SHINY WAKE UP TWST THE ANIMATION IS RELEASING ON OCT 29TH!!!
I'm getting overwhelmed. I'M GETTING OVERWHELMED. If y'all had told me from 2022 what all the TWST news would be like today, I would have never believed you. Holy shit, there's so much to talk about.
For now, I'm going to focus on the two big things: Chapter 8 announcement and TWST English dub. This is going to be a long post.
You know that one audio currently trending? "Cool! Um, can you give me a sec?... Alan, we are so fucked." Yeah, that was my reaction to the chapter eight announcement. The amount of dread that filled me is indescribable. Crowley? CROWLEY? Why are you looking like that???
Onto the dub. I mentioned in the previous post that I would be looking throughly at the cast with my mutual, and we did. We spent a good three hours going over the names and characters. So, I'll be improving my notes here. Keep in mind, this is all my personal opinion! Since so far we've only heard Grim, Crowley, Yuken, and Heartslabyul, those parts may be more detailed compared to the characters we have yet to actually hear from. Oh, and I'm so glad the cast is so diverse!!
GRIM.
Hey, I kinda got one right! Originally, I had hoped Diskin would voice Rook, but I did not expect to see him land the role of Grim. My initial thoughts were that the clip shown wasn't great, but it wasn't bad. It's alright, maybe I need to hear it more and from different lines, since I don't think it's too fair to base my opinion off a very brief clip. I'm very much praying that they do not give Grim the Paimon treatment (where his voice gets progressively higher as the story progresses).
CROWLEY.
Ah, J. Michael Tatum. I expected to see him somewhere on the roster, and I'm not disappointed. As soon as he spoke in the trailer, I recognized him right away. There's no mistaking that voice. There are zero complaints here. It's great, and I think Crowley will sound so fun. Make the crowd unassuming.
YUKEN.
It's alright. I'm not super convinced yet, maybe because I never got attached to Yuken after reading the manga, but I can appreciate a good voice, by Jonathon Ha, when I hear one. Who knows? Maybe the anime and the voice will get me more attached to the character.
ACE.
At first I didn't catch his voice, but on a second or third listen when someone pointed out who it might be, I instantly heard it. That's Max Mittelman. Instantly that put me at ease, because I knew Ace is in good hands. Mittelman is about to make Ace so funny and charming, I cannot wait.
DEUCE.
I will admit, I wasn't sure at first, because I thought Deuce ended up sounding too similar to Ace. However, my mutual I was researching with showed me the other character Hunter McCoy voiced, called Polyester, and any fears I had were dashed. I know McCoy with Deuce and Mittelman with Ace are about to be an iconic comedy duo.
CATER.
Here is where I become more uncertain about things, and where I started to look more into the different roles played by the voice actor. It didn't take a long look to realize Michael Sinterniklaas had talent. Personally, I liked how he voiced Niles from Fire Emblem Warriors. There's a certain tease in his tone, and if done right with Cater, I feel like it could be great. I'm more worried about the line delivery in this case, but I'm hoping for the best!
TREY.
This is another case where I'm worried about the tone delivery. I'll admit, I'm not a fan of the clip that was shown in the trailer. Initial thoughts were disappointment and what must all five Trey fans be thinking (that last part is a joke)? I was really confused, actually, because Johnny Yong Bosch seems so insanely experienced. I see the vision, but it's too nasally and not deep enough. I know he voiced Brock from Pokemon Origins, so maybe if Trey sounded more like that, it would be better?
RIDDLE.
No notes. Paul Castro Jr killed it. Whoever cast him absolutely cooked. There's no suggestions I could really make to improve what's practically perfect. And I know the crashout is going to be perfection. Also, not sure if it's just me, but it almost sounded like the accent got thicker when angrier which was kinda funny. However, the accent is not over the top, it's subtle, and I like that.
JACK.
Here's where my mutual and I had to research more intensely, since we have no voice clips to go off of and had to reply solely on the given names, their past of voice acting, and our imaginations. We realized quickly that the best comparison we could think of was Kamran Nikhad who voiced Wildberry Cookie from Cookie Run Kingdom. I imagine that would sound a lot like Jack, and if that's the case, well, Jack is also in good hands. Jack is unintentionally funny, gruff sounding, but still a good person despite his not so friendly voice, so I'm really excited to see how Jack ends up sounding!
RUGGIE.
I recognize that voice actor, Zeno Robinson. Very talented and currently very popular. Admittedly, I wasn't sure he could pull off Ruggie, but that's because I was thinking of the wrong comparisons. I was thinking of Hawks and Jabber, but I should have been thinking along the lines of Hunter from the Owl House. Now there's your Ruggie. Especially when it comes to the teasing parts like the "byeeee" part? Perfect Ruggie.
LEONA.
I won't lie, I had no idea who Major Attaway was until I read that he played Genie on Broadway, I believe. Then he became vaguely familiar. This was a shock, because I've seen Broadway's Aladdin in person before, and Genie isn't a very Leona type of role. So I did more digging, and found Qual from Frieren. There were certain aspects of this voice I liked for Leona, it has huge potential if it was less deep and more casual, I think it would be a good pick. I am super excited to see how a Broadway star plays Leona.
FLOYD.
I did not know who Kellen Goff was until I looked into his past roles, and good lord, this might be an insanely accurate choice. Why do I say this? Because first, I saw Chisaki from My Hero Academia there on the list of past roles. To me, that's a good comparison for a voice when Floyd is tame, it just needs adjustment to sound more casual and lazy. Then I saw Sun and Moon from Five Nights at Freddy's on the list too. These are voiced by the same guy. I know the switch up in tone is about to be so insanely good.
JADE.
Jonah Scott, didn't expect to see him here. I thought he would have been Leona or Vil, but after some consideration, I cannot complain. Not only is Scott another amazing voice actor, but he also voiced Volt from Date Everything. In my head, Jade might sound a lot like Volt. Except, you know, Volt is flirty but you could imagine that in a more ominous tone for Jade.
AZUL.
Why is Octavinelle's cast absolutely stacked? The Octavinelle fans are going to eat so good. I knew Alejandro Saab was going to appear somewhere, I've BEEN knowing. "I can feel his presence, I know he's around here somewhere and when he shows up, I'm going to be ready for him." I was ready. I don't even think this one needs notes, I saw his attempt at Azul from 2022. The only thing is, I don't want just suave arrogant bastard, he better nail that crashout. I want screaming, crying, voice cracks, the whole deal.
KALIM.
There's potential here. I was looking at Hop from Pokemon Journeys, another character AJ Beckles voiced, and I think this a good voice to imagine what Kalim might sound like. It's a very good start, but it shouldn't be too high-pitched. Some cracks are okay, but it definitely should not sound squeaky. My hopes are high.
JAMIL.
Okay, another one with a good start. Here I was, looking at Alhaitham. This is the best I could find from Nazeeh Tarsha's list of past roles. It's very normal sounding, which is good, because Jamil tries to be that: average (pre-overblot). I've heard that Alhaitham has very sarcastic lines sometimes, but I wonder if it can be bitterly sarcastic like Jamil is in later chapters, if that makes sense?
EPEL.
For this one, we did not have a lot of roles to base this off of. So, I had to pick the best I could find on Jesse Nowack's list of past roles. The one I thought that most sounded like Epel was Zinn from 2064: Read Only Memories. This character sounds like a very polite and well-mannered Epel, but the question is, can Nowack voice the crashouts and moments when Epel loses his composure?
ROOK.
This one threw me for a loop. If I remember right, I had wanted Matthew Mercer for Jack, so I definitely was not expecting him to land the role of Rook. I did not know what to make of it, until my mutual mentioned a character called Yusuke Kitagawa from Persona. Now there's your Rook. It's flamboyant, suave, but I do hope that he can provide the energy when the lines need a little more oompf. But, it's Matt Mercer, so I know Rook is going to be fine.
VIL.
Yet another person I did not know, but I heard the fandub Nick Monteleone did and I liked it. I think Vil will be good. My mutual helped me find another character they voiced called Joe Brown from Reverse 1999, who might possibly sound like what Vil will sound like? Of course, the tone needs to be different, and I wonder if he has a good singing voice?
ORTHO.
Y'all, I am so happy with Ignihyde's casting. First, Ortho Shroud. It didn't take long, but I found a character Greg Vinciguerra voiced, and in my head that sounded like an almost perfect Ortho. That character was Icicle Yet Cookie from Cookie Run Kingdom. The only thing is, Ortho says some strange things sometimes, so those lines are going to have to be said in that unnervingly cheerful way. We're going to have to wait forever to hear him in full, but I believe the wait will be worth it.
IDIA.
First, let's pour one out. For everyone who's favorite is a character in a later dorm. I'm going to have to wait until at least season six to see Idia Shroud voiced by Khoi Dao. Initially I was very confused, because I'm only familiar with Dao's work voicing Albedo from Genshin Impact and Murata from Demon Slayer. But, after remembering when Dao and the rest of the Genshin cast used to play Among Us during the pandemic... yeah, Dao as Idia tracks. Please, please, please, just make this Shroud loser funny, I'm begging here.
SEBEK.
This was another character we didn't have a lot to go off of. On Danny Kramer's roles, the one that sounded most like Sebek was Bashar from Genshin Impact. It's a good start, but it could use improvements. Like maybe not as deep as Bashar, but he does need to be loud.
SILVER.
I saw some people really happy with Aleks Le voicing Silver, and I wasn't completely sure why because off the top of my head I only knew he voiced Zenitsu from Demon Slayer. Again, my mutual showed me a Persona character called Makoto, and oh wow does that fit Silver. Regal, soft, it's almost perfect!
LILIA.
The Lilia stans won today. Lilia is going to have his deep voice, especially with Crispin Freeman. I recognized the name vaguely, because of Gyomei Himejima who he also voiced. I was looking at the other past roles, and I was sort of leaning more towards Prince Justin or Turnip Head from How's Moving Castle. Deep voice? Yes. Just make it whimsical and fun.
MALLEUS.
None of y'all understand how much we struggled to find any hint of intel here. We found nothing. All we had for Malleus was his voice actor, Jacob Carlson, and the fact that he voiced a character called Hellforged Thor from a game called SMITE. That's it. No voice clips, no videos, nothing. All my notes say is "Initial Thoughts: n/a. Evidence: ??? Final Thoughts: ??? Good luck." That's all I got. This one will remain a mystery, but one that I'm greatly looking forward to.
I like the idea of the saja boys learning how to fit in with humans. (also Jinu using a phone like an elder man bc he also doesn't know how to use it correctly.)