Funimation DVD Discussion IV (Please Check First Post for FAQ)

[Zephray]

The next theme song has that random interruption by Blackbeard and Luffy mid-way through the song. I assume they’ll dub over that with the actors for each; would be really weird if they didn’t.

With a faster release schedule, I was actually looking forward to DR. But with this release schedule, DR will be a slog once again. It’ll take about 25 more sets to get to Wano. If they come out 4-6 times a year, we’re looking at best case scenario over four years.

Really wishing that speed up had been true. Hell, now I’m wishing for their old every other month schedule.

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

@Zephray:

The next theme song has that random interruption by Blackbeard and Luffy mid-way through the song. I assume they’ll dub over that with the actors for each; would be really weird if they didn’t.

With a faster release schedule, I was actually looking forward to DR. But with this release schedule, DR will be a slog once again. It’ll take about 25 more sets to get to Wano. If they come out 4-6 times a year, we’re looking at best case scenario over four years.

Really wishing that speed up had been true. Hell, now I’m wishing for their old every other month schedule.

I agree but I think they were intending one, but covid just happened at the worst time imaginable. Voyage 2 went up on like ever site and july 7th was in fact a Tuesday. I'm as frustrated as you, but they're probably just spreading out their finished material due to the slower pace at home, aiming to have an overall more consistent pace.

[Zephray]

I’m sure you’re correct. I’m just starting to wonder if they’ll ever do a speed-up—even after COVID.

It’s just a bummer that DR will be a slog again; I had hoped moving through it quickly would make it more fun than the first two times (manga & subbed). I was looking through the sets; the first one will be fun because of all the new characters and introductions, but after that will only be a few episodes each set I’ll look forward to.

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

@Zephray:

I’m sure you’re correct. I’m just starting to wonder if they’ll ever do a speed-up—even after COVID.

Probably? I suppose it depends on how well the sets do financially, which I think is better now that they come out digitally first? Anyways after quarintine I'd say we'll likely at least get back on a bi-monthly schedule, which I would be happy enough with. Anyways yeah dressrosa is going to be a slog, if they keep releasing every 3 months we're going to have like around 52 episodes a year, which isnt much more than the subs usual 48 and at that point makes you question why they dont just release them weekly. And also at that pace, dressrosa will take 27-30 months which… wont be fun. On the bright side though once we get to.... 2024 pretty much every set should be good... assuming you like whole cake which is debatably paced worse than dressorsa. It's hard to be a one piece fan some sometimes lol.

[Zephray]

Completely disagree that WCI is anywhere near as slow paced as DR. Haven’t even heard that opinion before. The first half of the arc isn’t amazing, but the second half never lets up.

At a set every two months, it would take us 1.5 years to get through DR. I’m not sure they’d even go back to the every two months schedule because that makes the release schedule too tight and frantic (since now they juggle separate digital, streaming, and dvd release dates).

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

@Zephray:

Completely disagree that WCI is anywhere near as slow paced as DR. Haven’t even heard that opinion before. The first half of the arc isn’t amazing, but the second half never lets up.

This wasn't me trashing WCI, it's one of my favorite arcs, it's just that technically it has a worse manga adaption rate. That being said Dressrosas pacing wasnt great in the manga either which most likely lead to the anime feeling slower.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

@Zephray:

I’m not sure they’d even go back to the every two months schedule because that makes the release schedule too tight and frantic (since now they juggle separate digital, streaming, and dvd release dates).

Hmm, don't completely agree. They are really sidelining the dvds, theyve only been releasing a week after they do on streaming anyways. So basically they would only promote one release a month, which wouldn't crowd things too much. They're pushing promo for it pretty hard anyways.

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Looks like I was wrong about Hunter Scott as Vergo. Someone updated it to a "Wes Frazier" on the wiki and they actually have a source for once! https://www.thecampbellagency.com/portfolio/talent-men/men/1246637/wes-frazier/resume . It's his first ADR work by the looks of it.

[G1Ravage]

@Blake:

Looks like I was wrong about Hunter Scott as Vergo. Someone updated it to a "Wes Frazier" on the wiki and they actually have a source for once! https://www.thecampbellagency.com/portfolio/talent-men/men/1246637/wes-frazier/resume . It's his first ADR work by the looks of it.

Nice! I love it when they get an "outsider" for new roles.

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

I still would like to hear hunter scott in the future, he has such great range that I've never seen put to use. I think he could make a good Katakuri actually.

[Zephray]

@Blake:

This wasn't me trashing WCI, it's one of my favorite arcs, it's just that technically it has a worse manga adaption rate. That being said Dressrosas pacing wasnt great in the manga either which most likely lead to the anime feeling slower.

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Hmm, don't completely agree. They are really sidelining the dvds, theyve only been releasing a week after they do on streaming anyways. So basically they would only promote one release a month, which wouldn't crowd things too much. They're pushing promo for it pretty hard anyways.

--- Update From New Post Merge ---

Looks like I was wrong about Hunter Scott as Vergo. Someone updated it to a "Wes Frazier" on the wiki and they actually have a source for once! https://www.thecampbellagency.com/portfolio/talent-men/men/1246637/wes-frazier/resume . It's his first ADR work by the looks of it.

Ah. You meant strictly chapter to episode ratio, not pacing.

And I hope you’re right about them speeding up despite three different release dates per set. From a marketing perspective, keeping the dates farther apart to distinguish them makes more sense (you don’t want release dates for separate sets on different platforms stomping each other because they’ll create confusion and mix-ups in the audience). But hopefully the extra money they get by releasing more sets will outweigh that small concern? Who knows.

[Onepieceanimefan23]

Off topic I'm glad FUNI is using more black VA's in newer roles now. I still haven't watch them yet just been to busy but I might cave and buy a few from Amazon

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

@Zephray:

Ah. You meant strictly chapter to episode ratio, not pacing.

And I hope you’re right about them speeding up despite three different release dates per set. From a marketing perspective, keeping the dates farther apart to distinguish them makes more sense (you don’t want release dates for separate sets on different platforms stomping each other because they’ll create confusion and mix-ups in the audience). But hopefully the extra money they get by releasing more sets will outweigh that small concern? Who knows.

I was more so saying that since the dvd release is close anyways and they dont promo it as much it doesnt conflict, so a bimonthly release schedule would really only have them promoting one thing per month. Not neccesarily a speed up but back to what it was lol

[Elektrik Dynomite]

New trailer for Voyage 2 from Funi

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

@Elektrik:

New trailer for Voyage 2 from Funi

Okay so they just straight up forgot to upload the 1st one lol. These trailers really arent that great honestly, they cut them down to 30 seconds and now they barely show you literally anything.

[Zephray]

@Blake:

Okay so they just straight up forgot to upload the 1st one lol. These trailers really arent that great honestly, they cut them down to 30 seconds and now they barely show you literally anything.

Pretty sure I or someone else shared the first one a few pages ago. It was also super short.

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

@Zephray:

Pretty sure I or someone else shared the first one a few pages ago. It was also super short.

Uh,that was me lol. Basically its an ad on funis site but they never uploaded it to youtube or anything

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So I did the math fully for the first time and realized that if we keep up the current pace, it will take about 6 years to reach wano. I know I've brought this up before but, I just really want to get through it as fast as possible simply due to VA ages, like honestly I have a hard time doing Usopp in his 60s lol

--- Update From New Post Merge ---

wow, I glanced at the description to the S10V2 trailer and funi legit forgot to put the link in the description. As in theres a segment thats like "Preorder it here!:

[G1Ravage]

Wow, the trailer just…sort of cuts off at the end. Lame.

[Muginiz]

One Piece Season 10 Voyage 3 will be out November 10th. https://findersrecords.com/UPC/704400103186

[Zephray]

Awesome. Fingers crossed that date sticks and they officially post it soon. That would mean a new digital set in early October, which is less than two months away! Sure would help with my rationing, too; the first five episodes on v2 are boring.

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

@Muginiz:

One Piece Season 10 Voyage 3 will be out November 10th. https://findersrecords.com/UPC/704400103186

Really?? Yes!! I was really prepared for 3 month waits from now on, but it looks like that won't be the case! Of course it could technically change, but it seems unlikely now that they seem somewhat accustomed to the pandemic. Worth noting that these listings usually go up on the 20th, for some reason.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

Oh, and the run time is listed as 350 minutes on this website which more or less confirms the next 2 will be 14 episodes. Awesome we havent had a 14 episode set since season 2, and I don't think we've ever gotten 2 in a row https://www.deepdiscount.com/one-piece-season-ten-voyage-three/704400103186

[Zephray]

I had forgotten about the 14 episodes! Nice! Even better for my rationing!

Any guesses on whether they’ll take a short hiatus between PH and DR?

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

@Zephray:

Any guesses on whether they’ll take a short hiatus between PH and DR?

Um… sure hope not! I suppose its possible, but I think at this point even funi is aware of how badly we want to dub to come out consistently. I doubt they'll have a release gap longer than 3 months, at least not until they get through all the pre-pandemic material.

--- Update From New Post Merge ---

Assuming they keep up digital releases around the same pace, which they probably will, I'd put my money on October 13th. They seem to like to release on the 2nd Tuesday of the month. Regardless even having a general date to look forward to is nice

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

Clicked on this Rob Mccollum interview on a whim and he mentions voicing dressrosa at about 29:45. He talks about it as if its finished? But I doubt that, probably just the way he worded it. Makes me wonder if he recorded so much he somehow thought it was a whole arc though lol.

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Okay again apologies for all the multi posting but he also mentions being in the 700s? But he then says that the JAPANESE is in the 700s while the dub is in wthe 500s when told only 574 had been released by the interviewer, so take that with 56 tons of salt.

[Skippy]

I'm sure all actors have their own recording schedules so he's probably within the 700s for him at least, he just go confused when the interviewer mentioned the amount of dub episodes out. Wouldn't surprise me considering what Matt Shipman said about voicing Cavendish so far

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

@Skippy:

I'm sure all actors have their own recording schedules so he's probably within the 700s for him at least, he just go confused when the interviewer mentioned the amount of dub episodes out. Wouldn't surprise me considering what Matt Shipman said about voicing Cavendish so far

Idk, if Matts estimation was accurate then they would only be in the 650s-660s. I get different actors have different schedules so I have a hard time believing he was that ahead. Would love to be wrong though.

[Zephray]

I’m just assuming they’re halfway through DR. I would’ve guessed before that each actor was pulled in to record dozens of episodes at once, but them recording in batches of six (total batches of eighteen) tells me that’s unlikely.

Too much conflicting information. It’s really only safe to assume they’re 30-60 episodes deep.

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

@Zephray:

I’m just assuming they’re halfway through DR. I would’ve guessed before that each actor was pulled in to record dozens of episodes at once, but them recording in batches of six (total batches of eighteen) tells me that’s unlikely.

Too much conflicting information. It’s really only safe to assume they’re 30-60 episodes deep.

Yup I agree. Just hard to tell.

[Zephray]

I assume they’d bring Doflamingo’s VA in and have him record a session with each director to cover the total 18 episodes at a time. Or if he didn’t have enough lines in those eighteen, maybe they’d have him cover 36 episodes (two batches) at a time. No idea how their scheduling works, but I’d be surprised if any actor was entirely done recording for this arc. Unless they’re moving way faster than I thought during this pandemic.

Wish we could figure out how fast they’re moving now. That would give us a lot of context and basis to figure things out. Like, if they’re still doing it in batches of 6 each, how often do they finish those six? Are the three of them knocking out 18 episodes every two weeks? Every month? No idea. So long as they can knock out 13 every two months, they’ll be able to stay ahead and we can keep getting consistent releases.

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

@Zephray:

I assume they’d bring Doflamingo’s VA in and have him record a session with each director to cover the total 18 episodes at a time. Or if he didn’t have enough lines in those eighteen, maybe they’d have him cover 36 episodes (two batches) at a time. No idea how their scheduling works, but I’d be surprised if any actor was entirely done recording for this arc. Unless they’re moving way faster than I thought during this pandemic.

Wish we could figure out how fast they’re moving now. That would give us a lot of context and basis to figure things out. Like, if they’re still doing it in batches of 6 each, how often do they finish those six? Are the three of them knocking out 18 episodes every two weeks? Every month? No idea. So long as they can knock out 13 every two months, they’ll be able to stay ahead and we can keep getting consistent releases.

I think you're probably taking the 6 episodes thing too literally, I'd imagine it probably varies a fair bit. But yes again mostly agree.

[Zephray]

Why wouldn’t they stick to six episodes? Seems like consistent numbers would help them out the scheduling.

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

@Zephray:

Why wouldn’t they stick to six episodes? Seems like consistent numbers would help them out the scheduling.

I mean it's possible, it's not like I'm a director so my opinion doesn't exactly hold all that much weight, but back in the day for example I'm pretty sure the episode ordering was never precise when it came to switching between Mike, Scott, and Jason. I would imagine it just depends on how long a season is, how long each set is, etc. I would imagine it is largely dependent on context.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

I've thought of another potential reason the credits are weird. Maybe it was due to the length between recording and mastering and such? Like for whatever reason the gap prevented a full cast list ever being made including additional voices and such? I know that may be a bit of a stretch but its the only remaining one I can think of. Anyways a good chance we'll see if my theory is right or not next set. If they still aren't credit then... honestly toei has lost even more of my respect. How evil must a company be to purposely not credit actors for no reason?

[Zephray]

I wonder when the set will be posted officially. Maybe the 15th of next month? Here’s hoping they confirm sooner than that.

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

@Zephray:

I wonder when the set will be posted officially. Maybe the 15th of next month? Here’s hoping they confirm sooner than that.

Most likely when next months solicitatios go up yeah, thats how it was with voyage one. Makes me wonder why voyage two was posted on such a random day though, or yknow what all the one piece preorders going up later in general is just odd. Anyways really wondering what the next cover will look like, but I'm just happy we have a date.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

I think I've already touched on this some but Chris Ryan has really grown on me as Kin'emon. Seemed like an odd casting to me at first but Ive really seen what they were going for and now it more or less clicks with me. Looking into his backround, I think that makes his work as him seem rather impressive. Basically, for his entire acting career he has more or less exlcusively done radio and ad work, which actually really isn't all that surprising given his voice type. He only got into anime, and character acting in general within the last 5 years or so. And even then, all his other roles have been rather calm and subdued. He mentions in a podcast interview that one piece is jarring to record in comparison due to the shows very loud and broad nature, and that actually explains a fair bit. Really considering Kin is his first foray into that type of character, coupled with his limited character acting in general his work as him is rather impressive, and I think he has only improved so far. Does make me wonder how he'll sound once we get to the recently recorded material though. Oh and another cool thing about the interview, he reveals that he actually autioned for funi back in the 90's, which he botched horribly. The person who reccomended he do so after hearing his voice was... Mike Mcfarland, who cast him as Kin'emon over 15 years later. Small world huh?

[Zephray]

Not too surprising. I think that’s often how it works. Also, I had noted after voyage one that he wasn’t really committing to the overacting that OP requires, so it’s funny to hear he addressed that. He’s started to get the hang of it now, though.

[Maron]

Oh wow, that's really cool. I'm still too far behind on the dub to have heard much of anything with Kin'emon but it's really cool that he's had such a long and full circle experience with FUNi.

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

Man, I am REALLY hoping Anthony is a great director. Mike is Mike, and Kyle already pretty much proved himself with episode of east blue, but Anthony is just such a wild card. I have this weird lingering feeling that he'll essentially be Joel two. Oh not because I think Joel is bad, I would be perfectly fine with him staying, especially if he only directed a 3rd of the time, but I would just really like to stop having a directoral punching bag on here lol.

[Zephray]

Even if he’s terrible, he’ll only have a third of the episodes. Joel was directing 100% for a long while.

No one’s a “punching bag.” People brought up legitimate criticisms. Some members of the forum are tired of hearing about it because he was mentioned and likely criticized every set—since every set was directed by him.

I’m hoping both of the new directors turn out well. Not so we don’t have to criticize them, but so that the OP episodes are top-quality dub.

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Also, I could be wrong, but the behind the screens videos made it sound like Mike was overseeing everyone’s work, which I don’t think he did when Joel was the primary director. I’m hoping Mike overseeing everything will lead to less inconsistencies and slip-ups, since he’s the resident OP expert who would catch the mistakes and correct them. If that’s the case, I don’t think we’ll have to worry about inconsistencies and slip-ups as often as we had to before; now we’ll only have to worry about actor performances. And although Anthony gave us all the impression that he isn’t very familiar with OP, that says nothing to his ability to coerce good performances from actors. So assume that Mike will pick up the lack of OP-specific knowledge slack through his supervising, and cross your fingers that everyone else is a good director in terms of manipulating performances.

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

I mean, I was half joking. I wasn't saying there were never valid criticisms but discussion regarding him got very repetitive

[Zephray]

Yeah, we’ve thoroughly established that by now. He kept making the same types of mistakes every set, and we all kept mentioning it every set. You mentioned the vice admiral slip up last set; not sure if that was originally a script mistake, but the director would ideally catch it if so. My point is, he brought new mistakes every set for us to talk about, so it became redundant while also different each time.

But if your goal is to stop talking about Joel, maybe the best solution is for you to stop talking about him.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

Almost five episodes deep into the new set; I’m excited to see the Law and Luffy chat this Friday. It’s nice that the theme song hyped up that moment without spoiling anything. I like that a lot. And as we all keep saying, Kinemon’s actor keeps growing into the role, and I’m really enjoying him now. Can’t wait to hear Momo, but I’m so personally turned off by kids in anime—both when voiced by adults and when voiced by actual kids, for different reasons. So I’m hoping they can find a really good actor for Momo and not make him sound too kiddish, like the other PH kids.

Adults often sound too much like they’re trying to sound like kids—I can hear it both in the tone and the acting—and kids often aren’t good actors. It’s so tricky to cast kids. The PH kid cast is serviceable; they never make me groan, so it’s okay enough. They’re not terrible or anything; I can just hear that they’re adults trying to sound like kids; they play up the childish element in the acting, too. Adimittedly, this is probably more of a personal gripe than anything. The actors do an okay job and we can’t expect funimation to find good child actors; that’s tough. Sometimes they do, though; I think of FMA’s Alphonse (might be wrong, but wasn’t he a teenager when he voiced that role?) and Stephen Universe (not funimation) as great examples of young, really good actors voicing kids.

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

Idk I feel like if I can deal with the 19 year old main protagonist doing a boy voice for 600 episodes I can deal with some kids lol. Seriously though I do kind of see that perspective but I think they've done a rather good job, especially synd. Maybe I'm just used to every child ever being voiced by an adult female though.

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@Zephray:

Stephen Universe (not funimation) as great examples of young, really good actors voicing kids.

(Apologies if I am going too off topic. Will try to keep this brief.) While I generally enjoy Steven Universe, it goes through another problem with casting children, they grow up. He sounded rather authentic throughout the first season, but near the end and for the rest of the show his voice changes and it goes from child doing deep dumb voice to teen/adult doing high pitched kid voice. He was still voicing him in his 20's. Although this wouldn't be much of a problem for one piece, considering they are just in one arc. I think the bigger problem is I don't think many child actors are in the dubbing scene period.

[Zephray]

I should’ve been more descriptive. I meant young kids, not Luffy’s age. Big difference in how realistic they sound.

I don’t remember SU’s voice changing that dramatically, but I also know they intentionally aged him up.

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Looked it up. The actor who played Alphonse was twelve when he started. That’s crazy. There’s a good kid actor, rare as they are.

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

Will try to drop after this but just to show you what I mean

Early Steven:

Late Steven:

I don't think he ever sounds bad per se, in fact its a pretty good kid voice for a male, but a majority of the time on the show he was actually an adult.

[Zephray]

Yeah, it gets a little higher. Definitely a difference there, but he sounds decent both times. Personally, I prefer the second time because he’s trying less to sound like a little kid. That example shows pretty well what I mean when I say an actor sounds too “kiddish” (First clip) versus them still sounding like a kid but not playing it up quite as much (second clip). I think the PH cast and a lot of actors voicing kids fall in that first category. More specifically, I want the actor to have the tone of a child but keep the performance less childish (unless the writing calls for it in a specific scene). Good kid actors usually do this because they are trying to authentically act without significantly aging down their character, and the kid actor is usually pretty close in tone already.

And the actor is still pretty young in the later seasons, so I’m not really sure of your point there. I’m also pretty sure Stephen is a bit older in the second clip, so it makes sense story-wise that they aged his voice. Bummer they wait until even later to significantly age his design. His design is barely aged between those two clips.

–- Update From New Post Merge ---

And before anyone yells about nit-picking, keep in mind we’re chatting on a thread specifically about dubbing, where it should be okay to have in-depth conversations about the nuances of voice acting.

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

He changed his voice because his own voice changed, so the fact you think the latter sounds less put on is rather interesting to me. Anyways, he is technically older in the 2nd clip but its well established that he ages slow, and he is supposed to look and sound more or less the same as he did at the start. And I mean in later seasons he is still an adult, he probably recorded the 2nd clip at either 20 or 21. Definitely not a child actor. Again though the voice is still rather impressive. Still ultimately always tricky casting wise. I've enjoyed younger characters cast as all sorts of people. The punk hazard kids sound rather good to me.

[Zephray]

That second clip doesn’t sound less put-on than the first to you?

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

@Zephray:

That second clip doesn’t sound less put-on than the first to you?

Yup. I mean the first is still a voice, but the former sounds like a kid doing a voice and the second sounds like an adult doing a voice to me. Again not like bad or anything he still sounds rather good usually later on.

[Zephray]

It’s definitely not a kid doing a kid’s voice. The actor was what? 19 or so? And he’s trying to sound very very young; in the second one, he’s not trying so hard. It’s a different in the actor’s tact; I don’t think the VA’s voice changed dramatically between the ages of nineteen and twenty-two. That’s not how puberty works.

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

@Zephray:

It’s definitely not a kid doing a kid’s voice. The actor was what? 19 or so? And he’s trying to sound very very young; in the second one, he’s not trying so hard. It’s a different in the actor’s tact; I don’t think the VA’s voice changed dramatically between the ages of nineteen and twenty-two. That’s not how puberty works.

? I think you're confused. Steven Universe was on the air much longer than you seem to realize. The first clip was from the first episode, which was 2013. So he most likely recorded it at 13 or 14.

[Zephray]

Math on that is he would’ve been around 15. Definitely younger than I thought, but Steven is supposed to be half that age. First clip still sounds put-on to me in comparison with the later one.

Another way of looking at it: do you think that first clip sounds like a fifteen-sixteen year old, or someone younger? If younger, than it’s put-on, even if a good “put-on.”

[Blake Bakes Cakes]

@Zephray:

Math on that is he would’ve just turned 15. Yeah, younger than I thought. First clip still sounds put-on to me in comparison with the later one.

His birthday is october of 97, so yes he was 15 around the airing but US shows do preroll, so the dialouge is often recorded a year or longer before airing.

[Zephray]

I don't think it's usually so long as a year, but we don't need to argue every detail. Both are technically "put-on" since the actor was never near the age of the character. Though both are good, I preferred the later one because it sounds less like he's trying to sound like a little child, less kiddish. Also, he became a better actor as the show went on. You're free to prefer the more childlike voice, but I think we've beaten a dead horse by now.