Hello I’m the Nostalgic Critic, I’ll remember it so you don’t have to… wait, wrong series. Anyways, I am finally done with the English dub of Future GPX Cyber Formula and it’s about time I talk about it In it’s entirety. Like I said in my previous Journal, I pretty much covered most of the main characters except for Kaga, Randoll and others so I’ll get to them now. Bleed Kaga, who is Japanese, has a very thick Australian accent which didn’t fit him at all in the slightest, but for Randoll, he had a very deep and yet royal voice that actually fits him ironically. With that out of the way, let’s get to the few good stuff before I tear this thing to shreds. Checker Sugimoto is very entertaining, especially with his English VA, Randoll was actually more of a threat because of his voice being more calm and that slight British accent was so good, and everything from the Japanese Dub, from the soundtrack and sfx, are good, and when the main three (Hayato, Naoki and Karl) yell their boosters, it gave me goosebumps. With that out of the way, let’s tear this thing limb from limb. Like I said before, Hayato’s voice is so wrong on so many levels that it doesn’t match what the Japanese VA had accomplished, the lip syncing is wickedly out of place in some episodes and that infamous scene when Hayato, Shinjyo and Ohtomo were eating together in Germany, Shinjyo’s voice went to a different voice for one scene and that was it. As a fan for well made English Dub anime, I can’t honestly defend this show and I won’t give it the benefit of being from a different country and lost to time. Anyway, I do have my own fan idea of what the English Dub of Cyber Formula would be if the show came to the west in the future and that would also include the OVAs as well
Sugo GIO Grand Prix English Cast
Hayato Kazami: Yuri Lowenthal
Asuka Sugo: Christina Vee
Osamu Sugo: Chris Sabat
Ryohei “Pei” Suomi: Brad Swaile
Shinsuke Maki: Andrew Francis
Claire Fortran: Michelle Ruff
Kuramada: Patrick Seitz
Daisuke Amagi: Richard Ian Cox
Henri Claytor: Bryce Papenbrock
Megumi: Cherami Leigh
Satsuki: Britney Karbowski
Asurada: Troy Baker
Aoi ZIP Formula English Cast
Naoki Shinjyo: Matthew Mercer
Jotaro “Bleed” Kaga: Johnny Young Bosch
Phil Fritz: Todd Haberkorn
Kyorshiro Nagumo: J. Michael Tatum
Kyoko Aoi: Monica Rial
Union Savior English Voice Cast
Karl Lichter Randoll: Mona Marshall
George Grayson: David Kaye
Stormzender English Cast
Jackie Gudelhian: Sonny Strait
Franz Heinel: Travis Willingham
Missing Link English Cast
Edheli Bootsvorz: Doug Eholtz
Leon Earnhardt: Aleks Le
Others
Johji Ohtomo: Todd Haberkorn
I made this list a long time ago but I was able to revise it with a friend and I could see this cast happening if they would actually consider airing Cyber Formula in the West, but it’s only a dream. Will It happen? If there’s a lot of support to get this series to the west, then it could be possible, but a man can dream, can he? I’m the Nostalgic Critic, I’ll remember so you don’t have to… Crap I did it again
So this is my review of the Dreaded, yet long lost English Dub of Cyber Formula. From the outset, the dub of the first episode wasn’t too bad to be considered, some of the voices were somewhat decent from the first couple of minuets, until the title card in which Hayato Kazami spoke. For those who don’t know, Hayato Kazami is voiced by (in the Japanese Dub), Jun’ichi Kanemaru, aka the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog. Before I get sidetracked, the voice for Pei is actually alright in my opinion, but Miki, the Chief Mechanic for the Sugo team, has a very thick Southern American accent, and that’s not uncommon for most English Dub type shows that have characters that grew up near farms in Japan and have that stereotype. Asuka does have a very decent voice and I’ll give that a pass, and now for Hayato himself. His voice is wickedly out of place, and should’ve went with a VA that has a much younger sounding in my opinion. For Kyoko Aoi, the Team Principal for Aoi Formula, she has a British Accent and I somewhat don’t mind it but for Naoki Shinjyo, his voice will be inconsistent, that I can tell. The one last thing that I can really appreciate, is that V-8 (the husky that Asuka has), didn’t change because it was perfect considering that Kanemaru voiced her, yes her (because in CF Zero, it was confirmed that V-8 is a female and had puppies). Asurada in the meantime was… ok? So that is my first review of the Cyber Formula English Dub, but more will be on the way. I still got 36 episodes left so, I guess I’ll write the entire experience in a separate Journal that way I don’t have to write individual ones. That’s all for now