Minimum Tempo

Bandai Entertainment held a Lucky Star & Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion screening today at the ImaginAsian Center in Los Angeles. The free screening offered the premiere of the first two episodes for each series as well as appearances by Wendee Lee, Kari Wahlgren, and Steve Blum, who voice Izumi Konata and Hiiragi Kagami of Lucky Star and Tōdō Kyōshirō of Code Geass. They signed posters and held a quick Q-and-A panel.

I actually had to leave early before the second episode (and possibly third) of Code Geass was shown, but I (and everyone else at the event) did get a Lucky Star poster signed by Wendee Lee and Kari Wahlgren. The first DVD volume, both limited edition and regular versions, was available for purchase, as well as an assortment of random Code Geass merchandise including a $155 USD “limited edition” school uniform. Instead, I bought a Suzaku figure that I regret purchasing.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures >< but the theater was pretty nice. The ImaginAsian Center is located near Little Tokyo. It was clean and rather small; the theater could probably fit about a hundred people. A few movie posters lined the walls for upcoming releases, including a huge cardboard setup for the Speed Racer film.

As for the actual dubs, they are terrible. First was Lucky Star. Many of you have seen and heard the trailer for the DVDs and may have been disappointed or disgusted. Wendee Lee’s performance as Konata wasn’t all that bad; although it definitely isn’t the Hirano Aya I love and adore, her voice fits the character fairly well. Kari Wahlgren did a decent job as well; she didn’t fully nail my lovely Kagamin’s voice, but she did do a fair job with Kagami’s shouting and anger. Lucky Channel’s Akira was voiced by Stephanie Sheh, who did an adaquete job with her cute and tsuntsun voices.

Every other actor and actress was… mediocre at best. Even Kagami and Tsukasa’s father seemed too serious when in the original Japanese voice, Hiiragi-san seems kind and almost cute (for a father). Tsukasa and Miyuki sound like they have inhaled helium. Shiraishi and Kuroi-sensei aren’t the best, but I can put up with their voices for a whole season.

It seems like they are keeping the references and gags to Japanese pop culture, because during the rather embarrassing Q-and-A panel, Lee and Wahlgren mentioned the numerous references including the Timotei commercial in which Konata talks about in episode six. Translation-wise, some of the words and terms used were questionable, such as “cutie pie” (who the hell says that?). Overall, the translation seemed consistent with a.f.k.’s subtitles, including the opening and ending themes.

Now onto Code Geass… I hate it. I don’t like any of the voices, and some lines made me facepalm (Kallen said something like… “You fellas have seen what this badass mother can do!”). Lelouch, whose voice is instrumental in my enjoyment of Code Geass because the original simply suits his character so well, has the voice of a douchebag. It’s awful, it’s boring, and it’s simply not Lelouch. Fukuyama Jun brings a certain charm to Lelouch that Johnny Yong Bosch does not. Nothing stands out from the rest of the cast; overall it’s a lacking dub that fails to excite the viewer. I only watched the first episode, however, so I couldn’t hear any of the other characters that debuted in the second (and third?) episodes.

I went to this event hoping that they would give away a limited edition of Lucky Star Vol. 1, but nothing of the sort happened (unless it occurred after the Code Geass screening). Frankly, I was disappointed, but I did spot some cosplay-donning Wapanese in Little Tokyo Square (or whatever it’s called right now). Damn Narutards.

This post is tagged Code Geass, Dubs, ImaginAsian Center, Kari Wahlgren, Los Angeles, Lucky Star, Wendee Lee

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