YKK Forum

YKK Casting Call (what if?)

If YKK were to be featured as a U.S. film, who would you cast for the roles and why?

- Glen Hwang
Sunday, January 9, 2005

master could be played by William Shatner, so he wouldn't have to actauly be in it.

- Canti
Sunday, January 9, 2005

After seeing the rather poor choices for American remakes of Asian films, I'm hesitant to say that any actors/actresses would fit the parts in YKK. >< I'll try to think of Asian actors and actresses..

- Carn
Sunday, January 9, 2005

Since we're "what-iffing", do dead actors count?

What about Richard Farnsworth for Ojisan? Somehow, Suan Sarandon springs to mind for Sensei.

One thing I really wonder is would the same actress play Director Alpha and Alpha?

- Hiro
Sunday, January 9, 2005

Walter Cronkite as Ojisan ^^

James Earl Jones needs a role too, but there aren't too many male charachters that match "old black man with deep voice"...

- kawaiiguy
Sunday, January 9, 2005

Hmm, since we're "What-ifing" on this I think for slightly older Takahiro I'd go with Frankie Munez (sp?). I tried to picture Takahiro as a real person in later chapters and he seemed to fit the picture. He's around the right age and is at that ackward yet somewhat cute stage of life. Don't know who could play Maki very well though because I don't know a lot of young actresses outside of Emma Roberts (Julia Roberts niece) and Emma Watson (Hermionie in Harry Potter).

As for James Earl Jones just create a spot for a narrator and give him the job. Then again Bill Kurtis who narrated Anchorman and does a lot of work on A&E would also be a good narrator for a film like this.

- Christine K.
Sunday, January 9, 2005

Joan Allen for Sensei, Tommy Lee Jones for Ojisan. Picking the right person for Alpha's the hardest... T_T

- Glen Hwang
Monday, January 10, 2005

James Earl Jones? Easy. The voice of Owner.

- martialstax
Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Now why didn't I think of that one?

- Christine K
Tuesday, January 11, 2005

For Alpha, why not Maggie Cheung?

- C_P
Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Min-a Shin would be a possibility for Alpha - and a few years ago I would have suggested Naomi Watts for Kokone (sort of reprising her style from Tank Girl).

For a radio play, though, first pick goes to Donna Burke (Yuko, from Strange Dawn) to play Maruko!

-Rob

- Rob Masters
Wednesday, January 12, 2005

OK. I have my preferences, too.

Alpha (and Director Alpha) should be played by a great actress, so my vote goes to Jeon Ji-Hyun (from "My Sassy Girl"). Besides, she looks so great, and if we're going to see a lot of Alpha, she may as well be delicious, eh?

Kokone needs to be a bit more reserved, so I'm thinking Fujimoto Miki (now in Morning Musume) has that and a great smile.

Maruko? Kuriyama Chiaki. Done

Sensei should be a mature beauty, so that's Moritaka Chisato (unfortunately, we'd have no excuse to see her legs). She could do the younger Sensei without a problem, too.

Misago needs to be a bit exotic and long limbed, so why not Nakashima Mika? And she'd look perfect with light brown hair.

Ojisan has to be Takeshi Kitano, of course. And he could direct, too.

- seaweb
Thursday, January 13, 2005

Claire Danes for Alpha. :)

- double6
Thursday, January 13, 2005

Since we're on a roll, who would you choose for an American-ver soundtrack?

- Glen Hwang
Friday, January 14, 2005

If the anime were licensed and dubbed into English, this would be my cast:

If it was dubbed by ADV's ISM studio in Houston, my cast would be:

Alpha: Jessica Boone
Kokone: Luci Christian
Ojisan: Mike MacRae
Takahiro: Kevin Corn
Makki: Mandy Clarke
Sensei: Marcy Rae

If it was dubbed by one of the LA studios (Animaze, Bang Zoom, Media Concepts, New Generation), my cast would be:

Alpha: Bridget Hoffman
Kokone: Jennifer Sekiguchi
Ojisan: William Knight
Takahiro: Dave Lelyveld
Makki: Tina Dixon
Sensei: Noelle DePaula

- martialstax
Friday, January 14, 2005

I would fight hard to forbid an English language dub, especially for a live-action movie.

Why bother? I say skip it.

Most of us can read, and the dub voice artists never seem to care about recreating the emotions or inflections evident in the original voices. We only lose when someone dubs a series or a movie.

Also, America isn't much of a market for YKK. I'll bet it hardly even justifies releasing the DVDs with English subtitles.

Anyone have sales figures for the US?

- seaweb
Monday, January 17, 2005

I won't start a sub/dub debate, since I find it as tedious as everyone else. I will say I used to only watch my anime in Japanese. It was the only way to fully appreciate it, since all English voice acting sucked. Or at least that's what I believed. But I realized I was being prejudiced. I started to listen to English dubs and realized there was some excellent acting going on. Now I'm the moderator of the English Track forum at AnimeonDVD. I've met and spoken to several people involved in the English dubbing of anime, and they are very serious and committed to delivering the very best dubs they can.

It's your money, and it's your DVD, so you should watch it however you like. If you prefer it in Japanese, that's great. But saying that you'll "fight hard to prevent an English dub" is rather exclusionary. It prevents a sizable portion of the anime community from enjoying it the way they prefer. You've already got your Japanese language track. Adding an English language track takes nothing away from you. If it ever does get licensed, instead of fighting to prevent an English dub, I'd fight hard to make sure it's the best dub possible.

- martialstax
Tuesday, January 18, 2005

I disagree completely.

I've seen too many poor dubs to bother with the genre. I've also spoken with dub producers who didn't speak Japanese and felt it was good enough to do "the best we could." It isn't.

The real problem with dubs is that they don't bother to imitate or enhance the original work, they revise, with a Western mentality. Western accents and phrases and given names are substituted for the Japanese. What you get is a substitute for what was intended.

It's the soy sauce mentality at work: given a bowl of steamed rice, a Japanese will appreciate the taste as it is; the American will soak it in soy sauce and never know the real taste. Two different experiences.

I prefer to sample the original work, and for me, that's intelligent subtitles and an unedited soundtrack/videotrack combination.

- seaweb
Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Nothing like another sub v. dub debate. This is the sort of noise I usually associate with other boards.

- Robert Chow
Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Oi this is a fun little what if that someone started to see who we thought would best fit the roles of the characters in YKK. This wasn't to see if we thought a dub or a live action movie should be made. And here I thought this place was beyond those petty little "I hate dubs and only watch subs" rants and arguments you find on places like Gia or Mediaminer.

- Christine K
Tuesday, January 18, 2005

How did we get here? Only a LITTLE off trail...

- Glen Hwang
Wednesday, January 19, 2005

IMAI Masayuki for Ojisan. He speaks English well. He can direct. And he looks like Ojisan.

- kGo
Thursday, January 20, 2005

There won't be any sub/dub debate from me. This place has always been above that sort of pettiness, and I won't bring it down. I respect everyone's right to enjoy their anime the way they want to. I only ask to be treated the same way.

- martialstax
Friday, January 21, 2005

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