- Joined
- Aug 22, 2018
So after a conversation with my wife (a huge anime fan) about the Shenmue anime last night, I think I’m now leaning towards a brand new voice cast for both dubs.
Masaya: Apparently a lot of anime fans here in Japan choose the anime they watch based on who is voicing the characters. If their favorite actor is in it, they watch it.
Outside of Shenmue, Masaya hasn’t appeared in many major releases which would suggest that the bulk of his fans likely came as a direct result of his performance as Ryo. It’s also quite some time since he played a major role in anything big outside of Shenmue.
Compared to other voice actors his age, Masaya doesn’t have a particularly large following and given that he first performed as Ryo more than 20 years ago it’s quite possible that many of his fans are no longer of an age where they watch anime. Put simply, I don’t think he’s a big enough name to draw in viewers.
Masaya has just over 50,000 followers on Twitter, which compared to some of the more popular anime voice actors like Yuuki Kaji (500,000+), Tomokazu Sugita (1.8m+) and Ryohei Kimura (1m+) seems pretty indicative of his limited appeal.
Corey: Rightly or wrongly, Shenmue’s English dub has always been a source of ridicule. This could be a consequence of poor writing or a lack of direction, but ultimately I feel that bringing Corey back could hurt the series before it has even aired. I know that if I heard that a game with a notoriously bad dub was being adapted into an anime and would be using the same voice actors, I’d probably be expecting more of the same and might give it a miss without bothering to check it out.
The English dub was always one of Shenmue’s biggest weaknesses, but given the plethora of distractions found in the games I found this quite easy to overlook. This won’t be the case with anime and getting a solid dub is very important to keeping viewers engaged.
Both: Given that Ryo is 18 years old and both actors are now around 40, I think the best way to attract new fans to the series would be to bring in a new cast and the huge difference in ages gives producers the justification for doing this. If they can get a big name in Japan and a good young actor for the western dub, I can see the anime being pretty successful.
If push came to shove I think I’d be more likely to bring Corey back than Masaya as I think Corey is a much better actor than he has been able to demonstrate in the games and I don’t think Western fans are as picky about who plays a role providing they do it well - but I’d still have concerns about the reputation of the English dub of the games having a negative impact on the anime.
To be clear here, this isn’t me taking a swipe at either voice actor. I actually think they’re both very talented and have excelled at bringing the character of Ryo to life (which isn’t a particularly easy task given how shallow he is as a character). I just think that a new cast gives the anime the best chance of success.
I’d be interested to hear the opinions of others - although please try to remain respectful of the actors whilst sharing them!
Masaya: Apparently a lot of anime fans here in Japan choose the anime they watch based on who is voicing the characters. If their favorite actor is in it, they watch it.
Outside of Shenmue, Masaya hasn’t appeared in many major releases which would suggest that the bulk of his fans likely came as a direct result of his performance as Ryo. It’s also quite some time since he played a major role in anything big outside of Shenmue.
Compared to other voice actors his age, Masaya doesn’t have a particularly large following and given that he first performed as Ryo more than 20 years ago it’s quite possible that many of his fans are no longer of an age where they watch anime. Put simply, I don’t think he’s a big enough name to draw in viewers.
Masaya has just over 50,000 followers on Twitter, which compared to some of the more popular anime voice actors like Yuuki Kaji (500,000+), Tomokazu Sugita (1.8m+) and Ryohei Kimura (1m+) seems pretty indicative of his limited appeal.
Corey: Rightly or wrongly, Shenmue’s English dub has always been a source of ridicule. This could be a consequence of poor writing or a lack of direction, but ultimately I feel that bringing Corey back could hurt the series before it has even aired. I know that if I heard that a game with a notoriously bad dub was being adapted into an anime and would be using the same voice actors, I’d probably be expecting more of the same and might give it a miss without bothering to check it out.
The English dub was always one of Shenmue’s biggest weaknesses, but given the plethora of distractions found in the games I found this quite easy to overlook. This won’t be the case with anime and getting a solid dub is very important to keeping viewers engaged.
Both: Given that Ryo is 18 years old and both actors are now around 40, I think the best way to attract new fans to the series would be to bring in a new cast and the huge difference in ages gives producers the justification for doing this. If they can get a big name in Japan and a good young actor for the western dub, I can see the anime being pretty successful.
If push came to shove I think I’d be more likely to bring Corey back than Masaya as I think Corey is a much better actor than he has been able to demonstrate in the games and I don’t think Western fans are as picky about who plays a role providing they do it well - but I’d still have concerns about the reputation of the English dub of the games having a negative impact on the anime.
To be clear here, this isn’t me taking a swipe at either voice actor. I actually think they’re both very talented and have excelled at bringing the character of Ryo to life (which isn’t a particularly easy task given how shallow he is as a character). I just think that a new cast gives the anime the best chance of success.
I’d be interested to hear the opinions of others - although please try to remain respectful of the actors whilst sharing them!