What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

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What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by WittyUsername » Thu May 24, 2018 9:07 pm

I can’t seem to get a good idea on what people generally think of his performance. I’ve heard a wide range of opinions on the matter, but nothing that really strikes me as being the majority opinion. Does he sound too old in the role, or does he do a good job of capturing Zamasu’s narcissistic and sadistic attitude?

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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by Polyphase Avatron » Thu May 24, 2018 9:31 pm

He's good in my opinion at least
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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by DragonBallKing » Thu May 24, 2018 9:52 pm

I think he's doing a good job from what I've seen, part of me wanted Keith Silverstein to get the role since he's apparently doing some work for Funi now It also helps that I think he sounds closer to Miki than Marsters does.
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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by Marco Polo » Sat May 26, 2018 8:28 am

Better than the original

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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by TheBigBoy » Sat May 26, 2018 8:35 am

He's good. As someone who is usually pretty down on the dub, I've been impressed with what Funimation has done with Super recently.

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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by 8000 Saiyan » Sat May 26, 2018 8:41 am

He's okay in my opinion, but he feels kind of lacking compared to Miki.
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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by SupremeKai25 » Sat May 26, 2018 9:04 am

What I do like about dub Zamasu is how imposing and royal his voice sounds. Like, whereas sub Zamasu sounded more like a brat, beacuse Miki's voice sounds much younger, dub Zamasu feels like an actual authority, someone who is imposing and menacing, probably because his voice is much deeper. I had chills when Fused Zamasu said 'All Hail Zamasu!'.

And, actually, I was initially bothered by the fact that dub Zamasu sounded so old and mature, when Zamasu is supposed to be a teenager/young adult by a Kai's standard. So, Yes, that was odd at first. But now I've gotten used to it, and I like how vainglorious, arrogant and imposing dub Zamasu sounds.

Sub Zamasu was also fantastic! Personally, Miki's voice suits more Zamasu's face, but that does not mean that dub Zamasu was bad! It just means that it was different, and good in other ways.

Also, Marsters and Sean really killed it together. There were times when I couldn't distinguish Zamasu's voice from Black's, and that's a cool metaphor because the two were the same person.

So, Yes, initially I was taken off guard by dub Zamasu because I expected him to have a younger and more bratty voice akin to his Japanese counterpart. But have I been amazed by dub Zamasu? Absolutely! The last episode was superb, and I also liked that part when Zamasu blamed Trunks for his time travel. The tone of his voice was so imposing and strong!
Last edited by SupremeKai25 on Sat May 26, 2018 9:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by Ajay » Sat May 26, 2018 9:19 am

He's too good for everyone around him. He's somehow giving a very overblown character a very real(?) performance. It's not an "I'm doing an anime dub right now" performance, if that makes any sense -- it feels like genuine acting. It's very distracting to go from him to Schemmel's Black, which although not terrible, is very much rooted in a hammy approach that's the total antithesis of everything Marsters is doing. I'm very glad they're merged now. Looking forward to hearing what he does in these last few episodes.
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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by Lord Beerus » Sat May 26, 2018 9:26 am

James unbelievably overperformed as Zamasu.

He had a rough start in Xenoverse 2, but man, when he had a better script to work with, more time to hone his voice and tonal mannerisms and a generally better direction with what the character (Zamasu) is and how he should vocalise him, he has killed it as Zamasu.

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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by Kataphrut » Sat May 26, 2018 10:19 pm

I'd say he's doing a damn good job. Barring a few scenes where he sounded a bit wooden, he's competently captured Zamasu's self-important attitude. One touch I like is how his evil laughter as Future Zamasu often sounds kind of awkward and forced. It would be tempting to call it bad acting because of how "lame" it sounds compared to your typical hammy DBZ villain laugh, but I think it actually works better. It adds this layer of non-threatening impotence that makes the character more hateable. Seeing as Zamasu is basically the Kylo Ren of the Dragon World, it's a good choice.

His range has been good; episode 61 was a tour de force for the character, between the sadistic creepiness of his gloating to Goku over the death of the family and the hilarious Sean Schemmel impression after the body-swap. And he can still go ham when he has to, as heard with the excellent screaming being sucked into the containment jar in the most recent episode. This casting choice was a big gamble for the dub, but overall it's paid off well.

Weird trivia question: with the Merged Zamasu FighterZ DLC dropping soon, is he about to be the most famous "non-voice actor" to voice a player character in a fighting game? I mean yeah, he's not a super big name but fighting games are typically the forte of career VAs because there's so much combat barking, foley, etc. I wonder how long he's going to keep playing the role if games like FighterZ continue to be produced and dubbed.

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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by Kuwabara » Sun May 27, 2018 12:13 am

I second the sentiment about Marsters blowing the rest of the cast out of the water, I'm really looking forward to hearing the English dub with a better sound mix than the broadcast airings. The way Zamasu and Gowasu's names are pronounced bugs the shit out of me though.
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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by lancerman » Sun May 27, 2018 12:43 am

Ajay wrote:He's too good for everyone around him. He's somehow giving a very overblown character a very real(?) performance. It's not an "I'm doing an anime dub right now" performance, if that makes any sense -- it feels like genuine acting. It's very distracting to go from him to Schemmel's Black, which although not terrible, is very much rooted in a hammy approach that's the total antithesis of everything Marsters is doing. I'm very glad they're merged now. Looking forward to hearing what he does in these last few episodes.
So it's like Dragon Ball Evolution where he is far and away the best thing about it. Marsters shows genuine respect for the series.

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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by Shaddy » Sun May 27, 2018 1:22 am

He's pretty good, I can't say I'm really as "wowed" by the performance as some people though.

I will say he did some great screaming last episode however

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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by Cipher » Sun May 27, 2018 3:04 am

I've only seen a few clips, but the difference is immediate and stark. It is indeed like an actor from a higher-tier of production accidentally walked into a room full of everyone stuck in their ingrained exaggerated anime-dub deliveries.

One of the few times I've ever checked in on the FUNimation dub and thought an element of it genuinely seemed about 1:1 with the Japanese version.

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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by Super Saiyan Swagger » Sun May 27, 2018 3:42 am

He's slowly becoming one of my favourite actors in the Dragon Ball English dub. Definitely up there with Chris Ayres and Dameon Clarke. I'm really looking forward to how he handles some of his lines in Episode 66. As someone who was kind of skeptical about his performance back when I first heard him in Xenoverse 2, I'm very happy with how things have turned out. Shinichiro Miki's Zamasu is a tough performance to match, but Marsters's approach to the character is truly on par.

I hope they continue to bring talents like James Marsters to the English dub. Imagine someone like Mark Hamill or Clancy Brown in Dragon Ball.

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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by Kataphrut » Sun May 27, 2018 6:02 am

Super Saiyan Swagger wrote:I hope they continue to bring talents like James Marsters to the English dub. Imagine someone like Mark Hamill or Clancy Brown in Dragon Ball.
Doubtful. This feels like a special case where he's only on-board because he wanted to be in the show and they've had to keep it hush-hush to keep the unions getting involved. That's why he's going under "David Gray" and hasn't publicly commented on playing Zamasu.

Speaking of Mark Hamill, I think Sabat has already gone on Twitter at some point telling people not to get their hopes up about having him as Belmod (because of course people were asking for that) since they can't just get union actors to be in anime dubs.

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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by Baggie_Saiyan » Mon May 28, 2018 9:22 am

He's great he plays off Schemmel's Black really well. Loved his take on regular Goku too! :P

I just hate how FUNi are keeping that shitty echo effect for Merged Zamasu from the Japanese version. It's totally gonna distract me.

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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by sangofe » Mon May 28, 2018 2:21 pm

I really don't like how to voice sounds but haven't heard anything else than clips.

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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by sunsetshimmer » Mon May 28, 2018 2:54 pm

He did better as Piccolo if you know what i mean
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Re: What’s the general consensus on James Marsters’ Zamasu?

Post by Logania » Wed May 30, 2018 6:23 pm

At first with Xenoverse 2 showing him as Zamasu for the first time, I hated it. It sounded so odd and didn't give a good feeling of Zamasu at all.

Then the Super anime started and his performance grew on me. He sounded a lot more natural but it still didn't feel as right as it did in the subs with Shinichiro Miki's performace.

Now with all the latest episodes and performance as Fused Zamasu in FighterZ, I can confidently say he's far better than Miki for me. The clip of him being taken in by the Mafuba is all you need to see to know how far he's come with the role.
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