Lunar 2 Japanese dub is SO much better.

[Ghaleon777]

Lately i was doing a comparison to both versions. I played the japanese version first back in 2004, i could not understand anything but the character in the voices, it gave them so much personality, specially Leo and Ghaleon, i think (and some people will hardly disagree with me here) that Ghaleon in the japanese version sounded menacing and evil, John`s voice is not so good for what the character of Ghaleon was. It sounded ok but cmon, that japanese voice by Rokurō Naya (RIP my hero) is TOP notch. Also Leo`s voice, in the english dub he sounds goofy as hell for me, Shinichiro Ota was so much better for Leo just make the comparison yourself.

Japanese version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v4VzNB ... nel=Peterk

English version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTXipVq ... cCutscenes

[Shinto-Cetra]

Having listened to both, I like Rokuro Naya and John Truitt about equal. Naya's Ghaleon was more psychotic with his "wavering" voice, Truitt's was more snide and theatrical. They're both really good in different ways.

Update: I decided to compare more of them, here is what I found. In most cases, both versions are good, this is personal preference.

Lucia - Chisa Yokoyama (Kelly Weaver sounds too wooden, Chisa is smoother while still sounding a bit alien which fits her character)
Hiro - equal for PS1, Hikaru Midorikawa for SCD (Both Chad Letts and Midorikawa are better than Mark Zempel)
Ruby - slight edge for Jenny Stigle (I like the helium effect)
Leo - Ty Web (he’s a silly character, so a silly voice suits him more (and he also voices Mystere, WHO IS TOTALLY NOT LEO but also very silly)
Ronfar - equal
Jean - slight edge for Aya Hisakawa (she nails Ojousama voice better)
Lemina equal (both similar comic relief voices)
Ghaleon - equal (John Truitt is snide and theatrical, Rokuro Naya is sounds more psychotic, both excel at their craft)
Nall - Rica Matsumoto (Jonathan Esses's voice sounds like a 90's California surfer dude)
Fake “Althena”- equal
Older Luna - Equal
Zophar- T. Owen Smith (Iemasa Kayumi doesn’t sound nearly as intimidating)

If anyone wants to do their own comparison:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6032944/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0219893/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

[Ghaleon777]

Having listened to both, I like Rokuro Naya and John Truitt about equal. Naya's Ghaleon was more psychotic with his "wavering" voice, Truitt's was more snide and theatrical. They're both really good in different ways.

Update: I decided to compare more of them, here is what I found. In most cases, both versions are good, this is personal preference.

Lucia - Chisa Yokohama (Kelly Weaver sounds too wooden, Chisa is smoother while still sounding a bit alien which fits her character)
Hiro - equal for PS1, Hikaru Midorikawa for SCD (Both Chad Letts and Midorikawa are better than Mark Zempel)
Ruby - slight edge for Jenny Stigle (I like the helium effect)
Leo - Ty Web (he’s a silly character, so a silly voice suits him more (and he also voices Mystere, WHO IS TOTALLY NOT LEO but also very silly)
Ronfar - equal
Jean - slight edge for Aya Hisakawa (she nails Ojousama voice better)
Lemina equal (both similar comic relief voices)
Ghaleon - equal (John Truitt is snide and theatrical, Rokuro Naya is sounds more psychotic, both excel at their craft)
Nall - Rica Matsumoto (Jonathan Esses's voice sounds like a 90's California surfer dude)
Fake “Althena”- equal
Older Luna - Equal
Zophar- T. Owen Smith (Iemasa Kayumi doesn’t sound nearly as intimidating)

If anyone wants to do their own comparison:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6032944/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0219893/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Ha! i totally agree with you except for Leo, i really liked the japanese voice for him. I think that voice suits his looks, he is also my fav character of the main cast. But with everyone else i pretty much agree with you.
Zophar`s voice was cool in both versions IMO, but yeah the english one was way more menacing in a way.

[Sonic#]

It was a bold move to have the same voice actor voice both Leo and Mystere, but I think both VAs have the vocal range for it.

I'm on the fence. I like the sound of the Japanese VAs for Lunar 2, but for most of them, I wouldn't pick one over the other. Ghaleon's Japanese VA, Rokuro Naya, is a fascinating variation from what I expected (here's a comparison), but I don't have a favorite in that fight.

[Ghaleon777]

It was a bold move to have the same voice actor voice both Leo and Mystere, but I think both VAs have the vocal range for it.

I'm on the fence. I like the sound of the Japanese VAs for Lunar 2, but for most of them, I wouldn't pick one over the other. Ghaleon's Japanese VA, Rokuro Naya, is a fascinating variation from what I expected (here's a comparison), but I don't have a favorite in that fight.

Good comparison!

I dont like how John`s voice fits Ghaleon at all. Given that the original idea of Ghaleon`s voice is more "deep" (Lunar creators are japanese and know what voice fits the characters) i think the english dub doesnt do justice at all. I dont know why they like John`s voice for Ghaleon so much, its not a bad voice, just not for Ghaleon.

[Alunissage]

Keep in mind that Truitt was originally cast for TSS Ghaleon, who not only has different motivations and character from the remakes but was voiced by a different Japanese actor.

[Shinto-Cetra]

I forgot to mention this before, but if we're comparing singing voices (Lucia's Theme that plays in the credits, Jenny Stigle vs Chisa Yokoyama), I'd rank it as follows: English PS1>Japanese(I believe there's only one recording)=English SCD. I think Jenny adds slightly more emotion in the PS1 version than the other versions, though like many comparisons here, it's close.

[Temzin]

the original idea of Ghaleon`s voice is more "deep"

But the only version where Ghaleon was ever cast with a deep voice was Japanese SSS. In TSS, EB, and EB remix it's always Naya, whose eerie, wavering, and sneering voice is only in slight contrast to Truitt's more nasal, sneering voice, both of which I like very much. Yanada's deep voice only appears in SSS and I've always found it disappointingly generic. Actually, Alun's great reminder about SSS Ghaleon's differing motivations brings up issues for both language versions: despite having become a more intruging and complex character in SSS, influenced by his depiction in EB, Yanada's Ghaleon sounds uninteresting. The English SSS, by contrast, writes and directs Ghaleon to sound more cruel and menacing than he does in Japanese, with the writing itself perhaps influenced by the strong tone created for Ghaleon by Truitt's TSS and EB performances.

In this sense, I can understand the decision in Japan to break with past images with a new SSS cast given how depictions have changed, but Yanada is not up to the task and this bold step is negated by the reapparance of all the originals, including Naya's Ghaleon, in EB remix. (This reflects EB remix's problems in general: beyond its disappointingly low budget and off-model animation, it was never bold enough to make the type of major changes that make SSS into a truly different game than TSS, so keeping the original voices and 98% of the original game make all the other shortcomings and bad changes more noticeable...that's another (eternal) thread, of course.)

It was a bold move to have the same voice actor voice both Leo and Mystere

In the end, this is the most important voice acting observation! It's a true sign of laziness that both the Japanese and English studios so blatantly reused their voice actors for these similar but entirely separate characters, as Sonic# and Kizyr would remind us.

[Kizyr]

So this is a fascinating question since if you ask me there's lots of good (and pluses/minuses) for both the Japanese and US voice casts, and I find it really interesting to see who prefers which VA for each role and why -- and that a lot of times it's really close and comes down to some individual preferences and reads on each character.

For my part, just rough estimates, I'd basically say:

Hiro - JP
Ruby - US (the JP voice is too high pitched for me...)
Lucia - slight edge to JP
Ronfar - even tie
Jean - US (preference for a lower-pitched voice for her)
Lemina - JP (admittedly a bias because of being a longtime Megumi Hayashibara fan)
Leo - even tie
Mystere - US by a kilometer
Nall - JP
Ghaleon - US but it's admittedly hard to decide because both US and JP emphasize different characteristics
Zophar - US

In the end, this is the most important voice acting observation! It's a true sign of laziness that both the Japanese and English studios so blatantly reused their voice actors for these similar but entirely separate characters, as Sonic# and Kizyr would remind us.

Requoting just to boost what is objectively the most correct analysis.

[Ghaleon777]

the original idea of Ghaleon`s voice is more "deep"

But the only version where Ghaleon was ever cast with a deep voice was Japanese SSS. In TSS, EB, and EB remix it's always Naya, whose eerie, wavering, and sneering voice is only in slight contrast to Truitt's more nasal, sneering voice, both of which I like very much. Yanada's deep voice only appears in SSS and I've always found it disappointingly generic. Actually, Alun's great reminder about SSS Ghaleon's differing motivations brings up issues for both language versions: despite having become a more intruging and complex character in SSS, influenced by his depiction in EB, Yanada's Ghaleon sounds uninteresting. The English SSS, by contrast, writes and directs Ghaleon to sound more cruel and menacing than he does in Japanese, with the writing itself perhaps influenced by the strong tone created for Ghaleon by Truitt's TSS and EB performances.

In this sense, I can understand the decision in Japan to break with past images with a new SSS cast given how depictions have changed, but Yanada is not up to the task and this bold step is negated by the reapparance of all the originals, including Naya's Ghaleon, in EB remix. (This reflects EB remix's problems in general: beyond its disappointingly low budget and off-model animation, it was never bold enough to make the type of major changes that make SSS into a truly different game than TSS, so keeping the original voices and 98% of the original game make all the other shortcomings and bad changes more noticeable...that's another (eternal) thread, of course.)

It was a bold move to have the same voice actor voice both Leo and Mystere

In the end, this is the most important voice acting observation! It's a true sign of laziness that both the Japanese and English studios so blatantly reused their voice actors for these similar but entirely separate characters, as Sonic# and Kizyr would remind us.

I meant that Naya voice is much better than John`s and fits Ghaleon much better IMHO. I didnt explain myself very well with the "deeper voice" part.

[Shiva Indis]

Oh no, I found a pet-peeve trigger. The original audio is not technically a dub. You copy (double, shortened to dub) the original audio, maybe make changes (like recording translated dialogue in the case of anime fandom) and then you have dubbed it. But on the other hand, I'm sure everyone understands that when someone says "x dub" they mean "vocal performance in x language" no matter what the origin of the word "dub" is.

But anyway, the Japanese Lunar 2 cast has so many top-tier voice actors it's kind of crazy. Most of the player characters are voiced by lead-role performers.

Consider that Rica Matsumoto, who went on the join JAM Project, voiced Nall in Lunar 2 but doesn't sing for this series. Bummer.