TMNT Dubs

[Sage Ninja]

Has any one ever seen the classic (or 2k3 series) dubbed into other languages? For those of you that have seen TMNT dubbed in another language, how was the quality of the dubbing? Does it hold up to the original voices in english? And do you like the performance or voice that was choosen to play the turtles (or other turtle characters).

I have never seen TMNt dubbed into another language so I was just curiuos of the quality of other dubbed languages of the TMNT if any one has had the pleasure of seeing them that way.

on youtube.com I was was able to find a short clip of the classic TMNT dubbed in japanese. Here is a few clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybWvwVRqD8o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdQ2WCnK04E

I thought it was a real trip to hear the turtles in japanese. Acting wise I think the turtles and the other characters are good, but I'm so thrilled on the turtles voices. I don't like the way they sound to much (although I might just have to get used to them). I really like April's japanese voice as well as Splinter's and Shredder's voices, and they acted out their characters well.

Any body else have certain dubs of the TMNT that they like?

[Kendamu]

The TMNT themselves didn't cound like the American counterparts but for their personality types it certainly fit Japanese stereotypical voices for each Turtle's personality. Especially Leonardo. He sounds like he could've been the leader of Zyuranger.

Looking at the Katakana subtitles and end credits... I think they got all the names right! Go Japan!

EDIT: And from what little speaking I could understand (I'm only in second semester Japanese) the script remains the same (there's probably a few cultural differences in slang, though).

EDIT 2: Oroku Saki's name (the Saki part) was changed slightly due to Saki not actually being a Japanese name. I remember reading that a long time ago but I couldn't hear exactly what syllable they added or changed. It's pretty close to "Saki" though. Listening to it a second time I think it was changed to Sawaki.

EDIT 3: Looks like when Hamato Yoshi was trying to bow but couldn't due to the knife they kept the American voice track in. That, or Splinter's voice actor was really good at imitating the American version. Also, when Yoshi moved to America they didn't specifically say what city. He just says "America" in his narration. Though after getting the turtles but before they mutated (right after showing that Saki made the Foot into a criminal clan) he does state that he was in New York.

[Buffy]

In Belgium they (unfortunately) dubbed it in Dutch. It was terrible to say at least: the voice-over actors didn't really put an effort in the voices and sometimes the translations where terribly wrong! For example: In "A Better Mousetrap" (ep. no2 of season 1) when Don asks if everybody is ok after they were all flushed from a sewer pipe, Raph answers 'peachy'. In Dutch they literally translated it as: 'Perzik', what means 'peach'. Terrible isn't it? :p
Also they only showed the first season, while in Holland they showed more seasons.

[tinlunlau]

i watched the movies dubbed in cantonese featuring the voices of Hong Kong rock band BEYOND (when they were still a group of 4) as the turtles and actor Lawrence Cheng as Splinter. Beyond was a hugely popular band all over Asia and from what i gather, they were popular in Japan as well. (their band leader Wong Ka-Kui who played Raphael died in a freak lighting accident when they were performing in Japan. this was back in 1993)

the cantonese dub was fine. translations were good and close to the english version. just a few changes made to reflect hong kong culture like the scene in the first TMNT movie where Donatello asks Raphael a question in April's farm. i forgot what was asked in the english version but in the cantonese dub, Donatello asks a question in reference to an old Chinese novel called "The Water Margin".

Beyond did an excellent job as the turtles.
i can't say much about the actors. Officer Sterns seems to speak with a Chiu Chow accent for some reason. also, i recall the cantonese dub was released on laserdisc in a monaural audio track as opposed to dolby stereo.

[Kendamu]

i watched the movies dubbed in cantonese featuring the voices of Hong Kong rock band BEYOND (when they were still a group of 4) as the turtles and actor Lawrence Cheng as Splinter. Beyond was a hugely popular band all over Asia and from what i gather, they were popular in Japan as well. (their band leader Wong Ka-Kui who played Raphael died in a freak lighting accident when they were performing in Japan. this was back in 1993)

the cantonese dub was fine. translations were good and close to the english version. just a few changes made to reflect hong kong culture like the scene in the first TMNT movie where Donatello asks Raphael a question in April's farm. i forgot what was asked in the english version but in the cantonese dub, Donatello asks a question in reference to an old Chinese novel called "The Water Margin".

Beyond did an excellent job as the turtles.
i can't say much about the actors. Officer Sterns seems to speak with a Chiu Chow accent for some reason. also, i recall the cantonese dub was released on laserdisc in a monaural audio track as opposed to dolby stereo.
He asked Raph a question about "War and Peace".

[tinlunlau]

yeah...that was it..

[DrSpengler]

I was wondering about the Japanese dub the other day...

There are "video cassette" versions of the first 2 episodes on You Tube dubbed in Japanese, but the voices sound very different from the voices I've heard in later Japanese dubbed episodes.

For example, Krang sounds totally different in those early episodes. The Japanese actor is making a clear attempt to do Pat Fraley's voice, yet in later season episodes Krang has his infamous shrill, shrieking voice.

Were there different dub casts or something? Or did some of the voice actors just change their vocal performances a bit over the course of the series?

[Sage Ninja]

I was just about to ask the same question about the japanese dub. I've been watching clips of the TMNY japanese dub and there are handful of them from diffrent seasons and the characters do in deed sound diffrent from the first season. It does seem like the sieyuu (japanese voice actors) changed the their vocals in later seasons (I don't think their was any cast changes). Particularly Krang and April. Yeah Krang sounds more gutteral and low toned in the first season, and later he sounds very high pitched and shrieky, and April voice in the first saeason sounds more high and spunky, in later seasons her voice is more soft and gentle sounding. Weird :ohwell: .

here is another clip of the TMNT Japanese dub:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7dFY50grdk

Isn't Krang's voice a bug out!? You can't even really tell if he is supposed to be male or female! And I just loved the acting during the exchange that Splinter and Krang where having. Pretty dramatic.

But I was wondering. I watch alot of anime so I've come to be able to pick out words here and there and under stand them. I think I can detect a bit of foul language in the dialgue :o I think in the exchange between Krang and Shredder they both address each other a few times with "teme" which I under stand is a very rude usage of the word "you" and right before Shredder goes to talk to Krang he referes to Krang with "Kisima" which from what i under stand is the most rude and vulgar usage of the word "you" and is considered a profanity in japanese culture? And when Shredder is confronting the Bebop and Rocksteady and the other punks I could swear I heard Rocksteady use the word "Kono" which means bastard :o . Man, that is sort of a bug out that the japanese decided to put a little bit of harsh language in their version of the dialogue. It kind of gives the show a slighty grittier feel to it.

By the way I really like Rocksteady and Bebops human voices, they are just right. And now that I listen to the turtles voices a bit more. I think I rather like Donatello and Leoanrdo's voices. Donatello especially since it is rather deep sounding, which is so diffrent from Barry Gordon's higher voice. Donatello's deep voice makes him sound tougher. Funny how diffrence of voices can change your perceptive of a character. I still am not crazy about Raphael and Michaelangelo's voices though, especially Michaelangelo. he just sounds...weird :| and to old to be a teenager I guess.

Although I do think the japanese seiyuu does a more convincing job at battle cries and grunts of exsertion while they are fighting. Notice how in the sparring scene in the beginning in the english version both Leoanrdo and Michaelangelo are basically silent during the whole thing (even when Michaelangelo gets thown into the wall) but in the Japanese dub there is a lot grunting and straining in effert during the whole scene. Good job.

[Kendamu]

I noticed in the first two videos that the Turtles spoke very informally while Splinter was a bit more polite. As for the "harsh langauge" that seems pretty common in children's action shows in Japan. They really don't make a big deal out of it there.

[Krang]

I was wondering about the Japanese dub the other day...

There are "video cassette" versions of the first 2 episodes on You Tube dubbed in Japanese, but the voices sound very different from the voices I've heard in later Japanese dubbed episodes.

For example, Krang sounds totally different in those early episodes. The Japanese actor is making a clear attempt to do Pat Fraley's voice, yet in later season episodes Krang has his infamous shrill, shrieking voice.

Were there different dub casts or something? Or did some of the voice actors just change their vocal performances a bit over the course of the series?
It does seem like the sieyuu (japanese voice actors) changed the their vocals in later seasons (I don't think their was any cast changes). Particularly Krang and April. Yeah Krang sounds more gutteral and low toned in the first season, and later he sounds very high pitched and shrieky, and April voice in the first saeason sounds more high and spunky, in later seasons her voice is more soft and gentle sounding. Weird :ohwell: .
You're both right. According to the Japanese TMNT Wikipedia page (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3%E3%82%A8%E3%8 2%A4%E3%82%B8%E3%83%BB%E3%83%9F%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BC% E3%82%BF%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88%E3%83%BB%E3%83%8B%E3%83 %B3%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E 3%83%88%E3%83%AB%E3%82%BA#1987.E5.B9.B4.E7.89.88.E 3.82.B7.E3.83.AA.E3.83.BC.E3.82.BA), it looks like there were 3 different casts: the original broadcast on TV Tokyo, the VHS tapes (where Sage Ninja's clips came from), and a later broadcast on satellite TV. The original broadcast uses the same cast as the TMNT OVA (except for Bebop), which explains why Krang has the high pitched voice in later episodes.

[tinlunlau]

just reading the chinese TMNT wikipedia page. it mentions that in Mainland China, Donatello was once known as "Einstein". roflmao!

[Sage Ninja]

You're both right. According to the Japanese TMNT Wikipedia page (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3%E3%82%A8%E3%8 2%A4%E3%82%B8%E3%83%BB%E3%83%9F%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BC% E3%82%BF%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88%E3%83%BB%E3%83%8B%E3%83 %B3%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E 3%83%88%E3%83%AB%E3%82%BA#1987.E5.B9.B4.E7.89.88.E 3.82.B7.E3.83.AA.E3.83.BC.E3.82.BA), it looks like there were 3 different casts: the original broadcast on TV Tokyo, the VHS tapes (where Sage Ninja's clips came from), and a later broadcast on satellite TV. The original broadcast uses the same cast as the TMNT OVA (except for Bebop), which explains why Krang has the high pitched voice in later episodes.

soo, wait i'm a little confused are you saying that they had diffrent actors for the tv version and the vhs version, or just the OVA serios? If all if this is explained in the wikipedia link you give I apoligise but I don't have a translator and can't read the text.

But putting the japanse dub aside, has any one seen this series in other languges like french, Spanish, and German? I saw a clip of a spanish dub of the next Mutation and I was little suprised at near and miss the cast was. Venus actually sounded pretty good and I'd argue she did a better job than the American voice. Donatello was just creepy to me :sick: .

For those of you from other countries that have seen the series dubbed into your languages how did you like the dubbing job? Over here in the States tradinally dubbing has been some what sub par to the orginal and doesn't keep with the feel of the show (at one time I think they are getting better now).

oh, and here is link to a scene of the classic series in Hungarian:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lyNJ3elqLY

Isn't krang's voice a bug out? I think its cool the show made it into so many diffrent languages, even some I didn't expect for it to make it in.

[DrSpengler]

You're both right. According to the Japanese TMNT Wikipedia page (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%86%E3%82%A3%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3%E3%82%A8%E3%8 2%A4%E3%82%B8%E3%83%BB%E3%83%9F%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BC% E3%82%BF%E3%83%B3%E3%83%88%E3%83%BB%E3%83%8B%E3%83 %B3%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%BF%E3%83%BC%E 3%83%88%E3%83%AB%E3%82%BA#1987.E5.B9.B4.E7.89.88.E 3.82.B7.E3.83.AA.E3.83.BC.E3.82.BA), it looks like there were 3 different casts: the original broadcast on TV Tokyo, the VHS tapes (where Sage Ninja's clips came from), and a later broadcast on satellite TV. The original broadcast uses the same cast as the TMNT OVA (except for Bebop), which explains why Krang has the high pitched voice in later episodes.

Ahhhhh that's what I thought.

I had seen the broadcat version of the first episode on You Tube as well as several of the later season ones (including the Casey Jones episode) and recognized the cast from the OVAs. But when I saw the "Video version" of the first episode on You Tube all the voices soundedly oddly different.

Regrettably, all the Japanese episodes from the Broadcast versions that *were* on You Tube got taken down so I couldn't make any comparisons off hand.

Thanks!

[Krang]

soo, wait i'm a little confused are you saying that they had diffrent actors for the tv version and the vhs version, or just the OVA serios? If all if this is explained in the wikipedia link you give I apoligise but I don't have a translator and can't read the text.
Sorry about that, I meant that there were three different Japanese voice casts: one that was used for both the TV version and the OVA series, one that was used in the clips you posted (the VHS version), and one that was used in a later satellite TV version. From a quick glance, it looks like the three casts are entirely separate, so no two casts share any voices.

[Scavenger]

I have tapes with Dutch dubbed old TMNT cartoon episodes and one episode of old TMNT in Cantonese. But eh, I cant rip it. :lol: