LoudyKaizoku
Goomba
- Pronouns
- he/him
First, you may be asking: LoudyKaizoku, this is an English-speaking forum, and not everyone here can speak Japanese. Why are you posting this? Well truth be told, I am fascinated with foreign dubs of media. It's interesting seeing how they translate it, who the VAs are, and what other roles they have done. Plus, there are probably a sizeable amount of anime fans here, so there's that.
Obviously, seiyuus (Japanese voice actors) dub tons of anime, as it's their bread and butter. However, they also dub movies from other countries, live-action and animated, which is what I wanted to bring to light today.
Now, Mario is popular everywhere, including his home country of Japan (unlike a certain blue hedgehog), so the Mario movie will be a big deal over there.
Here's the problem, though: A lot of Japanese dubs of animated movies prefer to cast celebs for the main roles rather than professional seiyuus (who are already treated like celebs over there, but are apparently not big enough for animated movies unless it's connected to an anime series), similar to America. There have been exceptions (Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse used professional seiyuus rather than celebs.), but this is the case for most animated movie dubs. Since I don't know much about Japanese celebs, I am going to use seiyuus only for this fancast.
With that out of the way, here we go with the roles, starting with:
Mario (English Movie VA: Chris Pratt): So, ideally it would be amazing if Toru Furuya (Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon, Yamcha in Dragon Ball) came back. He voiced Mario in the 1980s anime movie and some other things, so him reprising his role all these years later would be amazing. If he isn't available, I'd say get either Toshiyuki Morikawa (dubbed Chris Pratt as Emmet in The Lego Movie) or Koichi Yamadera (dubbed Chris Pratt as Star Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy)
Luigi (English Movie VA: Charlie Day) I have only one choice in mind for Luigi: Kappei Yamaguchi (Usopp in One Piece, L in Death Note, Inuyasha in Inuyasha) Maybe not the first choice you might think of, but honestly, as a Japanese dub VA for Luigi, he's kind of perfect. Usopp and Luigi kind of sound pretty similar already, so I could wholeheartedly see Kappei Yamaguchi as the ideal voice for Mario's bro.
Princess Peach (English Movie VA: Anya Taylor-Joy): Now this is a bit harder, as practically any female seiyuu could voice Peach. However, I have come to two choices: Ayane Sakura (Uraraka in My Hero Academia) and Akemi Okamura (Nami in One Piece, Fio in Porco Rosso). Both are good choices, but for different reasons. Ayane could do a good cute, energetic Peach. However, if the film has a feistier version, Akemi would be the better choice. Not saying Ayane can't be feisty, though, as that is something I would like to see.
Bowser (English Movie VA: Jack Black) A couple of picks here, known for voicing evil characters. Toshiyuki Morikawa (Sephiroth in many Final Fantasy games and Kingdom Hearts, Yoshikage Kira in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and the aforementioned Star Lord in the GOTG dub.) and Takehito Koyasu (Dio in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) are my top picks. Both VAs would make an amazing Bowser. Though, it would be interesting if we got Kenta Miyake (All Might in MHA, Avdol in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) to voice him, as it would be interesting to have him voice a villain.
Toad: (English Movie VA: Keegan Michael Key): You may laugh, but I kind of want Ikue Otani (Chopper in One Piece, Pikachu in Pokemon) to voice Toad. I know it's a complete 180 from Keegan, but in my mind, not only would Ikue be a perfect Toad, but I would argue that she is a far better choice than Keegan. So yeah. Ikue Otani as Toad.
Donkey Kong (English Movie VA: Seth Rogen) There may not be any need to dub him, since Seth may just be grunting only, but if they do dub Donkey Kong, then I would choose Takashi Nagasako. He already does Donkey Kong's grunts and noises in the games, so him voicing Donkey Kong should be a no brainer.
So yeah, this my fancast for the Japanese dub of the Mario movie. I know it was a bit long, but I had a lot to say. What do you think of my picks? Who would you cast in the Japanese dub of the Mario movie? Let me know in the comments.
Obviously, seiyuus (Japanese voice actors) dub tons of anime, as it's their bread and butter. However, they also dub movies from other countries, live-action and animated, which is what I wanted to bring to light today.
Now, Mario is popular everywhere, including his home country of Japan (unlike a certain blue hedgehog), so the Mario movie will be a big deal over there.
Here's the problem, though: A lot of Japanese dubs of animated movies prefer to cast celebs for the main roles rather than professional seiyuus (who are already treated like celebs over there, but are apparently not big enough for animated movies unless it's connected to an anime series), similar to America. There have been exceptions (Spider Man: Into the Spider-Verse used professional seiyuus rather than celebs.), but this is the case for most animated movie dubs. Since I don't know much about Japanese celebs, I am going to use seiyuus only for this fancast.
With that out of the way, here we go with the roles, starting with:
Mario (English Movie VA: Chris Pratt): So, ideally it would be amazing if Toru Furuya (Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon, Yamcha in Dragon Ball) came back. He voiced Mario in the 1980s anime movie and some other things, so him reprising his role all these years later would be amazing. If he isn't available, I'd say get either Toshiyuki Morikawa (dubbed Chris Pratt as Emmet in The Lego Movie) or Koichi Yamadera (dubbed Chris Pratt as Star Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy)
Luigi (English Movie VA: Charlie Day) I have only one choice in mind for Luigi: Kappei Yamaguchi (Usopp in One Piece, L in Death Note, Inuyasha in Inuyasha) Maybe not the first choice you might think of, but honestly, as a Japanese dub VA for Luigi, he's kind of perfect. Usopp and Luigi kind of sound pretty similar already, so I could wholeheartedly see Kappei Yamaguchi as the ideal voice for Mario's bro.
Princess Peach (English Movie VA: Anya Taylor-Joy): Now this is a bit harder, as practically any female seiyuu could voice Peach. However, I have come to two choices: Ayane Sakura (Uraraka in My Hero Academia) and Akemi Okamura (Nami in One Piece, Fio in Porco Rosso). Both are good choices, but for different reasons. Ayane could do a good cute, energetic Peach. However, if the film has a feistier version, Akemi would be the better choice. Not saying Ayane can't be feisty, though, as that is something I would like to see.
Bowser (English Movie VA: Jack Black) A couple of picks here, known for voicing evil characters. Toshiyuki Morikawa (Sephiroth in many Final Fantasy games and Kingdom Hearts, Yoshikage Kira in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and the aforementioned Star Lord in the GOTG dub.) and Takehito Koyasu (Dio in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) are my top picks. Both VAs would make an amazing Bowser. Though, it would be interesting if we got Kenta Miyake (All Might in MHA, Avdol in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure) to voice him, as it would be interesting to have him voice a villain.
Toad: (English Movie VA: Keegan Michael Key): You may laugh, but I kind of want Ikue Otani (Chopper in One Piece, Pikachu in Pokemon) to voice Toad. I know it's a complete 180 from Keegan, but in my mind, not only would Ikue be a perfect Toad, but I would argue that she is a far better choice than Keegan. So yeah. Ikue Otani as Toad.
Donkey Kong (English Movie VA: Seth Rogen) There may not be any need to dub him, since Seth may just be grunting only, but if they do dub Donkey Kong, then I would choose Takashi Nagasako. He already does Donkey Kong's grunts and noises in the games, so him voicing Donkey Kong should be a no brainer.
So yeah, this my fancast for the Japanese dub of the Mario movie. I know it was a bit long, but I had a lot to say. What do you think of my picks? Who would you cast in the Japanese dub of the Mario movie? Let me know in the comments.
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