Favorite Anime English Dubs from the 1990s

[Pokejedservo]

People have said that the 90's were a dark age for the US anime industry and that Anime English dubs were never any good until recently. But I for one disagree with that as I feel that the 90's was when English dubs for anime were starting to become good. Which English dubs of anime from the 90s did you like best?

While I do like Viz's work nowadays, Viz was one of the best companies for anime back then and one of the reasons why I am such a big fan of Vancouver Canadian VA studio Ocean Group. (Of course there are other reasons why I am such a fan of Vancouver Voice talent such as shows like Reboot and Beast Wars but still.) But still I have highly enjoyed many of the dubs they have done then such as Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku, the Fatal Fury anime, Galaxy Express 999 and the Darkstalkers anime.

Though of course Pioneer definitely has their quality material as well even back then such as Tenchi Muyo! and their co-work with FUNimation on the original uncut dubs of the 1st 3 DBZ movies which are even to this day some of the best dubs for a DBZ dub. Say what you will about the dubs for DBZ and Dragon Ball back then but the uncut dubs for the DBZ movies back then were great.

New York Voice Talent has been in some good material for dubs back in the 90's, while I am sure people are most likely thinking of the earlier episodes of Pokemon and I can understand why but I am more thinking of Slayers and of course Irresponsible Captain Tylor. (In which in the latter show Crispin Freeman's performance as Tylor is a great change of pace for him and it shows on how he can do a comical character just fine.)

While I am sure most of us whom are familiar with these shows (such as moi) were only familiar with them until they were on Cartoon Network back in the early 2000s but Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star's dubs were initially released back in the late 90's so they definitely deserve a mention. (Well that and also Saber Marionette J as well.)

Last but most definitely not the least is the fine handiwork from Disney mainly in Kiki's Delivery Service and Princess Mononoke in which they proved on how they can handle Studio Ghibli films VERY well.

There are some very honorable mentions such as the Manga dub of Street Fighter II V and Fist of the North Star (especially for their themes) and Saban's Samurai Pizza Cats. Not too mention certain other dubs with Ocean VA talent such as Monster Rancher, Ronin Warriors, Ultimate Teacher and Project A-Ko. But still what are your fave English dubs from the 90s?

[NCZ]

I'm not a hardcore anime watcher so I haven't seen a lot of the "nostalgic" '90s titles, but Disney's English version of Kiki's Delivery Service is probably the best dub I have ever witnessed. So much soul was put into that dub; they pulled out all the stops. Beautiful movie.

[PurpleWarrior13]

My favorite English dub of all time will always be Slayers! Lisa Ortiz, Eric Stuart, Veronica Taylor, and Crispin Freeman ALL did an AMAZING job on that series! 90s English dubs were typically not as good as the ones made today, but Slayers was by far the closest! The script was accurate, yet, it flowed very well, and came off as very natural and funny! Lisa Ortiz got Lina down to a T! Lina Inverse is a role where it would be very easy for the voice actress to sound annoying. Lisa didn't sound annoying at all. It's hard to imagine a more perfect voice for that character. Lisa was good in the dramatic, funny, sarcastic, and action scenes! She was perfect!

HONORABLE MENTIONS: Ranma 1/2 (with Sarah Strange), Pokemon, Revolutionary Girl Utena (the voice acting had a surreal feel about it that the Japanese dub lacked), Dragon Ball Z (Seasons 1-2, 6-9; It began in 1999! It counts!), Cowboy Bebop, A.D. Police Files, and Ronin Warriors was alright.

@Poke I hated the old dubs of the first few DBZ movies. I'm sorry, but Peter Kelamis' horrible performance killed them for me. I liked the Saban/FUNimation TV version of Tree of Might better! Ian Corlett was amazing as Goku in that movie! I think it rival's Sean's in the more well known FUNimation version!

[RachaelLane1984]

My favorite english dub would have to be Outlaw Star, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Wendee Lee, Lenore Zann, Bridget Hoffman, Emily Brown, Robert Buchholz, Brianne Siddall, Steve Staley and Ivan Buckley were all amazing in their roles and really came to really own the characters they played.

[JTurner]

I'll second the Disney dubs. They were fantastic. Kiki and Mononoke are often mentioned because they came from the '90s, but Castle in the Sky was also technically recorded in 1998 even though it wasn't released until five years later. Nonetheless, all three are outstanding, solid dubs. They're not perfect, but they're certainly above average.

Outlaw Star, Record of Lodoss War OVA (Lisa's first role, and to this day still one of my favorites), The Slayers, and Irresponsible Captain Tylor are all dubs that I absolutely loved.

[Fulgore2005]

I totally agree. The Disney dubs were no doubt spectacular. But to me, it's no surprise as Disney always more often than not have productions, films and cartoons that always live up to expectations.

Sailor Moon is an English Dub I liked. At times, I felt that somes of these scenes were done better in English than in the original. The voice talent involves also has great VAs involved (The likes of Tracey Moore, Susan Roman, Vince Corazza etc.). I felt that the dub got beter in the R season, which was good seeing as the R season had more emotional moments and LOL ones too.

Any other mentions: Dragon Ball Z's earlier seasons, Pokemon (Second favourite dub from 4kids) and Slayers (for the same reasons as PurpleWarrior13)

[Tre01]

The Disney dubs of Ghibli were great, but sadly not anymore thanks to the tween obsessions. Whilst I liked the English 'Kiki's Delivery Service', I just felt that there was too much extra dialog when it came to Jiji.

I'll probably have stuff thrown at me for this, but I liked the 4kids dubs of Pokemon. Yes, they hacked the first movie to bits and changed a lot of stuff, but I think the voices had a lot of heart, and even though the jokes were really corny at times, I still laughed. And yes, they didn't know what Pokemon was on screen half the time either, but meh, I find it funny more than anything.

I enjoyed the English dub of Moomin which was shown on the BBC in the 1990s. The voices worked even though there was sometimes mouth sync issues, but still, nothing new there, and they kept most of the original music too.

Digimon I loved yet hated. No, I'm not going to start an argument that's Digimon Vs Pokemon. The show's dub worked pretty well, but the theme song for series 1, I'm sorry, but it was naff like it was written in 5 mins imo. I adored Agumon's voice the most though. Especially "Agumon digivolved to..." then goes into that deep "GREYMON!" voice.

[JTurner]

Originally Posted by Tre01

The Disney dubs of Ghibli were great, but sadly not anymore thanks to the tween obsessions. Whilst I liked the English 'Kiki's Delivery Service', I just felt that there was too much extra dialog when it came to Jiji.

If you're talking about the casting of Jonas and Cyrus, I really don't follow that argument. I thought they both were fine. The only thing wrong with the Ponyo dub was the remix toward the end, otherwise the dub was solid.

Kiki is too difficult for me to watch in Japanese because of Phil Hartman's Jiji. Yes, he does add in more lines, but he does them so well it's impossible for me to hate it.

[Gray]

My favorite will be outlaw star and yu yu hakusho.
Those were the two anime that brings back so many precious memories
during my childhood.

_____________________________
http://www.themodernman.com/how_to_talk_to_women.html

[Trami0501]

Sailor Moon DiC and Cloverway dibs version later than will be FUNimation dub version it's that okay!