Initial Reaction Here--->
Ok with that out of my system, it's that time of the week again. Now I promised to make this review much longer than my review on Tuesday, and I WILL DELIVER! I am very satisfied with Nel's adult voice, and I will go into Nel and much more in a moment. Before I continue, voting is beginning for April's Featured Article, Featured Picture and Featured Quote! So please vote!
I am very happy of how Colleen has portrayed Nel (both child and adult form) and in my opinion she has done more justice to the character than her Japanese counter-part. Nel sounded exactly how she should have sounded and her speeches were well-scripted and eloquent in English. I also appreciate the variation between adult Nel with Ichigo, and I'm going to kick your a$% you sexist s.o.b/normal Nel adult voice. While there was some variation in Japanese, in English it was more apparent. I also appreciated that Nel was not too "screechy" when she was yelling, which really bothered me in the Japanese dub. While the Nel/Nnoitra flashback fight was mostly filler, I was still happy that Nel didn't sound like a howler monkey. I also have to give Kudos to Colleen for making Nel's voice sound different from most of the older female characters she voices. One of my biggest concerns was that Nel would sound too much like Ino or Jazz Fenton. While if you listen carefully you can hear the vocal similarities, it was still very different and a breath of fresh air.
The other outstanding performances in this episode were Michael Sinterniklaas and Michael P. Greco. Micheal played an excellent sexist bastard. Michael has been an excellent Nnoitra, it was an unexpected, but excellent casting choice. Micheal showed a wide emotional range in the episode, and I could feel the hatred pulsating in his voice (which kinda scared me a little). To be honest as much as I love Nobutoshi Canna's Nnoitra, Michael really showed that Nnoitra is one of the most sexist characters ever created(Kudos Kubo...I guess)and is the literal definition of a male chauvinist pig! At some points I couldn't believe some of the garbage that was spewing out of his mouth. I felt like punching my TV screen at some moments(but then I remembered I can't watch the rest of the episode without a TV) and I wanted to punch Nnoitra in the face, kick him in the groin, and perform River-Stomp on his back(I love to think of fun, new, and creative ways to beat the crap out of people)! Micheal P. Greco's performance really caught me off guard. I was not expecting such an amazing performance! I loved how noble and loyal he made Pesche sound, and I was really blown away with his performance in the flashback and his vow to protect Nel. Michael's background is really more in original animation than dubbing work, so it was logical that he was cast as Pesche, because most of his credits are characters with "cartoony" voices. So I was really surprised how well he did in a serious moment. I could really feel it, and if I can feel that kind of emotion from an animated character, then my friend you have done something really special.
For the little screen time they had, Hank Matthews, Stephanie Sheh, Johnny Yong Bosche, and Keith Silverstein gave wonderful performances. Johnny in particular was excellent in how desperate he wanted to come and help Nel. Again while the emotion was there in the Japanese, in English it was "more there." Not that there is anything wrong with the episode in Japanese(I Love both Japanese and English versions of Bleach, yes it is possible!), in English it felt more "real." Ichigo sounded a little more desperate, and it sounded like he would "jump into the fiery pits of Hell" to assist his new friend.
The script in this episode has to be one of the best adapted scripts for the show in a LONG time. The dialogue flowed very smoothly, and it felt more like film dialogue than what you would typically expect from an anime. The only problem with the script was the udon joke, but it sucked in Japanese anyway, so there was really no hope in trying to save it, it was pretty much damned from the start. I am also starting to prefer "Praise" to "Declare." I don't know, "Praise" just sounds more "Nel" which next week we see her go into her resurrección (and then go bye-bye for a few episodes, then for a VERY LONG TIME! But on the bright-side she is the one arrancar I know for a fact is alive, please bring her back SOON Kubo!) so I am excited about that!
Overall it was an excellent and very well adapted episode.
Final Rundown[]
- Story 9/10
- Art/Animation 8.5/10
- Sound Effects 9/10
- Script adaptation 9.8/10
- Music 9/10
- Acting 9.8/10
My final Score for Bleach episode 194 dubbed is a 9.2 out of 10. Remember to join me on Tuesday when I review Bleach episode 312, and join me next week when I review Bleach 195 dubbed. Until Next Time! --Lemursrule (talk) 07:33, March 6, 2011 (UTC)