I have recently (aka three days ago) noticed there is an English dub version of Kaitou Joker. You don’t need to imagine how happy I was (just look in the mirror ;-)), but I was as well cautious as all of us know, there is hardly any good English dub like it was in YYH.
I'm used to like more original, but I never hated English dub or called it disgusting (unless it was really bad one). I always tried to find something good in it, just like I'll do in this case. So far I have seen two episodes. And so without further ado, here is my little review:
Opening/Ending:
Thumbs up for leaving original footages. That's really nice, but... the advance notice can be hardly heard. Like seriously, you have to go quite up in volume to hear it and the go down quickly unless you want your ears bleeding. The dub is so silent in that part. They should lower the music more. While keeping the original footage is nice, it would be better if they removed the Japanese text and replaced it with English translation or added at least their voice actors. But the channel mentioned it has more audio channels so I guess it has original voice acting too.
1st episode:
What I actually watched was a recorded video from XD Disney channel website... XD Really, At first I thought the cool scene where Joker jumps from the building was censored, but then later the video stopped playing and I saw a website, moving a mouse cursor and all the stuff. So I can't tell if anything was removed or not.
Joker's voice is quite deep, more adult-like instead of "higher-pitched" like in the original. Don't take it wrong, what I mean original voice sounds more high-pitched than the dub. Original Joker has one of the rare "not-like-girl-sounding-boy" voice. I like the English version too. It reminds me a lot Phantom thief R voiced by, Bruce Sherfield. I don't think they are the same person, but the "feeling" is just there. He sounds older, clever and confident.
Hachi's voice is a bit more pitched than in original, I guess. It's not bad, but he sounds rather childish, which is weird. In original he is more "adult" then Joker in various areas. His speech pattern was also erased.
Inspector Oniyama shares the same voice as Silver Heart, but for some reason, I have a problem hearing him right, while SH is quite fine. Without knowing the original I would have to have 10+ on my volume to hear him properly. And I hate constantly changing volume. Other than that this voice is OK in my book.
Mr. Kaneari, let's have him as last as other figures are just minor characters. He doesn't sound too bad either, but I have a problem following him too. I don't think he kept his "indeed" either, which is a shame.
Here is one more thing that is so cool about this. It's a small thing, but it is worth of mentioning - Anime and Joker itself kept "Kaitou". Yes, Joker is called Kaitou Joker while kaitou (as a type of thief) is translated as a phantom thief. I found it really nice. It's the same as "kokoro" from Astro Boy 2003 where this word was kept to describe robot's "heart and soul". From me, they have big Thumb up for it ;-)
Since I love Joker so much I'm giving this dub a shot and I'll try to review all episodes (or at least most of them) and give you my opinion on new or notable characters.
Overall opinion: It's not YYH, no other dub will be, but it's not a garbage either. It's hard to hear anything if there is background music or some fast talking (Hachi clinging to Joker), which is sad. The voices describe characters quite well. If I get my hands on a different version, not from XD Disney channel as there are 2 blocks of advertisement in it (like seriously XD), I'll check everything again to see and hear if the voice problem isn't a result of the recording process.
