The History of Ocean Group and Anime Dubs

A History of how Vancouver Canadian Voice Talent and Japanese Animation have had quite the history together over the years.
On
December 08, 2005
Scott McNeil, Brian Drummond, David Kaye, Paul Dobson, Kirby Morrow, Saffron Henderson, Kelley Sheridan. Do any of these names sound remotely familiar to you? If they are you probably already know how much they are prominent voice talent they are in the Animation Industry. Granted they may not be up to the likes such as Frank Welker, Rob Paulsen and Tress MacNeille but they are still pretty up there. They along with several others are frequent workers of what is known as the Vancouver Voice Talent pool A.K.A. "The Ocean Group". (Though of course it should be noted that despite the name their not a "troupe" ala Broken Lizard and the Monty Python Crew.) But still nevertheless they are a renowned force of voice talent in animation over the years. Even in North American Animation such as Reboot, Beast Wars, Bucky O'Hare, X-Men Evolution, He-Man (2003 remake), Ed Edd 'n Eddy and more. However they have made quite the prominent history in anime english dubs which has got them quite the fanbase over the years. (Myself proudly included of course.) However as much as I'm a fan I won't disregard that others have done important acheivements in anime dubs I mean such as AniMaze on Cowboy Bebop, Akira and Trigun & the like or of course Disney in the dubs for the Hayao Miyazaki films. I'll be far from denying their worth for sure. But still it is without a shadow of the doubt in my mind that they have had quite the history indeed. Lets take a look at that shall we?




Here they are folks, Dragon Warrior, The Wizard of OZ and King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

We'll start things off here with these much lesser known shows from the later 80's. The Dragon Warrior TV series and the Wizard of OZ and King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table anime. (Yes believe it or not they actually had anime based on those two famous stories. Though keep in mind that there is the legendary series "World Masterpiece Theater" anime based on classic Euro/American stories.) The Dragon Warrior anime is a series loosely based on the NES game "Dragon Warrior 3". The Wizard of Oz anime is more based on the books from Frank L. Baum rather than the world-famous 1930's hollywood hit of the same name. King Arthur and the Knights of Jusice anime was the tale of the prominent men of those storylines such as King Arthur and of course Sir Lancelot. Despite being done by the infamous Saban, Dragon Warrior had a surprisingly quite above average dub in accurancy and presentation. The cast was either of still lesser known talent or of somewhat known ones like Garry "Optimus Primal" Chalk and Richard "Rhinox" Newman. Even Jim Brynes of Highlander fame had a bit role in it during one of the episodes. And the censorship was surprisingly lite if any at all on how they got away with things that even modern daytime-shown anime will not allow. (Religious tones, open references to drunkeness, etc.) The Wizard of Anime had the likes of Ian James "Cheetor" Cortlett, Doug "Terrorsaur" Parker as Oz himself and Scott "Waspinator" McNeil as the Munchkins of the Lollypop Guild. King Arthur and the Knights of Justice had Kathleen "EE'nE Kevin/ RebootDot Matrix" Barr as Guinevere & Morgana and the like. It was also the rare moment that Scott McNeil actually got to play the main male lead. The latter two never had a chance to catch on well and went completely under the radar. The Dragon Warrior English dub did get a bit of a noticing but it was for a different reason altogether. Saban may've surprisingly not butchered the show but they never bothered to give Akira Toriyama any credit at all which they got prompty sued then the show got canned in the US. (Though to be fair it was getting low ratings due to it being in a bad time slot in the early morning hours.) Times may've seem awfully dark for the Anime Industry in the US back then. But in this case this was a part of a start of something good to come in a few years as I will show you now.



Ranma 1/2, what is still Rumiko Takahashi's most known work ever.

Ranma 1/2, the absolutely famous martial arts gender-bender romantic sex comedy received a surprisingly uncut english release back then ever since 1993. It wasn't Ocean's first at that regard. They were in the dub of Rumiko Takahashi's Japanese-styled Horror "Mermaid's Tears". And they were also in the English release of "The Humanoid" a Sci-fi Robo tale. But both pretty much went under the radar and stayed there. But this however even then grew a fanbase pretty rapidly. And while I will admit that the positive fan critical consensus on its english dub was not unanimous it was genuinely existant. It grew into a successful title even though it came out a year before Anime was recognized as "Japanese Animation" in the US. Before I get ahead of myself I am aware that this was not a truly "Mainstream Success" in the US. But the thing is that this series was surprisingly close to it, but still it got quite the underground-based fanbase.Though it was barely shown on US syndication television. Don't rememberthat? It had a exceedingly minimal showing in certain stations on certain states. But unlike other anime at the type, this was successful with fans despite that. Besides it couldn't have been too obscure in the US. One of the Ranma 1/2 video games actually had a release in the US. It was "Ranma 1/2 Hard Battle" a 2-D fighter for the SNES. The game itself was not that bad however it was pretty deemed a mediocre flop with the fanbase. (Needless to say TMNT Tournament Fighters it ain't.) There was another one that got a US release but that was severely altered to look really different and even more so than "Dragon Power" on the US. It was called "Street Combat" and was given a Super Mario Bros. 2-like makeover making it look like a US apocaclyptic street fighting game. (Only unlike Super Mario Bros. 2 this never caught on, at all.) Back in the earlier days of Modern Anime dubs, getting the games based on them a US release was no easy task especially if they were remotely accurate to the source material. But still back to the show itself... Not only did it drive sales to the Manga but its OVA and Movies were dubbed and the show went on for years until it concluded recently. Its also fondly remembered by many of its english VA cast. Especially Paul Dobson regarding the elderly pervert Happosai which is one of his favorite roles. (Needless to say in his performance as Happosai its not too hard to tell that he was once a DJ at a Strippers bar before he became a VA.) But there was an Anime feature that will got a bit more attention from the mainstream crowd namely...


Yes folks the Project A-Ko series, well the series after this 2nd installment.

Yes folks the infamous sci-fi action comedy that is the Project A-Ko series. (Well ever since the 2nd movie, Manga Entertainment got a completely different cast list on the first one. Though the dub of the 1st movie was alright.) This was prominently shown on the Sci-Fi Channel back then and unlike the Fatal Fury Movie this one didn't get editted too badly. (Though more on that later.) This really got things going in getting anime recognized as Japanese animation in the US. This is far from being the 1st time Manga Entertainment did an English dub release but this was their first release that really made an impression with viewers in the US.


Ah yes the Galaxy Express 999 saga or more known as one of the original reasons why not all anime look exactly the same.

Viz also got one of their handiworks to get a pretty good showing on the Sci-Fi Channel as well. Even though it was dubbed in the early 90's this was a 1979 film based on the the 1978 anime series Galaxy Express. It may not be hard to detect its age but fortunately its aged well enough to be able to draw in viewers anyways. Anyways this adaptation of Leiji Matsumoto's handiwork was one of the early examples of great dramatic sci-fi anime such as Akira and the like. However this film was considered to have one of the better dubs of its time. With good performances such as Saffron Henderson as Tetsuro, Kathleen Barr as Maetel and of course Scott McNeil as Harlock. As much as people love his more charismatic roles with quite the sense of humor, Scott McNeil is occasionally known for playing a genuinely serious character well. Harlock maybe no Dinobot but it was a good showing of his serious acting talents. Though of course the rest of the cast ain't too shabby either.


Here are a few more examples namely Maison Ikkoku, Key the Metal Idol and Green Legend Ran.

There were also some modestly moderate successes as well. Such as Maison Ikkoku for example, a romantic comedy done by Rumiko Takahasi. However instead of gender-bender martial arts action this one takes a somewhat more realistic approach. Yosaku Godai is a "Ronin" namely a failing college student that is trying to pass College but is stuck in a run-down dump of a place trying to do so. He lives in a cheap apartment which is namely Maison Ikkoku. Many of its tenants are well... insane for the most part. Yep its one of those places thats a borderline asylum. However its run by a rather lovely and mature young woman by the name of Kyoko Otonashi. A curvacious blue-haired young woman whom is sad over the lost of her husband but strives to go on. Yosaku on the other hand aspires to fill that void in her life in more ways than one. It has its fair share of Drama as well of course. There is Key the Metal Idol as well, a dramatic more sci-fi series of a young cybornetic girl. It was one of the first anime dubs to use accurate english versions of songs done right by the start. (Some were occasionally done by the cast such as Saffron Henderson.) It was surprisingly on broadcast television however alike Ranma 1/2 it had a very minimal release there. Green Legend Ran was also on the Sci-fi Channel as well. Granted it wasn't as known as Project A-Ko or Galaxy Express 999 and the like but it wasn't a total obscurity either. There are other anime dubs like this such as Onikirimaru: The Ogre Slayer, Please Save My Earth and more. And for those whom normally are completely ignorant VA's and the like there is a bit more mainstream-adknwoledged name amongst the credits on a pretty regular basis back then. Namely Jason Gray Stanford, yep Lt. Randall Disher from "Monk" A.K.A "The reason why USA is still alive". But still all joking aside yes he was a regular whether he was the star (Yosaku in Maison Ikkoku, Title Character of Onikirimaru: The Ogre Slayer, etc.) or a more secondary role (Ranma 1/2, Ronin Warriors, Dragonball Z, etc.).


Ladies & Gentlemen, Dragonball or as its occasionally known in Japan "Shokugi Chikketo No Toriyama Akira" ;)

1994 had a then-somewhat known anime showing at Broadcast TV this time. (Only this time Broadcast TV was the main source of it being known instead of VHS tapes.) Namely the 1994 english dub of Dragon Ball done by FUNimation and Trimark. This was actually the 2nd time Dragon Ball got a English dub in the US. First being of course the Harmony Gold dub that occured in 1987 that pretty much slipped completely under the radar. Did this dub do any better? In certain ways yes in others, not quite. It was much more lenient in edits and alterations overall. Sure there was a cheesy edit or few such as Naked Goku getting Undies but you can be surprised on what they left in. "Hey Kids want to see a cute little girl in her metal undies decapatate and vaporize a T-Rex in just a few minutes?" As for opening theme music, Harmony Gold surprisingly kept in the BGM from the original opening theme but both dubds used considerably different and awfully corny lyrics so needless to say quality comparisons are kinda debateable. Some of the voices in the Harmony Gold dub went pretty good but others went horrible. The voice work here for the most part had a lot more hits than misses. The voice work was for the most part considered good but Ted Cole as Yamcha was deemed the highlight of that dub of the show. Unfortunately alike the Harmony Gold dub it was short lived. But to be fair it did end on a good note. (This dub for the show ended at the end of one of the arcs, granted a short arc but a arc nevertheless. I even admit that until a few years ago I thought that show was about 13 episodes long.) Harmony Gold surprisingly dubbed the 3rd DB movie, and FUNimation followed suit by dubbing the 1st movie. It was a surprisingly very well done english dub for its time, even if you didn't like how the dub of the series went back then this was a much better production. The movie itself was a highly above average remake of the initial arc of Dragon Ball only with a different Villian and a additional aid to the good guys. The dub was overall surprisingly well done its just that hardly anyone saw it back then. The most that anyone saw from this movie back then were of brief snippets that were in the opening theme of the show back then. Remember that little red-haired girl and those flying soldiers spinning their batons in the theme for the '94 dub? That was from the movie right there. But fortunately it along with the '94 dub of the series is availible on a special release DVD from FUNimation and Trimark. Granted fans nowadays would most likely prefer the english release that FUNimation did in 2001, but this is as close as you can get for that back then. Besides this did a better job getting DB noticed in the US back then even if it was for a little bit. (Unlike most anime that were in Broadcast channels this was actually on in afternoons instead of really early mornings.)


Ronin Warriors, one of the original Shonen anime to get a good accurate release in the US.

A pleasant surprise in epic porportions, admittingly its not fully uncut. (Though the only obvious alteration is the opening theme.) But its as close as its going to be for the regular TV viewing audience at the time. (And not have a terrible timeslot as well.) This action show starring a bunch of young pretty boys is a tale of Samurai's fighting off a ancient evil power that wants their armor to aid his desires for world conquest. Some folks were kinda put off by Matt Hill's "Surfer"-like voice as Ryo Sanada but for the most part it has grown on people pretty quickly. The rest of the voicework went just fine right from the start such as Paul Dobson as Anubis and the like. Not only was the dub surprisingly quite faithful to the Japanese original it actually had a remotely decent toy line as well. Even though it was seen more when it was on Cartoon Network a few years ago, it did attract a viewer fanbase even back then. The dub was made by Graz productions whom you might remember as the folks behind the early 90's X-Men series. Unfortunately this was pretty much their only dub.



The Fatal Fury Anime Trilogy, the first 2 which were OVA's and the 3rd which was the actual Fatal Fury movie.
The Fatal Fury anime Trilogy, technically they should've been shown sooner but the fame of this trilogy didn't truly go until the movie came in. (Though the first two were not complete obscurities especially in the 2nd more due to Paul Dobson's excellent performance as Wolfgang Krauser. One of his favorite roles of all time.) While the show of the movie was a bit too censored on the Sci-fi Channel, it was deemed to be QUITE the fan favorite. (Though I'm sure that the fact that you get some full frontal nudity with infamously buxom kunoichi Mai Shiranui did help a bit.) The dub voicework is generally good but sometimes it works on somewhat more subtle levels as well. Matt Hill using his "Surfer" voice on Laocorn in the Fatal Fury Movie may seem bad at first. But keep in mind folks that Laocorn was a normal boy whom lived in a beachside residence until he became corrupted by the armor. Its one of those rare instances on how a seemingly "Stereotypical American" voice can fit so well. However one advantage that the anime OVA's had were that they used villians from the games such as Geese Howard and Wolfgang Krauser. While the movie used some considerably different one-shot villians. But one genuine highlight of the dub of the movie was the excellent ending theme song "Oh Angel" done by Warren Stayer. It had such a great "Classic 80's Rock" feel it was not even funny.


Yes folks one of the most famous borderline infamous anime shows of all time namely Dragon Ball Z.

Yep the infamous Saban/FUNi dub of Dragon Ball Z. Coming at US televisions just a few months after the show ended in Japan in 1996. Some of you might be wondering "But that old dub of DBZ was a hackjob! Whats it doing here?" well I'll tell you now its a bit more complicated than that. First of all for starters it was not always a "hackjob". How can I say such a thing you ask? Simple, during the Radditz story arc it actually had very minimal edits. The word "Die" was fully used and Death was adknowledged. Heck you can tell that the edits were minimal when you see it again on FUNimation's modern uncut version of the series. The radditz arc was the last we heard of Jason Gray Stanford in anime dubs and one of the last bits of his VA work in general. But he was indeed a great Radditz for sure. Unfortunately the show became more of a hackjob in the post Radditz episodes. However there was some famous good voicework here such as Ian James Cortlett as Goku, Saffron Henderson as Gohan, Scott McNeil as Piccolo, Brian Drummond as Vegeta, Ted Cole as Yamcha, Terry Klassen as Krillen and etc. It was considered as one of the original examples of "Bad Dub, Great Voicework". And despite FUNi releasing more accurate dubbings of the show later on, Ocean's VA work has been grossly missed ever since they were replaced by FUNi's in-house studio in the 2nd half of the Frieza Saga. The opening theme "Rock the Dragon" here was once quite hated but nowadays it has grew on to many viewers especially compared to some of FUNi's current dub music for DBZ. There was also a different dub of DBZ that used Ocean for its VA work that started on the Cell Saga thats only on Canadian and certain European television. It was just as questionably accurate as FUNi's TV showing of the dub and some of the VA's were miscast (Terry Klassen as Master Roshi, Allistair Abbell as Mirai Trunks). However there were certainly characters that were well casted such as Scott McNeil as Fatt Buu & Dabura and the like. The dub music was cheesy but it did have a bit more variety than FUNi's music. It would've defnitely been better if the company whom made this dub didn't try to impersonate FUNi's dub so much. But it was a pretty good alternative nevertheless.


Ladies and Gents, the 1st 3 DBZ movies. From left to right its Deadzone, World's Strongest and Tree of Might.

The TV showings of the dub of these three films had may've been alike the dub of the show back then. But on DVD and VHS however the dub surprisingly is marvelously different. Funi went with Saban on the TV show and the TV showings of the movie back then. But fortunately FUNi went with the highly renowned dub company that is Pioneer on the movies and man did it show. Fully uncut and genuinely accurate to the original version was the definite motto of those 3 dubs. (Something that even today FUNi is not quite fuly grasping on DBZ anime.) Loved/liked the voice work in the FUNi/Saban dub of DBZ yet didn't like how the rest of it went? Not to fear for that you'll for the most part get the same great VA talent but this time in an uncut accurate dub. Even though this marvelously uncut dubbing was only for the 1st 3 movies, it was the only way for viewers to see uncut DBZ without having to resort to cheap boot-legs. Especially to actually hear the Original Japanese music especially since the original first opening and ending themes fromt he show were in them. Well okay the ending theme was only on the first movie, while the other two had different ones but still.) Unfortunately it was underadvertised and came in a little too late. Namely not long after those uncut dubs came in. Finances were getting so bad on DBZ, FUNi and Saban had to go their seperate ways leading FUNi to do things by themselves. While the VA work perference between Ocean and FUNi in-house may have been widely debated upon on the show, Ocean clearly wins on the dub of these three movies. You see just recently FUNi re-dubbed those 3 movies and the results have been often considered to be kinda... "average-at-best" by itself. Even to this day the uncut FUNi/Pioneer dubs of those movies are still deemed to be the absolute best in English dubs of any DBZ anime.


Nightwarriors Darkstalkers Revenge, a great short anime OVA based on the sadly Sega Saturn-only 2nd game of the series.

Nightwarriors Darkstalkers Revenge, highly regarded as one of the best Video Game based anime ever and its excellent dub certainly helped. Much like Fatal Fury its been often deemed a fan favorite. While Ocean got to do the VA work in the US Street Fighter Series, the voice talent for the dubs in the SF anime have been generally Californian such as Steven Jay Blum and the like. But while Ocean got to do the VA work in the US series. (Though hardly anyone would want to remember that show itself.) They got to reprise their roles here for the most part. This and the fact that it has the same ending theme as the US series are reasons why folks believe that this is kinda like the US series only done right. Voice work has been genuinely regarded as good, the highlights were often considered to be Paul Dobson as Demitri Maximov and Scott McNeil as Lord Raptor. Demitri Maximov is also one of Paul Dobson's favorite roles as well. I mean Happosai aside anyone else noticed that his fave roles are generally Video Game Villians? I wonder if the guy is a gameplayer or not... Lord Raptor is one of Scott McNeil's lesser known roles & performances but despite its still considered to be a genuinely great one nevertheless. Scott McNeil is often known for being quite the charismatic performer and he delivers that in spades. Though one thing that did help is that Scott McNeil and Lord Raptor are both Austrailian. Not the first time its happened though even in this case. Wolfgang Krauser may've been the most known role of Paul Dobson in the Fatal Fury Anime. But his work as SNK's favorite Brit badboy by the name of Billy Kane is no slouch either. Both Paul Dobson and Billy Kane are British (as are Paul Dobsons' lesser known brothers Michael and Brian). Plenty of the VA's up there are native Canadian such as David "Pyron" Kaye and the like. But you can be surprised on how Multi-regional Ocean's VA talent can be. Being a bit more back on-topic, this is one often known as one of the best Video Game based anime ever and one of the best english dubs of VG-based anime as well.


Speaking of Video Game based anime here is Monster Rancher.

The Pokemon Vs. Digimon era, one of the more heated rivalries in the late 1990's. However there was this 3rd alternative which some considered to be the best alternative of them all. Namely Monster Rancher, based on the somewhat known game series from Tecmo was the adventures of a young boy named Genki and his friends. How good did this went you ask? Simple, for starters its considered to be the best dub of the three shows. The dub on Monster Rancher was nearly uncut while the other two weren't quite so. (Especially Digimon's earlier episodes.) Dub was surprisingly from Bohbot Entertainment whom has done the likes of the comical Sonic the Hedgehog series and the like. The show itself also had certain advantages over the two shows as well. Such as having a nicely even-paced storyline progression, it didn't go too slow like Pokemon or too fast like Digimon. Its also somewhat remembered by its VA talent as well such as when Scott McNeil joked on how his role Suezo has the same name as a brand of Tequila. The dub of this show also had Paul Dobson playing the role of the Villian this time the Evil Moo. Its not known whether if Moo is another one in his "fave list" but Paul Dobson's performance as him as no slouch. I mean it really says something about a Villian if nobody ever mocks his name, especially for having such an easily mockable name like that. Unfortunately the show itself wasn't able to truly catch on like how Pokemon and Digimon did due to on how it ended up on various broadcast channels while Pokemon & Digimon had steady homes like WB and FOX. (And alike Graz Productions with Ronin Warriors, Bohbot hasn't been seen that much in animation after this show came in.) Fortunately its not impossible to find as ADV managed to get the OK to distribute this show again on DVD.


The Vision of Escaflowne and Cardcaptors, a couple of rather infamous dubs to put it quite mildly.

Ever since the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV series came in during the early 90's in the US, Saban and Bandai have been having good ties ever since. And since during the years Saban has had their ties with FOX so Bandai for once thought of getting one of their anime dubs on TV. And thus the Fox Kids version of Escaflowne was born, however while the idea looked like a good marketable idea its execution however did not. The show was butchered due to FOX's demands in edits overall and quite frankly just did not live all that long. (Granted its death occured during FOX Kids' death didn't help either.) And yeah pretty much the VA work was the only saving grace in it. Fortunately Bandai didn't quite give up the ghost on this series. As not too long in the not-to distant future Bandai released it uncut on DVD with still using Ocean as the VA cast. Rather unusual considering the likes of Dragon Ball Z and the like but still it was lets just say a nice additional feature. Cardcaptors was an even more infamous case that was on Kids WB. The dub was absolutely hated by several folks in the Anime fanbase. It was even knocked down by those known in the industry such as renowned VA Scott McNeil whom stated that he was glad that he wasn't in this dub, he stated that during his visit at Otakucon at December 2005. However people went considerably less harsher on this dub as soon as it was realized that Nelvana cut considerably less when the English dub was shown in other countries. This Anime English dub was the innovator upon the fact that Kids WB can be more responsible at ruining anime dubs than the dub companies themselves. Did this have an Uncut english release? Yes but a lot more limited compared to the likes of Escaflowne. Nelvana did a not too hacked dub on one of the movies while Pioneer did a full fledge uncut dub with the other movies. (But with Californian Anime Dub VA talent such as Kari Wahlgren and the like.) The uncut releases for the series were pretty much Japanese sub-only.


Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, the first Gundam series to get good exposure iin US television.

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, the most prominent of the Gundam AU (Alternate Universe) shows. Premiered on Cartoon Network in the year 2000 it was the first Gundam series to draw in with the Mainstream crowd. Bandai has dubbed Mobile Suit Gundam anime before such as the Movie trilogy but they pretty much went completely under the radar. It at first had an edited version which went pretty lukewarm with fans but surprisingly enough not too long afterwards got an uncut showing in later nights during Toonami's "Midnight Run" on Saturday Nights. This was deemed to be QUITE the innovative point on anime in television. However a few years later it was discovered it was not truly "uncut" as advertised. However the material edited was minimal and light. (A couple of actual gay men embraced before dying in an explosion and a shot that clearly depicted Champagne bottles opened.) But unlike Escaflowne and the like this had a uncut release while on TV. This was also one of the first anime dubs to get Anime dub VA talent to get more noticed amongst the fanbase. This really propeled the fame of folks such as Scott "Duo Maxwell" McNeil, Brad "Quatre Winner" Swaille, Kirby "Trowa Barton" Morrow and Brian "Zechs Marquise" Drummond and more. The fame mostly went to the male cast but the ladies occasionally get some credt such as Saffron "Lucrezia Noin" Henderson. The show itself was also truly popular in the Yaoi (male/male sex) fanbase but the VA's of the show were generally mature about it. While it is true that they good-naturedly joke about homoerotic tendencies even occasionally pretend to flirt with one another and the like. Though they admit that they actually don't believe that the Gundam Wing Pilot boys are actually gay, though to be fair Scott McNeil did occasionally wonder otherwise with Quatre. Viz even went so far as to interview a good amount of the Gundam Wing VA cast for their magazine Animerica such as Scott McNeil, David Kaye and Saffron Henderson. (The 3rd aforementioned interview containing a small appearance by Paul "Lt. Nicol/Acht" Dobson aiding Saffron Henderson in the interview and getting a little friendly in the process.) Even though it was a secondary villianous role, Ian James Cortlett whom you might remember as the likes of Goku in DBZ had what was pretty much his last Anime dub VA role in Quinze. Certain other VA's get noted for their secondary performances as Paul Dobson as Lt. Nicol and Richard Newman as Chief Engineer Tuberov. Mobile Suit Gundam Endless Waltz was also a smash success on Cartoon Network and was popular with fans much like how the series was even in its English dub. Gundam Wing was truly one of the innovators that helped shape how Anime is shown on TV today.




They are even still in current dubs such as the following anime here for example namely... Zoids Chaotic Century Zero, Original Mobile Suit Gundam, Inu-Yasha, Hamtaro, Mega Man NT Warrior/Rockman.exe, Mega Man Axess, Gundam SEED, Transformers Energon/Superlink and Transformers Cybertron/Galaxy Force. And there is more out there...

While not quite as prominently seen as they use to, they still have some shows to be in. Granted there are those that got discontinued in one way or another such as Hamtaro and Mobile Suit Gundam. (Among others such as Zoids Fuzors.) Some got a chance to fully end like Zoids Zero and Gundam SEED but are generally not seen all that much. And there are those that are still going on such as Transformers Cybertron and Mega Man Axess but they only get somewhat moderate attention. The only show here that is still being prominently shown is Inu-Yasha and thats on the process of ending. A good amount of these shows have certain quirks, aspects and the like to make them known for various reasons hwoever their generally a bit too mdoern in any aspect to truly go all that much further.

Unfortunately one reason why they are getting used considerably less than they use to be is more due to international financial reasons. The Voice acting union system in Canada has been improving lately and its becoming more & more likely to actually get good paychecks just for doing voice work. However one of the real reasons why doing Anime Dub VA work in Canada is not too low paying is more due to the trade value of Canadian and American currency. Many of the Anime Dub companies are based in America but unfortunately anime english dubs are often fairly low-budget affairs especially when it comes to voice talent. The sad truth is that the very Vancouver voice talent that is ever-so aforementioned here is seemingly becoming too expensive for Anime Dub studios to handle with. Even studios that normally use to always or mostly use them such as Viz are now going with alternate VA region talents. Their job security in this aspect has been going a bit unstable nowadays. Heck some of them have even tried to move to other regions like Saffron Henderson and Willow "Kikyo/Kasumi Tendo" Johnson did. However fortunately their not being completely forgotten about by the companies whom ever used them. They are in some current but admittingly low on the radar shows such as Tokyo Underground, Galaxy Angel, Human Crossing, etc. As well in being in a few future dubs such as Gundam Seed Destiny and Hikaru No Go.

Well this is my look into the History of Anime English dubs with Vancouver Voice Talent. I know this is not a truly complete list and I apologize if there was a good relevant to the article dub that I overseen. But this should give you a good idea into the look of the history of this aspect in the Anime Dub Industry. Will this certain area of Voice talent have a more stable future? Who knows my fellow readers, who knows...
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