themadwriter
So my friends and I tried to watch Reload last week after a Saiyuki marathon. We could not watch 5 minutes of the damn thing! The opening theme sucked and the new voices all sounded the same. My ears were bleeding! Seriously, it should have been the responsibility of ADV to license Reload and Gunlock or for Geneon to hire the original English voice actors. Damn the devils!
First let me say-- Hakkai is my favorite-- he's just an all around kick-a** character who really lets it rip when he needs to. Something about those quiet ones...
And now- as I have found out from Greg Ayres himself [he is the voice of Goku for Gensoumaden Saiyuki for those who didn't know]- at a convention a couple of years ago...
It was not the fault of ADV Films that they did not get to license Reload or Reload: Gunlock. It is not even the responsibility of the previous dubbing company to gain a title unless it is presented as an openly available one- meaning it's up for grabs by anyone.
Studio Dentsu in Japan was originally sponsored by Geneon [which is the company that transformed/bought out Pioneer] and because of this sponsorship, Dentsu offered Gensoumaden Saiyuki to Geneon FIRST.
Geneon turned it down- making Saiyuki a free agent- and ADV smartly snagged it, turning it into the phenom that we all know and love.
HOWEVER- given the success and popularity of the series that Geneon originally turned a cold shoulder to, when Reload came about and Dentsu once more offered it first to their sponsor- Geneon TOOK IT and Gunlock, leaving ADV Films with only Saiyuki: Requiem to accompany their fantastic work with Gensoumaden...
Thus arose the question of voice talents- Geneon stated they 'Had no intentions of using the original voice actors'.
When complaints were lodged, the story quickly changed into 'We were unable to get the original voices from Gensoumaden for Reload and Gunlock.'
stare Major bullshit. Greg had stated at the panel preceeding my impromptu conversation [in which I had learned all of this information] that they had worked hard on the anime and really came to love their characters- given that Son Goku is one of his absolute FAVORITES, why would he have turned down the chance to CONTINUE working on this show?
Geneon tried to cover their own a** when the flaming from the fans got too high- I'm not at all happy with the new voices- they just don't have it down.
Hakkai sounds like a child molester now [his voice is the man who voices Kadaj in FFVII: Advent Children...come on, now..great as Kadaj, but Hakkai isn't supposed to sound CREEPY]
Goku sounds like a hick.
Gojyo doesn't sound right at all in any respects..
Lex Lang is an alright VA, but as Sanzo it just doesn't do it for me. He was better as Sanosuke in Rurouni Kenshin.
I bet Geneon is kicking themselves now- I constantly see sales for Saiyuki box sets- they probably aren't selling too well. I give Kudos to ADV Films for choosing the actors they had to sound so very similar to the Japanese seiyuu [I have imports, I didn't dare buy anything from Geneon- I watched my very brave friend buy volume 1 and we shuddered in horror together].
So there you have it.
No blaming ADV for not taking responsibility- that's just not gonna fly with me.
If it's any consolation- Minekura has stated she has one more leg of Saiyuki to do, and perhaps a second movie- so there is hope that ADV will pick these up in the future
biggrin
