One of the most popular series of last year is about to make its presence felt again as Funimation Entertainment has begun the marketing push for Attack on Titan.
About the Show:
Attack On Titan Episodes 1-5
Directed by Mike McFarland. Script by J. Michael Tatum and Tyson Reinhart. With the voices of Bryce Papenbrook (Eren Jaeger), Trina Nishimura (Mikasa Ackerman), Josh Grelle (Armin Arlelt) and far too many others to list.
Produced by Funimation.
The Review: (Please be aware of plot spoilers in this review)
In advance of the home video release set for early June and the broadcast premiere in North America on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block of programming in a little over a week, Funimation has sent out special screeners of just the first five episodes of Attack on Titan dubbed, which gives me a chance to offer this special preview of the English audio version.
Unlike many, I have never seen Attack on Titan. For various reasons, I just did not get around to it, so that gives me certain advantages when listening to the dub. I was not constantly making comparisons to the original performances, since, well, I have not heard them. Obviously, I am not going to be discussing the changes that Funimation’s staff, especially the script writers J. Michael Tatum and Tyson Reinhart, have made from the original. There is no need for me to do so either, as that issue has been covered pretty extensively by another review at another site.
There is little need to provide much in the way of summary or introduction to this show as even someone who has not seen it before, such as myself, knew the basic plotline and some of the important early events just from being anywhere near anime fandom. Suffice it to say, AoT is the kind of high-octane, heart-pumping, breathless, “did they just do what I saw them do?” action story that goes over very well with a large portion of the viewing audience. It is also quite heavy on the sturm und drang as the protagonist, Eren Jaeger, lives his emotions to their furthest limits, most of all his burning desire for revenge that could very well consume him.
One thing crowd-pleasers such as this show can count upon is high production values and AoT is no slouch in that department. Fluid animation, including the challenging (for the animators, certainly) aerial acrobatics of the human characters using their omni-directional mobility gear, is the standard, not the exception, here. But what about the dub?
I have mixed feelings about the dub. On the one hand, it is very clear that Funimation has given ADR director Mike McFarland, a very capable director with a good track record, considerable resources to provide a high quality dub. At no point did I catch an awkward line read (other than the slightly odd pronunciation of Mikasa’s name on occasions, but this is nothing new for a Funimation dub), an off-beat, or a casting choice that immediately took me out of the action. Overall, the voices chosen appear to fit the roles as far as one could tell by only having the visuals and the dialogue (and not any sense of the original Japanese performances) to work with in order to make a judgment.
On the other hand, there is a certain hamminess on occasion that did make me smirk a little here and there. It is not, strictly speaking, a fault in the dub or its direction since I am fairly certain that this was intended all along. AoT is the kind of cartoonish action show that calls for slightly hammy acting, which deliberately plays up the drama and pathos as the situation requires. This is not restricted to English anime dubbing: watch any of the now ubiquitous comic book superhero movies that invade the multiplexes every summer (which for Hollywood will probably start in about a week or two, the Summer Solstice be damned) and you will see this same kind of heightened emotionalism in line reads on abundant display.
On the opposite end of things is Trina Nishimura’s Mikasa Ackerman. Mikasa fits into a very common anime stereotype, the cold, emotionless girl and Nishimura has played this kind of role before several times to good effect. What is slightly odd about the performance is the difference between young Mikasa and slightly older Mikasa. A decision was made that the younger Mikasa should sound slightly breathier, a bit more raspy, as a way of distinguishing her from her older teen self, who has a more mature tone and has lost the raspy tinge. One wonders if the intent was to make younger Mikasa slightly more cute in sound compared to the much more commanding older Mikasa. Beyond that, Nishimura’s voicing of the role is quite solid, getting across the main personality traits of Mikasa in an understated way (which, of course, is part of her character).
The third of our short childhood to early adulthood (these three have basically been denied any carefree teenage years by the tragedy that befalls their world) trio is Josh Grelle’s Armin, who starts off as a weak sounding boy, which is what Armin should sound like since he does not have physical strength or a strong presence. The five years that pass do little to give him any more height or muscle, though he does mature a bit and Grelle’s performance does show the character maturing. Armin has quite a lot of scenes where he is helpless before overpowering forces which he is unable to face or flee from and Grelle does a very good job of expressing Armin’s sense of helplessness and terror.
Being such an epic story, AoT features a large and constantly expanding (and contracting) cast. There are too many performances, some only heard for a few moments here and there through the first five episodes, to comment on every single one. The group who are most prominent in these early episodes, the fellow military cadets who undergo basic training with Eren, Mikasa and Armin, are all voiced appropriately and fittingly. Mike McFarland’s Jean is a smart-ass with a short temper who butts heads with Eren quite regularly, both actors baring their fangs, vocally, at each other quite well. Robert McCollum’s Reiner is quite matter of fact and plain in tone and voice, which fits his plain-spoken and simple nature. David Matranga’s Bertholdt is mild-mannered and friendly, while Lauren Landa’s Annie is a sullen loner whose voice sounds dead, emotionless. Comic relief (and boy does this show desperately need some on occasion) is provided by “Potato Girl” Sasha, whose voice is exaggerated in the comic style (a different manner of over-stressed speech, more common when trying to get across the idea that “this is supposed to be funny”) by Ashly Burch and by Clifford Chapin’s Conny, who is similar in style and tone.
Overall, it is a solid dub that matches the material quite well. While the exaggerated tone and delivery at times is not necessarily to my personal taste, it is what the characters, as presented here, call for.
In Summary:
Coming soon to broadcast and home video, Funimation has given us a sneak peek at the first five episodes dubbed of Attack on Titan. Filled with action and drama, the dub provides English voices that match the material quite well. It is a little too emotional in its style at times for my personal taste, but does not depart from the characters and their personalities as we see them here. From these opening episodes, it appears that Mike McFarland has put together a solid dub and it will be interesting to see how it develops later in the story.
