Well, watched the Dub of Death Note’s episode one today at adult swim here. I’ve been pretty anxious about the dub since I first heard it was airing, if only because the Japanese cast of Death Note was top notch.
But I digress, let’s talk about the cast! Episode one is basically Ryuk and Light so this’ll be a light entry.
Light: His Japanese actor, Mamoru Miyano, is amazing in his own right despite not having a long list of roles. His vocal range is superb and his voice is easy on the ears. For the English version they chose Brad Swaile. Having only heard Swaile play the part of more, ‘whiney,’ characters, I was worried that Light’s voice would be made more annoying than anything. Regardless, he surprised me with a decent performance and I look forward to his crazy laughs. If Quatre from Gundam Wing was anything to go by – at least Light’s laughter will be up to par.
Ryuk: Shidou Nakamura was the perfect Ryuk. He had a gruff voice, a great ‘hyuk’ of a laugh, and it carried a playful tone that did the shinigami1 justice. However, as nice as Brian Drummond is at playing the part of characters such as Vegeta from DBZ and Zechs Marquis from Gundam, I was disappointed in his performance as Ryuk. It was too smooth, too serious, and rather dull. I can only hope that it gets better as the series progresses. – Though, I will give him one line: “Juicy?” That was pretty good.
In conclusion, Light was decent and Ryuk was disappointing. I can only hope the rest of the cast makes up for it. Most of them are actors I’ve never heard before, so they have hope to be good.