Gintama Dub Review

so this is the episode that gif is from

We’re doing something a bit different in Gintama Reviews today. Yesterday, Crunchyroll uploaded the English dub of the first cour of season 3. I’ve already watched all of season 3, so instead of reviewing an episode, today I’ll be reviewing the dub.

Since I’ve already watched all these episodes, the one I picked for this review was “A Mirror Provides a Frozen Reflection of Both Your Beautiful and Ugly Sides/Nobody Likes the Photo on their License”, a.k.a., the one where Sachan spies on Odd Jobs through their mirror, and Yamazaki tries to be a ninja.

The dub cast is these people:

Gintoki Sakata: Michael Daingerfield
Shinpachi Shimura: Cole Howard
Kagura: Jocelyne Loewen
Tae Shimura: Janyse Jaud
Kotaro Katsura: Matt Ellis
Toshiro Hijikata: Michael Adamthwaite
Sogo Okita: Vincent Tong
Isao Kondo: Jason Simpson
Sagaru Yamazaki: Adrian Petriw
Tsukuyo: Marlie Collins
Tatsuma Sakamoto: Andrew Francis
Tama: Chantal Strand
Yagyu Kyubei: Advah Soudak

I’ve never heard of any of them, but that doesn’t mean much since I don’t watch dubs very often. I don’t dislike dubs or anything; I just don’t have cable or money for DVDs so subs are easier and cheaper to come by. Kagura sounds a little too old, but that’s a casting issue not an acting one.

The performances range from okay to pretty good. Granted, this is a comedic episode and the series has been leaning heavier on the drama since the first cour so they might’ve been cast more for their dramatic abilities than their comedic ones. There was one really bad extra, but she only had one line so it’s not too much of a problem.

The thing really working against the cast here is that the Japanese cast has been playing these characters for over 10 years, and from the beginning of the series. The English cast performs well and sounds great, but they don’t own their characters the way the Japanese cast does.

Going back and dubbing the first two seasons would do the actors a great service, but as it is, it seems fairly solid. If you prefer dubs you’ll probably enjoy this one. If you’re the type who thinks dubs are an abomination, this is not going to change your mind. If you’re like me and don’t have a dog in the sub vs dubs fight, there’s nothing new here. I’m used to the sub so I’ll be sticking with the sub.

We’ll be back to our regular bit next time. Till then.

[ko-fi]