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Saturday, January 12:

So... life's pretty boring right now. Paying bills, going to work (Constantly, might I add), and basically living day to day while trying to keep from going insane.

I posted a thing on the Anime board on, "Which Anime should I watch next"? Thing is I'm into dramas, gore ridden Animes. I don't like heaping amounts of random, spaztastic humor or random moments (*cough*Trigun*cough*), and if there's romance I can only take a hint or two of it before I start to gag. A couple of people suggested Elfen Lied, and I read the description. Sounds like a wicked Anime. Might be worth a view or two! Other suggestions were Death Note and Trinity Blood. Well... I've already seen to the end of both of those series, and I'm already a willing fan to them.

Anyone have some good suggestions for Anime?

I was watching episodes 1-4 of Trinity Blood with Mom (who has an apparent liken towards Father Abel Nightroad, lol) and I had to wonder about something. My friends and I talk about how the Japanese original voices are often times better than the American versions.

But how true is this?

Looking back at all the Animes I have an interest in, I have to really wonder how true that is to me. Considering everything, there are times I choose to listen to the American Dub over the original Japanese voice. I know, blasphemy, right? Well, here's a list (based on the gamut of Anime series I own at home):

1. Hellsing/Hellsing OVA: The American Dub is better when you have to listen to Seras Victoria, Walter C. Dollneaz, Alexander Anderson, Jan Valentine, the Millennium group or even Alucard (who is lovingly done by the same voice actor as Tsume in Wolf's Rain). However, the Japanese is better with Pip Bernadotte. This one I actually watch in English half the time. Oh, and I have to say, Mom was the one that picked out Enrico Maxwell's American Dub accent; apparently the guy is French- who knew?

2. Wolf's Rain: I really don't mind, either way. Cheza's voice in English makes me want to gouge my ears out until they bleed. eek However, Tsume and Hige are perfect. Kiba is better in Japanese, whereas Toboe has the best "little kid" often times cracky American voice (he's around 10, so it's understandable why his voice is often times nasal, high pitched or cracky).

3. Death Note: OH MY GOD, GIVE ME THE JAPANESE VERSION!!!!!! For the love of god, who put together the cast of voice actors for this one?! Ok, Ryuk is the only one I can stand. Light sounds like a gay prep; Matsuda is average, nothing special. Oh god, L! His Japanese voice fits him so MUCH better than the American! In the trailer, when I first heard L's voice, I thought, "Well, that's just great; it's frikkin' Vincent Valentine". I shudder to hear Near, Misa, or Mello's voices.

Edit: Interesting note on L's part. To anyone who's watched the series, have you noticed this? You'll have to watch the Japanese original track and then the American Dub, and make it a few episodes like this. L seems to be more dry and sarcastic in the American translation than he did in the original. And, I mean, he's WAY more sarcastic.

4. Trinity Blood: Ok, I sorta like the American Dub better. Cain Nightroad's voice in Japanese was better, but I have to say the Pope, the Cardinals, and the random collective majority of the Priests of the Vatican and Ax sound so much better in the American Dubs. Abel, himself, sounds better. Sure, his Japanese voice was constantly humorous with a cracky, high pitched, squeaky voice; the American version of himself has a calm, collective low voice that rises into a squeaky, and equally humorous, cracky panicked voice. I do like Tres' Japanese voice better- the English is too monotone, to cliche' robot (plus I got used to the Japanese way he said "positive"; it became an inside joke).

5. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust: American Dub, totally, right here. I can't even tell you why I love the English over Japanese... maybe it's because of the wise cracking parasite and his nagging voice. Yeah. Let's go with that.

6. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children: All bow down to Sephiroth, right? Depends on the version- Japanese or English Dub. So, this one is tricky. I ABHOR Tifa's and Aerith's American voices- can you say "robot"? I mean, they're more robotic than Tres from Trinity Blood! In fact, all the American voices pretty much suck. Marlene is annoying, Yuffie is god awful, and the Advent Children themselves (Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz) are horrible. Even Sephiroth succumbs to what I deem the "suck factor". The only ones I actually enjoy in the American Dub are Cait Sith (Irish/Scottish with the small cat is awesome), Red XIII (and his one measly line in the ENTIRE film), Vincent Valentine and Reno of the Turks.

So, which side do you choose when you watch Anime? Japanese original voice overs, or American Dubs?

Also, I've been noticing a few things about the Animes I watch. However, this entry is wholly long enough, so I'll finish this before it gets a twinge out of hand.

heart Peace out, ya'll! heart