Kids' run was ending some of the actors were taking on an unpopular vocal evolution. James was sounding more dumb and over pronounced for example while Meowth was starting to gain this sort of Elmer Fudd type baby talk. Zoppi at least undid both of those aspects with his takes.

I'm currently playing catch-up with the anime, and as I'm in the middle of Advanced Battle, I have noticed a change with all of the voice actors, but it wasn't quite bothering me. However, this is definitely true when it comes to Team Rocket, and they don't sound too great compared to the other characters (Rachael Lillis at least was consistent with Jessie). In the case of Meowth, I have a feeling Maddie Blaustein may have had health problems starting around that time, but the vocal evolution sounds a bit more naturally gradual. So that may not have been the case like it may have been with Chatot in the Mystery Dungeon special.

It's been ten years, and I'm no longer angry about the change in the dub, especially not after reading up on it more over the years and learning about why 4KIDS lost the rights to Pokémon. I still have of yet to touch more of the TV series at this point, but I've kept up-to-date with the movies. So not counting movie-only characters, Zoppi as Meowth is still the worst of the bunch, although his James sounds fine. I've gotten used to Michele Knotz, though I think she still slips up here and there (and she's had some terrible roles outside of Pokémon anyway, so...). Bill Rogers had his moments as Brock, as does Sarah Natchenny, though she's definitely gotten better compared to her first time in Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon. The others such as Cilan, Iris, Serena, Bonnie, and Clemont didn't bother me in the movies, but if I had to choose, I think Iris sounded the worst of them all. Tom Wayland's still a voice actor for the dub (with Arceus still being his worst performance), but he's no longer the ADR director, so the dub may have a noticeable change in direction now. Haven't really noticed when it came to Hoopa and the Clash of Ages, though, but I thought the voice-acting was the least of its problems anyway.

I did notice that TPCi has, in recent years, gotten some big-name voice actors to be in their dubs (at least for the movies, anyway), but even they varied. Vic Mignogna, for example, just didn't sound his best as Keldeo, although I don't know how his other human roles are like. Maybe he did better as them. I didn't realize J. Michael Tatum was Damon until after I saw the films, but he was one of the better-sounding voices of those movies. And holy crap, Caitlin Glass was Diancie? Wow, I loved Diancie. Oh, and Sean Schemmel was Kodai lol, I didn't notice.

Still, I think Pokémon's doing alright for what it is. 4KIDS took care of it when they did, and while quality's taken a noticeable drop, I think it's starting to come back to how it used to be, if it already hasn't. Voice actors are just paid to read off a script while guided by the ADR director (if there's any guidance involved), and after ten years, it appears it's gotten to the point where I don't see it getting better as long as TPCi chooses to produce the dub cheaply, but it's not going to get worse. At the very least, there's still the older episodes and movies to go back to whenever the need for nostalgia hits, those aren't going anywhere.

 

[XY Rules]

Oh and also TPCi actually bothered to keep some of the original Japanese ost. Compared to 4kids randomly replacing them with cheesy/generic sounds even if the scene was supposed to be silent...It's not hard to see why the lost the liscense in the first place.

 

[DatsRight]

Oh and also TPCi actually bothered to keep some of the original Japanese ost. Compared to 4kids randomly replacing them with cheesy/generic sounds even if the scene was supposed to be silent...It's not hard to see why the lost the liscense in the first place.

And then TPCi started doing the same only worse later on.

 

[TruthTalker]

I have been keeping up with the XY/XY&Z series better than any series since Advanced when I was completely butt hurt they changed the voice actors and got rid of Veronica Taylor, Eric Stuart, and the rest of the original cast.

10+ years later do you watch the English dub and do you still miss the original voices, can you not stand them, or are you indifferent?

Not only can I not stand them (the current crew, the originals were great), but I find TPCi's dub so awful as of late in general, that I switched to the Japanese Version with English subtitles permanently. To say the least, the voice acting, script writing, music, and intros are far better, and there's no editing out kanji like TPCi still do to this day with Korrina for example.

I also find it hilarious how many in the thread ignore the fact that TPCi has been replacing the Japanese OST more than 4Kids ever did since Movie 17/Season 17 began, the intros are not only half the length of 4Kids but also are lazily phoned in and completely lifeless, and the general butchering of the music composition is far worse under TPCi than it ever was under 4Kids. The fact 4Kids also kept the Japanese OST from Movies 4 to 8 and TPCi has been replacing it from Movies 17 onwards also does them no favors in my eyes.

As for the voice acting, I find the whole main cast abysmal. Natochenny cannot emote and makes Ash sound like a teenage girl on drugs, Brock was awful under Rogers so thankfully at least he's gone, James' currently still does that shouting goofy all the time thing under Cathcart and now he also sounds like he has a cold, so I'd take Stuart's worst over Cathcart by far in the part at this stage, same goes for Meowth who now sounds like a gruff alleyway gangster rather than a cat like Maddie always had him sounding, etc. Bonnie's dub VA has a very screechy and womanly voice as well, which is grating. Clemont's VA can act, but sounds too old, and the same goes for Serena, sadly.

The script writing has also declined in quality under TPCi, namely the constant rewriting of everything that comes out of Team Rocket's mouths to rhymes and alliteration, in addition to the slang given to Ash constantly, and Clemont's "Really step on the gas" dialogue which no kid his age would ever say.

As for the edits and errors, TPCi is just as bad as 4Kids was about that, namely with XY-XYZ with the badge case paint edit, the Korrina kanji erasing, calling Houndour "Houndoom," Voltorb "Electrode" in the Hoopa shorts, etc.

At this point, the dub is really just a shadow of what it once was, honestly.

Sawyer's VA was badly miscast, too, just a poor decision there. Overall, I can't stand the dub under TPCi, the Japanese version is WAY better. 4Kids' dub was also much better, tbh.

And then TPCi started doing the same only worse later on.

Yup, the music replacement's been worse than any 4Kids era was since XY began, and was already taking a dive since mid BW.

The dub scripting under TPCi has always been dreadful, though, although Team Rocket became intolerable in DP. Brock and Ash always had dialogue fit for people twice to three times their ages even when BF began: TPCi have a nasty habit of giving people hipster dialogue that's not in the Japanese Version and wasn't there in the 4Kids dub, either.

It's made all the more painful when I recall TPCi via Lawrence Neves claimed in late 2006 we'd be getting the Japanese OST kept with the intros from it and a faithful script. TPCi is officially 0/3 on all those promises at this point.

 

[The Power of Pika]

I really don't care for the voices anymore. Both dubs are okay to me and I enjoy them for what they are.

When the VA switch happened it was a mistake for me to get into the debates that happened. The switch didn't bother me as much as others (a total of 1 minute laughing at James and then not being bothered at all). I just had an obsession with debates back then. I technically should never have been involved with all the chaos on the forums.
I was immature and naive I guess.

I actually like both dubs and have since the switch. I don't have a problem with either.

However I admit that I'm not that much into Pokemon anymore despite watching it still (rewatching from season 1 and up to season 4 while watching XY on the side). Too many seasons.imo

I'm more of a sonic fan these days.

 

[TruthTalker]

I honestly think 4Kids' dub was much better than TPCi's dub as a whole myself at this point. Granted, they were too censor happy for their own good at times, and the paint bucket could've been splashed around a little less, but I think the voice acting, dialogue/script, and music was of dramatically higher quality than they have been since TPCi took over about a decade ago: since then, it's been hit or miss at best for me. TPCi still make their own errors and edits just like 4Kids did, too, so that hasn't changed for the better.

As for the food censorship, well, where 4Kids called rice balls "donuts" at times (though they did correctly call them rice balls a few times as well) and the sandwiches, TPCi has called apples "berries" and peas and carrots "veggies" as of late, so it's pretty hypocritical to hold that against one dubber and not the other in my book. The only thing I initially liked about TPCi's dub was that there was less editing, but that's no longer true from Seasons 16-present of their dub which are still edited as well, so it's moot.

I've always disliked TPCi's dialogue, though, but that has intensified since halfway into DP's dub which was full of awkward slang, rhyming, and alliterations for many characters, and that is still the case now in XYZ. The switch to DuArt back in 2008 after TAJ was dropped at the time has actually somehow made things even worse in terms of the voice acting and dialogue than it was before that point, IMHO.

tl;dr Yes, the current dub really does still bother me a lot even after almost 10 years of it. It's honestly gotten progressively worse over time, too, so that hasn't helped at all.