The Hear The New Voices and Rate Them Thread!

[Sayuri no Hoshi]

I think that most of them could be better, but I'll be able to live with them... And besides, maybe as time passes, these new voice actors will get better once they gain more experience. I hope so!

Ash's voice is the only one that really bothers me, and I guess it's because he's the main character. I think that they could've found someone who sounded a little more like Veronica Taylor--because now he sounds even younger and more high-pitched to me, when he's supposed to be getting older. James also could use some work, but oh well.

I definitely think that Brock has improved a lot since the first time I heard his new voice (Creeeepy...) and I think that Jessie, May, and Max sound pretty close to the originals.

None of the changes will keep me from watching the show; in fact, I've actually been watching it a lot more than before just because the changes interested me. XD I have to say that overall Pokémon USA has handled the episodes well. Better than I expected.

My partner in crime couldn't have said it better. XD Ash's voice REALLY gets on my nerves...I'm sorry. There are times when I think Sarah does an "okay" job on some of his lines...but overall, Ash kind of sounds like he's...grunting...or that he has a sore throat. O_o; I just feel Sarah tries a bit too hard with his voice since she probably knows (mostly) everyone wants an imitation of Veronica's voice work for Ash...but Sarah just can't get that close, in my opinion. However, it is the beginning; and Sarah is an actress in her own right, and hopefully she will learn to apply it even better in the future.

I actually think the CLOSEST voice on the new season is Jessie's. She sounds almost exactly like Rachael Lillis. James kind of has...a lisp, lol. But I can live with it. May actually sounds younger--thank GOD. Max sounds like the odd little boy that he is, I guess, lol. XD And Brock's actually gotten a bit better, although he still doesn't have that suave charisma he used to charm the ladies. ^_~

Anyway, I agree with you, Kayleigh, that they definitely could have found someone better to imitate Veronica's Ash voice. Like...moi, for example? XD I have a clip of me doing a few lines of Ash's verse in "Under the Mistletoe" from the Christmas Bash CD. If anyone wants to hear it...I'll put it up. XD

 

[Kayleigh]

My partner in crime couldn't have said it better. XD Ash's voice REALLY gets on my nerves...I'm sorry. There are times when I think Sarah does an "okay" job on some of his lines...but overall, Ash kind of sounds like he's...grunting...or that he has a sore throat. O_o; I just feel Sarah tries a bit too hard with his voice since she probably knows (mostly) everyone wants an imitation of Veronica's voice work for Ash...but Sarah just can't get that close, in my opinion. However, it is the beginning; and Sarah is an actress in her own right, and hopefully she will learn to apply it even better in the future.

I actually think the CLOSEST voice on the new season is Jessie's. She sounds almost exactly like Rachael Lillis. James kind of has...a lisp, lol. But I can live with it. May actually sounds younger--thank GOD. Max sounds like the odd little boy that he is, I guess, lol. XD And Brock's actually gotten a bit better, although he still doesn't have that suave charisma he used to charm the ladies. ^_~

Anyway, I agree with you, Kayleigh, that they definitely could have found someone better to imitate Veronica's Ash voice. Like...moi, for example? XD I have a clip of me doing a few lines of Ash's verse in "Under the Mistletoe" from the Christmas Bash CD. If anyone wants to hear it...I'll put it up. XD

*gasps and points* You really need to post more often. XD But, I won't scold you too much because you're doing a lot better than another certain dorky friend of mine that I've known for nearly 3 years now, lol.

Anyway, of course. XD I was thinking the same thing about how he does sound like he has a sore throat... that's what gets on my nerves. But, Veronica Taylor had mastered his original voice, and since Sarah is still new then I'll try not to complain about it too much. Let's just hope that she gets better as time passes!

James' voice got on my nerves so much in "Sweet Baby James", lol. ._. I don't know if it was because that entire episode was so emotional, and I just... wasn't used to it, or what. But he definitely has a lisp or something! I agree that Jessie's voice is one of the better ones, as well as Misty's, from what I heard in the special. That made me happy~

And ooh, you MUST post it! This I've gotta hear. XD POST POST POST. Maybe then I'll actually record something to send to you one day, too!

 

[Taemin]

@ Arcanine's Comment about Ash's Voice:
(Because the quote command hates me right now... xD)
Omigosh.... You know I thought about that too!
But... Veronica Taylor is only around 28 now... so that means that when she started voicing Pokemon she was around 19.

o___o

So young....

Oh yeah, and May's new voice... eh... Its okay. Doesn't bother me. But just because her old voice was Veronica Taylor... I liked it more. xD

 

[MewSkitty]

I could never disgrace the momery of the old VAs. I never will listen the the new VAs, nor will watch the new episodes. I, along with the rest of SOVA, will fight for anything to get the old VAs back.

What hurts the most is them butchering poor Max's voice. He is the love of my life, and he will always be in my momeries. I hope to download all of seasons 7-8 so I can have Max forever. And, to think than in the last season Max is in, he will not be himself. What a shame. ;_;

 

[Ayano Katagiri]

It's a long story, and depending on who you talk to it goes differently, but essentially:
Pokémon USA own the rights to the Pokémon anime, but for the first eight seasons they employed a company called 4Kids Entertainment to do the dubbing from Japanese to English. This is not uncommon - 4Kids do quite a few English-dubbed anime. The voice actors (VAs) who 4Kids used to do the Pokémon series are mostly exclusively contracted to them, so they can't work as dub voices for any other companies.

Pokémon USA's contract with 4Kids ran out at the end of Pokémon: Advanced Battle. However, instead of renewing the contract, P-USA declared themselves dissatisfied with 4Kids and decided they would now dub the episodes themselves, using a sound-alike cast that cost them far less money. Whether this is the reason they decided to do it or not is up for debate and nobody will likely find out for a looong time, but the upshot of it is that P-USA found new VAs. However, they needed to test them against the public audience, so they requested the feature special Pokémon: Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon, under the premise that it was to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Pokémon's introduction in the USA.

Before and especially after the Mirage special aired, P-USA received various complaints about the VA change. With a few exceptions, all the 4Kids dubbers were now unable to work on the new series, but many viewers were also dissatisfied with the voices in the Mirage special. P-USA took this on board and improved the voices, ready for Pokémon: Battle Frontier.

Therefore, since 4Kids and their exclusive VAs now no longer work on Pokémon due to their contract with Pokémon USA being up, the episodes are now dubbed by a new cast which is employed by Pokémon USA for far less money.

Hope that answers your question! Heh.

Aaahhh... so that's why! I personally don't really like the new VAs。Some of them just aren't what I would want.

 

[pigeon-wing]

It's a long story, and depending on who you talk to it goes differently, but essentially:
Pokémon USA own the rights to the Pokémon anime, but for the first eight seasons they employed a company called 4Kids Entertainment to do the dubbing from Japanese to English. This is not uncommon - 4Kids do quite a few English-dubbed anime. The voice actors (VAs) who 4Kids used to do the Pokémon series are mostly exclusively contracted to them, so they can't work as dub voices for any other companies.

Pokémon USA's contract with 4Kids ran out at the end of Pokémon: Advanced Battle. However, instead of renewing the contract, P-USA declared themselves dissatisfied with 4Kids and decided they would now dub the episodes themselves, using a sound-alike cast that cost them far less money. Whether this is the reason they decided to do it or not is up for debate and nobody will likely find out for a looong time, but the upshot of it is that P-USA found new VAs. However, they needed to test them against the public audience, so they requested the feature special Pokémon: Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon, under the premise that it was to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Pokémon's introduction in the USA.

Before and especially after the Mirage special aired, P-USA received various complaints about the VA change. With a few exceptions, all the 4Kids dubbers were now unable to work on the new series, but many viewers were also dissatisfied with the voices in the Mirage special. P-USA took this on board and improved the voices, ready for Pokémon: Battle Frontier.

Therefore, since 4Kids and their exclusive VAs now no longer work on Pokémon due to their contract with Pokémon USA being up, the episodes are now dubbed by a new cast which is employed by Pokémon USA for far less money.

Hope that answers your question! Heh.

That clears everything up; thank you! =)

 

[PokemonTrainerLisa]

In my opinion, the new voices are terrible and they always will be.

Seriously, the only voice which really matches the original is Brock's.


Ash has the worst voice in the Battle Frontier season by far. It's just so bad that it makes me cringe every time he says something (and the titles are even WORSE).


And that's only one of the reasons why I'm still in SOVA (Save Our Voice Actors).

My other reasons are because:

1. I love all the original VAs, and I think they were perfect - they made the characters who they were.

2. The original VAs were replaced in an awful way, behind their backs.


Because, when you think about it, the VAs themselves didn't even KNOW about what happened until it was too late (gee, thanks a lot Pokemon USA!!). What's even sadder is the fact that they had nothing preventing them from getting back on Pokemon. The Pokemon VAs are freelance. All those things people said the VAs having contract issues - that was all just rumors and lies. My theory is, Pokemon USA/TAJ believed all that stuff that was going around, so they didn't do research on their own to find out the truth about the situation. Therefore, they decided not to approach the original VAs, and instead use their own VAs (which was a very bad decision, in my opinon).

 

[~*!*~Tatsujin Gosuto~*!*~]

At first I couldn't stand them at all but after episode after episode I got use to it, but I really still don't like Ash's new voice its very weird, they should have made his voice sound older but we don't know his real age neither do we for the others

:t354:~*!*~Queen Boo~*!*~

 

[Taemin]

Same, I'm used to them now as well...
Ash's voice is okay, its getting better, but for awhile there it sounded way too girlie. ><;;
I think thats going away though. x3

 

[Jolty-kun]

Try not to revive threads over a month old.
Especially three months old.
-Reportz.-

 

[Pazuzu]

pigeon-wing, please always pay attention to the date of the last post that was made in a thread. If it was more than a month ago, please do not post in the thread.


And Jolty, using the report button silently without leaving a comment in the thread will have the same effect. ;)

~closed~