You might have heard of this show before
I finally got my Sengoku Basara 2 DVDs in the mail today and spent the afternoon sick re-watching the series. I watched about 50/50 dub/sub.
Knee jerk dub reaction: Chris Cason is not Ishida Akira way to deep for Hanbei.
Actual dub reaction: As someone who usually prefers Japanese but doesn't vehemently hate dubs or anything, I think it's quite good. For the most part all the actors are well-matched to their parts and definitely play them enthusiastically. While Chris Cason isn't Hanbei, he's definitely playing a character similar to Hanbei, if not quite as flirty fabulous Hanbei-esq. I was disappointed with the writing for Hanbei, but I think he's a tough character to translate. Still, some lines had plot-important bits dropped/changed for no apparent reason (see episode 2 and ALL the hints Hanbei drops that something is wrong). Why am I complaining about Hanbei? Because I pay a lot of attention to him. In other news, I like everyone else, including Hideyoshi. I think it's very strong over-all.
Ohhh, shiny! reaction: Damn, this is so much better than crappy Youtube rips.
Extras reaction: Disclaimer: I love commentaries. I live for commentary. Upon receiving the disks the first thing I did was pop the first volume in and listen to the commentary track. That said, the commentary on episode 6 is awesome and very interesting to listen to. (writer/director/sound producer/etc commentaries are usually more interesting to me than VA commentaries, but that said...) Also, they're definitely both as into the series as the fans are and see the silliness much the same way. They also never run out of things to talk about. Episode 12, on the other hand... meh. None of them seem to be able to think of interesting things to say, and they don't seem to be having as much fun. They have their moments, but for the most part I was disappointed.
(All that said, dub!Hanbei is growing on me. NOT AS MUCH AS HIS FABULOUS COUNTERPART, but enough to be tolerable.)
Knee jerk dub reaction: Chris Cason is not Ishida Akira way to deep for Hanbei.
Actual dub reaction: As someone who usually prefers Japanese but doesn't vehemently hate dubs or anything, I think it's quite good. For the most part all the actors are well-matched to their parts and definitely play them enthusiastically. While Chris Cason isn't Hanbei, he's definitely playing a character similar to Hanbei, if not quite as flirty fabulous Hanbei-esq. I was disappointed with the writing for Hanbei, but I think he's a tough character to translate. Still, some lines had plot-important bits dropped/changed for no apparent reason (see episode 2 and ALL the hints Hanbei drops that something is wrong). Why am I complaining about Hanbei? Because I pay a lot of attention to him. In other news, I like everyone else, including Hideyoshi. I think it's very strong over-all.
Ohhh, shiny! reaction: Damn, this is so much better than crappy Youtube rips.
Extras reaction: Disclaimer: I love commentaries. I live for commentary. Upon receiving the disks the first thing I did was pop the first volume in and listen to the commentary track. That said, the commentary on episode 6 is awesome and very interesting to listen to. (writer/director/sound producer/etc commentaries are usually more interesting to me than VA commentaries, but that said...) Also, they're definitely both as into the series as the fans are and see the silliness much the same way. They also never run out of things to talk about. Episode 12, on the other hand... meh. None of them seem to be able to think of interesting things to say, and they don't seem to be having as much fun. They have their moments, but for the most part I was disappointed.
(All that said, dub!Hanbei is growing on me. NOT AS MUCH AS HIS FABULOUS COUNTERPART, but enough to be tolerable.)