Voice Compare » Akira » Tetsuo Shima

@gsbr What exactly gave you the idea that most of the voters for Seth have heard his voice more than Jan's?

@Fulgore2005 No. Better question would be: How did you come to that conclusion considering the possibility that some of the voters have seen the old dub first?

@Fulgore2005 Because the old dub isn't distributed in the United States anymore. Today, most people have seen the film first on DVD or Blu-ray, both of which only contain the newer version. Very few would even consider tracking down an out of print copy on a dead format, let alone watch it, when the DVD is easily accessible.

@gsbr I have seen both dubs in their entirety, the 1989 one first. Yet, even though I wasn't introduced to the character through Joshua, I vastly preferred him. He not only sounded like a real passionate teenager, for Tetsuo's descent into madness, he sounded chillingly real. It was haunting. Jan, while being one of the better voices in an otherwise laughable dub, did sound very forced, and for Tetsuo's crazy side, he sounded too much like a horror movie villain. It was really-over-the top. He completely stopped sounding like a teenager right there. That's my 2 cents. :)

@PurpleWarrior13 I'm certain there are people who have seen both dubs here. My concern is the majority of the voters have only heard Seth before, considering how the newer dub is still widely available, while the original only exists on VHS and Laserdisc.

I actually preferred Seth after my initial viewing of the two dubs. Voice wise, he was spot on as Tetsuo. But once I got past the voices and started hearing the actual performances, it became evident that Seth was lacking in the emotion department. For me, the moment that demonstrated Seth couldn't deliver as Tetsuo was his mutation scene at the end. He was too relaxed, sounding merely surprised over what was happening to Tetsuo's body. With Rabson, he made certain the audience felt Tetsuo's pain; he even admits the mutation was a throat killer.

For those who have seen them, the two Akira dubs are polarizing affairs. Very few feel neutral about them, they both find their way on to best and worst dub lists. It really stems from the version you saw first and what you thought it of it.

@gsbr I guess it depends on tastes. Joshua did post below that he was just trying to be more true to the scene as an actor, while I agree that Jan's voice was just way too over-the-top.

Though I think we can agree that just because you see a particular version first, doesn't mean you automatically like it. At the time, I thought it made more sense to watch an 80s film with an 80s dub. Boy, was I wrong. I was enjoying the film itself very much, but it was clear that the voice performances I was hearing weren't very good. English anime dubs, as a whole, have improved tremendously since the 80s/early 90s with new technology, a better understanding of the material, and better voice actors, as well as a wider selection of talent of performers, writers, and directors willing to do this. I think Akira is a great representation of that. The newer dub just feels more "evolved", and so much more true to the source material, I enjoyed the film even more, and certainly had a better understanding of it as well. I think the 80s film COULD'VE been good under better circumstances. They had some great talent on board, and they really could've created a good product. But they didn't. It was a quick product with poor direction, strange casting, and weak writing rushed out the door to Hong Kong (literally). With such a huge film, being marketed as such, you'd think better care would've been put into the voice recording. The Animaze dub was created as a way to "fix" this. Whether the attempt was successful or not is up to you, but I think they ultimately succeeded extremely well. A lot of time and care was put into that dub with better writing, better casting, better direction, and (overall) better voice actors to essentially correct some of the key mistakes made in the previous production. The film deserved better, and I think it got it.

Of course there are those nostalgic for the both productions, and that's understandable. We still have no idea if FUNimation is going to include the original production on their 2014 re-release as a bonus feature, but it certainly would be an interesting feature to have for historical purposes, because like it or not, both English productions are very important pieces to not only the history of this very important film, but to English localizations of anime as a whole.