Hanayo is a far simpler task in many respects as she is a character who is not fleshed out that much in the show. There are two basic modes to Hanayo: incredibly shy to the point of trying to make herself invisible and extremely driven and intense when the subject of idols are involved. Xanthe Huynh, who has now been in a decent number of dubs, portrays both sides of Hanayo well, with that desperate pleading for someone to help her when she gets dragged along by friends or events. Finally, Faye Mata, a relative newcomer from what I can gather, has the task of voicing the relatively one-dimensional Rin. I know that sounds unkind to the character, but Rin as well is not given much depth in this season. Still, Ms. Mata manages quite well to bring across the basic bits of personality that we expect from Rin, from her buoyant enthusiasm (that echoes Honoka’s) to her predilection for ending her sentences with nyaa, the Japanese onomatopoeic word for what a cat says. Often, English adapters translate this to “meow” in English, but here the choice is made to retain the original without comment or explanation. It’s a tricky thing, to change or not change a character’s verbal tic, and in this case retaining it feels like it works well enough. It’s not a syllable with real meaning, after all. Her “meowing” has no real sense value to it other than making her somewhat cat-like (which she is in terms of gestures and movements at times) and changing it to “meow” would not really add much to the adaptation. I generally prefer to translate terminology (nothing will get my eyes rolling faster than too many Japanese terms being thrown at the listener in an English dub), but in this case, it works to let enough alone.
Finally, the three seniors are added to the mix as the plot progresses. All three of them are constant presences throughout the show, but it will be easier to discuss performances in order of when the characters joined the idol group for this trio. First up is idol groupie and wannabe who tries too hard Nico Yazawa. Having heard Erica Mendez not too long ago as Ryuko Matoi in Kill la Kill (top-rate performance), this was an interesting change of pace as we get to hear her in a somewhat higher pitch and showing some personality types I’ve not seen from her before. Nico is a somewhat bitter girl who has felt disappointment (she founded the school’s Idol Study Club with the dream of becoming an idol, but her standards were so high she drove away the other members), but who loves and studies idols so deeply that even her disdain for the amateurish efforts of Honoka and her friends cannot overcome her own desire to try it out. That bitterness and power-hungry nature are all there in the voicing. But in addition, Nico has developed a completely fake persona as an idol, including a nauseatingly cutesy catchphrase, which is rendered very, very well by Ms. Mendez. The highlight, though, is episode 6 where Ms. Mendez really gets to shine as Nico in different ways. In the contest to determine who gets to be the “center” (most Japanese idol groups have one member who stays in the middle of the stage during performances and has the leading role in singing the song), her scheming and power-hungry nature is brilliantly shown. But more hilarious is a one-off moment when the girls are being interviewed for a video being put together by the student council to highlight the various clubs in the school. Told that this is meant to be “candid, unscripted” footage, Nico puts on yet another persona, where she transforms into a mild-mannered ojousama-like young lady. It’s flat out funny how well she does the fake niceness and refinement, you have to see and hear it.
Somewhat more prominent from the start are the two leaders of the student council, President Eli Ayase and Vice President Nozomi Tojo. Eli is voiced by Erica Lindbeck, who has been tapped to play some notable roles in recent works, none of which I’m all that familiar with, however. Her Eli does everything it needs to do, getting across her commanding presence which turns out to be something of a mask covering up insecurities and doubts. Her haughty dismissals of Honoka’s early efforts are on point and her later opening up to show her softer and less impressive sides work well. With Nozomi, we come to my first bit of criticism. It’s not that Laura Post’s performance is poor (and she was delightfully domineering as Ragyo Kiryuin in Kill la Kill), but that her line reads felt a bit flat at times. This feels as much a directorial decision as anything else, though I did not sense the same kind of flatness in Aina Kusada’s original. It’s not omnipresent in all of Ms. Post’s work in this dub, as she is quite lively and humorously threatening when Nozomi is in attack mode, going after other characters when they need “punishment.” But in the character’s more serious moments, while I was not expecting a torrent of emoting (that would have been very bad), there were times where her voice almost seemed bored with what she was trying to say, which is not how Nozomi should sound. The source of difficulty again may lie in trying to match sound as Ms. Kusada gives Nozomi an intonation that sounds rather strange to English speakers (no, seriously try to imagine English being spoken in Nozomi’s voice. Yeah, now you get it, don’t you?) and the issue is further exacerbated by the choice of the original audio track to have Nozomi speak a regional dialect, a potential minefield with language adaptations which is largely sidestepped here. It’s not a major fault.
As for the minor and supporting roles, there is not too much to note, which is not a negative thing. Far too often, many of the dubs coming out in the current era have decent or even excellent lead performances which get marred by mediocre or even poor incidental and episodic voices which throw you out of the dub for a moment when they appear on scene. That’s not the case here at all, as BangZoom! continues to show that you can do the minor stuff well. Familiar voices from experienced voice actors draw one’s attention immediately. Honoka’s mother is voiced by Julie Ann Taylor in her normal “mom” range, hitting all the right notes there. Kotori’s mother, the school director (basically the principal), is played by Karen Strassman in her “mom” range. The choice of actresses for both is appropriate, as Mrs. Kosaka has some of Honoka’s energy and dynamism, which Ms. Taylor often brings to her roles, while Ms. Minami has a certain regal bearing and feeling of certainty that Ms. Strassman gets across so very well in many performances. Christine Marie Cabanos is cute and funny as Honoka’s little sister Yukiho, while Brianna Knickerbocker voices Alisa, Eli’s younger sister, with the right mixture of wonder at the strangeness of Japan (she and her elder sister lived abroad for many years with their Russian grandmother) and adorableness that she’s meant to have. The classmate trio of Hideko, Fumiko and Mika are well served by Mela Lee, Natalie Hoover, and Ryan Bartley respectively, for the few lines they have. I cannot really comment on the trio playing the members of rival idol group A-Rise, Cassandra Morris, Corina Boettger, and Erika Harlacher, because they collectively have too few lines from which to form much of a judgment.
Song note: the songs are retained in their original Japanese, no attempt is made to create English versions (probably prohibited by the original licensors as music rights are quite the tricky issue in terms of royalties. This is why we no longer get English covers of anime music and have not for a good many years now). Thus, the basic status quo for most music-focused shows brought over here, though there are no music replacement issues involved as all the music is tied to the franchise and fully present in this licensed edition.
And finally, a word on adaptation choices and script matters. I saw some minor complaints in our forums about the appearance of “awesomesauce” in the dub (is that a word? Eh…whatever), but Honoka being who she is…meh, eh, whatever. Honoka’s the kind of girl who in America might well say such a…word. Ms. Glass’s script is perfectly serviceable and matches the tone and feel of the original as I recall it from memory (since I generally don’t carefully check scripts against subs anymore; the adaptation has to stand on its own or else why bother?). About the only thing that felt off was the Ayase family “catchphrase,” the Russian word khorosho, which felt kind of awkward and forced…though that’s not very different from the original dubbing track where it also felt awkward and forced. Otherwise, the script seems fine. The girls speak like typical teenage girls not Shakespearean hand puppets nor stilted misrepresentations striving to be “accurate.” Direction wise, other than the comments made above, it feels like Tony Oliver has done the best job possible, drawing out lively and expressive performances that match the moods and manners of this group of characters.
It’s a good dub.
In Summary:
Japanese megahit Love Live! was brought over earlier by NIS America, but now they’ve deemed this one worthy of a dub and so we get one from BangZoom!. It’s a good dub, directed by Tony Oliver and featuring a mixture of veterans and relative newcomers. The general tone and feel of the original, especially the relentless drive and optimism of series lead Honoka Kosaka, are brought over into the English version largely intact. A few minor quibbles aside, there is life and breath in this dub.
Production and Cast Credits:
Dub produced by NIS America. Studio: BangZoom! Entertainment. Producer: Eric Sherman. Co-Producer and Casting Director: Mami Okada. Assistant Producer: Mio Moroe. Production Supervisor: Kaeko Sakamoto. Production Executive: Jonathan Sherman.
English Voice Director: Tony Oliver
ADR Script Writer: Caitlin Glass
Cast as credited on disc:
Honoka Kosaka: Marieve Herington
Eli Ayase: Erica Lindbeck
Kotori Minami: Cristina Vee
Umi Sonoda: Kira Buckland
Rin Hoshizora: Faye Mata
Maki Nishikino: Caitlin Glass
Nozomi Tojo: Laura Post
Hanayo Koizumi: Xanthe Huynh
Nico Yazawa: Erica Mendez
Director Minami: Karen Strassman
Yukiho Kosaka: Christine Marie Cabanos
Alisa Ayase: Brianna Knickerbocker
Hideko: Mela Lee
Fumiko: Natalie Hoover
Mika: Ryan Bartley
Honoka’s Mother: Julie Ann Taylor
Tsubasa Kira: Cassandra Lee Morris
Anju Yuki: Corina Boettger
Erena Todo: Erika Harlacher
Additional Voices: Janice Roman Roku, Tony Oliver, Megan Niessink, Priscilla Tov, Susie Chong
G.B. Smith
Greg Smith has been writing anime reviews and a review column on anime dubbed into English for several years, first at AnimeOnDVD and now for The Fandom Post. His occasional column on English anime dubs, Press Audio, appears whenever he comes across a dub worthy of a closer look. He is also the deputy editor for our seasonal and year end retrospectives.