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saffronbunbaker) wrote2018-12-12 01:06 am
saffronbunbaker) wrote2018-12-12 01:06 am
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I watched the first ep of the dub for Megalo Box and I think they did a really good job all around, I had nothing to complain about and I will be looking forward to seeing this show again in English, I do have a thought, a "what if?" if you may.
Now I do love Kaiji Tangs, interpretation of Joe, and will not say anything bad about it. But what if they'd gone with a va with a latin accent?
Hear me out:
In the first episode there's a line about how Joe won't be able to compete in Megalonia, despite his talent, because he, as well as the people around him aren't citizens.
Given the way politics have been in the US the last couple of years, and the fact that the cross hanging in Nanbus car had an inscription (in perfect Spanish), which implies that the spoken language between the two might not be English, even though all of the signs in the richer parts of town are all in English, wouldn't it have had a bigger impact if they played it as Joe being latino/afrolatino? Because let me tell you, that hair is not just fluffy, its either super curly or straight out afro.
I also believe it would have added a layer to the rivalry with Yuri:
In the first episode it is established that Joe and the people around him are poor, really poor. The first time we see Nanbu he's betting on dogs, right after, we get a line that only the poorest bet on dogs as those with the least bit of money bet on megalo boxers.
Joes winnings does not actually win Nanbu any money at all, as far as I can tell that money goes to his debt and nothing else.
As for Joe, he's shown to give advice on what to bet on to his mechanic who then writes off his fees and I doubt thats the only time that has happened.
Its a classic story of people working their way up from the bottom.
And Yuri is implied to have come from a similar background as Joe, one he escaped year ago, and it is one of the reasons they're so drawn to each other. Yuri says that he owes his boss, Yukiko everything, and he is not shown to have kept anything from his previous life from friends to possessions.
Having Joe mirror what Yuri used to be and scrubbed away long ago, and then see Yuri try and regain his origin and in that, his old self, after seeing Joe reaching higher and higher without changing himself, as that does not matter in the ring, and respecting that and wanting to meet him without any pretensions, would have been very fun.
Given how she is in the show, I highly doubt that someone so ambitious and aware of the importance of image as Yukiko is would've allowed for Yuri to be presented as anything but the top elite, up to and including his accent. (I have this headcanon that Yuri did have an accent of some kind that was trained away with the help of a voice coach that then softly reemerges when he starts rediscovering himself)
That and a main character with an accent, that is good and looked up to, in anime does not happen often.
edited: 2018-12-12 for some tweaking and grammar and spellcheck
Now I do love Kaiji Tangs, interpretation of Joe, and will not say anything bad about it. But what if they'd gone with a va with a latin accent?
Hear me out:
In the first episode there's a line about how Joe won't be able to compete in Megalonia, despite his talent, because he, as well as the people around him aren't citizens.
Given the way politics have been in the US the last couple of years, and the fact that the cross hanging in Nanbus car had an inscription (in perfect Spanish), which implies that the spoken language between the two might not be English, even though all of the signs in the richer parts of town are all in English, wouldn't it have had a bigger impact if they played it as Joe being latino/afrolatino? Because let me tell you, that hair is not just fluffy, its either super curly or straight out afro.
I also believe it would have added a layer to the rivalry with Yuri:
In the first episode it is established that Joe and the people around him are poor, really poor. The first time we see Nanbu he's betting on dogs, right after, we get a line that only the poorest bet on dogs as those with the least bit of money bet on megalo boxers.
Joes winnings does not actually win Nanbu any money at all, as far as I can tell that money goes to his debt and nothing else.
As for Joe, he's shown to give advice on what to bet on to his mechanic who then writes off his fees and I doubt thats the only time that has happened.
Its a classic story of people working their way up from the bottom.
And Yuri is implied to have come from a similar background as Joe, one he escaped year ago, and it is one of the reasons they're so drawn to each other. Yuri says that he owes his boss, Yukiko everything, and he is not shown to have kept anything from his previous life from friends to possessions.
Having Joe mirror what Yuri used to be and scrubbed away long ago, and then see Yuri try and regain his origin and in that, his old self, after seeing Joe reaching higher and higher without changing himself, as that does not matter in the ring, and respecting that and wanting to meet him without any pretensions, would have been very fun.
Given how she is in the show, I highly doubt that someone so ambitious and aware of the importance of image as Yukiko is would've allowed for Yuri to be presented as anything but the top elite, up to and including his accent. (I have this headcanon that Yuri did have an accent of some kind that was trained away with the help of a voice coach that then softly reemerges when he starts rediscovering himself)
That and a main character with an accent, that is good and looked up to, in anime does not happen often.
edited: 2018-12-12 for some tweaking and grammar and spellcheck