Was English Kai Trunks too raspy?

[ShadowDude112]

Eric Vale was fine in Kai, I felt. It's his utterly dreadful work in Xenoverse that totally turned me off him. The guy sounded like he was trying to be Old Snake from MGS4.

I think Xenoverse might show that Vale might not fit the role anymore and that he should be replaced.

[ABED]

No, I think he just needs a director to tell him to not do that with his voice, much like Nolan really should've reined in Bale.

[gokaiblue]

I actually don't think his Trunks was too raspy, to be honest. At least, not in Kai. He kinda kicked it up a notch in Xenoverse, but to me, it's not enough for me to hate the voice.

[Ree]

yeah it is.
the voice is so much worse compared to before and you cant hear any improvement that might be there because of the rasp.

[ABED]

There are aspects of the performance you can tell that have improved. For instance, Vale lost the stilted delivery that he had early on.

[Bansho64]

There are aspects of the performance you can tell that have improved. For instance, Vale lost the stilted delivery that he had early on.

Yeah the acting is miles better than what it was in the olden days but the voice has deteriorated.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

There are aspects of the performance you can tell that have improved. For instance, Vale lost the stilted delivery that he had early on.

Yeah the acting is miles better than what it was in the olden days but the voice has deteriorated.

Going back to the old VHS recordings, he sounds far too high-pitched for a character like Trunks. I mentioned on r/dbz a year ago that gosh, Kai Trunks sounds a lot like Michael Biehn's Reese.

Keep in mind, though, these actors weren't cast with even the tiny budgets that FUNi has now, or even many actors for that matter. Not even the Japanese audio, for the most part. I don't expect it to sound even as good as it does.

For what it's worth, if Chris/Eric simply went lower with more breath support, he'd do just fine. It's (by accident) a close enough match to Takeshi Kusao's.

[The Tori-bot]

No. I think Tom Waits did a great job with the role.

"So Trunks, how was your trip to Age 764?"
"It was a fascinating flight... they show movies that are not a big success anywhere else..."

[LSSJGODSSJ4Gogeta]

YES! Way to raspy. Kai voices that returned all came back like they had just sandpapered their throats. It sucked because kai had a great OST. I wish funi would go back to their old voices, not the early ones when they were new the ones when they had it perfected like burst limit/raging blast 1 and GT and the buu saga. Even the cell games was perfect. Kai was just to forced to enjoy.

[Theophrastus]

Perhaps they should've had him do more like his Sanji or Loke voices.

He's a great Sanji but I wouldn't want his Trunks' Kai voice to be a carbon copy of his Sanji's.

The idea that the voice that he uses for a chain-smoker might actually be preferable to the voice he currently uses for Trunks is kinda funny, though.

[ABED]

Going back to the old VHS recordings, he sounds far too high-pitched for a character like Trunks. I mentioned on r/dbz a year ago that gosh, Kai Trunks sounds a lot like Michael Biehn's Reese.

He sounded nothing like Reese and it's not uncommon for teens to have higher pitched voices.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

Going back to the old VHS recordings, he sounds far too high-pitched for a character like Trunks. I mentioned on r/dbz a year ago that gosh, Kai Trunks sounds a lot like Michael Biehn's Reese.

He sounded nothing like Reese and it's not uncommon for teens to have higher pitched voices.

It's been awhile & I don't have the tapes on me (it's also early morning over here), but, at least on the high pitch thing...IIRC the Japanese voice of Trunks wasn't high-pitched. It was fairly solemn & heavier-sounding (though lighter in overall timbre).

Wouldn't a foreign-dub be praised for maintaining a sound similar to the original version? It's what Aniplex & especially Viz Media do. IIRC the Japanese Batman sounds pretty close as well, & those areFINE dubs. Much of Animaze/Bandai stuff was basically voice-match for the main characters, & it's always been receivee well. Code Geass, Wolf's Rain, Trigun, GitS: SAC...the list goes on.

[ABED]

I fail to see how the Japanese actor's pitch is relevant in evaluating another actor. Different people have different sounding voices but that doesn't make it invalid for two different sounds for the same character. I think Vale's voice even with a higher pitch sounds fitting, it's simply a matter of his acting that needed work.

[ErikB]

I think "rasp" is the wrong word. It was raspy/dry to begin with. In Kai, it became very gravelly as well though (and it became even more gravelly in Xenoverse*), which I'd say was the problem; though I guess I'm arguing vaguely-defined semantics.

Anyway, Eric Vale's Trunks was the only returning voice that wasn't a significant improvement over its past iteration.


*Didn't help that the "Hey!" recording they used for every time you talk to him sounds more like someone scolding their dog than a friendly greeting.

[8000 Saiyan]

Yes. Vale's acting in Kai was fine, but the rasp was the problem. The rasp got worse in Xenoverse. He simply should have used the voice he used for Trunks in Z.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

Eric Vale was fine in Kai, I felt. It's his utterly dreadful work in Xenoverse that totally turned me off him. The guy sounded like he was trying to be Old Snake from MGS4.

I think Xenoverse might show that Vale might not fit the role anymore and that he should be replaced.

This is a totally different argument, but Hayter was never a good fit for Snake in the first place. Kojima's Snake is a much deeper, textured natural bass, & even a young Snake is a stretch for Hayter.

As for the DB dub voice, I can kind of imagine it being a reference to Michael Biehn's voice of Kyle Reese, whom Trunks is rather obviously based on. & I just want to say it's pretty cool that their dub sounds naturally similar to Takeshi Kusao's take, despite lacking the audio references at the time.

[8000 Saiyan]

Eric Vale was fine in Kai, I felt. It's his utterly dreadful work in Xenoverse that totally turned me off him. The guy sounded like he was trying to be Old Snake from MGS4.

I think Xenoverse might show that Vale might not fit the role anymore and that he should be replaced.

This is a totally different argument, but Hayter was never a good fit for Snake in the first place. Kojima's Snake is a much deeper, textured natural bass, & even a young Snake is a stretch for Hayter.

As for the DB dub voice, I can kind of imagine it being a reference to Michael Biehn's voice of Kyle Reese, whom Trunks is rather obviously based on. & I just want to say it's pretty cool that their dub sounds naturally similar to Takeshi Kusao's take, despite lacking the audio references at the time.

Yeah, yeah, Hayter isn't good for Snake because he doesn't sound like Kojima. (sarcasm)

[huzaifa_ahmed]

I think Xenoverse might show that Vale might not fit the role anymore and that he should be replaced.

This is a totally different argument, but Hayter was never a good fit for Snake in the first place. Kojima's Snake is a much deeper, textured natural bass, & even a young Snake is a stretch for Hayter.

As for the DB dub voice, I can kind of imagine it being a reference to Michael Biehn's voice of Kyle Reese, whom Trunks is rather obviously based on. & I just want to say it's pretty cool that their dub sounds naturally similar to Takeshi Kusao's take, despite lacking the audio references at the time.

Yeah, yeah, Hayter isn't good for Snake because he doesn't sound like Kojima. (sarcasm)

I was referring to "the VA that Kojima selected for Snake". Kojima himself doesnt voice Snake. MG is a work of art, & nostalgia aside, objectively the casting involves several of the same issues that DB English dubs did. Although it is generally representative of MG's story, which is obviously ultimately the most important thing. Ajay knows much, much more about this subject than I do, as I've never played MGS1+.

[Sshadow5001]

It's all that smoking he's been doing while voicing Sanji.

[Chuquita]

How does someone who doesn't have a naturally raspy voice make themselves sound raspy? I could never figure that out.