Review S25 EP52: The Rainbow and the Pokémon Master!

[PokeMasterLA]

I feel like if James 4.0 would’ve had the opportunity to voice him longer, he would’ve had time to slowly develop his own version of James. I do see the potential in him.

New Oak (Oak 3.0) sounds very close to JCC. While watching the episode, there were times where I had forgotten that it was not JCC voicing him. He does sound slightly less nasally, and more toned down than JCC. So I’ll give him that.

Meowth 4.0 just like JCC post XY, sounds too gruff for my liking. I actually prefer JCC’s earlier take (BF-DP). Maddie will always be the best Meowth, as she gave him that charm and charisma that got lost after she lost the role.

Gary 2.0 just doesn’t sound right to me. JCC gave him that snarkiness that made us love or hate (if you rooting for Ash) him. One of JCC’s best roles on Pokemon.

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

I feel like if James 4.0 would’ve had the opportunity to voice him longer, he would’ve had time to slowly develop his own version of James. I do see the potential in him.

New Oak (Oak 3.0) sounds very close to JCC. While watching the episode, there were times where I had forgotten that it was not JCC voicing him. He does sound slightly less nasally, and more toned down than JCC. So I’ll give him that.

Meowth 4.0 just like JCC post XY, sounds too gruff for my liking. I actually prefer JCC’s earlier take (BF-DP). Maddie will always be the best Meowth, as she gave him that charm and charisma that got lost after she lost the role.

Gary 2.0 just doesn’t sound right to me. JCC gave him that snarkiness that made us love or hate (if you rooting for Ash) him. One of JCC’s best roles on Pokemon.

Bosco sounds like Lewis' take with a cold at his best and at his worst an amalgamation of all of JCC's renditions over the years, to me, ironic since that's how JCC sounded in BF to me at his start (Stuart's with a cold, what it devolved into DP though, AG Stuart w/a cold- JCC's James got progressively more and more awful over the years save BW, IMO). No one was able to match Stuart's for most of his run at his best, though: Eric's was always the best dub version in hindsight, and even more so with Brock, IMO.

He's pretty much imitating JCC on Oak re: Wingert's Oak, but it's less fake sounding than his later renditions circa BW-JN, I guess? It's pretty subpar, vs Zagnit or Joe J Thomas in Masters to me though.

Agree 100% on Meowth and Gary: the vocal direction in general went downhill when TPCi took over for the franchise, IMO.

Trivia: the final dub Season under TPCi kept less of the OST than the final dub season under 4Kids-- the more you know!

 

[snowmint]

I'm honestly shocked they just arent completely rescoring 100% at this point.

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

I'm honestly shocked they just arent completely rescoring 100% at this point.

I think they have some contractual obligation to keep a certain percentage of the OST, but only 18.3% was kept in the MPM component of JN's dub on average from TPCi at the very end.

The objective lowest point of the English dub on OST kept is in Sun & Moon and early Journeys, but later Journeys and MPM's portion keep less of the OST than OS, AG, DP, BW, or XY (yes, even less than XY, which kept less than AG).

The best part about the Goldfarb Era of the TPCi run is as bad as it has been since 2014 in a lot of ways, not just the OST changes but the writing, acting, censorship, etc, is it completely redeemed the entirety of the 4Kids run for the main Series & made people appreciate what we had before, even if it was still flawed it's very easy to argue they kept things at least watchable and bearable in comparison to what we've been stuck with for a decade now.

Horizons' dub looks to be more of the same musically, unfortunately, may start a new list if you guys want to see how that fares but from what I heard in the sneak peek, save the VA work which seems to be somewhat better- same old, same old, so far.

 

[R.O.B.]

So with the last of the episodes of the Ash anime being dubbed, I can honestly say that the recast James Carter Cathcart roles sucked.

Gary was too deep and old sounding, and had no character, being really forgettable.

James, Professor Oak, and Meowth were basically Cathcart 2.0 (which means I hate them). Of the three, I think James was the worst of them all, he particularly felt like he was going between in imitating different versions of Cathcart's take, sometimes combining different versions together. It was rarely, if ever, pleasant to listen to and really inconsistent. It's possible he would have developed into something better given more time, but I also feel he was miscast and poorly directed and was probably beyond saving - I don't think time is always the issue, Andi Whaley didn't get many appearances as Cassidy and she still managed to make the role her own and improve on her predecessor.

 

[PokeFanForever1]

I think they have some contractual obligation to keep a certain percentage of the OST, but only 18.3% was kept in the MPM component of JN's dub on average from TPCi at the very end.

The objective lowest point of the English dub on OST kept is in Sun & Moon and early Journeys, but later Journeys and MPM's portion keep less of the OST than OS, AG, DP, BW, or XY (yes, even less than XY, which kept less than AG).

The best part about the Goldfarb Era of the TPCi run is as bad as it has been since 2014 in a lot of ways, not just the OST changes but the writing, acting, censorship, etc, is it completely redeemed the entirety of the 4Kids run for the main Series & made people appreciate what we had before, even if it was still flawed it's very easy to argue they kept things at least watchable and bearable in comparison to what we've been stuck with for a decade now.

Horizons' dub looks to be more of the same musically, unfortunately, may start a new list if you guys want to see how that fares but from what I heard in the sneak peek, save the VA work which seems to be somewhat better- same old, same old, so far.

At the very least later Journeys has kept more on average than late Sun and Moon did, it's still not where it should be (Ideally they would keep all the music but I digress) but at least it's not as bad as it was back then so take a win where you can get it I suppose.

 

[PokeFanForever1]

I just noticed that SungWon Cho is credited for this episode, I wonder if he's the new voice of Gary - I'm guessing it's either him or Mick Wingert (since Mick Wingert voices Oak so it's possible he voices both in this episode) but I say SungWon Cho as a possibility as I can't figure out who else he might be voicing.

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

At the very least later Journeys has kept more on average than late Sun and Moon did, it's still not where it should be (Ideally they would keep all the music but I digress) but at least it's not as bad as it was back then so take a win where you can get it I suppose.

True, given the Goldfarb Era.

 

[Die-Hard Dragon Devotee]

I just noticed that SungWon Cho is credited for this episode, I wonder if he's the new voice of Gary - I'm guessing it's either him or Mick Wingert (since Mick Wingert voices Oak so it's possible he voices both in this episode) but I say SungWon Cho as a possibility as I can't figure out who else he might be voicing.

It's SungWon Cho voicing Gary, according to this:

https://www.pocketmonsters.net/staff/view/4148

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

It's SungWon Cho voicing Gary, according to this:

https://www.pocketmonsters.net/staff/view/4148

Apparently Lisa Ortiz had him dub over Arbok, because TPCi just being themselves I guess? As usual, 4Kids kept its Japanese voice in OS to its last true appearance in AG006: truly didn’t deserve the hate they got, at all here. Jelly donuts and dumb painted sandwich choices mockery or not, had a lot of strong points in the OG dub media outlets like CBR don’t want to acknowledge imo.

 

[snowmint]

How do know if arboks voice wasn't stuck with the human characters Japanese voices making it hard for them to keep?

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

How do know if arboks voice wasn't stuck with the human characters Japanese voices making it hard for them to keep?

They could’ve kept it, tbh, I don’t think this was that type of scenario.

Jessie's Arbok - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

m.bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net

Embarrassing.

 

[Pkmndub]

I'm the lead dub cast editor for PM, nothing is truly 100% confirmed until US release and is subject to change. While we appreciate your love of the site, keep some grain of salt in case something is de-confirmed. However, we are usually very confident in our guesses. We hope to get a source checkmark or something at some point like BTVA kinda has.

We also do not guess Pokemon voices unless there's no one else a VA can voice in the list, which is why JCC is listed as them in this episode and arc at this time.

 

[BigDocFan]

This is why we don't accept PM as a source for Bulbapedia, fans edit it and we can't be 100% sure until actors or Lisa confirm roles

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

This is why we don't accept PM as a source for Bulbapedia, fans edit it and we can't be 100% sure until actors or Lisa confirm roles

To clarify, are we certain of these 3 as of yet, as PM credits them thus far?

Edward Bosco is TPCi James II (his 4th ENG dub VA), and Mick Wingert is TPCi Prof. Oak VI (he's had 7 dub VAs now in total- Wingert is the latest even though the 3rd in the main Anime Series' dub and final one-- 4Kids stuck to the original in just 1 here, much appreciated IMO, in their run with the dub) and Meowth II (total of 4 ENG dub VAs now).