#[also Ryusei Nakao is a good voice actor and all]

[cxldtyrant]

Anonymous Asked: Hate to be a miserable jerk but Cooler has always been a Diet Frieza in every way. From having the same seiyuu (Nakao Ryusei) to coming back as a cyborg in a shitty sequel film that didn't need to exist in the first place. After all he had a good exit in Movie 5. So him getting the golden form is a good way to add insult to his fragile claim of "I am not my brother blah blah blah" shtick. After all, take away the Shredder form from him and he'd be nothing more that what I said. Just a Diet Frieza in the same way another DB villain is...

         I’m going to have to politely disagree.

         Take away the Shredder form and he’s still an interesting character on his own. Cooler has a lot more depth than some people are willing to give him credit for, subtle as it. Especially in his first movie.

          He showed more consideration for his underlings than Freeza ever did by stepping in when they were having trouble against Goku and never threatening them for their failure to find or kill Goku. His Armored Squadron respects him, and not just out of fear. Even when he was thought to be dead, Salza was still willing to kill Goku out of loyalty to his lord when he could have just kept playing dead or run away. Cooler is shown to have a sense of familial honor that Freeza never did, given the only reason he came after Goku was to avenge his family name, while Super shows that Freeza left his doting father to rot in hell at the first opportunity. He is also shown to be calm, pragmatic, level-headed, and occasionally stoic, while also having this simmering resentment towards his sibling due to their rivalry and the parental favoritism King Cold shows. I actually do love that jealousy and anger he feels about his brother, it makes for an interesting dynamic with his relationship to his family and empire, as well as it gives his character an insecurity and makes him relatable in a way, given I’ve had my own share of issues towards my siblings growing up.

           The Return of Cooler is an incredibly flawed film and rehash of the Namek Saga combined with Mecha Freeza. I’ll give you that. The Metal Coolers are lame, but if reworked they could prove interesting. That I will have to deal with in my own time. I can also agree that they make him too much like Freeza in that film. However, I can excuse it to some extent (only some) given that he is Freeza’s brother, and they were both raised the same way—of course there will be similarities between them if you take that into consideration. But I don’t believe it’s enough to say he’s a carbon copy of his brother.

         It’s difficult to fully gage his character since the movies are so time-constrained, unlike the anime where you can have around fifty episodes (an exaggeration, I know) to get to know a villain. But I’ve seen something in the first film, and I’ve taken bits from the multi-media that tries (and sometimes fails) to expand his character so I can get that better nuance with him. And I believe I’ve seen enough where I feel he is more than just a Diet Freeza. I’m sorry if you don’t, but we’re going to have to agree to disagree om this matter.

         Also, the Shredder form is still very cool and trumps anything that the anime or writers could ever come up with for Freeza. I will die on that hill. Get fucked, Freezer.

[duhragonball]

What do you think about Linda Young's portrayal of Frieza overall? I've seen a lot of people who don't like her performance, mainly because she doesn't capture the same false politeness that Ayers does.

She sounds different from the Japanese version, and for some people that’s enough to bug them.    I never really understood subs vs. dubs until I started watching JoJo in Japanese, and then I looked up clips of the English dub and found myself frustrated with most of the voices.   Giving young Joseph a posh British accent just feels wrong.    Kyle Herbert as Kakyoin is pretty good casting, but I know Kyle too well from his Dragon Ball roles, so I find it distracting. 

Personally, I think the issue is that you get used to the Japanese VA’s and the fact that they’re speaking Japanese.  I just watched a clip of Dio’s dub voice and he’s okay, but he really doesn’t sound like Takehito Koyasu.   So what would I have instead?   Takehito Koyasu speaking English?   That still wouldn’t sound the same.  No matter how you slice it, the English dub has to be different from the original.

One other thing that bugs me when I watch Jojo clips in English is how the animation seems less impressive to me.    I think a lot of that has to do with dividing my focus between watching the show and reading the subtitles at the same time.   With a dub, I can focus on the cartoon itself, and that may not always be flattering to it.    Watching JJBA dubbed always feels like I’m watching episodes of Yugi-Oh.   I can’t explain it, it just feels like the actors are talking and the characters are moving but they’re not synched up very well.  This is probably a good argument for me to give Yugi-Oh a second chance by watching it in Japanese.  

So maybe that’s what DBZ fans are dealing with when they jump from subs to dubs.   I saw the dub first and it kicked ass, and now I’m watching the subs so if anything it’s a richer experience, so I feel like it’s no-lose to watch the dub first.   That may just be because I’m that into DBZ.   

Anyway, I’m pretty sure Linda Young was only cast as Frieza because Funimation started dubbing the show in-house after Episode 67, and they were dealing with two main constraints.    First, they had a limited talent pool to work from, and second, they wanted to try to keep the voices somewhat consistent with the Ocean Group cast from Episodes 1-66.     In those episodes, Frieza was voiced by Pauline Newstone, and Linda Young did sound a lot like her, to the point where I had trouble noticing the switch.

So why’d they cast Newstone in the first place?    I don’t know, but I always thought it was an interesting idea.   Maybe Frieza’s black lips had something to do with it.    He has a somewhat androgynous look to him, and it’s been suggested more than once that his species has no sexual dimorphism.   And he’s an alien anyway, so he can sound like anything you want.   So why not give him a raspy old lady voice?   It adds an air of mystery to the character.    You hear him speak and wonder if you just heard what you thought you heard.   Subs purists can’t complain too much, since Goku��s been played by a woman for decades.

As Young moved on to Frieza’s later forms, she started to sound tougher and more brutal, sort of like how Stephanie Nadolny had to do when Gohan got older and went Super Saiyan 2.    But with Frieza, that change somehow just makes it even more apparent that he talks like an old woman.    I never knew how old Linda was when she played the part, but the reason I’m comparing her voice to an old lady is because she basically did the same voice for Master Genkai in Yu Yu Hakusho, and she was an old lady.

And I think the Funimation script really tacked into that idea.   I remember a line where Frieza was beating up Vegeta, and she said “We could have been so good together.”    It was around the part where he ate the crab.   It just made it sound like Frieza was flirting with Vegeta, like he wanted more than a loyal subordinate.   The Linda Young Frieza seemed almost self-aware of how his dub voice sounded, and he seemed to use it to get under his enemies’ skin.   I don’t want to make it sound like that was the only dimension of her performance, but I think it was an important one.  

Just to present this as a comparison, I’ll use the lines they all spoke when Frieza killed Krillin.

Ryusei Nakao: You think I’m going to excuse you?   I’m not letting a single one of you go home alive!  (points at Krillin) (chuckles, laughs, hisses like a cat)

Linda Young: If you think your little friends can escape me you’re sadly mistaken!  (points at Krillin) This time you won’t come back! (laughs, grunts like a weightlifter)

Chis Ayres: I advise against placing too much stock in your escape, though if you like I can bring you closer to home! (points at Krillin) Hope you aren’t afraid of heights!   (laughs) Nnnnaaaahhh!

For what it’s worth, there’s a part before Frieza levitates Krilln, where it looks like he’s speaking, but Nakao simply chuckled instead.   It looks pretty awkward, which is probably why Young and Ayres spoke a line instead.   “This time you won’t come back,” “Hope you aren’t afraid of heights.”     So even the Japanese dub isn’t perfect.  

Anyway, I think the differences are somewhat clear here.   Nakao is pretty matter-of-fact about what he’s saying.   “I’m going to kill you all.”     Young uses harsher words to belittle the others.    “Your little friends”, “sadly mistaken”.   She also grunts a lot, like Frieza is overcompensating for his effeminate voice.  

Ayres tosses up a word salad.  His delivery is 27 words versus Young’s 18.    I always assumed his performance was designed to more closely resemble the original Japanese, but it’s not.    Nakao expressed the same thought in 18 words.   

This isn’t a knock on Ayres.   He does a good job.  I suspect the reason his lines are more verbose is because it’s a English adaptation of the hoity-toity talk Frieza uses in Japanese.   As I understand it, Japanese uses different vocabulary for poltie speech versus casual speech, and so forth.    With English, that effect doesn’t necessarily carry over.    Having Ayres!Frieza’s mouth runneth over kind of resembles it, though.     He can’t just kill you, he’s gotta give a damn speech about it. 

If I had to parody them, I’d do it like this:

Ryusei Nakao: Well then, I suppose I shall now murder your entire family.   But don’t worry.   I promise this won’t take long at all.  Eeeeeeeeyaaaaaahhhh!

Linda Young: Too bad, hotshot.   It looks like your loser family is doomed, and there’s nothing you can do about it.   Also, you have a very tiny dick.    Uuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhruhhhhh!

Chris Ayres: When in the course of human events...

[side-lizabeth]

ONE PIECE PUNK HAZARD AND SLIGHT DRESSROSA SPOILERS

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In Short? I liked it WAAAAAAAAAY more than Fish-Man Island, which isn’t such a big surprise, honestly.

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In long?

The very first moment that Wano got mentioned in this arc, I was excited because I really really want to get there due to... spoiler stuff that’s happening now in both manga and anime. BUT what I wasn’t expecting is to be revealed the why on why Wano arc is that important and it blew my freaking mind.

Trafalgar Law is a very clever dude, ngl. If I already liked him in Sabaondy and after Marineford, I NOW JUST LOVE HIM. You can never know what’s in his mind and I kinda like that???? He’s not the type of character that I tend to like but this time I’m all for that. I trust him and I know he shouldn’t be trusted but I just don’t care.

NOW THE DOWNSIDE of him appearing here was the bodyswap thingy, and I’m once again telling to whoever’s reading this:

I sincerely hope freaking Whole Cake Island makes the best redeption arc for Sanji, because jesus motherf*cking christ if he needs to be stopped from being flanderised as nothing but a perv that goes after women, with some slight touches of “being Nami’s knight and prince charming wannabe” sprinkled all over his pervyness. If someone like me who’s fighting her own redeption arc towards stopping thinking of (and mainly hating) Sanji as nothing but a perv, his fans must be more than done and exhausted with this protrayal and I can’t blame them. I actually feel very bad for them.

Appart from that, the “the navy was kidnapping children and testing on them to create super soldiers” wasn’t something I was expecting but I’d lie if i’d say it wouldn’t surprise me coming from the navy either. The only thing that surprised me was who the voice actor that I knew would make an appearance in this arc, this time just so happens to be Suwabe Junichi, was protraying here and just so happened to be the corrupt head of the navy’s G5, Vergo.

Once again, One Piece can easily be defined as expect the unexpected FOR A REASON.

Also, the fact that Caesar Clown’s voice actor was DB’s Frieza’s voice actor, Nakao Ryusei, was *cheff kiss*. I can see why they did it and holy f*ck it it was a really good match. And the Luffy VS Caesar fight? Dope and way more entertaining than Hody Jones’ fight.

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Now I’m starting Dressrosa arc (i’m only skipping filler after the time skip because I was recomended to do so, don’t mind me) and based on the very few things I’ve seen now plus the spoilers... this is going to be an interesting ride. Specially as someone who lives in Spain but the S isn’t silent this time. Although to be more precised, I was actually born there too. And still lives there.

I could just dissect all the influences of the worldbuilding of Dressrosa that I only know for now, but that would be too long to write here(?) and there are some stuff that, at first glance at least, I can’t tell where they come from, because I don’t recall anything remotely similar to it in spanish folklore, but I guess I just need to watch it and then maybe i’ll realize that “hey, this thingy could actually come from this thing from this area”. Who knows?

Although I’m not an expert on all spanish folklore since depending on the region, all the folklore there is vastly different than the one next to it (my case for example) so...

Once again, I’m expecting the unexpected from Dressrosa and the first unexpected thing I found was the number of episodes this arc has... because yes, i’m watching it and not reading it.

[number1alienlover]

Favorite Frieza voice actor?

Ryusei Nakao, hands down. Does a tremendous job at capturing Frieza’s elegance and regal demeanor. Chris Ayres was very good in Dragon Ball Z Kai, imo.But honestly, I love all three and it’s very hard to pick an absolute favorite.Because I’m such a sucker for the original Japanese dub (the script is more accurate and doesn’t stray far away from canon), I think I’ll always just have that personal preference for Frieza’s Japanese voice actor. I want to also add that Linda Young’s voice terrified me when I was a kid. The raspy voice reminded me of nails on a chalkboard and made Frieza sound even more eerie than he looks. Not fun to hear that voice and see that face when you’re six/seven years old and scare easily. Anywho, this is all just my opinion and personal preference. Hope it answered your question, anon. :)

[rakpolaris]

So, all of you know I am a big fan of the Dream Gods, don’t cha?

The thing is, I donwloaded some TLC episodes with the french dub so I could hear all their voices in French (btw, those vids were restricted in my country so I couldn’t watch them on Youtube... Good thing there are websites to donwload vids from YT so fuck you YT and fuck you, french channel for restricting your videos! xD)

If you wanna read some ranting about their French voices, I’ll put all my thoughts under a read more:

For any French Saint Seiya fans that might read this - keep in mind that while I learnt some French at School, I can’t barely speak or write in French, tho I can understand a few spoken things. This means that many of my thoughts come from the fact that I am not used to hear anything in French (let alone an anime) and this is in no way a critique of the French dub <3

-I gotta say, I really like Icelus’ voice??? At least I prefer it over the Spanish one (it sounds weird), tho both are still pretty different from the Japanese one but well, it’s really hard to find a voice similar to that of Ryusei Nakao.

-His voice is also super hoarse... PLZ QUIT SMOKING ICELUS.

-EVERYONE TALKS SO FAST. STOOOOOOOOP xD (ok now, actually they kinda talk at a very good pace... I just had to rewatch the episodes a few times to notice it xD)

-I am very biased about this but - generally, when I see a big, tall, chunky character, I expect him (or sometimes her) to have a deep voicer, or a deeper voice than the rest of the cast. Morpheus averted this xD It’s voice it’s not bad tho.

-Phantasos’ (female) voice is, once again (like in the Spanish dub), a bit more mature-sounding than the original Japanese one I think?? I mean, she doesn’t sound as childish, which is sometimes a good thing. I like it.

-I ABSOLUTELY FELL IN LOVE WITH PHANTASOS’ (MALE) VOICE! THE WAY HE GROWLS “MISÉRABLEEEE!!” AT EL CID IS SO FUCKING AWESOME. THAT GUY DESERVED MORE FRICKING LINES.

-Surprise surprise male!Phantasos and Icelus have the same voice actor, Vincent Ribeiro. NICE.

-I also liked Oneiros’ voice, very smooth. I am so sued to the Spanish dub that it was a bit weird that One’s voice was slightly deeper than El Cid’s xD or maybe I just don’t fucking know how to differentiate voice tones in other languages.

-It’s kind of weird that Oneiros and Hakurei have the same voice actor xD but hey, Luc Boulad does a good job at making their voices sound different? One sounds young and Hakurei older and more mature so, hey, nice job Boulad!

-There aren’t enough growls in Icelus’ dialogues :’c

-Yuzu’s voice is also quite good, just sayin’

-El Cid’s line after he defeats Icelus was changed from the Japanese “Now there’s only two left” to “At least I am alive”. I am not sure what does Icelus say before but I like to think that line is El Cid’ gentle way of saying “Fuck you, you thought you could kill? Think again bitch”.

-Everyone says “Ce n’est pas possible” like, at least two or three times, and I love it because everytime it’s said, I am there like “Oh, but it is xD” and then they die xD

-I WANT MORE MALE!PHANTASOS’ DIALOGUE. I NEED TO HEAR HIS “TU VAS PAYER” AND “MISÉRABLEEEE!” AGAIN AND AGAIN.

-”...Pour l’éternité...” it sounds threatening in every language.

-It is me or El Cid sounds particularly menacing when confronting Phantasos in the Dream World??? his calm fury is awesome, he sounds like a Judge like “now that I am here, you shall die”. 10/10 I would be afraid af.