Yours truly is in the “minority” when it comes to the Last of Us. By which I mean I loathed it so deeply that I developed a general distrust regarding strangers on the internet telling me what’s “a great game”. It had been 8 years since I touched the game on PS3. So this new show on HBO presented itself as an opportunity for yours truly to play the devil’s advocate against this “masterpiece” more thoroughly without touching the actual game. I have not plan to do the episode review weekly, yet. But since I just watched this 81 minutes long episode titled “When you are in the dark”, I am dropping my two cent here. Spoiler of course is inevitable.

January, 2023 is a fun time to be alive as two piece of perhaps not all deservingly critically acclaimed video game post-apocalypse fiction came to the tv screen again. Only this time the interactivity got left behind. NieR Automata Ver 1.1a debuted on January, the seventh, and it sure is faithful to a fault. I mean why are camera pans indicates gameplay time still in this show’s pilot?

Then the Last of Us was unleashed on HBO on January, the fifteenth, a whole decade after to the week after Fringe (Well, LOU cast member Anna Torv is in it) aired it finale. Yours truly being a devil’s advocate when it comes to the game this show is based on had considered skipping it. But alas, I just want to know. At least see the pilot and write about can make the 82 minutes I spent on watching not a totally waste.

I got to say despite the first 3 minutes being a completely waste, that’s the only bit I like about this show.

Fungiphobia: Starting with a show stopper

It begins with 1968, and we are watching an abc talk show filmed in front of a live studio audience. No corner is cut there. We get a host and two guests, full behind the scene crew and an audience composed of extras in period costumes. One of the guests, played the underrated John Hannah. puts a mad scientist appearance to warn people about Fungi infection being the doom of humanity. It’s certainly the more effective horror story as the show just crosses off everything on a zombie fiction to-do list.

It is a fun scene, perhaps the only fun scene in the pilot. But it does not seem to fit into a zombie fiction all about “Men are the true walking dead”. Put this one in front of things like X-Files, Fringe episodes on tv or comic book B.P.R.D. issue where fungi infection is just another mystery to be solved, this scene would have been a nice set-up. But it’s the Last of Us where all its creators care is the aftermath.

Business as usual

After open credits we jumped to 2003. Guess this show wants to connect with its audience by having it being an alternative reality of current time instead of a near future setting. We have the last day of Joel Miller’s normal life. His daughter cooked him breakfast, his brother Tommy came over to tell him about work. He went to work and the focus became solely on his daughter. Help the neighbour, go to school and get his watch fixed. And people who run the watch shop sure seem spooked about all the police and even military presentation on the street.

Then the first scene of the video game starts at the 15th minute time mark. All above is meant to make one care about Sarah or Sally, you know the doomed daughter of the game’s player character Joel. I don’t think it’s a prestige thing. 9 out of 10 horror movies from the last decade, even the ones yours truly thoroughly enjoy, has this type of “first act problem”. Meaning, just skip to the genre bit and fucking stop manipulating me into caring about obviously doomed characters.

Once them mushroom(though no moving one is visible so in this pilot) zombie appears, yours truly began to think if they were watching a parody. What’s her name Miller went into a neighbour’s house and there were a flesh eating zombie in it. My mind is split between “This is just how people with no idea first see zombie in fiction like this” and “Why did they do a shot-for-shot recreation of first zombie appearing in original Resident Evil?” Greatest video game story? I think not.

Desolation Row

“Present day”, Boston. A kid walks towards the highly fortified Boston. The soldiers on watch takes them in, restrains them and starts to inspect them according to procedure printed and pulled up the wall. The kid tested positive of fungi infection, killed off the screen and dumped for the broke man of a lead Joel to burn as part of a labour he does for the city.

Ah, yes, no moving to zombie to kill, the post-apocalypse bit of this episode is all about “Men are the real walking dead”. FREDA is a fucked-up military government over Boston, Firefly is a revolutionary movement to overthrow it rather recklessly. If Bioshock Infinite can be criticized for its “both sides are bad” statement, then it’s truly baffling why the Last of Us get away with it.

At least the cast is good here.

Pedro Pascal as Joel is fine. Stoic is obviously a facade he put up. As far as player character in a game goes, he only commits three acts of violence here. First being done the first on-screen zombie’s head in 2003. Second being his first contact with Ellie actually. Well, she does charge at him with a knife, so it’s self-defense instead of abuse. The last being at the end of the episode, after having flashback about his daughter being gunned down by a solider, he just bashes another solider’s head in after said soldier points a rifle at him.

Bella Ramsey as Ellie is pitch perfect in every way. Voice and tune is as if Ashley Johnson herself did the dubbing. The timing of curse is better here, but that just might be a tv over game thing.

Anna Torfv as Tess is quite a surprise here, but I am heavily bias on this case since I like her performance on Fringe. Her laconic reference of famous men just made me put “coward” on my list of why Neil Drukmann is overrated. She calls Marlene “Che Guevara of Boston” some screen time after telling Joel not to go “Clint Eastwood”. Which Eastwood would be my question since there is the cowboy then there is Nazi killing machine in Where the Eagles Dare.

Verdict? I hope so

I dare say as a piece pf prestige tv, the Last of Us on HBO is a jack of all trades and master of none. As some review points out the pilot is more interested in aftermath of violence than the act of violence. So, if you want video game level body count, may I recommend you to look up Strike Back, probably watchable on HBO Max as well. All that dramatic bit just made yours truly think “Maybe I should go back to Station Eleven”. The whole endeavor just feels pointless in more than one way.

I don’t know if fan of the game would love this game, for A gamers are truly a unhinged bunch and B not to mention the weirdos not happy with casting. But as a devil advocate against the game, the pilot is not changing my mind one bit.

Book report on Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater by Satoshi Hase

The notes yours truly took for this piece were almost 4 years old by the time of writing. They were taken shortly after I played through Resident Evil 2 remake back in April, 2019. By the time this is written, the remake of Resident Evil 4, aka “Leon S Kennedy Chapter 2”, would be out shortly. Many on the internet complained that the still highly playable Gamecube/Playstation 2 game does not need a remake. Well, if there were people who want another still highly playable Playstation 2 game remade even when it was less than a decade old, I say why not let Capcom’s “teenager” alone.

Don’t judge a book by its cover

Metal Gear Solid novelization is somewhat of a maze. Nothing as convoluted as that Halo affairs but not exactly straight forward either. There are 2008’s Guns of the Patriots by the late Project Itoh and Metal Gear Solid by Raymond Benson, both can be seen as tie-in novels for the PS3 exclusive that summer. Then Konami Digital Entertainment played the same trick for Ground Zeroes in 2014, with Snake Eater by Satoshi Hase published in Japan that January and Peace Walker novelization being an Amazon Japan exclusive pre-order “reward” for the paid demo disc.

Yours truly had the fortune, or maybe misfortune, to read all 4 of those above. Peace Walker is certain in the bottom for reasons I do not want to repeat here. Guns of the Patriots reeks of “fan fic” given its late author’s blogging background and “Hideo Kojima fundamentalist” statement. Benson certainly took his chance of writing MGS novel to make up for the fact that he missed writing Goldeneye novelization by one installment.

Then there is Snake Eater, an almost 600 pages long epic that made yours truly into one of those “give us a MGS3 remake” weirdoes.

On the left is the paperback of this book in Japanese. On the right, a physical copy of Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D released in North America. I’m inclined to think that since that 3DS port was released in Japan with different cover, Konami thought that readers would not notice their “recycling”. I have to say that using this cover is bit of false advertisement for 2 reasons.

First the tranquilizer pistol does not appear in the book. Snake might knock someone out nonlethally in the book but he never puts someone to sleep from a distance.

Second the gun in the right hand and knife in the left hand close quarter combat statue is not in the book either. Snake hit people and throw down with his bare hand while occasionally pulls the knife out.

Rather than that, I say this is pretty good book and I am going to spoil the shit of it.

Conveniently constructed lie

Compared to other writers working on MGS series, Satoshi Haze is a novelist through and through. Snake Eater is written with detail jammed pack in to create an immersive experience. The book also took advantage of the fact that MGS’ alternative history is the same as real history on the big picture scale and gave us the following nuggets.

Nugget One

Snake and the Boss first met during the fiasco known as Korean War. Guess when Boss says he is too young to defect, she meant that the Cobra unit belongs to the Greatest Generation, aka those fought in World War Two, this lad just missed that.

Nugget Two

Dewitt Eisenhower was mentioned twice in the book. The Boss is of course described as one of his best agents during both WW2 and the Cold War. She being done dirty by US government during the so-called Red Panic (involved with a Russian and whatnot) is something General of the West regrated.

Nugget Three

Unlike how Itoh cut the whole Beauty and Beast shenanigans from his MGS4 novel (Guess he did not consider those as Hideo Kojima Fundamentalism.), the book by Hase extended the background of the Cobra Unit. Each member of this rogue gallery was given about 10 pages long back stories, seeing them as an international unit nicely separated as 3 from the Old World and 3 from the New World.

The Pain is the first from the Old World with a backstory taking up 8 pages. He came from a family of Jewish bee keepers, resided in Ottoman Empire then moved to Austria. The family served a secret society.

The Fear is the second from the Old World with a backstory taking up 10 pages. He came from a family of French hunters with unique physique. The fight against the Fear is also very different from the game. Instead of a one-on-one dual, Snake is hunted by the Fear and 10 other soldiers. It’s a bloody affair in which Snake knifed a lot of them included the Fear himself.

The End is ironically the first from the New World with a backstory taking up 9 pages. The old man is said to be born in the 1850s and participated in the U.S Civil War on the Confederate side. He taught the Boss when she was a teenager and was the co-founder of Cobra unit. The fight against the End in the book went straight to the Konami code solution. Snake asked the support team to pull all the resource to locate the ancient sniper and just shot him.

The Sorrow is the third from the Old World with a backstory taking up 9 pages. The backstory takes the place of the boss fight where Snake had to fake his death. As the only Russian on the team, he was born in 1919, orphaned by the post revolution Russian civil war. He met the Boss during the Spanish Civil War and of course those 2 later became lover. The Sorrow and Volgin were on opposite sides in Soviet internal struggle.

The Fury is the second from the New World since he is an African American who defected to Soviet Union for no one in USA would send his black ass to space. The Russian did and the landing complication was how he got disfigured. Explosive expert during World War Two.

The Boss is the third from the New World. Though the book insisted on her getting help from the Old World, since the British Major Zero did her a solid on two separate occasions. First to take care of her son Adam, late Ocelot, so she can keep do her commando shit during World War Two. Then in the post-war Red Panic, with President Eisenhower not covering her, Zero did.

Colonel Strangelove

Colonel Volgin is one of those archetypes Kojima included in those games just because the genre demands one. MGS3 is a pulpy Cold War action thriller, so a high-rank soviet military officer trying to possess a super weapon is just given. While Volgin is rather a nothing berg sadist in the game, the novel tries to make him into more of nuclear holocaust manifested.

The book opened with a flashforward to what happened to people on the ground after Volgin fired the nuke. It would give lots of horror fiction a run for their money. Volgin also had a team studying the bodies in the book.

In some ways, yours truly think Hase tried a bit too hard to justify the Metal Gear bit of this story where metal gear is only mentioned. Regarding why Volgin is electric, the book said that the red jump suit he wears is actually what made him shot lightning bolts. His scars were given by that suit as well. Also the suit is something on the way to Metal Gear…Satoshi Hase has the reputation of writing hard science fiction, he seemingly went bit too hard on that front here.

Time to talk about “Gameplay”

More than a thousand words in and I still have not talked about why the book make me want a MGS3 remake. Time to correct that oversight.

In many ways, the aspects of MGS3 do not hold up well are exactly where MGS2 does not keep up well. For one thing, as a covert operations goes, they sure talk a lot on the radio, don’t you say. Well, in the book at least a lot were talked about before Snake got on the plane, meet the team, get briefed and all that. Maybe the remake can learn from the 1998 original and make all those optional viewing rather than jamming them on top of the game like those lesser sequels did.

Another thing, Snake in the 1960s still had to kit out straight of packages in the game. MGS2 gave the acceptable bullshit that the late aughts tech locked guns to registered user while MGS3 was just programmed that way with no narrative justification. In the book, Snake jumped in with only a knife, guns are all picked up from knocked or bleed out enemies since PS2 game programming cannot limit the reality there.

It's not something totally new to MGS games either. Phantom Pains has missions branded Subsistence where a Diamond Dog commando dropped in a mission, well, naked. Still all the move sets are there, including use knife to question held up enemy. Yours truly tried all those shortly after they first read this novel and suddenly found remaking MGS3 with FOX Engine a good idea. Playing Resident Evil 2 remake factored in as well,

Final words

Still as a novelization to a not-that-well-written game (Yours truly just finished Pentiment as the time of writing, so they do think all that fondly about “Kojima writing”.), this book inherits all its faults, including how when characters talk recent events to them, the dialogue sounds more like awkwardly written history fiction instead of two cops shooting the shit (I mean Pentiment is mostly about people shooting the shit). EVA’s monologue practically close the book. But it’s all fault of Kojima and crew instead of the author Hase. He did his best to make this one an immersive ride and I would recommend it to anyone as a good thriller.

A Suggested List for Neon White’s Japanese Dub

This is a blog written to celebrate Neon White, a game loved by the “everyone” in 2022. It just so happens that yours truly belongs to this illusory “everyone”. At least in this case. Though it’s not aspects that involve the jump button.

“By weebs, for weebs” is practically the marketing line for Neon White, though yours truly do not like the f word actually used there. The game is published by Annapurna Interactive, aka those people who have Academy Awarding winning actors on speed dial. I guess getting one of the most famous non-union voice actors Steve Blum for this game is a piece of cake for them, so I am imagining what they can do if they have more contacts with voice talent agencies in Japan.

The er, raw ingredient here is Food Wars Shokugeki no Soma, a show that led pro wrestler Xavier Wood to have some adventure in Japanese all those years ago. It’s based an action comic for boys where cook-offs constitute as action. So main cast members there play cooks and let’s see how they would do in a hell’s kitchen built in heaven. I intend the following 8 as the full cast, since any of 5 gents below can pull double duties as some bit players along with their respective starring roles.

Hero?

Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as White

Time to down that “Japanese Nolan North” well for the third time but there is a good reason. Mr. Matsuoka played the titular hero of Shokugeki no Soma, and has a radio voice the closest to Steve Blum’s A voice.

Radio voice to yours truly is what voice actors choose to represent themselves in mostly but not limited to audio media like radio show, podcasts or audio commentary in home media releases of video shows. Of course, when things align, they can use their radio voice for fictional characters they play.

While Mr. Blum’s voice did not match too many of his Japanese counterparts, the much younger Matsuoka’s radio voice matches it in terms of pitch and mannerism. The timing for comedy is uncannily similar as well. So, I guess he should be considered if a Japanese dub for Neon White the game is ever considered

Foe?

Sho Hayami as Green

Okay, why not include one of them “Japanese Sean Beans” as well. Mr. Hayami played Azami in Shokugeki no Soma, a super villain representing monopoly to titular hero’s more “free market benefits all” tendency. It would have been a fitting endgame for the story after Azami exited the stage as a defeated control freak, but the team over there just kept going until the creators had no more energy to design elaborate recipes.

Anyway, Neon Green in the game is a cartoon villain is a too griding for the ears voice, while Mr. Hayami’s voice is stronger on features like gravitas and smoothness. Though his villain performance would not make you to hit them any less. Yours truly sure want easier on the ears taunts in those set-piece boss fights.

Lover?

Ai Kayano as Red

For the first two ladies on this list, I’m including the two who played characters who got sidelined pretty early in Shokugeki No Soma. Like 25 episodes into the anime or 8 books into all 26 books kind of early.

Ai Kayano played Ryoko Sakaki, a red head, in Shokugeki No Soma. And it’s about it. Well, not quite. Ms. Kayano and Mr. Matsuoka usually collaborate in the “will they won’t they” drama in things where they share more scenes than they did in this cook off show. They will be at home doing the “did they didn’t they” thing in Neon White.

Crush?

Maaya Uchida as Violet

Maaya Uchida was in the very first game yours truly reviewed on this site, as she played one of the potential love interests in 2020’s Sakura Wars soft reboot. Her performance there would make her a candidate for playing Neon Red, but her role in Shokugeki No Soma, Yuki Yoshino, is Neon Violet through and through. The girl just prefers to hunt for her meat in a homicidal way uncanny to Violet.

Friend？

Natsuki Hanae as Yellow

Yeah, well, here comes “Bakey”. Mr. Hanae played Takumi Aldni in Shokugeki No Soma, a blonde Italian cook with a one-way rivalry towards the titular hero. While Mr. Hanae did not cermet him as “Japanese Troy Baker” to yours truly until his double bill in 2017, the imaginary “Northy vs. Bakey” had began in 2015 when Shokugeki No Soma went on air.

Sakuke to Naruto, John Cena…Yeah, the man who had voiced everyone’s least favorite dorky fuck boy 9S in NieR Automata would certainly be typecast if he plays Neon Yellow.

Authority?

Takehito Koyasu as Mikey

Mr. Koyasu won the honor of being the first Japanese voice actor mentioned in a Giantbomb podcast. He played the relatively easy-going chief Gin Dojima in Shokugeki No Soma, in sharp contrast to his role in Yakitate Japan, the bakeoff show mentioned by Tam.

As a man mainly play the “Screw you all, I’m transcending” type of comic book super villain, Angel Michael seen as a cigar smoking “Garfield” is almost the next stage. It answers the question “What to do, what to do after transcending” doesn’t it?

Front?

Mamiko Noto as Gaby

Mamiko Noto played the Hinako Inui, an nice yet demanding chef of Japanese cuisine in Shokugeki no Soma. Ms. Noto has a naturally haunting voice. But currently in her 40s, she seems to have more fun playing corporate ladies in suits, like her role in Gundam Witch from Mercery. She can be a blast while have a blast playing the secretary façade Angel Gabriel puts up.

Bit Players

Yuichi Nakamura as Additional Voices

Yuichi Nakamura played Kojiro Shinomiya, an authoritarian chef of French cuisine in Shokugeki No Soma. Though Mr. Nakamura’s “smooth like vanilla cream” voice usually gets him cast as the more easy-going characters. He also prided himself as a man with many voices as he got cast in many “putting bit into bit player” parts. So, I’m putting the man I wish would voice Commander Shepard here just as additional voices. Mark Meer did plenty of those in Mass Effect games after all.

This was intended to be a scored user review, but there is not even a product page on the site so here I am. Given that there will be some “fantasy booking” in this piece, maybe it works better as a blog.

Reading to be warned off something carries the risk of being drawn to something else. Just minutes before TGA 2022, yours truly read a review on Destructoid to see if D3 actually cleaned up their acts with Samurai Maiden (The answer to which is a loud “hell no”.), only to be informed of Perfect Gold, a short and sweet visual novel. The purchase was made by the time Christopher Judge jokingly called his brother “Dr. Judge”.

As the “visual novel person” currently getting highlighted by the Giantbomb community moderators, I think I have the confidence to say that Perfect Gold: Alchemy of Happiness, or Perfect Gold A Yuri Visual Novel is an entry level installment into the genre.

Short and Bitter-Sweet

The length is one big reason why it’s a good entry. Whenever a visual novel is marketed as “short” on Steam, it needs to be rated on a curve. Highway Blossom is sold as a shorty, clocked in about 12 hours. The dozen hour count is definitely short compared to Type-Moon epics’ couple of days worthy of playtime. But those are still way too long compared to Perfect Gold.

Yours truly got all 21 Steam achievements in this game just under 4 hours and the story is not rushed for it. Longer visual novels regarding romance usually have the potentially agonizing “Will they, won’t they” period. Perfect Gold cut through the phrase, right to the chase and is mainly about the aftermath of “So they did, now what?”

People usually say that class difference between lovers is what makes fiction about romance work. Yours truly can agree with that fullheartedly. With that kind of difference making dumpster fires out of marriage even in real life. Well, dumpster fire is when the real story about lesbian love starts.

In the fantasy world of Perfect Gold, homosexuality is no source for bigotry. A lady celebrity being engaged to another lady is something for people to celebrate. But class is class is class and snubs are not excluded here. So the pair of point of view characters in Perfect Gold, Marion LaRue and Audrey Clary, are having a fallout with each other because of the different ways they are dealing with snubs around them.

Unlikely 1986 Hong Kong A Summer’s End where there is a fake ending with its 2 female leads separated, Perfect Gold only have the bitter-sweet ending where they sorted their mess out and the sweet-sweet ending where they going out on a date. But I still cannot in good conscience calling this game a dating sim. How could a simulation for dating letting you playing both sides after all. Throughout the story’s about 20 chapters, time periods and points of view would be exchanged between chapters. Really a seeing through both sides experience.

Eye-catch

While yours truly find Type-Moon’s presentation with motionless graphic impressive at times in their epics, Perfect Gold’s commitment to motion graphic is equally compelling if not more so.

In the screenshot above, the pov character’s portrait in the down left corner is just a motionless sprite whole the other character sprite in the centre of screen is slightly animated in terms of facial expression, lip movement and other gestures. The scene where sky is shown, the cloud would switch a couple of patterns to give readers the illusion of movement. Even the collectible CGs are motion graphic in this game. So for the production value that even Type-Moon’s nearly triple-A asking price, both in money and time, cannot buy you, Perfect Gold would give you for at most 8 bucks.

Fantasy booking time

The screenshot above contains the full English cast for this game. They all did well to tell this story convincingly. The first five all have character sprites and dedicated volume bars in the game’s audio option menu.

This might also serve as an epilogue to a blog series I did. If you came to this blog through my humble profile page on Giantbomb, first thank you for placing faith on a stranger on the internet as another, second please scroll down to see more. I have the habit of thinking about how a English language game can be marketed better in Japan with a dub cast jam packed with “all” the Usual Suspects. Perfect Gold somehow triggered that area of my brain again after I decided to be done with that habit after rushing 7 pieces for Mass Effect trilogy out of my head.

Anyway, shout out to 2012’s overlooked Tari Tari. Yours truly did not see this pretty well-produced show with a Usual Suspects filled cast until October, 2022. The first 3 are partially based on the actors’ performance in that one.

This is the game title screen featuring the 2 love birds who are also the points of view one see the story through.

On the left, her name is Audrey Clary, a princess type with British accent. Yours truly imagine her voiced Saori Hayami in Japanese. Ms. Hayami played the almost tall, dark and handsome high school girl Sawa Okita in Tari Tari and has a naturally haunting yet soothing voice.

On the right, her name is Marion LaRue. Much like Konatsu Miyamoto played by Asami Seto in Tari Tari, this one would instantly make one thinking of the Shia LaBeouf yelling “JUST DO IT!” meme.

Ms. Hayami and Ms. Seto played up a beautiful friendship between their characters in Tari Tari. So beautiful in fact that it’s almost romantic. Perhaps they can play up the romance finally in dubbing for a foreign to Japan game.

This is Marion’s fabulous sister Simone. Somehow, I have Atsuko Tanaka’s voice in my mind just by looking at this sprite, since that particular f word is the only way I can describe Ms. Tanaka’s voice with. She played the softer on the inside music teacher Naoko Takakura in Tari Tari. Partly why Takakura sensei seem harder to approach is due to Ms. Tanaka’s most famous role: Major Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell, both the famous double feature of Mamoru Ishii and Standalone Complex. She just seems like the kind of cop one should run screaming from. But neither Simone nor Takakura sensei is cop, they just try to help.

Now from the Tari Tari trio to the Psycho-pass duo.

This is Professor Margot Beaufort, the teacher of the love birds above though she only talks Audrey through her mess while the LaRue sisters rekindled. This old lady with short hair design is almost a calling card to Yoshiko Sakakibara, who played police chiefs with similar looks in both critical acclaimed Psycho-pass and the less warm Akutama Drive.

Now the nothing berger named Irene Kang. As the art book of this game states, she is here mostly because the artist wanted a cute girl in cute dress. The coppest of cops can be under the sweetest of sweetfaces and Irene is no exception. Which is why Ayane Sakura, the voice behind Mika Shimotsuki in Psycho-pass, is a perfect match.

Al’right, enough with that type of speculation. I suppose if you want something short and not THAT sweet to get you into visual novels, you can do a lot worse than Perfect Gold. Maybe give it a try in the coming Steam Winter Sale.

An Incomplete Japanese cast for Mass Effect “Shepard vs. Reapers” Trilogy

Chapter Three Space Warriors’ Final Fantasies

Let’s talk about Final Fantasy. Where I reside, once upon a time the unofficial translation of the series title can be translated back into English “Space Warriors”, which was strange since the series never actually venture into space. Then, the flop known as Final Fantasy Spirits Within had inspired Mass Effect series, a RPG jam packed with space warriors.

“Final Fantasies” was a joke the comic Gintama made as its endgame commerce, referring to how characters got “shipped” in stories’ final arcs. The list would not be short on that front, one for others and one for me style.

Final Fantasy is also referred to what yours truly going to do in the future. This blog series is intended as a exercise to get my wishful thinking out of my system. Wishful thinking is a danger thing to have in life and in this final installment I finally get all mine towards video games. By hooker by crook, it all ends here.

The beefy lad

Yoshimasa Hosoya as James Vega

Guess I did hit rock bottom now with the reason to head cast someone being their involvement in Attack on Titan. Yoshimasa Hosoya played Reiner aka the Armored Titan in AOT and his voice basically match the image of Vega, someone probably imported from Gears of War series into Mass Effect.

Yours truly mostly know Mr. Hosoya as a party member in Atlus’ Toyko Mirage Sessions, there he played a musical actor he is very cocky. He is Oleg in Mobile Suit Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans, a bulky and brown lad who is actually the brain of the whole operation. I listed those 2 mainly to wash off the reference to AOT so let’s move on, shall we.

Getaway driver 3.0

Soichiro Hoshi as Steve Cortez

Just because Bioware include LGBTQ+ characters in their games, it did not mean that they actually care about them queer folks. Just like how even though King Record keeps funding anime with mainly female ensembles, it does put the company in any of feminist light. Take Symphogear for example, the show featuring super weapon wielding girls, but the story always has a ninja man voiced Soichiro Hoshi as their getaway driver.

Speak of Mr. Hoshi, you might hear him as someone’s lord and savior Kira Yamato in Mobile Suit Gundam Seed and its sequel Destiny. Some ever see that Gundam boy as a queer icon. With Steve Cortez being a confident gay shuttle pilot in Mass Effect 3, Mr. Hoshi would almost have a homecoming voice the bone Bioware and EA gave gents who are into gents.

Queer icon, kinda, sorta. Not really

Minako Kotobuki as Samatha Traynor

Samatha Traynor is not high on anyone’s favored Mass Effect characters lists. But, in 2019 playing Mass Effect 3 along side Strike Back season 7 on Cinemax does give yours truly new appreciation for the lady. The show also has brown and British analyzer of information to point the commando to where they should go, like how Traynor would open the Grisom Academy side quest in Mass Effect 3. Still, dumping Liara for her is most insane run I had in Mass Effect 3, not only because I played that run on the highest difficulty “Insane”. At least the young asari’s head on the commander’s shoulder scene is nice.

Anyway, Minako Kotobuki is anyone who usually plays highschool girls having crush on other highschool girls in anime, the most famous one being Bloom Into You. Which is fitting given that Traynor is also someone who is bit shy and would back off when asked “So, you into me?” by a girl. Ms. Kotobuki played Elisa, a prototype of Lacia in Beatless, hearing her being roasted by Ms. Toyama(EDI) in Citadel DLC should be fun.

Guess you are struck with this dude, Mr. Baker

Satoshi Mikami as Kai Leng

Time to address the elephant who also is a ninja in the room.

No, not you, Zo Ninja created by Stan Sakai. I’m of course talking Kai Leng, a nothing berger henchman wannabe. I mean seeing the interchangeable bosses talking shit then getting shot is more fun than seeing this asshole in Mass Effect 3. It’s quite a waste that Bioware went the length to cast Troy Baker in the role.

Anyway, Satoshi Mikami is a two-time collaborator of Hideo Kojima and both time he dubbed Troy Baker. I’m waiting confirmation that he would go for the third time by TGS 2023 in Death Stranding. He actually act with aforementioned Mr. Nakamura (Male Shepard) in a dark sci-fi movie titled Genocidal Organ. Nakamura played a death commando named Shepherd there and Mr. Mikami voiced his colleague then turned hostile by the end. Almost a foreplay for Mass Effect 3 wouldn’t you say?

My “Final Fantasy”

Yuko Kaida as Eve

Yuko Kaida is someone who actually did dubbing for foreign to Japanese games, she was the voice of Lara Craft in the Tomb Raider trilogy started in 2013. Yours truly mostly know her as Tsukiyon, a lady ninja brothel bouncer in Gintama. Imagine Saber aka Queen Arthur in Fate series grown up a bit so she is full-breasted on top of being long-legged, then it’s basically Tsukiyon.

I cast him as the lady hope for korgan here because Tsukiyon is someone has nice chemistry with Gintoki (Mr. Sugita, someone I cast as Wrex). Apparently someone working in that industry thought so too. Ms. Kaida and Mr. Sugita had guest starred in 2021’s Heike Story as historical power couple, Masako Houjyou and Yoritomo of Minamoto. Being a sci-fi power couple with those two almost a must.

Someone’s “Final Fantasy”

Atsuko Tanaka as Kahlee Sanders

I got to admit that Mass Effect 3’s inclusion of Kahlee Sanders, a character appears in all 4 Mass Effect tie-in novels is a weird bit of fan service. But apparently I was the fan that would eat that shit up back then so not much complaint to see Anderson’s girlfriend here. For this role, I would introduce Akio Ostuka(Anderson)’s long term Ghost In the Shell co-star, Atsuko Tanaka. To hear those 2 bouncing off each other is the only reason yours truly went through the abysmal whole of Standalone Complex 2045.

Ms. Tanaka here played a teacher who would protect her Gifted students by hooker by crook in A Certain Scientific Rail-gun. A role would land her on the mark of Sanders here.

One of us?

Shoko Nakagawa as Diana Allers

The even weirder bit of Mass Effect 3 is the casting of former even by then IGN personality Jessica Chobot. If the inclusion of Sanders is to please readers of the tie-in novels, then have a game journalist playing war journalist is just weird. But apparently she is a potential love interest for Shepard so she stays and there is somewhat of a counterpart in Japan.

Shoko Nakagawa is a voice actor and vocal artist lays heavily into “I’m one of the audience as well” camp. Her music output is packed with licensed covers. But she is obviously talented and lucky enough for sing for hits like Gurren Lagoon and Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood as well. You knows? She as might out act Ms. Chobot in the role.

Omake!

Ayane Sakura as Mara Brooks

I had stated in 2 separate occasions that I wanted to hear Ayane Sakura as Samatha Traynor, but that was almost three years before the time of writing and yours truly actually started listening to queer folks’ thoughts on weeb stuff. But Ms. Sakura is one of those with range, that fits this joke of a character. After all this joke is quite layered and Ms. Sakura is someone can go from “sweet and innocent” to “the coppest cop ever” on a dial, a la her role in Psycho-pass Shimotsuki. Hanazawa as Tsunemori never talks shit about the younger lady cop, but as Miranda Lawson, she can go the nuclear option in Citadel DLC.

(the End)

An Incomplete Japanese cast for Mass Effect “Shepard vs. Reapers” Trilogy

Chapter Two Dirty Dozen in SPACE

Verse Three The Remaining Half Dozen and a couple of their descendants

The following piece is about the rest of squad members of Mass Effect 2. I nicknamed the whole lot Dirty Dozen in space, the previously mentioned ones among them being the returning aliens (Garrus and Tali), the Cerberus agents (Miranda and Jacob) and DLC (Zassead and Kasumi). The remaining six should be more interesting, at least than the nothing bergers one had to pay for bakc in the days.

Fast talk smart ass

Jun Fukuyama as Mordin Solus

When trying to define the type of power fantasy Mass Effect trilogy offers, I would call it “feeling like the apex predator”. Whether you stand on the high horse of Paragon to tell someone to stop their shit or just fuck some shit up on the path of Renegade. It’s a trend best reflected by the salarian squad member, the getting-there-firstest-the-fastest scientist Mordin Solus, and the voice behind the titular hero in Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, Jun Fukuyama.

Mr. Fukuyama with the stardom he enjoys now, of course is one with range. Fast-talking is within that range with the most recent being the asshole robot in the century spreading sci-fi “epic” Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song. It’s also the kind of “Sorry you are not following my smartness” asshole like fast talk, so I think the boy who shits his pants in Guns of Patriots can do some patronizing of his own.

Right back at you, Steve Blum

Kazuya Nakai as Grunt

Kazuya Nakai is probably most famous for his part as Zorro in One Piece. Yours truly mostly know him as the stick-up-his-ass kind of cop Tsujikata in Gintama. Not for no particular reason at all, Steve Blum was usually cast to dub him in the mid to late aughts.

Especially considering that the two cases of Blum dubbing Nakai are quite the polar opposites to each other. One being the rude and unorthodox samurai in anime series Samurai Champloo. The other one being the noble “rat king” style representative of a labor union in video game 2008’s Valkyria Chronicles. Perhaps with the range of those actors, being the simply hotheaded korgan squad member Grunt can be something met in the middle.

Subject Zero Two

Haruka Tomatsu as Jack

Speak of polar opposites, that is how yours truly see Jack and Miranda Lawson. Their argument about Cerberus did or did not do certain things almost sounds like a married couple arguing about their kid. So for Jack, I present to you someone who had played the loud one to Kana Hanazawa’s(Miranda) quiet one in several occasions I know, Haruka Tomatsu.

The subtitle is referred to Ms. Tomatsu’s character in Darling in the Franxxx, where every cast members involved deserve better. Anyway, Haruka Tomatsu was someone rising to fame in what can now be seen as the Tsuntera boom, when “actually” is said before something should be taken at the opposite direction. With Jack ended up being a big soft Tsuntera instead of Yantera one except out of the homicidal maniac, Ms. Tomatsu can play this one convincingly.

An assassin’s creed and shithead of a son

Rikiya Koyama as Thane Krios

Noriaki Sugiyama as Kolyat Krios

Okay, from one lady added because of her recent involvement in a Type-Moon project to a couple of men added because of their decade long collaboration with Type-Moon. Rikiya Koyama did not show up on the radar until the gun totting wizard killer Kiritsuku Emiya in Fate Zero, even though the man had enjoyed a career dubbing Kiefer Sutherland. Noriaki Sugiyama played the killer’s adopted son Shiro Emiya in the “sequel” Fate Stay Night. Apparently Mr. Sugiyama also played this Sasuke character in Naruto people keep referring to.

Anyway, yours truly binged through the first half of Fate Zero anime on the New Year eve of 2012 and Kiritsuku just made them go “This motherfucker sure sounds a lot in Thane in Mass Effect 2”. Both kitted out wizardry with sniper rifle, both believe that they can kill their way into a better world. Both are assassins with er, creed.

Then there are the two killers’ sons, both following his father’s bloody path and neither follows through. While Shiro has his love interests to thank for while his daddy bit it years before his story started, Kolyat was stopped by Thane and a human dead commando.

Either way, the 2 men actually never played this father-son combo on screen for Type-Moon, so maybe they can do it for Bioware.

The Boss and her sicko daughter

Kikuko Inoue as Samara and Morinth

Time to introduce Hideo Kojima’s best pal among voice actors. Kikuko Inoue is someone very close in age to that snake oil salesman, thus the two share a lot in terms of pop culture they know, including but not limited to the Biotic Woman. Ms. Inoue is also in every piece branded “A Hideo Kojima Game” so far with the exception of 1998’s Metal Gear Solid and potentially Death Stranding 2. I would argue that her range is something Kojima used more fully than other of his frequent collaborators, after all she was the Boss in MGS3 before she was Sunny in MGS4.

Speak of the Boss, even though Lori Alan is not in any of the Mass Effect, the asari badass Samara is someone strongly reminds yours truly of MGS’s final boss. I think Ms. Inoue can play her easily but that’s not all. Around the time Mass Effect 2 came out, Inoue played a villain called Lust, a lady with big tits, in Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, who is just like Morinth. Double casting here is pretty much required.

We are Legion, we are Sora

Miyu Irino as Legion

Miyu Irino’s casting usually is a sign of prestige. He was in Academy Award winning Spirited Away as a teenager after all. To yours truly, he has the so-called star power to pull one from modern Hollywood blockbusters. In 2 separate occasions, I had chosen to see an animated flick starring Mr. Irino instead of the Hollywood one on at the same time. One time was September, 2017 when A Silent Voice and Spider-man Homecoming were on. Another time was February, 2019, when Maquia and Alita Battle Angel were on. But Sora in Kingdom Hearts is somewhat of a low point for him.

Mr. Irino played a robot named Higgins in Beatless, somewhat an evil mastermind in that story. That tin can looked at Asimov’s first rule of robotic and went “I don’t even know what ‘safety’ for meat bags is”. They are pretty much a parent to Ms, Toyama(EDI) character Lacia in Beatless. So I guess with EDI naming the geth platform Legion(A scene probably stolen from the 1996 Japanese summer blockbuster Gamera 2 Advert of Legion by the way) in Mass Effect 2, the reverse of roles is too funny not to include here.

(To be concluded in Space warriors’ final fantasies)

An Incomplete Japanese cast for Mass Effect “Shepard vs. Reapers” Trilogy

Chapter Two Dirty Dozen in SPACE

Verse Two The not entirely human crew of Normandy SR-2

Yours truly did not watch the Search for Spock, that third Star Trek movie until May, 2012. You know, the one with Enterprise going down, really down. It’s also a plot point in Beyond. Though in the 2016 flick, real adventure did not begin until the iconic ship sunk. The reason I mentioned Star Trek movies here is to say that I did not see any ship down moment elsewhere when I first booted up Mass Effect 2 merely days after its launch. The bombastic destruction of Normandy SR-1 sure blew away 20-year-old away.

OF course unlike Star Trek where new ship did not appear until sequel, Commander Shepard got Normandy SR-2 and its new crew only after 2 shooting galleries. The piece is mainly about this crew and the ghost in ship her or them self. For editing reason, the 2 originally sold as DLC squad mates are here as well. After all, one does not have to shoot lots of people to recruit those two, they started like NPC in a Hub just like other non-combatant crew members on this list.

Secretary

Nana Mizuki as Kelly Chambers

I had stated in 2 separate occasions that I wanted to hear Nana Mizuki as Miranda Lawson, but that was a couple of years ago before realizing that Psycho-pass had became a science fiction classic. But like I said before, Ms. Mizuki is my favorite voice actor from Japan in a quantifiable way, so I cannot see myself doing this list without her on it.

Ms, Mizuki did dubbing for two pieces starring Lea Seydoux but not dubbing the French actor twice. She is the Japanese voice of Fragile in Death Stranding (Likely would return for the sequel.), but not the one behind Madeline Swann in No Time To Die. Instead she voiced Paloma, the Ana de Arma character who is just chilled to work for CIA and with James Bond. The vibe is most identical to Kelly Chambers’ enthusiasm for Cerbures and Commander Shepard, with description of all squad members on top. There is still heavy lifting to do.

Real-life couple play an odd couple

Maaya Sakamoto as Gabby Daniels

Kenichi Suzumura as Kenneth Donnley

Maaya Sakamoto and Kenichi Suzumura to yours truly are practically the Japanese counterpart of Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie Prinze Jr. (I got someone else entirely for Vega in mind). Both pair went through the progress of from acting partners in teen slashers to married couple in real life. Ms. Sakamoto and Mr. Suzurmura just started in mid to later aughts and their output are teen slashers in other genres’ skin.

There is the 2004 to 2005 Mobile Suite Gundam Seed Destiny, a teen slasher disguised as sci-fi action blockbuster with mechs. There is all that bullshit Tetsuya Nomura cooked up after Final Fantasy VII, the teen slasher trying to be fantasy epic There is Garden of Sinner, a series of slasher movies based on a novel way too poetically written for the genre by Kinoko Nasu. The couple also appeared in Legend of the Galactic Heroes New Thesis, as the sister of imperial reformer and the reluctant saver of a interstellar republic respectively.

Thing about about this couple when they act with each other is Mr. Suzuki usually plays the simpler one of the duo while Ms. Sakamoto plays the smart one. The pattern that can be mapped neatly upon the engineer duo Gabby Daniels and Kenneth Donnley. With Suzumura’s LOAGH character Yang Wen Li being a weirdo always take tea over coffee, Donnely’s thing about scorch over bourbon in Mass Effect 3 should be interesting and maybe the only thing to make up for the fact that one cannot do Scottish accent in Japanese. No, Kanseibe ain’t no counterpart for that.

Getaway Driver 2.0

Nao Toyama as EDI

Now the “not entirely human” part of the crew and one yours truly would try not to lose their shit over. In a quantifiable way, the 1992 born Japanese voice actor Nao Toyama is the second favorite of yours truly in that filed. I’m a fan of both her endeavor in voice acting and J-pop. What I like about her songs is the different kinds of singing voice she can do, haunting is my favorite among those.

Speaking of haunting, the short of it is Ms. Toyama played a robot lady with haunting yet seething voice named Lacia in 2018’s novel turned anime Beatless. (Those snubs at Production IG! They should have handled this but instead of they did Legend of the Galactic Heroes New Thesis. Winner of the Best Novel at Seiun Awards over a mere nominee, huh?) I mean it’s not like Bioware cast Tricia Helfer merely for her voice and ignored the fact that she was the sensual Six in Battlestar Galactica.

Ms. Toyama usually plays the archetype I would call “Damn! She was close” as opposite to “the male lead’s future wife” in those so-called Harem stories. Along with two aforementioned ladies actually. Saori Hayami (Liara) in My Youth Love Comedy Snafu and Asami Seto (Ashley) in Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai. Funny enough Ms. Toyama played “future wife” against Kana Hanazawa(Miranda)’s “close one” in Nisekoi, that comic adaption is practically canceled before the story got to the point. So, I cast her here as someone not available to the player character, but instead spoken for by the grumpy ship pilot. The two of them would pull Shepard’s sorry ass out of several fires before they realize that they should kiss already, like Chitoke and Raku

(Koki Uchiyama, someone I cast to dub Seth Green)

in Nisekoi.

A Wrathful Mercenary

Kazuhiro Yamaji as Zassead

Two one-time Hideo Kojima collaborators coming up!

Kazuhiro Yamaji dubbed Mads Mikkelsen in Death Stranding. With how the story went in Death Stranding and Mr. Mikkelsen not confirmed for the sequel, I am assuming that it’s a one-time deal. Mr. Yamaji was also in Psycho-pass and Legend of the Galactic Heroes New Thesis, played a more experienced psychologist in the formed and was recast as an imperial admiral defected to the republic in the latter.

Mr. Yamaji is someone to be called to play “sad dads”. The saddest of the bunch being the one in Symphogear, the man had to pose as a father figure to his half-sister because his own terrible daddy er, fucked his bride…Anyway, I quite like his performance as the scenery chewing secret police chief Kenny in Attack on Titan third season despite how low I regard AOT as while.

Okay, I know that Zassead is almost a non-character in Mass Effect 2 and 3, Mr. Yamaji’s talent might be wasted here, but still I said I would cast all squad members and this is just one box has to be checked.

This one might be tricky

Yu Kobayashi as Kasumi Goto

How to handle stereotypical Japanese character in English media when translate said media to Japanese can be very tricky. But here is just another squad member box has to be checked here. For the almost foul-mouthed thief Kasumi Goto, I present to you Yu Kobayashi, mainly because she played the foul-mouthed masochist ninja Saruta in Gintama. Ms. Kobayashi was also in Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, as one of many Anime Usual Suspects in the PSP game to boast sale.

Kasumi Goto is also the closest one among the squad member to be a crew member as well. During the final suicide mission of Mass Effect 2, she can be seen managing the Ezzo Core of Normandy SR-2 since all other crew was taken by the Collectors. So I leave her here before getting into the livelier bunch of the dirty dozen.

(To be continued in The Remaining Half Dozen and a couple of their descendants)

An Incomplete Japanese cast for Mass Effect “Shepard vs. Reapers” Trilogy

Chapter Two Dirty Dozen in SPACE

It is an once-in-a-decade miracle that yours truly, IGN and Giantbomb would agree on which game they consider as the best of the year: 2010’s Mass Effect 2 and 2020’s Hades. Guess that’s why yours truly is hell-bound on doing imaginary Japanese voice cast for those 2 games.

Getting my imported copy of Mass Effect 2 was also an experience that make me go “To hell with console exclusives”. It was a cold January day, a white man claiming to be Ubisoft Shanghai employee entered the game store after me. He had a girl with him but her lack of knowledge did not help the transaction, thus yours truly volunteer to help. The man wanted a PS3 and a copy of Uncharted 2 Among Thieves while the shop runner tried to sell him a copy of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, surprise, surprise. As the transaction completed, yours truly felt rather a shame that even as “gamers” the two of us did not have much to talk about. The act of “to exclusion with exclusive” took roots in my mind that day.

Anyway, enjoy how one show love for their favorite game of all time.

Verse One Three heads of Cerberus, two ladies in power and one beat cop

It’s hard to thinking about Mass Effect Japanese dub without thinking about Psycho-pass. The 2012 to 2013 futuristic crime thriller and late 2012’s Mass Effect Paragon Lost are both made by Production I.G seemingly around the same time. The latter was a direct-to-video movie in the sense that it’s not as good as something one can see in the theatre, but in this case it’s even worse than Psycho-pass on television. That’s the least of Paragon Lost’s problems. I.G clearly put their A team on their “science fiction classic in the making” rather than a “tie-in for foreign games”.

Guess the least one can do is imagining Psycho-pass cast members putting their backs into the better part of the Mass Effect story. Thus 3 out of 6 below are cast members from that show, while the other 3 are Hideo Kojima collaborators in a board sense. Also this will be quite a Legend of Galactic Voices in this installment as 4 of 6 acted in Legend of the Galactic Heroes across two adaptions.

Soft spoken and Hard boiled First Head of Cerberus

Kana Hanazawa as Miranda Lawson

It feels good to start with the first voice one can hear when they boot up Mass Effect 2. Miranda Lawson being a relatively rational fan of Commander Shepard is how this murderous caper flick opens. I head cast Ms. Kana Hanazawa as Agent Lawson mainly because she played this kind rationalizing fan girls in two of those Production I.G’s intended to science fiction classics.

First one is Inspector Akane Tsunamori in Psycho-pass, one young lady went through the arc of from being enchanted by a swashbuckling colleague to being a cop with empathy under a dystopia. The second one is Hilegrad “Hilda” Von Mariendorf in the on-going Legend of the Galactic Heroes New Thesis, a young lady went through the arc of being fascinated by a rising imperial admiral to being his empress and actually handle internal business in his reformed galactic empire.

Both characters above lived through better stories than Mass Effect trilogy, but Ms. Hanazawa is someone not necessarily above harem stuff, she should be among front runners for dubbing foreign games.

Heart of Darkness under the Second and Orange Head of Cerberus

Tomakazu Seki as the Illusive Man

Tomakazu Seki is pretty much Martin Sheen’s Japanese counterpart. It only took a back-to-back viewing of Psycho-pass Extended Edition and Apocalypse Now Final Cut for yours truly to realize that. Both are infamous chain smokers. Both have voices sound younger than they are. At least it’s the humble opinion of someone who never saw a single second of West Wing when they saw Bioware marketing the involvement of Sheen Senior.

Mr. Seki’s part in Psycho-pass is the aforementioned “swashbuckling colleague” Shinya Kogami, someone who looked into the heart of darkness like Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now. Illusive Man is pretty much the version of the same archetype who chose to embrace that heart of darkness. Maybe it’s time for still playing teenagers along upper commers Mr. Seki to play someone closer to his age.

If all else fail, Mr. Seki played the brother to titular heroine of Cardcaptor Sakura, a show famous for an orange Cerberus among other things. Surely it’s similar to how Cerberus in Mass Effect series went for the whole paint everything in black and orange thing.

Third head of Cerberus like a third wheel on a bicycle

Kenjiro Tsuda as Jacob Taylor

Thing downside about dragging my feet to write those wishful thinking piece is that some of those who yours truly wanted to put on this list had past in the time between, like Kenji Fujiwara aka the twice black voice to Hideo Kojima for the token black squad member. Mr. Fujiwara fortunately checked out of this world in 2020. Guess I would settle for the likely to twice Kojima collaborator Kenjiro Tsuda.

Mr. Tsuda is the voice of Sam Porter Bridges and as the time of writing was not confirmed to return to Death Stranding but it’s safe to bet that Kojima Productions would announce that by TGS 2023. He also played two different bit player villains in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, one was already covered by Giantbomb’s watch along podcast whole another is far in their future.

Mr. Tsuda was cast as a joke in expense of black man, he played a likely African American mercenary who nick named “Omo Shiro”(literally means “face white”, usually means “funny” or “interesting”) by his Japanese colleagues in Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex 2045. All those problematic things aside, it would at least be nice to hear Tsuda’s smooth voice as one of the more boring squad mate of Mass Effect 2.

Trinity Before the Matrix

Moya Koyama as Aria T’Loak

Moya Koyama is quite the science fiction aficionado since the 1980s. She played tragically short lived Jessica Edwards in the old adaption of Legend of the Galactic Heroes. She can be considered as a Hideo Kojima collaborator with the part as Metal Gear Mk.II in Snatcher, a game Kojima wrote but didn’t direct. But for the part of Omega’s Crime Queenpin, Ms. Koyama’s part in a movie and a game count.

Kei in Akira can almost be seen as an inspiration for Trinity in the Matrix, so I think having her dubbing Carrie-Anne Moss is only reasonable, Not to mention that she is Lady Francis Drake in the Type-Moon RPG Fate Extra, so it’s just from one pirate queen on the earth to a space pirate queen.

Space Augusta

Yoshiko Sakakibara as Shala’Raan vas Tonbay

By 2012, Yoshiko Sakakibara had been almost typecast in genre pieces as “lady with gravitas”. She is the police chief in Psycho-pass, the titular Lady von Hellsing in Hellsing Ultimate and back in the days Hamman “Queen of space” Khan in Zeta plus Double Zeta Gundam. Though it’s not always the case, as her part in Legend of the Galactic Heroes OVA, Frederra Greenhill is just the humble Lieutenant and later wife of that reluctant saver of the republic. No surprise for Legend of the Galactic Heroes plotting though, this lady ended up being august as all gets out since she basically became the first president of a new interstellar republic.

Hamman Khan is the key here. As Ms. Sakakibara started that role around the time the aforementioned Ai Kayano was born. So when the qurian admiral Shala’Raan sweet talks to Tali about how she was there when the younger one was born, the moment can be taken as a inside joke.

Policenaut in alienation

Hideyuki Tanaka as Armand-owen Bailey

I suppose you can half jokingly call Hideyuki Tanaka “Hideo Kojima’s first boyfriend”, with the aforementioned Otsuka and Tsuda above being the second and third respectively. The snake oil salesman pretending to be video game authuer always has a first time collaborator as the male lead for his new brands, almost like a man changes new lovers.

Okay, jokes aside, Mr. Tanaka was the lead of the first ever “Game by Hideo Kojima”, Policenauts, as out of time detective Jonathan “What’s his name”. He then returned in Metal Gear Solid series as 2 generations of terrible Emmerich men, even though Kojima insists that Junior is a heroic figure. I guess Tanaka decides he was too old for Kojima shtick by Death Stranding or maybe it’s the other way around. Before all that, Mr. Tanaka had a bit player part only in the first episode of Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

Back to Mass Effect, Michael Hogan was cast as Armand-owen Bailey, the highest ranking human C-Sec officer we see in the games, definite for his part in the new Battlestar Galatica. The much put on executive officer in the show got that bit-cop not entirely comfortable in place vibe. Then I guess only the out-of-time policenaut himself can match such vibe.

（To be continued in The not entirely human crew of Normandy SR-2）

An Incomplete Japanese cast for Mass Effect “Shepard vs. Reapers” Trilogy

Chapter One Crimson Eyes

Verse Three Galaxy Quest Givers

Now the people our good commander would meet after he, she or they finally got the command of the spaceship shaped hub: a villain works well both as a mastermind and boss enemy; the commander’s love of their life as far as yours truly is concerned; a not so ancient voice that asks the commander to get some shit done; a very ancient voice that asks the commander to get the shit done. Space opera finally hit its crescendo here.

Agent

Sho Hayami as Saren Arterius

For the final boss of the first game, yours truly would give up the pitch thing and go for symbol. Sho Hayami is pretty much the Japanese counterpart to Sean Bean, and it’s not only because of the voice pronounced through nostril both men cable of. Fate Zero and Hellsing Ultimate are two action-packed dark fantasy anime ended in 2012. Mr. Hayami took part in both and his characters were, let’s just say “cut down at his prime before shit really hit the fan” like how Mr. Bean usually plays the destined to dead characters.

One of the more memorable dead men in Mr. Bean’s resume surely must be Alec “006” Trevelyan. Saren Arterius in Mass Effect is a rouge agent with a super weapon as well, to hear a voice matching Bean in smoothness, gravitas and manliness is some wishful thinking I can shake.

Mother

Sayaka Ohara as Matriarch Benezia

There is no other way to put, Sayaka Ohara is who you call when you need someone to play “mom”. She even had a “putting ‘bit’ into ‘bit player’” part in Cyberpunk Edgerunners as someone’ mom, that poor lab assistant who got shot by David when he went crazy. Whenever a show with ensemble of teenagers, you can immediately take bet on which of those little shits’ mom would be voice by Ms. Ohara.

Ms, Ohara and upcoming Ms. Saori Hayami had played an estranged mother and daughter combination in 2018’s overlooked A Place Farther Than Universe, that’s a fun one. She also played villains in league with aforementioned Mr. Hayami in the Japanese language puppet fantasy action drama Thunderbolt Fantasy. Get Benezia is simply combining those 2 together.

Doc

Saori Hayami as Liara T’soni

Liara T’soni is the love interest I would go for as Commander Shepard regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Though the only time the good commander remain faithful throughout the trilogy was my Legendary Edition run as a Katarina Shepard. Ali Hillis’ naturally husky and haunting just did me in.

Of course in the Japanese dub, I am going with the naturally husky and haunting voices and there are actually 2: the 1980 born Mamiko Noto and the 1991 born Saori Hayami (no relation to the aforementioned Sho Hayami, kanjis are different.). The two of them actually played a mother-daughter combination in 2012’s Tari Tari, a show about high schoolers’ feeling that is usually lost in the sea of that same genre. Mr. Hayami won out for being younger and a cast member of Shinning Renounce. Her parts in the early 2010s usually are the Fridged One in some sci-fi show like Mobile Suit Gundam Age and Sword Art Online. It’s nice to have her as someone who would not get Fridged in a piece of science

Admiral

Kazuhiko Inoue as Steven Hackett

So from the Fridged One to the one affected by that Fridging, Kazuhiro Inoue played the man who a boy became after witnessing a girl’s death in Mobile Suit Gundam Age. Other than that Mr. Inoue’s output yours truly noticed can be boiled down to the following 4 words: comic book super villain.

The listeners of Jeff Jeff’s Bizarre Adventure podcast might heard him as Kaz if they watched along with sub. Then he played Moboro, a henceman in Gintama. He is Goto in Parasyte, someone who started as henceman and did not stop being a threat even after the mastermind deceased. The most recent one is Cyberpunk Edgerunners’ Faraday.

All is to say that I think Mr. Inoue can be heard as the counterpart to Lance Henriksen. If you need a disembodied voice to give side quests to do, one can do worse than Mr. Inoue. Besides that voice would match the scar face Bioware would eventually gave the admiral in the sequels.

Ancient

Koichi Yamatera as “Prothean”

This is less about that VI voice before the final battle but more about that Javik fellow in Mass Effect 3. Koichi Yamatera is a Japanese voice actor who are iconic enough that Rooster Teeth cast him in the English language web-toon Gen:Lock. Mr. Yamatera was quite an onmi-present in the so-called “for adult”, but not porno mean you, anime. He was the lead of Ninja Scroll. He played Ryoji Kaji in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Last but not least since it’s a favorite of yours truly, Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop.

Mr. Yamatera’s range includes the stoic but nice monk, which would be fitting for that Prothean VI in the first Mass Effect. He practically played a fish out of water in Gen:lock, being a Japanese speaker among English speakers. Being an militaristic ancient alien had to be nice to species he used consider as food is a source of comedy in Mass Effect 3, Javik is quite the voice of ancient aliens. Mr. Yamatera’s given name can be heard as “Ancient One” in Japanese, maybe he can lend voice to that whole species.

(To be continued in Three heads of Cerberus, two ladies in power and one beat cop )

An Incomplete Japanese dream cast for Mass Effect “Shepard vs. Reapers” Trilogy

Chapter One Crimson Eyes

Verse Two Representatives at the Capital

Ah, attempting to do some creative work in a cosmopolitan city. Nothing makes one aware of the so-called classes they are in like that. Take a lowly clerk like yours truly for example, when they think about voice cast, the most they can do is humble blogs, whether it’s in words like this or in video form on sites like Youtube or Bilibili. When someone high up at miHoyo global headquartes think about that same bunch, they see bait for hunting Genshin Impact whales.

Even in science fiction set in deep space, that class difference is still there even in works not as class aware. Citadel in Mass Effect trilogy is essentially the cosmopolitan capital of the known galaxy, Tertiums systems not withdrawn. The different spices there not only represent their different civilizations but also their classes.

There are 2 characters yours truly consider important to the story and 3 alien party members. No reporter lady who just does not know how to quit roasting a death commando. No Conrad either, yours truly did not even see his storyline through until Legendary Edition, and their 31 years old cynic ass just did not like comic relief done like that.

Mentor

Akio Otsuka as David Anderson

In the fields of both military science fiction with high word count and video games inspired by Golden Eye, Metal Gear Solid series is a predecessor to Mass Effect. So I found it only fair to have the mentor figure in Mass Effect, David Anderson to be voiced by MGS star and Hideo Kojima collaborator Akio Otsuka. If all else fail, Mr. Otsuka simply is a pitch perfect Japanese counterpart to Keith David. Yours truly had pretended that a character voiced by Otsuka just is Keith David in two separate occasions.

First occasion took place when I played Death Stranding. At the risk of being accused for not able to tell one black man from another, yours truly simply pretended that Die-hard Man waas played by Keith David and had af much more fun time with the game.

Second occasion being Yakuza Like A Dragon, Otsuka voiced the weeks from retirement cop Koichi Adachi. Whenever the character’s face is not on screen, I just envision Keith David grinning ear to ear.

While Anderson was the first commanding officer of Normandy SR-1, I find it more fitting to place him on Citadel. After all his apartments on the gigantic space station book end this first circle of Mass Effect products, an apartment appeared in 2007’s prequel novel Revelation, then probably a new one is where the part is at in 2013’s Citadel DLC. Either way, Otsuka is quite the must have for a Mass Effect Japanese dub.

A politician’s obvious heel turn

Takaya Hashi as Donnel Udina

Okay, from a notable Hideo Kojima collaborator to one that is less so. Takaya Hashi is the voice of Skull Face, the rather forgettable antagonist in Metal Gear Solid V. He is quite a mainstay in playing heavies, probably due to the rather twisted feeling in his vocal performance that helps one to envision the gesture of mustache twirling.

Udina is the typical bad politician in stories more agreeable with the military and he play the part until his bitter end in Mass Effect 3. Mr. Hashi is a rather fitting voice for this archetype.

Pepping in some “Northy” on that cop

Yoshitsuka Matsuoka as Garrus Vlakraian

Northy, or the Best Nolan North Performance in A Game, was a mainstay category of Giantbomb GOTY between 2009 and 2012. Funny enough, during that time, yours truly did not hear that many Northy performance as lead probably because they only played on an Xbox 360. Shadow Complex and Spec Ops the Line are all I remember. I played Assassin’s Creed games back then, but let’s face it Desmand Miles ain’t major part. So I guess it’s natural that I want to hear Japanese “Nolan North” as everyone’s favorite alien “Dirty Harry”.

I stated before why I think Yoshitsuka Matsuoka is the Japanese Nolan North. This is more about his career. Mr. Matsuoka does not have a lead in an action comic for boys in his resume to point to. While he played supporting roles in those, there is just no Goku, Luffy or Naruto of the world. The closest two being Kirito, aka Mr. Fuckboy himself in Sword Art Online, and the titular hero of Shokugeki no Soma: Food Wars! The latter being a cook and no Under Siege style former commando turned cook. If Jojo anime continues with Steel Ball Run, maybe he can play Johnny the Jockey.

Having him as Garrus against Sawashiro as Shepard is kinda have justice for the latter. Sawashiro as Sinon was someone worshiping Kirito at his feet in Sword Art Online. Perhaps it’s time a Sawashiro character puking fun at a Matsuoka character like how the Commander hooks up with her cop boyfriend.

The Heart of Sliver

Kazumoto Sugita as Urdnot Wrex

From someone who still does not have a comic book lead under his belt to someone who has a couple, it’s your old friend Kazumoto Sugita. If you watched Jojo along with Jeff Jeff’s Bizarre Adventure podcast, you already heard Mr. Sugita here as young Joseph Joestar. To yours truly, he is the hero of Gintama.

Imagine Mad Magazine wants its own Usagi Yojmbo, researches to create a world of 1800s Japanese with some aliens and still drops pop culture parodies, then you got the idea of Gintama. It was seen as a comedy book, but because it’s on Shonen Jump magazine, action-packed melodramatic arcs ensue. I mean even a romcom series like Nisekoi got action arc on that magazine, so it’s only fair for samurai story to have those as well.

Like the show he stared in, Mr. Sugita’s performance can switch between dramatic and comedic rather easily. Also much like our dinosaur looking squad mate in Mass Effect trilogy. Wrex might not get too big a role in sequels, but he still steal the show in scenes he is in no matter what the tune is. I think Sugita is a very fitting dub in Japanese.

Beauty Kept at a distance

Ai Kayano as Tali’Zorah

Ai Kayano is on this list also because she was a Shinning Resonance cast member playing a elf girl with brown hair and a impulse to hug anyone or anything on her path. Ms. Kayano also played Alice, a technological singularity in Sword Art Online. And unfortunately, even machine intelligence has crush on Mr. Fuckboy in SAO. Though with Tali and Garrus cuddling before the final battle if you leave them alone and keep them alive, the casting of Kayano and Matsuoka maybe implies that yours truly wants to see Mr. Fuckboy there ends up with a robot.

Ms. Kayano operates in 2 types of attitude, one to hold you tight, the other to hold you back. Tali’Zorah being a masked figure surely requires the latter. I think the bit in Mass Effect 3 when Tali got drunk is also where Ms. Kayano can shine.

(To be continued in Givers of Galaxy Quests)