R.O.D. the TV, ep. 12-13: “Twilight of the Papers” Parts 1-2 (2004, New Generation Pictures]
This is my favorite dub. There is strong competition for that accolade, but R.O.D the TV wins for being such a perfect action dub. The combination of the right actors for the right roles, a director who will get exactly what he needs from them, and the simple yet effective strategy of casting children to voice children and British actors to play British characters makes this dubbing perfection. No matter how many times I watch this show, I find something new to enjoy, some layer, some subtext that is newly revealed.
Wendy Tomson as Nenene is fabulous in this episode. Dour, sullen, determined, she manages to shine through all her depression. She only has a few lines, but they resonate. Her weak, drugged realization that she’s been betrayed by someone close to her cutes to the bone. “This is no joke, is it? You’ve been lying to me.” Hunter MacKenzie Austin, one of Los Angeles’ most underrated voice actors, is brilliant as the ditzy yet very smart and wise Michelle. She’s not a character that goes through a process of discovery. Michelle is Michelle. But Austin keeps her interesting all the way through. After the sisters have lost Nenene to Dokusensha, she holds up all the money they’ve been given and says “We could read books for the rest of our lives” with a touch of wistfulness, yet sounding as if that’s the furthest thing from her mind. Sarah Lahti was a brand new voice actress to anime, a discovery of director Taliesin Jaffe. Her Maggie is withdrawn and quiet but a kind person. For a rookie VA, she’s exceptional, never delivering a wayward line read. This is as much a testament to her own talent as it is a product of Jaffe’s directing style, splicing together various line reads until he gets something he likes. The stand out performance in this series, though, is Rachel Hirschfeld as Anita King. Jaffe and NGP had a habit of casting children to voice children, and this is one of their very best. Hirschfeld is brilliant as the young and perpetually angry Anita. She loves her sisters, but their book monomania is a constant annoyance to her, and she’s not afraid to say so. Her anger at her sisters’ apparent abandonment of Nenene is searing.
– Ayana Mudou
bctaris, in response: R.O.D. the TV is probably the best example of the NGP Style…this more raw emotional delivery, striving for a stripped down realism, avoiding in many of their dubs much in the way of caricature or broad displays of character. I don’t think it always worked for everything they did–including in minor parts of this dub, in fact–but when it worked it was wonderful, and it made their dubs pretty distinctive in the industry, lending a unique and infectious charge to some very memorable performances along the way.
