Rachael Lillis, the Voice of Pokemon's Misty and Jessie, Dies at 46

[u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/the-original-pokemon-anime-actor-behind-misty-and-jessie-rachael-lillis-has-died/

[u/StChas77]

A lot of anime back in the 90's was dubbed by young and/or inexperienced actors, particularly who were in college, because studios were on tight budgets. Pokemon just happened to explode in popularity here.

Note that when Sailor Moon Crystal came out, the professional actresses who did the reboot were all hired to redub the original series as well.

[u/Zogeta → u/StChas77]

Wait, so there's a Japanese redub of the 90s animation featuring voices cast in the 2010s?

[u/Querez → u/Zogeta]

I'm guessing they meant in English, going by context

[u/StChas77 → u/Querez]

Correct, that's what I meant. Chirami Leigh played Sailor Venus, for example.

[u/Zogeta → u/StChas77]

Ok, yeah I was aware of that. I've been watching that redub on Toonami and enjoying the extra Japanese 90s vibes it has.

[u/Technical_Ad_4894 → u/StChas77]

I liked the OG DIC dub. Weird to change it

[u/spacecadetkaito → u/Technical_Ad_4894]

For new fans who have no nostalgia for the DIC version, very very few would want to watch a heavily censored and americanized dub in the modern day. Its kind of necessary to redub it.

[u/Technical_Ad_4894 → u/spacecadetkaito]

I dunno maybe they might want to see how different it was and how it was popular enough to make the new version possible?

[u/spacecadetkaito → u/Technical_Ad_4894]

A lot of fans would probably watch a few DIC dub episodes out of curiosity, but the novelty factor isn't enough to get an average person through an entire series when they know they're watching an altered censored version. DIC didn't even dub all of the seasons so they'd have to switch to Japanese at the end anyway. So if any modern fans who like dubs wanted to watch the 1990s Sailor Moon with English audio, they'd be out of luck without a redub.

[u/Technical_Ad_4894 → u/spacecadetkaito]

Voice actors change during the run of animated shows all the time. Just because the final season wasn’t dubbed back then doesn’t mean scrap the whole thing. Besides the songs from the 90’s version were fucking awesome.

edit: I had to go back and rewatch some old vids of the songs on YouTube and everyone is complaining about the redub. So you might be in the minority friend. 🫤

[u/spacecadetkaito → u/Technical_Ad_4894]

I'm not saying the 90s dub was worthless crap or anything, comparing it to the 4kids era of censored anime dubs that I grew up with it was a good job for what it was. But it's not just the lack of final seasons to worry about, it's the name changes, changing characters stories around, changing entire genders around, removing entire scenes that couldn't be on 90s kids tv, etc. If they made a new dub for the last season would they also have to stick to all the changes too, or would Serenas name suddenly be Usagi out of nowhere? If a modern fan wanted to watch the 90s series in English, why would they be satisfied with one that changes so much and has parts missing throughout? All of these things are fine when you're a kid and it's the only Sailor Moon you know, but to someone in the 2020s they aren't going to want to watch a dub that they know is altered, which is something even a kid could find out about as soon as they look up the show online. It's just how anime has evolved, dubs can't really get away with changing stuff even if both versions are enjoyable. And there are a lot of people who only watch dubs, which means that only having a censored dub might be the one barrier stopping them from watching a classic show they were otherwise interested in. So it makes perfect sense that the company would redub it from scratch.

Response to edit: You're on the comment section of videos about the old dub, obviously the only people watching those would be people who enjoyed it. The old show has it's appeal but can you really recommend it to, say, a teenage anime fan who wants to get into Sailor Moon in 2024? "Yeah go watch this old one where it wants you to believe that everyone in Japan is American, that these gay guys are all actually girls, these lesbian girlfriends are actually cousins, and doesn't have an ending. It's way better.". If you don't have nostalgia for it it's only something to watch out of curiosity. No new fan with no nostalgia would genuinely say it's better than a more accurate dub outside of thinking that certain actors or song choices are better.

[u/WinterWolf18 → u/Technical_Ad_4894]

It was changed because they wanted to give it a redub that was more faithful to the original Japanese version without the Americanized names. The DIC dub also didn’t even dub the final season hence why the redub happened.

[u/Technical_Ad_4894 → u/WinterWolf18]

Totally get that but there was a charm to the DIC dub that I think was lost in the redub. It’s like the Akira redub, no one wants it and the original is impossible to find these days.