[High School of the Dead] Saving Alice

[Sapphire]

And here is the HOTD clip I've been working on for serious. It's a one-shot as far as I'm concerned.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiaC9yQ0WIY]Saving Alice - Part I[/ame]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCKqL7tSBeU]Saving Alice - Part II[/ame]



Cast:

OP Singers - Cristina and Nana

Takashi - mjcantor
Alice - Kennidy
Rei - Sachibelle
Saeko - Sapphire
Zeke - Lucien
Kohta - GameBuddy
Shizuka - Bolt
Saya - Haushinka
Zombies - GeneralIvan, GameBuddy, Sapphire, Y. Chang

OP Lyrics/ Some OP Editing - Y. Chang
Some OP/Fandub Audio Editing - Sapphire

[Kennidy]

I loved this.

Cristina and Nana sang the opening together really well--Nana's harmonies worked very well with Cristina's singing. It gave out this "peppy, upbeat" feel at first, but in mid-song it began to give a more serious feel that I liked a lot. GameBuddy was a fantastic Kouta. Not only was his acting spot-on, but the voice he used is exactly what Kouta should sound like: nerdy, yet cool. The calm, collected Takashi that mjcantor played was good as well. Sachibelle's Rei was lovely compared to some of the more obnoxious ones I've heard. Her performance was a great contrast to the Haushinka's bratty Saya and Sapphire's kick ass Saeko. Although I didn't hear very much from them, Lucien did an AWESOME job as Zeke and Bolt did a great Shizuka.

And of course, Sapphire's mixing and scripting is good, too...

... done sucking up, hehehe

[tomatocars]

Omg sapphire I drooled over this clip when I saw it on youtube a few minutes ago!!! The casting (as always) was PERFECT. You have such a good ear for the characters and how they should sound! Acting was top notch and the mixing was amazing as usual. I can't wait for more clips!

[BloodRedOath]

I thought this was pretty good, although a few little things caught my attention but I'm probably just being picky today.

OP Singers - Cristina and Nana: I loved the opening, probably my favorite part of the whole clip. I'll definitely be downloading that.

Takashi - mjcantor: I wasn't too big on the voice in the beginning, but it grew on me, it sounded too high in my opinion in the first few lines. Your first few effort sounds were just a bit weak, but they got better too. I feel like there were some awkward deliveries too, but I can't specifically think of any that stuck out like a sore thumb so it couldn't have been that bad lol. Overall though, I liked it. I can't seem to appreciate anyone's english Takashi (including my own) too much, so I hope you won't take offense to this xD

Alice - Kennidy: I liked this a lot, pretty much the only thing that I didn't like was the line where Alice is pinned up against a corner and Zeke is in front of her barking, I couldn't understand it the first time around. When people cry that's pretty much how they sound, (or worse) but for the sake of animoos I'd say trying to make it just a tad clearer would work wonders. Definitely a good performance!

Rei - Sachibelle: You didn't have a zillion lines, so it's a bit hard for me to give a big critique, but here's what I think about what I did hear. When I think of Rei I kind of think of a bitch. lol. That's just my personal opinion on the character. For some reason she's still my favorite female character in HOTD, but I just think she's bitchy and I think her japanese voice was a big influence on that opinion. I think you gave her a good voice, but I think you played her very softly as opposed to the loud obnoxious Rei I think of lol. Now the problem here is that I can't decide if that's entirely the clip's fault because I know she acts quite differently than she normally does in this scene. Overall I'd say I want to hear more before I decide if I like it or not, because it's very understandable that you'd sound soft here.

Saeko - Sapphire: I knew you'd cast yourself as Saeko, and that's because you fit her. I can't remember anything specifically being bad, so I'll keep this short, good job!

Zeke - Lucien: I thought it was the original. Oh you.

Kohta - GameBuddy: You know, the voice wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but it's something that I could easily see being in an official dub. It grew on me quickly, and really the only couple of things that irked me were the few times you said Komuro, because they sounded more like Komuru. That's really not that big of a deal, so whatever. But yeah I liked your performance a lot.

Shizuka - Bolt: Quite a small part for this clip huh? I liked what I heard, but I'll need to hear more to say anything else xD

Saya - Haushinka: Saya played a relatively small part in this clip too, but I did like what I heard. I liked that your "charge!" wasn't way too overdone lol. I feel like it'd be really easy to go over the top with that line.

Zombies - GeneralIvan, GameBuddy, Sapphire, Y. Chang: Sounded like zombies. Nice.

Some OP/Fandub Audio Editing - Sapphire: For the most part, pretty awesome. If I had to pick out a couple of things, the very first sound effect sounded a bit lq, but nothing else stuck out to me in that department. I think the music could have been boosted just a tad during the times when no one was talking, but for the sake of hearing the lines underneath it, the level it is at now is great.

Overall pretty good. I think I'm just nitpicking too much for some reason today, but I didn't get a huge "WOWIEE THIS IS AN AMAZING FANDURBS" kinda vibe from this clip, although I haven't gotten that from anything in a while. Casting-wise, I think everyone was individually a good choice, but some of the voices sounded a little bit similar on some lines which ended up confusing me at first. Takashi and Kohta sounded similar on only like two lines when they were talking to each other, and Rei and Saya sounded a bit like each other IMO too. I think the mixing was damn good aside from those little things I pointed out, so overall, I enjoyed it.

EDIT: I'm so confused how my post got that stupid thumbs up on it, but whatever.

[Kennidy]

Alice - Kennidy: I liked this a lot, pretty much the only thing that I didn't like was the line where Alice is pinned up against a corner and Zeke is in front of her barking, I couldn't understand it the first time around. When people cry that's pretty much how they sound, (or worse) but for the sake of animoos I'd say trying to make it just a tad clearer would work wonders. Definitely a good performance!

Thank you for such a well thought-out critique! I really appreciate it, since you don't find those very often anymore. I'll definitely take your words into consideration.

[Takatsuki]

wow this is really... well done......

[xApplicationRainbow]

OP Singers: Cristina and Nana- I have to say the duet these two pulled off was simply amazing! It really did the song justice, and I'm currently listening to if for I have downloaded it!

Takashi: mjcantor-Really well played, the choice of words your chose for him to say were well picked and very natural to his original character.

Alice: Kennidy-Adorable! 'My papa won't wake up' line was so sad, but really fitted her innocent character well! I love how she sounded and all her lines just added to the cuteness!

Rei: Sachibelle-I felt that she was a little weak with performance, but towards the end really came through stronger, loving the choice of this character.

Saeko: Sapphire-Also really well played! Also enjoyed the lines you picked for her to say--really fitted into her character. Her voice suited the matureness required of the role.

Zeke: Lucien-Can't really judge anything but barks, but really really kept with the rough cuteness of the dog.

Kohta: GameBuddy-Totally awesome actor! Really brought out his (cocky?) attitude about knowing gun! Really enjoyable!

Shizuka: Bolt-Only heard very little of her but sounded like she fit the air-headed blonde type. A cute few lines.

Saya: Haushinka-Really good again. Great choice of lines, and voice again fit the character!

Zombies: GeneralIvan, GameBuddy, Sapphire, Y. Chang-Very zombie sounding so thumbs up!

Your casting was awesomely done--and your choice of music was great! Thanks for making this fandub possible!

[mjcantor]

I don't take offense to it at all, Junichi Suwabe's portrayal of Takashi is just really hard to put into English. Someone on Youtube thought it sounded like Johnny Yong Bosch though!

All in all, it came out really well and I'm honored that I could be a part of something of this quality!

[Hnilmik]

Okay, I don't know any of these characters and I see quite a few unfamiliar names, so I'm gonna try my best with this critique, eh?

I'll start off in saying that as usual, the OP was wonderful and the mixing was great (though I got confused when Takashi was talking/thinking to himself).

If there's something that collectively stood out, it's the syncopated, fragmented deliveries that sounded very unnatural or one-note.

Since Takashi is probably the most prominent character in this, it was probably easiest to hear that he wasn't really reacting to anything in particular, as if the only direction he got was "sound cool and heroic"--Almost every line had a mini-grunt to get the last syllable out, which doesn't help the occasional awkward delivery. He was talking to everyone the same way; I'm not familiar with the series, but I'm assuming that Takashi has a different relationship with Kohta, orange-haired girl, and the kid, for instance. I just couldn't hear it. Talking to Saeko was just a matter of "drop the energy" and "Those guys are something else" + "I'm a lucky guy" just sounded throwaway, rather than genuinely glad that he has some awesome, zombie ass-kicking friends (no pleasant surprise, no pride, no relief, etcetera).

By no means is Takashi the only character with the acting in a vacuum thing going on, however.

Kohta's performance would've been more believable if he took in the proximity of who he's talking to more into consideration. Like... Just who is he talking to to keep speaking at that same volume? His interactions with the girls could've sounded more genuine if he was embarrassed/surprised to see them up and about or a little sarcastic when talking about the "fun" Takashi is having. I also think more could've been shown during the interaction with Takashi, since I assume the "moment before" must've been something kinda big for him to remark, "I didn't think you'd shoot". Was what happened in the last episode something big? Something personal to really get defensive about? Or was it nothing and just something embarrassing? Telling Takashi to go on with a tinge of embarrassment or to change the subject (judging by the mini-blush) would've sold me.

Saeko's voice was... Unexpected. I was expecting her voice to be lower since I believe she was the super serious type, so I never really thought of this character having a higher-ish voice. Considering that she's nicer in this clip, the higher-ish voice fits, though I'm curious if her voice as a whole would bear more presence if the vocal placement was somewhere in the back of the mouth or in the chest instead of solely in the nose. I'm not sure if Sapphire knows how to shift her voice with placement, but one way to minimize nasally performances as a whole would be opening the mouth wider--I heard the attempt to enunciate in the "Don't rely on the gun too much" part, namely in the t's, but the other consonants and vowels sounded kinda mushy ("Don't rehly on the gun too mahch. Yuh dun't wahnt to attract too mehny of them"). So yeah, open your mouth wider to give those vowels more shape/room instead of keeping them squished together. Acting-wise, there too was some acting-in-a-vacuum going on, one example being telling Takashi to get going. There wasn't really reassurance that she was covering his back and there wasn't exactly encouragement in telling him to go forth. Just "this sounds cool enough", which comes off as flat instead.

Aanndd I'll end with saying that I like how the vocal choices fit for the most part. The ones who didn't so much grew on me and that's not a bad thing 'cause it's the acting that matters more anyways~

O_O; Hope this helps...! Wall of words, mang! <--- not sure if folks wanted 2-3 more big paragraphs for a few other characters; may add more later when she isn't dizzy

LUCIEN VOICED FOR THE DOG...?

[Cristina]

You guys inspire to keep working hard.
Really.
I'mna go record something now, oki?