Image via The Rockman EXE Zone |
A long-lost alternative English dub of the Rockman EXE anime has been recovered by our pal, MidniteW. Unlike VIZ Media's Mega Man NT Warrior dub, this rarely seen South-East Asia dub is far and away more faithful to its Japanese counterpart.
According to MidniteW, the SEA dub (recorded and distributed independently by Voiceovers Unlimited) is heavily based on the original Japanese script, going so far as to use the original Japanese names for characters (Rockman instead of Mega Man, Netto instead of Lan, for example). What's more, it even features the anime's original soundtrack that was replaced in NT Warrior! Pretty cool, right? Well it gets better. The SEA dub also includes whole episodes NT Warrior skipped over AND doesn't cut or censor a single thing (no "laser bread stick swords" here).
You can check out all these differences and more after the jump!
(Note: you may need to turn up your volume!)
If it wasn't deviant enough, the SEA dub is pretty hard to come by thanks to a very limited distribution model in the region. However, we can rest easy that it's in good and capable hands! .It came in..... something I’ve been looking for a while....— Wira (@MidniteW) July 3, 2019
The rare alternate Rockman EXE English dub!!!! pic.twitter.com/lxz8GKbAbUAlt English dub: And we have the episodes they skipped over.— Wira (@MidniteW) July 3, 2019
Me: very cool
Alt English dub: We also got the AKI episode.
Me: ono
Alt English dub: It also doesn’t play Begin the Try at the end.
Me: this deal is getting worse all the time pic.twitter.com/s96EBOddi3The good guys in one batch https://t.co/BpG8XMIrs0 pic.twitter.com/aDUL7f8T1k— Wira (@MidniteW) July 3, 2019World three pic.twitter.com/qBHY4Lz8t1— Wira (@MidniteW) July 3, 2019In addition to censorship (which was the least of its worries), it changed dialogue in entire scenes, added extra dialogue that weren’t in the original, and the original soundtrack was entirely replaced. They also cut scenes to fit the run time, even rearrange them.— Wira (@MidniteW) July 3, 2019
Source: MidniteW
Image source: The Rockman EXE Zone
You should reach out to the owner and ask if he is willing to rip the videos and upload them online. This is such a great find. I didn't even know this had another dub outside of the NT Warrior one.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone upload these somewhere online? I kinda want to see all the episodes with this dub.
ReplyDeleteI want to watch this!
ReplyDeletethough i wonder if there's not going to be some grammatical errors or other languages mistakes, this happen sometimes with english dubs not realised in the Uk/US.
The "funny" thing with the VIZ dub is that many other foreign dub were based on it rather than the original japanese script. So we got a french dub that carried every changes made for the american dub, as well as the skipped episode even for things that probably would have had no problem airing in France. (though there was no radical hip cool dude speak, iirc)
ReplyDeletebut i think the only things that really bothered me as a kid was when episode where out of order. Like, you have princess Pride who appear in a episode and reminisce about all the good times she had with Lan and you are there, in front of you TV, thinking "WHO is that person?! Did i miss a episode or something?"
I remember the same thing happening with the Astro Boy dub, too.
So basically the alt dub is what we should have got in the first place. Though I would have been ok with name changes from Engrish to the game translated ones: Meiru to Mayl for example
ReplyDeletesame heree, i don't mind them changing the name, but i wonder why they did'nt make them coƮncide with the game's names.
DeleteNo, this dub was for Philipines.... that country made dub in english for many animes unlicensed in USA, is the only country who make dub for Super Sentai series and even air Power Ranger at the same time. In Philipines you can see many animes in english, although, the official websites never address this dubs as "official", for example, ZZ Gundam have his english dub in this country, but for Sunrise, ZZ Gundam is still unlincensed.
DeleteI find that weird. Why is that I wonder? If it's been dubbed, who cares if it's official or not?
DeleteInteresting, but the audio volume is too low, I can barely hear them with max volume.
ReplyDeleteI personally blame Viz for the lack of Stream and Beast, as the dub changes were so weird (like most of its "dumb dubs"). Better than nothing I guess? Not that MMNTW was bad, but it could have been MUCH better if it wasn't changed to be a 4 year old kids show...
Contact him and ask him to rip the discs! It's easier now to convert these episodes to MKV files
ReplyDeleteI wonder how far this dub made it into the series (since NT Warrior stopped at Stream, IIRC)? Really hope it gets ripped and archived.
ReplyDelete(Also: I don't think Brad Swaile[?] did a BAD job as Lan, but he was really obviously miscast. Lan's SEA dub actor at least sounds like how you'd expect a kid his age would.)
NT Warrior only went up to Axess, sadly.
DeleteAnd admittedly this dub was a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be! I love NT Warrior for how bad and cheesy it is (so I guess it's more like an 'ironic' liking), but I definitely like this rediscovered dub in a more genuine way. My only real issue is that it feels so awkward hearing the Japanese names with English dialog (at the least I was expecting them to go by the English game names).
i kinda agree. the voice actors did a good job, but i always thought Lan's voice sounded a bit too mature for his age.
DeleteDear lord, this dub is terrible. Southeastern Asia dub companies like Odex and Animax suck at dubbing in English. They have no idea what they're doing with the casting and this is just another example.
ReplyDeletecasting already had it's issues in the American dub.
DeleteSo bottom line, this dub is a lot more faithful/accurate to the original Japanese script, at the cost of better casting (or at the least voice choice that are more interesting. Or what makes for easy meme/joke material like Scottish Mr. Match, lol). Plus some of the lines sound... kind of awkward/unnatural to an English speaker anyways.
Delete... not sure if that's really a fair trade off tbh. If the voices aren't that good, and the script is so faithful-to-the-original to the point of being awkward to most any English speaker, is it really worth it? Yeah you have no censorship and no cut/rearranged episodes, and no need to keep up with reading English subs, but again, with the voices and scripts being so weird at times you might as well just stick to subs. :/
@Anonymous 1: No it didn't. If the only argument you have for that is Brad Swaile being Lan, then it's a weak argument. The casting for everyone fit well with their appearance, and the acting was much better than this overseas junk.
DeleteHow is the quality of the voice acting in the SEA dub? i can't really tell since english is'nt my native language and the sound on thoses clip is rather low.
ReplyDeleteAlso, i know that piracy is wrong, but it would nice to rip and upload that online. It seems like it is hard to find, so it might be better to "keep circulating the tapes" to make sure they do not get lost someday.
The same Singaporean studio did dubs for One Piece and Yu-Gi-Oh! at the same with the same group of people. Those are a lot more populous on the internet. Outside of a lack of censorship, they never compare well.
Deleteis this Malaysian? I remember seeing something similar when I visited Malaysia really long ago on Malaysia. Never bought it though.
ReplyDelete...Who's the guy in the yellow and blue hoodie?
ReplyDeleteTory, Ice Man's operator.
ReplyDelete