Toon Zone Talkback - SDCC: Viz Announces "Bleach" Dub Cast; Several Manga Titles

[Space Cadet]

This is the talkback thread for SDCC: Viz Announces "Bleach" Dub Cast; Several Manga Titles (http://news.toonzone.net/article.php?ID=11724).

Well, the cast list has been announced. Now people can either praise or whine, or something.

[Timmay]

Having only read the Bleach manga.. I must say.. JYB was not the VA I would have pictured for Ichigo..

[Jacob T. Paschal]

Having only read the Bleach manga.. I must say.. JYB was not the VA I would have pictured for Ichigo..

I would have gone with Staley, but oh well...


Can't wait to see the dub!!

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Stephanie Sheh as Orihime and Derek Stephen Prince as Ishida sound right.

Kate Higgins as Karin was known for a while.

Bosch seems like a weird choice for Ichigo.

I wonder why they didn't reveal Chad's voice actor. Now if they could just reveal the cast list for one of their dubs that's already freaking premiered.

[Captain Highwind]

Well now I know what High School Rukia will sound like.

JYB as Ichigo? Now that I think of it, he could sound pretty close to the original.

I thought they were restricted to Ocean VA's?

[K-S-O]

It took long enough for Viz to get the Houshin Engi manga. I've been waiting for that one for about a million years!

[Space Cadet]

I thought they were restricted to Ocean VA's?

Where did you hear this?

[Captain Highwind]

Okay maybe not restricted...

Going back to the Bleach licensed thread from the Anime Forum:


Although dubbing apparently may not have started yet, current word from Viz is that it will probably be Ocean.

[Ryan227]

They said probably which means they were just guessing.

JYB is a very weird choice! I never would have guessed it in a million years. I like him though so I think he'll do a good job. He's been playing a lot of lead characters lately.

[Jacob T. Paschal]

I like Uryuu's casting, Prince should make a great Quincy.

[Space Cadet]

Okay maybe not restricted...

Going back to the Bleach licensed thread from the Anime Forum:


Well, that was early on. It's clear that they changed their minds. Oh well, it can't be considered Can Con but, the show is coming to YTV, so it doesn't matter.

[FlyByNite77]

I'm surprised Yuri Lowenthal isn't Ishida, kinda woulda fit since he does Sasuke's voice in Naruto and in Japan the same VA who does Sasuke's voice in Naruto does Ishida's in Bleach.

JYB... Didn't expect it, could work. At least he can just let loose with Ichigo and doesn't have to play it down like with Renton in E7. It should play to his strengths more.

[Funkatron]

I'm trying to imagine Michelle Ruff as Rukia, but I've only heard her in more cutesy roles. is she a good fit/

[Jedah Dohma]

Interesting list of confirmed voices. It's going to be weird hearing Vash from out of Ichigo's mouth.

I was half expecting Yuri to take Uryuu's role but Derek is a fine choice. I liked the characters he's voiced (Ken from Digimon 02 is one).

Michelle Ruff as Rukia... We'll see.

Weird that there was no confirmed voice for Chad yet.

[Scirel]

I'm trying to imagine Michelle Ruff as Rukia, but I've only heard her in more cutesy roles. is she a good fit/

I`m having the same problem with imagining JYB as Ichigo. He always does innocent charachters. It''l be wierd having him as someone as hardedged as Ichigo.

But DSP is good for Uryu.

Wonder why they didn`t tell us Chad's?

[TnAdct1]

Weird that there was no confirmed voice for Chad yet. While we're at it, there's also no confirmed voice for Kisuke (the guy with the hat) and Kon (the stuffed lion) as well.

[Captain Highwind]

I'm trying to imagine Michelle Ruff as Rukia, but I've only heard her in more cutesy roles. is she a good fit/

I think I've only heard her serious voice as Ayase Terada in Scryed. It'll work.

Now...let's play "who will Blum and Freeman voice"? :p

[Jacob T. Paschal]

I think I've only heard her serious voice as Ayase Terada in Scryed. It'll work.

Now...let's play "who will Blum and Freeman voice"? :p

I'd like to see Blum as Hat and Clogs, and Freeman as Kon.

[Rocketboy]

Now...let's play "who will Blum and Freeman voice"? :p

None because it's a non-union dub! Do I win?

[Ryan227]

None because it's a non-union dub! Do I win?

Yeah people have been saying that it's nonunion but there are a couple of union only names there. So maybe Viz is confused? Or it is union after all, if so they'll be in it for sure!

[Duke]

You know, people have been saying they didn't expect JYB as Ichigo, but I can't say I expected Stephanie Sheh as Orihime. Yea, I know she's good at the quiet moments, but her voice wasn't the one I pictured during the latter arcs.

[FlyByNite77]

If Blum does a voice I'd hope its Zaraki's.

and yeah I'm wondering about Stephanie Sheh as well because she seems to mainly do quiet characters and Orihime isn't really like that.

[Majin_Megabyte]

Wow I didn't expect for JYB to be Ichigo, but he was my 2nd choice for Ichigo. Since I kinda picture him to be ether Ganju, or Renji. If Blum is going to be in the dub, I hope he would voice Bayuka, or Urahara. I hope they get someone good for Chad, because is my most favorite character in the series with Ganju,Ohrimie, Ishida, and Renji behind him.

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Wow I didn't expect for JYB to be Ichigo, but he was my 2nd choice for Ichigo. Since I kinda picture him to be ether Ganju, or Renji. If Blum is going to be in the dub, I hope he would voice Bayuka, or Urahara. I hope they get someone good for Chad, because is my most favorite character in the series with Ganju,Ohrimie, Ishida, and Renji behind him.

Byakuya is my choice for Blum(although Dameon Clarke would work well too).

Blum as Urahara would be a bad choice, I think. Urahara is much wackier then Blum typically goes. I could see Wittenburg working for Urahara.

[Jacob T. Paschal]

Byakuya is my choice for Blum(although Dameon Clarke would work well too).

Blum as Urahara would be a bad choice, I think. Urahara is much wackier then Blum typically goes. I could see Wittenburg working for Urahara.

I can see it now...

Urahara: "Hey, hey, everybody let's a dance all day!"


I know, I'm sick...

[Funkatron]

I can see it now...

Urahara: "Hey, hey, everybody let's a dance all day!"


I know, I'm sick...
Urahara with Stereotypical Italian accent FTW!

"BoinG! Boing!"

Lets hope Michelle and Stephanie have more range than we've heard.

Now Kate Higgins as Karin: GENIUS! Heck, Karin is basically a younger, less ho-like version of Talho anyway :p

[Neo Ultra Mike]

Jeez, seems that next to Steven Blum, JYB is becoming the top actor for every male lead in an Adult Swim anime. (Vash in Trigun, Kiba in Wolf's Rain, Renton in Eureka Seven and now Ichigo). Oh well I'm sure he'll do a good job, though I wonder how his Ichigo will sound compared to his other voices.

[Grenzer]

Wow, I am suprised by a lot of the cast choices here.

Ichigo: I like JYB, but I was hoping that Liam O'Brien would get this role, as it was O'Brien narrowly lost out this role to Bosch, so I am hoping that is because Johnny really impressed the dub director with his take on Ichigo.

Rukia- Yes! Michelle Ruff was always my first choice for Rukia, and I am glad that Viz agrees with me on this. Ruff is just so perfect for this role that it is not even funny.

Isshin- Ok, this was really weird. Isshin is a great character and all, but does Patrick Seitz have the range to play him? Every other role this guy has ever played have been teenagers and guys in their 20's, so I am undecided at this point on the wisdom of this cast decision.

Karin- I knew about this one last month. Kate will do fine as Karin.

Orihime- A good solid choice. I think Ms. Sheh will shine as Orihime.

Tatsuki- This is a rather minor role, but at least Wendee Lee got a part in this show.

Ishida- Derek Prince was not my first choice for Ishida, in fact I never even considered him for the role. But Prince is good at playing nerds, and Ishida is a first class nerd at heart (through awesome all the same), so I am fine with this.

And I also think the possibility of Dave Wittenberg voicing Urahara is very high (around 90%), but we will all have to wait and see on that one before coming to any conclusions.

[Jacob T. Paschal]

Urahara with Stereotypical Italian accent FTW!

"BoinG! Boing!"

Lets hope Michelle and Stephanie have more range than we've heard.

Now Kate Higgins as Karin: GENIUS! Heck, Karin is basically a younger, less ho-like version of Talho anyway :p

And for Kon...

Kon: "Meru meru mé!!"

[Captain Highwind]

Byakuya is my choice for Blum(although Dameon Clarke would work well too).

I was going to choose Blum for Ikkaku.

I can also see Freeman for the VA of Kenpachi using his angry Holland voice.

An Italian-speaking Urahara? Hilarious.

Kon should sound somewhat like Gilbert Gottfried.

I was actually expecting Kate Higgins to voice Tatsuki, but I'm pretty sure Wendi Lee will eventually be the voice for Matsumoto.

[Andrew T. Hingson]

I really don't like DSP as Ishida. I mean I REALLY don't like it. Nor do I like him as Shino.

Out of LA talent, JYB was actually my first choice for Ichigo so I'm happy.

Stephanie Sheh as Orihime really doesn't rub me right. That could be really annoying. Though I guess something like her Shiho could be okay.

Michelle Ruff as Rukia... Well... not quite husky enough IMO. We'll see.

Freeman wont be in this dub. It is non-union and he will not use an alias or do non-union. Nor will Blum but that doesn't mean David Lucas or Andrew Daniels couldn't be Kenpatchi or something. A pitty for Freeman though I would have loved him for Urahara.

Wendy Lee as Tasuki will be interesting.

Give me Spike Spencer for Hanataro and Daemon Clark as one of the captains. That's all I ask.

As for why some union VAs are on here (actually I think all of them are) many VAs are allowed to be in both union and non-union as long as they take a lower role in the union.

[Ryan227]

As for why some union VAs are on here (actually I think all of them are) many VAs are allowed to be in both union and non-union as long as they take a lower role in the union.

Yeah but JYB and Stephanie Sheh haven't been in a non-union dub for years under those names... I'm fairly sure but not positive.

When I think of Stephanie Sheh I don't really think of Hinata first I think of Eureka. I think she has a sweet voice and I think it fits Orihime's personality well, it's not like she's yelling all the time or anything. She's done more then just quiet parts.

[Tash]

Blum should do Kon. He hasn't been able to excercise his "non-badass" voice in a while.

[Andrew T. Hingson]

True... he'd be a great Kon.

I don't see why you guys wont just believe it's non-union. I mean Kyle Hebert and Steven Blum both said it was non-union and it's not like they'd switch. So until you see Crispan Freeman in that cast don't count on it being union.

[Ryan227]

I'm not saying it's not non-union, I'm just saying it's weird that's all. Stephanie Sheh has a name she uses all the time for her non-union work... Actually probably not weird, they probably just wanted to give names people would recognize.

Any way I could really see Steve Blum playing Urahara if he were in it. Later on I really hope that Wendee Lee plays Yoruichi hah that would be so neat.

[MeggieMay]

True... he'd be a great Kon.

I don't see why you guys wont just believe it's non-union. I mean Kyle Hebert and Steven Blum both said it was non-union and it's not like they'd switch. So until you see Crispan Freeman in that cast don't count on it being union.
Actually, I don't think you could rule out a switch. Just because Kyle and Steve said it was non union they did say this over three months ago. Now why a originally non-union dub would switch to Union I haven't a clue but I'm sure there's precedent for it. As it is, I actually remember hearing about network shows being forced by the unions to go union in the past (though the details on how and why are now quite fuzzy) and while cable has managed to not get forced by the unions to do that sort of thing in general the times are always changing (and we did just have another union contract signed last year, IIRC).

So I don't think it could be ruled out that the dub changed from one to the other, though I have a feeling it's going to turn out that something a bit more convuluted is going on here (hopefully a VA will spill over at a convention, AoD, or DubReview on what is going on exactly and clear it all up for the curious fans :)).

[Ryoutarou]

Ichigo: I love JYB, my favorite VA out there right now. He was great as Vash and Kiba I can see him really making a great Ichigo. Seeing JYB as another main character, and in a long running series is GREAT.

Rukia - GREAT choice for her, was always my first pick.

Isshin - Not sure what the logic on this one is, doesn't he usually play younger characters?

Karin - Nothing big here, don't think it's a bad choice.

Orihime- Like the choice, don't see anything wrong with it.

Tatsuki- Is there an anime this woman ISN'T in...?

Ishida- This one really snuck up on me, but now that I think of it, it's a pretty good choice.

[Captain Highwind]

Orihime- Like the choice, don't see anything wrong with it.

Exactly. It's not like she's going to sound like a soft-spoken Hinata all the time.

[Duke]

Eh, I think I'd rather have Colleen O'Shaugnessy in the role. I always pictured Orihime's voice as kinda-sorta similar to hers. I keep picturing Orihime's voice in my mind and I just can't wrap Stephanie Sheh's voice around it.

It'd be easier to explain if I actually knew the terminology used by directors when talking about voice inflections.

[AkirQueen]

Ha, a few months ago, when the news of Bleach being licensed for dub came out, my friend and I had a conversation as to who would voice who. JYB is actually the one we decided that would make a good Ichigo. Tho I'm concerned at how he will sound when Ichigo goes Hollow. He doesn't seem to have that psycho range in his voice...

I can see Michelle Ruff working well for Rukia, as well as the rest of the revealed cast. I'm really happy to see Prince showing up in more popular anime series lately, too, since I think he's one of the best voice actors out there, in terms of acting and conveying a wide range of emotion (even tho Ishida doesn't seem to have much).

[Jin]

None because it's a non-union dub! Do I win?

David Lucas says, "You lose." ;)

[MeggieMay]

Ok, something new to throw into the union vs non-union discussion. It seems that a person over AnimeOnDVD talked to Blum back in April at a convention about this and his answer actually was to the effect he didn't know if he could be in Bleach because didn't know who'd be doing it (i.e. Blum didn't know the union status of the show).

Then someone else said Kyle Hebert wouldn't have said anything because he does both union and non-union dubs under his regular name and another poster thinks JYB is doing non-union dubs under his regular name again. Now I have no idea if either of them know what they're talking about so take it with a grain of salt. Anyway, at this point no one seems to know when and where the VA's said it was a non-union dub or if they ever did to begin with.

Personally, I think one or two of them did say something about the dub not being union a few months ago but until someone can find the url links to the actual statements seems it's just hersay. Also, seeing this happened a few months back I don't think a change of status on the dub can be ruled out either. So until someone can find more soild proof of the union status of this dub no one is winning anything on what it the actual union status of this dub is, IMO.

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Blum outright said it was non-union at Naruto Fan. I'll try and find his exact quote.



p.s. Can't audition for Bleach. They went non-union. I'll be at a Con in Boston in the next coupla weeks and will be going to Anime Expo, but keeping a low profile. I may crash a panel or two. Will probably be there on Saturday.
Don't remember who I played in Metal Gear Solid. Haven't played it.

Posted 5-10-2006 on the Orochimaru Voice Thread at Naruto Fan.

[MeggieMay]

Blum outright said it was non-union at Naruto Fan. I'll try and find his exact quote.



Posted 5-10-2006 on the Orochimaru Voice Thread at Naruto Fan.
So do you have a URL for this? I'll pass it on without it but it might be helpful for others who are trying to find it on their own.

PS: This board is annoying sometimes - it cut your quote out of the reply :shrug:

[Andrew T. Hingson]

It's such a huge pain to keep track of posts on Naruto Fan. People really ought to just trust people who have been creditable in the past but sigh... you know those ASMBers. They'll always want a link.

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Here's the post (http://forums.narutofan.com/showpost.php?p=3811531&postcount=255) I quoted from.

[MeggieMay]

It's such a huge pain to keep track of posts on Naruto Fan. People really ought to just trust people who have been creditable in the past but sigh... you know those ASMBers. They'll always want a link. Ah, one of those types of boards ;) (j/k - I know what you mean - some boards are a mess to navigate).

Personally, I need to take a break from VA discussions for a few hours. AnimeOnDVD's board is acting up to the point I'm afraid to post anymore for a while because it's acting like it may be eating posters again (deleting posters accounts - the thing has some serious bugs in it), while at a another board a discussion on Robotech VA's has dissolved into a discussion on how voice acting is must easier than regular acting (uh right :mad: - I'm going to lose my temper if I keep posting on that one). So I'm taking a break until at least tomorrow afternoon on this topic.

An KuwabaraTheMan, thanks for the link :)

[AkirQueen]

To add into this, I talked to Steve Blum at Anime Boston (and for the record, the time and date was 2:21PM, May 27th [I did an lj phone post, sue me :shrug:]) and my friends and I asked him about Bleach. I knew already of his statement on Naruto Forums, and he said the exact same thing when I talked with him. He seemed like he really wanted to audition for it, too.

[Jacob T. Paschal]

To add into this, I talked to Steve Blum at Anime Boston (and for the record, the time and date was 2:21PM, May 27th [I did an lj phone post, sue me :shrug:]) and my friends and I asked him about Bleach. I knew already of his statement on Naruto Forums, and he said the exact same thing when I talked with him. He seemed like he really wanted to audition for it, too.

Too bad he killed David Lucas and those other guys that miraclously sounded just like him. :D

According to his wikipedia.org page he went full union in 2004, I think it was.

[Jin]

Wait, that's actually Blum on NarutoFan? Damn, I have to join now (he should be at AoD as well).

[Jacob T. Paschal]

Wait, that's actually Blum on NarutoFan? Damn, I have to join now (he should be at AoD as well).

FYI his user name is steev.

EDIT: And he hardly posts.