ALDNOAH.ZERO Episodes 1-6 English Dub Thoughts

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Konnichiwa, minna, today I’m here with a totally unscripted (script?) post regarding Aniplex of America’s [ridiculously overpriced] first volume of the sci-fi mecha drama anime about space wars, ALDNOAH.ZERO. Their first volume contains episodes 1-6 on DVD with an all-new English dub. Before we have a look at the cast, you can read my season one and two reviews for more background on the series by clicking on them and/or go watch the show yourself for free over on Crunchyroll!

You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for a U.S. release of this show . . .

Art book available in the Limited Edition release.

Our main man Inaho Kaizuka is voiced by Max Mittelman. He’s fairly new to voice acting if I am correct, but he brings a fresh breath to the nearly-silent protagonist. Natsuki Hanae did a fine job, don’t get me wrong! But Mittelman uses a little more expression when he speaks, and that means all the world considering that Inaho acts like a pre-recorded message. So far so good!

The passionate drama bomb Slaine Troyard is voiced by Zach Aguilar, another newbie, I think. His intense breathing and airy voice try to compensate for Kensho Ono’s higher pitched, younger sound, but it’s still not as good as the Japanese dub. The acting was great, his voice was just too low. I should add that by episode 6, his voice really grew on me, and I just hope that in the second set he finally feels comfortable with his role.

Erika Harlacher does a fine job at capturing Princess Asseylum Vers Allusia‘s allure. Sometimes it sounds as if she’s holding back too much air, but I don’t know if that was an acting issue or the sound setup. Solid nevertheless.

Since those are the main three characters, I’ll just list the minors with a brief reaction:

Christina Vee as Rayet Areash – OMG it’s Homura Akemi *heavy breathing*

Erica Mendez as Inko Amifumi – She didn’t sound like Ryuko, but most definitely a rising star in voice acting

Bryce Papenbrook as Calm Craftman – Man, Papenbrook can pull off the best young “fiery” guy-friend voice ever, awesome!

Christine Marie Cabanos as Nina Klein – “Right or left or right or left or . . .” not too shabby, high voice matches character

Bobby Thong as Okisuke Mikuni – Gets sucked up in the first 5 minutes, good I guess

Erica Lindbeck as Yuki Kaizuka – She does a great older sister, like damn 😉

Matt Mercer as Lt. Marito – The last time I heard Mattew was actually in person at a con, so hehehe makes a good alcoholic

Ethan Murray as Soma Yagarai – Yep, he sounds like a doctor to me

Julie Ann Taylor as Darzana Magbaredge – She’s ironically missing that low edge like in the Japanese, but still a nice performance

Trina Loo as Kaoru Mizusaki – Not much to say here other than she’s Magbaredge’s b*tch

Sandy Fox as Eddelrittuo – *gasps, shreeks* come here you tiny little cute puffy servant you, wait, you didn’t read that

Lex Lang as Count Cruhteo – Wow, we need this guy more often! So majestic, so bold

Kirk Thornton as Count Saazbaum – Another powerful voice, one of my favorites to listen to!

Todd Haberkorn as Trillram – YESSS WE NEED MORE SASSY HABERKORN

Patrick Seitz as Vlad – This and Trillram were probably the best rolls cast, that rich gurgly low voice is what more actors should strive for

Kyle McCarley as Kisaki Matsuribi – Very similar to Inaho’s boring dialect, only not as memorable

Lucien Dodge as Yutaro Tsumugi – I honestly didn’t realize how much of a pervert this character was until I watched this English dub *glasses gleam*

Alan Lee as Shigo Kakei – I mean, he’s a background character, what can you expect

Carrie Keranen as Countess Femieanne – It was racking my brain as I watched the whole episode, but then it dawned on me. ALL HAIL LADY SATSUKI! She’s also Mami Tomoe, which I didn’t realize. Fabulous acting!

Geoffrey Chalmers as Rayregalia Vers Rayvers – He nailed the old king voice for sure, well done

Below is the English Dub Trailer Aniplex posted a while back. See it for yourself!

And here is their cheesy little yet humerous English Cast Promotional video announcing their presence at the 2015 Anime Expo. Dorky as it was, it made me realize something: There are actually two heroes of the story; two different eyes to watch the show through. Remembering this makes me want to rewrite my reviews, or revisit the franchise in a future post because I enjoy it so much. 😀

As you can see, I am really pleased with how the English dub was executed! Besides Slaine’s slightly low voice, everyone else was pretty well cast. Now I have to wait until October for the second set to be released . . .  that’s an awful long wait 😦 I hope they decide to dub the second season, despite it’s disappointment, as I’d love to watch it all over again! I do think that the set is worth picking up for hardcore fans of the series, despite the DVD being $30 for only six episodes. It was so much fun watching an episode each night before I went to sleep . . and now it’s over. Thanks for reading this rather different post! Did you enjoy a step away from reviews? How do you think the A.Z English dub fares compared to the Japanese? Personally, I thought it was much better/easier to watch in English. Channel your thoughts to the comments below, and until next time, this has been

– Takuto, your host

26 thoughts on “ALDNOAH.ZERO Episodes 1-6 English Dub Thoughts”

  1. I think they did a fair job of matching the sounds of the voices between the two. Watching in English does make something much easier to watch, unless you’re familiar enough with Japanese or just like subtitles. I tend to dislike dubs, though. It feels as though they’re adding a voice to lines rather than becoming the character, acting through the character. I think the best example of becoming the character is if you watch Mark Hamil talk about voicing the Joker.

    I love Aldnoah Zero, but I absolutely refuse to pick it up for the blu ray price. Even for must-have anime, I’d only really do $5 per episode, and Aniplex has most its stuff priced over $10 per episode.

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    • That’s an interesting thought about acting, in how they’re just adding voice lines rather than becoming the character. Personally, I tend to like the Japanese voices ten times more than the English, but I generally have more fun watching a show that’s in my own language. I’ll have to give that Joker bit a watch.

      And it’s ridiculously overpriced! I just happen to receive a lot of gift money from a friend, and we both wanted to watch the show dubbed through a DVD.

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  3. Good review Takuto!!!. I didn’t realise they’ve already released a dub version of Aldnoah. Well Oct will be around the corner, believe that. It’s August already. By what you posted, the dub seem to be have some real thought actually be put in to it. Normally they pull out some heavy A-list VA and care little about the rest. Will be interesting to read your thoughts on the SAOII dub version.

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    • Thanks Rocco! And you’re probably right, I mean it’s already August . . . wait, IT’S ALREADY AUGUST! *heavy breathing* Where’d my summer go?!
      From what I’ve seen or rather, heard, Aniplex tends to choose newer voice actors and actresses to play the leads, while staple voice actors make up the rest of the cast. I think it’s a brilliant strategy so far. Getting to hear new voices, especially as main characters is always kinda scary but fun. Then the pros can ease the extra impact by, ya know, being themselves. Maybe I should write a future post about this . . . ? And by the way, yes, despite the terrifying prices, I do plan to purchase the SAO II DVDs, cause why not, right? I mean, I gotta fanboy somehow! 😀

      Thanks for stopping by, man!

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  4. Ahhhh I have heard about this anime but after reading your review and watching the trailer for it I am soooo interested now and it’s got my todd >////< *dreams away* he is so amazing I have met him he's such a sweetie 🙂

    Hope your are well Taku 😀 I miss talking to you XD

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    • I love this anime a ton, but it’s one of those shows where you have to accept a bucket of flaws and dropped concepts first. And Todd ~ Gosh that guy is cool, and I believe you mentioned you meant him on one of your videos, I think. Anyway, THAT’S AMAZING! What I’d give to meet him in person . . . Anyway, it does feel like a while since we’ve talked, I missed you, too!

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      • Yusss I did meet him hehe well I’ll watch any anime pretty much muahhh 🙂 It was of the best experiences of my life
        How are you btw?

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      • This comment slipped by and I didn’t even notice it, so sorry! And thanks for asking, I’m doing great over here. I mean, a lot of anime out there that I’d love to buy, but no extra cash to do it, ya know what I mean? I’m currently watching Nagi-Asu, but I haven’t gotten very far due to . . . hmm, I’m not quite sure, actually. Maybe I should just buckle down and marathon one of these summer nights.
        How are you? I saw/heard your recent AMV part on your channel (much better than anything I could do, BTW :)), so that must be exciting to do with others, right?

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      • Ahaha it slipped away like a sponge lol
        OH I am glad you are well 🙂 Oo Nagi – asu I feel this reminds me something??? what’s about?

        I am doing okay thankyou hehe ^^ Oh you saw one of my amv works they are nothing amazing it’s a fun past time for me XD

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  5. In the early 2000s companies always released things in like 4-6 episode batches. However that kinda ruined the market. I’m not happy at all that Aniplex is trying to bring back having to collect 7 individual disks or wait years for a really expensive full set. Ugh.
    Either way, good review!

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    • Exactly right. As a casual fan, I can’t even pick up a show I liked licensed by them unless I fork over an arm and a leg! Meanwhile, FUNimation is releasing Complete LTD Edition sets for no more than $50. Not to mention, their dubs are more favorable and frankly are higher quality in terms of acting. It doesn’t make it any better when Aniplex takes all of the shows I like.
      And thank you!

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      • I enjoy the releases by Funimation and Sentai because of how great their pricing is. About the only thing I miss are the art boxes. You used to be able to get one per series but now it’s a feature for a limited release. Which isn’t all bad but I do wish more series could get them again.
        NIS America is doing some similar things. They did the rerelease of Cardcaptor Sakura (a favorite of mine) but they have the dumbest releases. You have the option of the limited edition set but only in Bluray or three DVD sets for $60 each. It makes me want to stick with my old Geneon/Pioneer release even though I really wanted to get CCS when it was announced.

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      • I heard something of how FUNi used to have boxes either each release, and I wish they still did that. And that Cardcaptors set – ufff – that’s also one that I’ve been wanting, but I’m definitely not going to pay that price. I’m currently watching Nagi-Asu. Don’t even get me started on how pricy that LTD edition is . . . at least it’s real pretty to look at.

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      • My biggest problem with the Cardcaptor Sakura release is I don’t have a Bluray player. Which rules out the limited edition.
        And yeah you used to see either the first or second disc come with an art box. I still have my original Tsubasa DVD with its art box from like 2007 (God it’s been awhile). It’s great because it holds my complete collection and the OVAs for Tsubasa.

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      • I can see that being an issue 🙂
        And that’s pretty neat. Let’s see, the only “old FUNi” release that I own is this old box set for Negima! Season one. It’s got that collector’s set up where, after taking off the slipcover, it unfolds to reveal all six discs lying beneath the flaps. I recently got it signed by Greg Ayres, which was awesome.

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    • For watching dubbed anime on the internet . . . Just buy it.
      But if you don’t have the money/don’t want to invest in a bad dub/can’t find it in stores/every excuse on planet Earth, then someone here will probably post it online soon. You can try your luck on YouTube in a month to see if someone has the heart and guts to upload it – Pretty much all of Kill la Kill’s dub is on there.
      Hope this helps

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  7. Pingback: End of July Update 8/5/15 | Takuto's Anime Cafe

    • Ah, Aldnoah, an intriguing hit-up for you, if I do say so myself. While I really enjoyed the first season as well, I’m afraid to admit that I’m with the party that’s against the sequel’s existence. Looking back, the concept and direction of the sequel is pretty cool, as well as the new characters (the new princess in particular was worth investing time into). What ruined it for me was the weight the sequel carried from the first’s climax–none. At least it was pretty. The fandom actually makes it better for me too, which I never thought I’d say.

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