First (and most importantly) – Hoshino Katsura’s publication of the D.Gray-man manga will resume in Weekly Shounen Jump on March 9, not in April as originally rumored. She had been allegedly suffering from a wrist injury. The hiatus in question began in November (If I remember correctly) with no word on when she would return. Good to hear you’re doing better, Hoshino-sensei~ ^_^
Secondly, the Funimation website for D.Gray-man has been updated hardcore. It now lists release dates for the first 4 box sets of the series (running through January of next year), and contains a spiffy wallpaper for download as well as screencaps. It does not, however, seem to list a dub cast.
But thanks to various announcements made at various cons (allegedly including Ohayocon?!) we have a partial-unconfirmed (see here) dub cast list in Anime News Network’s encyclopedia. Some highlights:
Todd Haberkorn (Hikaru Hitachiin in Ouran) as Allen Walker
Travis Willingham (Roy Mustang in Fullmetal Alchemist) as Kanda Yuu
Luci Christian (Kaname in Full Metal Panic) as Lenalee Lee
Jason Liebrecht (Syaoran in Tsubasa) as Lavi and the Millenium Earl
J. Michael Tatum (Doumeki in xxxholic) as Komui Lee
My thoughts? To be frank, despite this dub cast’s all-star (sans Vic Mignogna) line-up, I’m hesitant to say it’ll be any good. Luci Christian also played Risa in D.N. Angel, and with that knowledge, I can safely say I don’t think she’ll be the best Lenalee. Jason Liebrecht played Alfons Heiderich in the Fullmetal Alchemist movie, so with a bit of work, he could make an acceptable Lavi. But as the Millennium Earl? That one had better be a false rumor; I just don’t see him pulling it off. Travis Willingham as Kanda should work out fairly well, if he doesn’t end up sounding too old. Some of the other alleged dub cast members look okay, but we’ll see. (EDIT: Also, Todd Haberkorn is supposedly directing the dubbing; his only other ADR credits seem to be Claymore and Shuffle. Hmmmmm….)
Stay tuned for updates! ^_^
EDIT: Oh jeez, I just watched the trailer on the official page. This series is pretty much doomed.
First of all, Wendee Lee cannot pull off Hevlaska; she’s too melodramatic. Second of all, doing the whole second-person “YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE, ALLEN WALKER” voiceover thing is beyond lame and cliched. Other choice tidbits include “THE HOUR OF EVIL” and “SOMETHING DEEP WITHIN YOU AWAKENS”. And don’t forget the “Death is His Gift” gothic-y text below the trailer. Yeah.
Thirdly, the background organ music is cheesy beyond belief; fourthly, the trailer doesn’t contain quite enough of the side characters (considering how much the series focuses on them at times). If they can’t even put together a decent trailer for this series, Funimation will probably screw up the rest of it. ‘Nuff said.
~CJ
CJ
stardragon
alexkun
Crisu
Janette
rakuen42
Dave
Luci will be epic. ;D
She was also in Princess Tutu. Amazingly varied voice. It’ll depend on the director whether she can perform or not.
@jedko Ah… There’s a relative newbie doing ADR (Todd Haberkorn’s allegedly doing it; see the post edits) but it might work out. ^_^
I’ll be the first to admit that I agree with a lot of your points, but I’ve learned something from years of watching the dubbing industry: Don’t jump the gun. The actors involved have amazing variety – the only major problem I have is that while Travis is awesome, I can’t see him pulling off a …I don’t know…”softer” voice for Kanda.
I especially had this hammered in my head when Caitlin Glass was cast as Haruhi in Ouran; man, she blew me away. Didn’t sound like her at all.
I can’t wait for the DGM manga continuation. Glad to hear Hoshino-sensei is back after such a long hiatus.
I heard Allen’s english voice. It sounds like shit.
thanks, bye. :D