The original Ghost in the Shell voice actors will be once again reprising their roles in the upcoming Hollywood film’s Japanese language dub.
According to Natalie, Akio Otsuka will be voicing Batou as did in the 1995 Ghost in the Shell anime feature, its 2004 sequel Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, and Stand Alone complex. (Otsuka has also been the Japanese voice of Metal Gear‘s Snake.)
Likewise, Koichi Yamadera will be returning as the voice of Togusa, while Atsuko Tanaka will voice Scarlett Johansson’s character.
Tanaka, of course, voiced Motoko Kusanagi in the 1995 anime feature, as well as through Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Since Johansson’s character is apparently named “Mira”, might Tanaka’s performance cause confusion? Maybe not.
“It’s been a while since they have played these characters,” says Mamoru Oshii, director of the 1995 anime film. “I definitely want them to deliver performances they see fit. They’re all pros, so there’s nothing to worry about, and I can only say that this is something to look forward to.”
Movies get both dubbed and subtitled releases in Japan. But in the past few years, Japanese moviegoers have been increasingly complaining about the folks movie studios have brought in for dubs. Instead of hiring proper voice actors and actresses, distributors have brought in whichever celebrity is currently popular.
Because of this, the Japanese dub releases of some movies have suffered (The Avengers, for example), which is explains why Oshii says there is nothing to worry about and mentions how Otsuka, Yamadera and Tanaka are all pros. That they are.
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5 responses to “Original Ghost In The Shell Anime Actors Dubbing The Live-Action Movie In Japan ”
A series of Studio Ghibli films suffered this same problem with their Western release – from memory this happened for Porco Rosso through to Ponyo – and because of it they were almost unwatchable.
Are you sure it’s between those two? That’s a 16 year period an ten movies. Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle are in that list and they both had pretty good English voice acting. I don’t remember if I saw the English dub of Princess Mononoke but I don’t remember there being complaints about it.
My wording was poor, series was intended to imply a number or selection rather than a sequence. Apart from the odd exception, Spirited Away was surprisingly good, films like Princess Mononoke and Howl’s Moving Castle had some glaringly bad casting that fits the accusation of hiring then-popular celebrities instead of professional voice actors.
Armitage III: Polymatrix – Kiefer Sutherland ruined that for me
Imagine Scarlet Johansen as a voice actor… I mean, her normal acting is like fossilised wood, as a voice actor she’d make the worst fly-in celeb look like a genius.