Suikoden Drama CDs
Lots of Suikoden-themed spamming coming up I think. Just so you know.
First: I listened to a bit of the Suikoden 2 drama CDs out of curiosity -- some of the voices are great, some kinda meh.
First of all, the well-cast roles --
Yuki Kaji as Jowy (I didn't know I wanted this until I heard it omg)
Daisuke Ono as Camus (this is a no-brainer tbh, it plays right to type LOL)
Tomoaki Maeno as Miklotov (this is just PERFECT casting)
Atsuko Tanaka as Anabelle (yay <3)
Sayaka Ohara as Leknaat. I feel like this role is hard to miscast though. I'd love to see her pulling off a Windy too.
Takehito Koyasu as Gremio (loooooooooooool BINGO)
Kenichi Suzumura as Tir (this totally works for "slightly grown-up Tir", but I'd hope for a derpier voice for Suiko1* -- which I bet he could totally pull off... hmmm.)
* Listening right now (fully "animated" and translated here), I LOVE Ted (Akira Ishida!!) and Cleo's voices. Windy and Kasumi are great too. I do still wish Tir were more immature-sounding though (he's basically perfectly cast but I have character interpretation quibbles I guess [i.e. I wish they'd gone with the sassier interpretation hahahaha, at least in the beginning]). But really dislike Odessa's voice. :/ I like the voice itself but it's.... not... Odessa. Too innocent/idealistic for my tastes. (idk who would've been a better fit. Kikuko Inoue??) Don't much like Mathiu's voice either, for that matter. Not tired/gentle enough. Pahn is ok, if not quite what I imagined. Kirkis=whatever, why does he of all people get a speaking role. Teo works. Barbarossa works.
- - -
The stuff that is okay but could be better --
Viktor: Katsuyuki Konishi does him in the drama CD. I like his voice in general and he did Ozma in Macross Frontier frex, so you'd think it'd be a perfect match... but. Konishi's voice is too smooth IMO -- Viktor really needs to be growly. (I've basically always heard Kazuya Nakai. but really any growlier VA would do. I was gonna also put Junichi Suwabe here but I think there are plenty of characters Suwabe would fit better.) Great acting though.
Flik: Yuichi Nakamura does him in the drama CD. (among other things, he's done Alto in Macross Frontier!! Which makes the Ozma pair-up with Viktor pretty funny.) Um, it more or less works but there are better voices for Flik, or at least Nakamura isn't the voice I imagined. Not quite sure what's not working for me though because in theory Nakamura would be PERFECT for pissy younger!Flik* and buttmonkey!Flik. LOL. Probably just interpretation fail? Or not enough script? Not sure.
* listening to Suiko1 drama rn, yeah, he does work a LOT better there. Much much much better. He's just about perfect in that one (though he still wouldn't be my first pick -- not sure who instead though)
Shu: Show Hayami (Aizen) does him in the drama CD and isn't bad but the interpretation doesn't quite work for me. (Needs moar passive-aggressive snootiness?????) Shiozawa Kaneto would have been perfect, were he still alive. (Check him out in the Arslan OVAs as Narses.)
(NOT REALLY RELATED, but I'd totally cast Takahiro Sakurai as Albert. #justsayin)
Apple: Mamiko Noto. I don't really remember her voice in "normal" roles as the last thing I saw her in was, uh, Kuragehime (as Jiji apparently), and her voice works but doesn't sound quite as young as I'd like. IDK that's not quite it either. I actually like her voice a lot but I think it makes Apple come across as deceptively mature. (like, I think it'd work for Suiko3 Apple, but something slightly off here. It doesn't get across the more know-it-all aspects of her younger self that she's still growing out of in the second game.) Like a lot of my other quibbles this probably boils down to a script thing.
Nanami: Yuki Matsuoka (Orihime). Great acting, but a little TOO chirpy sometimes. She works really well in the serious scenes though.
- - -
"Meh"
Rowd: Keiji Fujiwara, who I like and this is pretty spot on casting actually but... whatever.
Luca: Tomokazu Seki, who I usually like. Underwhelming acting -- idk tho, it's tough I think. Probably easy to fall into the trap of overacting/hamming it up, but then again I feel like Luca really needs that sort of wild uncontrollable energy? Seki plays him more subtly unhinged, which is interesting and a valid interpretation in its own right, but I don't think Luca is exactly a subtle character... Not sure how I feel.
- - -
Voices I hate --
Riou: don't recognize the VA but his voice/interpretation is generic naive shounen hero of a certain type and ugh I hate this choice so much. Riou really needs someone quiet and sweet and pure, yes. But NOT naive. (this is kind of a problem with the underlying script though.) Subtle difference maybe but... I swear I've heard a good voice for him somewhere but can't come up with a name right now. Probably this is just a personal thing though but ughhhhh pretty much anything would be an improvement. Like Kuroko's VA if he pitched his voice a little higher maybe? a toned-down Shimono Hiro?? Hmmmmm. He's not really a Yamaguchi Kappei hero either (I'd buy a Kappei Tir tho, but again think the Suzuken casting is basically spot on -- and then again Kappei did an excellent Arslan). My pathetic VA knowledge is failing me here. XD
Luc: ugh Fukujun. He actually would probably work REALLY well for an older!Luc... but he sounds way too old (and not nearly bratty enough) for Luc in games 1&2. This is a really painful miscasting because it's like... so close in some ways.... and yet. SO. FAR. (They shoulda cast him with a female VA tbh)
- - -
Next up: English patches for the two Suikogaidens are OUT. ^________^ Sooooo I know where my weekend is going. :P (Actually, playthroughs should be pretty fast given that they're VNs.)
comments at the original Dreamwidth post
First: I listened to a bit of the Suikoden 2 drama CDs out of curiosity -- some of the voices are great, some kinda meh.
First of all, the well-cast roles --
Yuki Kaji as Jowy (I didn't know I wanted this until I heard it omg)
Daisuke Ono as Camus (this is a no-brainer tbh, it plays right to type LOL)
Tomoaki Maeno as Miklotov (this is just PERFECT casting)
Atsuko Tanaka as Anabelle (yay <3)
Sayaka Ohara as Leknaat. I feel like this role is hard to miscast though. I'd love to see her pulling off a Windy too.
Takehito Koyasu as Gremio (loooooooooooool BINGO)
Kenichi Suzumura as Tir (this totally works for "slightly grown-up Tir", but I'd hope for a derpier voice for Suiko1* -- which I bet he could totally pull off... hmmm.)
* Listening right now (fully "animated" and translated here), I LOVE Ted (Akira Ishida!!) and Cleo's voices. Windy and Kasumi are great too. I do still wish Tir were more immature-sounding though (he's basically perfectly cast but I have character interpretation quibbles I guess [i.e. I wish they'd gone with the sassier interpretation hahahaha, at least in the beginning]). But really dislike Odessa's voice. :/ I like the voice itself but it's.... not... Odessa. Too innocent/idealistic for my tastes. (idk who would've been a better fit. Kikuko Inoue??) Don't much like Mathiu's voice either, for that matter. Not tired/gentle enough. Pahn is ok, if not quite what I imagined. Kirkis=whatever, why does he of all people get a speaking role. Teo works. Barbarossa works.
- - -
The stuff that is okay but could be better --
Viktor: Katsuyuki Konishi does him in the drama CD. I like his voice in general and he did Ozma in Macross Frontier frex, so you'd think it'd be a perfect match... but. Konishi's voice is too smooth IMO -- Viktor really needs to be growly. (I've basically always heard Kazuya Nakai. but really any growlier VA would do. I was gonna also put Junichi Suwabe here but I think there are plenty of characters Suwabe would fit better.) Great acting though.
Flik: Yuichi Nakamura does him in the drama CD. (among other things, he's done Alto in Macross Frontier!! Which makes the Ozma pair-up with Viktor pretty funny.) Um, it more or less works but there are better voices for Flik, or at least Nakamura isn't the voice I imagined. Not quite sure what's not working for me though because in theory Nakamura would be PERFECT for pissy younger!Flik* and buttmonkey!Flik. LOL. Probably just interpretation fail? Or not enough script? Not sure.
* listening to Suiko1 drama rn, yeah, he does work a LOT better there. Much much much better. He's just about perfect in that one (though he still wouldn't be my first pick -- not sure who instead though)
Shu: Show Hayami (Aizen) does him in the drama CD and isn't bad but the interpretation doesn't quite work for me. (Needs moar passive-aggressive snootiness?????) Shiozawa Kaneto would have been perfect, were he still alive. (Check him out in the Arslan OVAs as Narses.)
(NOT REALLY RELATED, but I'd totally cast Takahiro Sakurai as Albert. #justsayin)
Apple: Mamiko Noto. I don't really remember her voice in "normal" roles as the last thing I saw her in was, uh, Kuragehime (as Jiji apparently), and her voice works but doesn't sound quite as young as I'd like. IDK that's not quite it either. I actually like her voice a lot but I think it makes Apple come across as deceptively mature. (like, I think it'd work for Suiko3 Apple, but something slightly off here. It doesn't get across the more know-it-all aspects of her younger self that she's still growing out of in the second game.) Like a lot of my other quibbles this probably boils down to a script thing.
Nanami: Yuki Matsuoka (Orihime). Great acting, but a little TOO chirpy sometimes. She works really well in the serious scenes though.
- - -
"Meh"
Rowd: Keiji Fujiwara, who I like and this is pretty spot on casting actually but... whatever.
Luca: Tomokazu Seki, who I usually like. Underwhelming acting -- idk tho, it's tough I think. Probably easy to fall into the trap of overacting/hamming it up, but then again I feel like Luca really needs that sort of wild uncontrollable energy? Seki plays him more subtly unhinged, which is interesting and a valid interpretation in its own right, but I don't think Luca is exactly a subtle character... Not sure how I feel.
- - -
Voices I hate --
Riou: don't recognize the VA but his voice/interpretation is generic naive shounen hero of a certain type and ugh I hate this choice so much. Riou really needs someone quiet and sweet and pure, yes. But NOT naive. (this is kind of a problem with the underlying script though.) Subtle difference maybe but... I swear I've heard a good voice for him somewhere but can't come up with a name right now. Probably this is just a personal thing though but ughhhhh pretty much anything would be an improvement. Like Kuroko's VA if he pitched his voice a little higher maybe? a toned-down Shimono Hiro?? Hmmmmm. He's not really a Yamaguchi Kappei hero either (I'd buy a Kappei Tir tho, but again think the Suzuken casting is basically spot on -- and then again Kappei did an excellent Arslan). My pathetic VA knowledge is failing me here. XD
Luc: ugh Fukujun. He actually would probably work REALLY well for an older!Luc... but he sounds way too old (and not nearly bratty enough) for Luc in games 1&2. This is a really painful miscasting because it's like... so close in some ways.... and yet. SO. FAR. (They shoulda cast him with a female VA tbh)
- - -
Next up: English patches for the two Suikogaidens are OUT. ^________^ Sooooo I know where my weekend is going. :P (Actually, playthroughs should be pretty fast given that they're VNs.)
comments at the original Dreamwidth post