So, yeah. Funimation uploaded their first two dubbed episodes of Soul Eater onto Youtube. For what reason I do not know. Promotional, I guess.

Here's the first episode if you haven't seen it: [link]

First off, I'm disappointed that they changed Shibusen's name to whatever crazy abbreviation they came up with (which sounds suspiciously like a combination of "DMV" and "WNBA"...which would make it the most deplorable, hated organization ever built). They should've just left it as Shibusen, even if the acronym doesn't make sense in english it could simply be the school's name. No idea how they're going to effectively lip-sync that.

Second, Shinigami's voice is...well, I guess they did the best that they could. I suppose his spirit is more or less captured in his English voice, in that it is eccentric and childish-sounding. I found Spirit's voice a little weird when I first heard it. Maybe a little too high-pitched or something? I got used to it more or less by the end of the episode, though. Soul's voice was a pretty good match-up, I guess. Maka's voice I was fine with, although I don't think it captures her "tsundere-ish" personality as well. Her English voice kind of just makes her sound like a...bitch. There's none of that childish innocence that you got with the original voice, which I thought was especially clear at 14:12. In the original version, Maka stutters a little and seems somewhat threatened, but in the English version she just sounds pissed off. So, yeah, I think there're some subtle differences in personality brought on by the new dub. Everyone else seems pretty much the same, though.

(I think Blair's original actress was a slightly better singer...although neither would get the American Idol status).

Here's the second episode: [link]layList&=l52PjjPiC8I

Black Star's voice is high-pitched and annoying just like his original voice (and the voice of another annoying, obnoxious ninja we all know), although it is considerably more childish-sounding, which sort of makes him seem a lot younger. (uh...how old ARE they?). Also, Black Star's use of the word "Big" seems much more inappropriate in the English dub. Especially in the preview of the next episode ("You're just jealous of my bigness"). Tsubaki's voice actress is...okay? I guess? It's kind of hard to say. Tsubaki isn't exactly the most expressive character of the bunch. Usually if she isn't expressing exasperation regarding Black Star's antics, she's displaying dignified optimism, so there's not much drama with her. Of course, admittedly, I found her original voice to be more appealing. Just because it had that Japanese "cutesy" charm to it that you cannot find in a white girl's voice no matter how hard they may try. Also, her voice sounded kind of awkward in the more dramatic scenes, mainly when Black Star was struck down by Mifune. It was kind of squeaky or something...almost like it was a man impersonating a woman for an abridged series. And Mifune's voice was okay. Although not sinister enough. Of course, no dub has ever been able to replicate any sinister anime voice. Take Lelouche and Light as examples.

With the preview for Death the Kid's episode, I didn't really notice anything about Patty's voice. What killed me was Kid's voice actor. What the fuck. Seriously. He sounds just...not right. It's not right. It's much like what happened to Ishida from Bleach. He should have this cool, low voice, and then they replace it with some nasally, anal-retentive shrieks. I guess I should have figured as much. And Kid was my second-favorite male character...(my favorite is Shinigami).

I think it might've done them good to put up a test episode like they did when Funimation dubbed Keroro Gunsou. Because of that test episode, a lot of fans commented and they made a lot of drastic changes subsequently, which I assume were because of the suggestions made. Of course, I suppose dubbing Soul Eater isn't the same as dubbing Keroro Gunsou in that it's not exactly a comedy anime, so it's not like you have to substitute a whole lot of Japanese puns and jokes with American ones. Even so...maybe the voice actors and actresses could have gotten some tips. Or...just the casting director, actually.

Anyway, all in all, I'm standing on middle ground here as far as my approval of this dub goes, leaning a bit to the side of disappointment and rejection. Of course, I guess that's bound to come with any anime dub. Although I personally like the job they did with Keroro Gunsou, even though they essentially rewrote every episode for comedic purposes. (If you still don't know what Keroro Gunsou is, check my avatar).

Anyway again, regarding My Guy, it would be better not to expect regular updates. I'm only going to post a new one when I think of something funny and want to turn it into a comic. This comic's sole purpose is to allow me to make jokes with character's people are already familiar with. I've been trying to come up with some new, innovative ideas for comics. I gotta say, it's pretty hard to come up with an original idea. Scratch that. It's hard to come up with an original "GOOD" idea. I was coming up with some ideas and scrapped them all, thinking they were crap.

Then I went on the internet looking for inspiration, and, I gotta say, some things were put into perspective for me. I simply googled "comic ideas" and stumbled upon a forum thread where people simply posted their ideas for manga series. Some even said they were seriously turning them into comics. I read through most of them and, wow, they all really sucked. REALLY sucked. Badly. There was maybe one or two that were somewhat interesting but the rest were BAAAAAAAAAAD. They were all generic, cliche'd shit like "IN THE YEAR 5135, IN A POST-APOCALYPTIC WORLD, HUMANITY HAS DIVIDED INTO THREE FACTIONS DETERMINED TO WIN THE BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, GENERIC CRAP." Or there was something like "LONG AGO, FOUR WARRIORS WERE GIVEN POWERS BY THE GOD OF CLICHED THEMES--FIRE, WATER, EARTH, AND AIR. THEY MUST USE THEIR MAGICAL ARMOR TO CONQUER THE DEMON QUEEN OF ASOBILIGAN. AS YOU CAN SEE, I SPENT TOO MUCH TIME WATCHING AVATAR AND KNIGHTS OF THE ZODIAC." Or there's the occasional "THERE WAS AN AVERAGE BOY. BUT THEN, ONE DAY, HE REALIZED SOMETHING. HIS PARENTS ARE ASSASSINS!" God help us.

There was one idea I didn't even get. It was something like "AFTER WORLD WAR THREE, MAN DECIDED THAT THE ONLY REASON FOR MEN TO EXIST IS TO KILL. THEREFORE, WAR IS INEVITABLE. SINCE THE EARTH WAS RENDERED INHOSPITABLE BY NUCLEAR WARFARE, MANKIND SEARCHES FOR A NEW PLANET AS A HOME, SO THAT THEY CAN MOVE THERE AND KILL THEMSELVES." I'm not even kidding. What the fuck.

One was like, "A boy doesn't fit in at school, so he joins a group of misfits." Yeah. Really inventive. Although I think I've seen it before. Oh, yeah. It's called EVERY DISNEY CHANNEL ORIGINAL ANYTHING I'VE EVER SEEN.

It really put things into perspective for me. It showed me that about 90% of the people in this world have no fucking clue how to be creative. I am one of the few at the eye of the motherfucking storm. So I say thank you to you right-brain-dead idiots. You have restored faith in myself.

I did, however, find this person's advice very honest and true: [link]

He seems to understand the mistakes a lot of people make when coming up with story ideas. Well, for manga at any rate. But I think this can also apply to American comics as well.

Well, anyway, I've been forcing myself to draw more comics as a result of my desire to make something good. I might upload some of them if I feel like it. I'm also experimenting more with western comic styles, as apposed to generic manga stuff.

What am I working on right now? Honestly?

An action-comedy comic about an unemployed, obese ninja.