Pokemon Horizons English Dub Sneak Peek

[sc190191]

Surprised there wasn't a thread to discuss this and I've never been the one to make one of these threads so feel free to "correct" if necessary (or move - but I couldn't find a thread for this anywhere besides the video being mentioned in the news section).

The first English dub preview for Horizons was released (at least) a week ago:



I really enjoyed this preview. I'll start with the dub only stuff since that is what most people will care about - first I am pleasantly surprised that they kept Liko's name, I was definitely expecting they would just use a similar common English name. Second I thought all the VA's did well, I really like Liko's VA, although she sounded a bit older than I expected at first, overall I think she did a fantastic job and I expect will continue to grow into the role as time goes on. According to Bulbapedia her name is Alejandra Reynoso and she hasn't had a Pokemon role before.

As a dub watcher this is my first taste of Journeys other than what I have read and I am quite happy with it! The first piece that struck me was Liko is very relatable! Finally a protag that isn't wildly confident and outgoing (although Go was somewhat like this - not really in the same way). Liko is like me, so I am interested to see how they portray that throughout a Pokemon journey. Hopefully they don't "solve" her shyness/introversion because it is more of a personality trait than a problem that needs to be solved and it is really refreshing to see a main character that represents what I believe is a fairly sizable group of people. I expect her confidence will grow, but hope they can maintain introversion as a character trait. The bus stop and on the bus moment are both extremely relatable for me and was an incredibly stark contrast to how Ash would have handled those situations. I liked the narration aspect as well, I think it was well done and gave the audience a better understanding of Liko's feelings. The animation was really good and Sprigatito was adorable! I love that Sprigatito is going to be trouble from the get-go! Overall having seen this makes me very excited to see more of Liko, Sprigatito, and how their bond develops over time. I'm still bummed it isn't just a regular Pokemon adventure, but getting this first taste I am very excited for Liko as the new protagonist!

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

My thoughts so far:

Voice Acting-

Liko and Ann have the best dub VAs (I like Reynoso's Liko more than any other lead protagonist voice TPCi has had in the last 17 years- I always found Veronica Taylor to be a better Ash than Kayzie Rogers plus Sarah Natochenny + not nostalgia as I listened to the latter longer either-- found it overrated, and while Bryce Papenbrook was the best dub Red of the three to me, I still found it odd casting, while Michele Knotz was the opposite + Billy Bob Thompson is the worst of the both worlds- but Liko actually sounds like a shy reticent girl for once, even if Alejandra needs work on making it younger sounding in contemplative or serious scenes; Ann sounds like a cheerful young girl, as well, I like her VA too) and Lucius and Roy have the worst dub VA performances (Roy sounds like a girl kicking up dirt from her throat & it's scratchy, but Anjali is still better than Sarah was as Ash in late BF-early DP I guess, while Steven J. Blum sounds like a stereotypically seductive gruff voiced dude rather than the kind, warm grandfatherly narrators Rodger Parsons & Mike Pollock were).

Everything & everyone else is middling: the Charmander's VA sucked (sorry Billy) & Espeon too (sorry Erica), but the other Pokemon sounded pretty good for once (Sprigatito has the best dub VA, sounds like a cat). I like that Crisipin is back, but his Friede is overly deep sounding like Zelgadis, and it needs to go a bit higher. Still, nice that Lisa brought back a 4Kids veteran script writer from 1999-2000, but will TPCi get over their grudge and spite so far for Taylor, Stuart, Lillis after S11, etc. at last now that Ash is gone? They need to be given another chance to return, IMO, in this Series to make amends and to do the right thing here.

Script Writing-

JCC needed to be replaced as script writer back in Season 9 with what he was putting out for years, honestly, that he got that long to do so is a testament to how foolish TPCi is in many ways (not on him, they kept him that long) imo. That said, I'm sorry for him that he has cancer, and I do hope he recovers, but while I liked his Gary the most of the dub VAs and Pryce too (Hebert sucked in Masters), none of his other human work was very good to me much there VA wise personally.

That said, this is the best the dub's writing has been post-4Kids tbh, the "Is she psychic?" in HZ100 is the first time a dub line made me laugh since DP002's "Don't you mean Hoenn conquered us?" in S10 in 2007 under early TPCi as PUSA (TRio's writing in the dub went downhill in S11 IMO, as TPCi originally kept some of the 4Kids era wit/snark there in the TAJ Seasons for them before devolving into utter garbage later to me).

I will say the "ya know" at the end of sentences needs to stop though, as it was always annoying, and is a TPCi verbal tic to this day.

Music-

Goldfarb's stuff is long since stale, enough said: that even 4Kids had the sense to not re-score as much as TPCi has in music in Pokémon, will always be a sad thing to me. He struggles the most in serious scenes or dramatic ones, that said, he's only okay at comedic ones and even then sounds overly goofy. Dub music in 2023 is outdated, and not on Ed, but on TPCi for doing so that said to make royalties for more cash (because, you know, a multi-billionaire dollar company can't get enough money and needs it that badly, lol). It sucks, but it is what it is, I guess.

Speculation post-sneak peek:

OP/Intro-

There hasn't been a single amazing quality opening for the English dub after Unbeatable, to me, and the last passable one was Battle Cry-Stand Up, but it still lagged behind the ones prior. Will TPCi stop doing short & unfun OPs only 30 seconds long with Horizons, at last? I doubt it.

Censorship will likely be back in the HZ dub, later on, as well.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I really enjoyed this preview. I'll start with the dub only stuff since that is what most people will care about - first I am pleasantly surprised that they kept Liko's name, I was definitely expecting they would just use a similar common English name. Second I thought all the VA's did well, I really like Liko's VA, although she sounded a bit older than I expected at first, overall I think she did a fantastic job and I expect will continue to grow into the role as time goes on. According to Bulbapedia her name is Alejandra Reynoso and she hasn't had a Pokemon role before.

They have been using Liko, Roy and Friede for official posts/tweets about Horizons, even when it was first announced, so those three are keeping their original names for the dub at least. I'm not sure about the rest of the cast. I could see them maybe keeping Dot's name too.

As a dub watcher this is my first taste of Journeys other than what I have read and I am quite happy with it! The first piece that struck me was Liko is very relatable! Finally a protag that isn't wildly confident and outgoing (although Go was somewhat like this - not really in the same way). Liko is like me, so I am interested to see how they portray that throughout a Pokemon journey. Hopefully they don't "solve" her shyness/introversion because it is more of a personality trait than a problem that needs to be solved and it is really refreshing to see a main character that represents what I believe is a fairly sizable group of people. I expect her confidence will grow, but hope they can maintain introversion as a character trait. The bus stop and on the bus moment are both extremely relatable for me and was an incredibly stark contrast to how Ash would have handled those situations. I liked the narration aspect as well, I think it was well done and gave the audience a better understanding of Liko's feelings. The animation was really good and Sprigatito was adorable! I love that Sprigatito is going to be trouble from the get-go! Overall having seen this makes me very excited to see more of Liko, Sprigatito, and how their bond develops over time. I'm still bummed it isn't just a regular Pokemon adventure, but getting this first taste I am very excited for Liko as the new protagonist!

I'm a bit torn on Liko being relatable. There were moments that definitely hit close to home for me as well, especially wanting to join in on a conversation on the bus ride but feeling too nervous to do so, but I thought that her internal thoughts about how she doesn't know herself were a bit much. I'm sure that it's to set up her storyline with the pendant, but it kind of came off as a bit too melodramatic or rather trying too hard to make her sound deep. It does make her significantly different from Ash, which I'm sure was at least partly the goal, but I'm not sure if it was the best hook for me at least. To be fair, I'm sure that kids watching the show wouldn't react that way to the opening either and I don't want to judge too harshly when this is just half of the first episode, but I was more mixed than anything else on Liko.

I still wouldn't say that she's introverted. She's clearly shy and awkward around people, not helped by the fact that she's away from home for the first time, but that isn't quite the same as being introverted.

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

I'm a bit torn on Liko being relatable. There were moments that definitely hit close to home for me as well, especially wanting to join in on a conversation on the bus ride but feeling too nervous to do so, but I thought that her internal thoughts about how she doesn't know herself were a bit much. I'm sure that it's to set up her storyline with the pendant, but it kind of came off as a bit too melodramatic or rather trying too hard to make her sound deep. It does make her significantly different from Ash, which I'm sure was at least partly the goal, but I'm not sure if it was the best hook for me at least. To be fair, I'm sure that kids watching the show wouldn't react that way to the opening either and I don't want to judge too harshly when this is just half of the first episode, but I was more mixed than anything else on Liko.

I still wouldn't say that she's introverted. She's clearly shy and awkward around people, not helped by the fact that she's away from home for the first time, but that isn't quite the same as being introverted.

Ash was generally more outgoing and extroverted, but Liko is generally shy and reticent as you've stated to differ.

The worst thing I can say so far about Liko is that she's a bit blander than Ash was and not as dynamic, but I think she's more relatable for me thus far as she's pretty meek and shy in real life as well as more contemplative often times.

Anyway, the dub is off to a better start than it has been since the BW days sans the music replacement (it's still to make royalties when they export the production Internationally: sucks, but it is what it is, sadly), IMO.

 

[sc190191]

I'm a bit torn on Liko being relatable. There were moments that definitely hit close to home for me as well, especially wanting to join in on a conversation on the bus ride but feeling too nervous to do so, but I thought that her internal thoughts about how she doesn't know herself were a bit much. I'm sure that it's to set up her storyline with the pendant, but it kind of came off as a bit too melodramatic or rather trying too hard to make her sound deep. It does make her significantly different from Ash, which I'm sure was at least partly the goal, but I'm not sure if it was the best hook for me at least. To be fair, I'm sure that kids watching the show wouldn't react that way to the opening either and I don't want to judge too harshly when this is just half of the first episode, but I was more mixed than anything else on Liko.

I still wouldn't say that she's introverted. She's clearly shy and awkward around people, not helped by the fact that she's away from home for the first time, but that isn't quite the same as being introverted.

Actually the internal thoughts were a lot of what made her even more relatable for me personally. I definitely see what you are saying about potentially being too deep (I don't even know what her age is supposed to be), but at least for me personally that is extremely relatable as I tend to be very introspective and "think talk" to myself more than I actually speak to others (even directly communicating via quote on here is kind of hard for me still lol). Introversion is all a part of a spectrum and roughly half of all humans skew more introverted than extroverted, sometimes it gets talked about as if it is some sort of disease, but it really is just a way some people's brain tends to work - it doesn't mean they aren't able to hold conversations or have friends - in fact most introverted people do have many friends and lead completely normal lives - they just might have to work harder to succeed in social situations and tend to find calm in non-social situations. It seems to me like Liko is someone who skews towards the introverted side because of her tendency towards internal thought (aided by diary keeping) and beyond just the shyness she also has the lag in response time when put in a social situation (such as how to respond with the mistaken hi at the bus stop or her awkward way of telling Ann her name because she hasn't put together what she was going to say - and again that is very relatable). I feel having someone that skews towards introversion is rare for this show as the only other main characters I would see as even more introverted than extroverted would be Sophocles, Lillie, and Go although maybe could argue Max, Tracey, Iris, Clemont, and Chloe are at least near the middle. With those characters it wasn't always consistent and that may well end up being the case with Liko as well, partly because it is written by so many people. Again the preview is all I have seen so far, so maybe this is totally off base, but I also like that she is able to be shy without being given some extreme stigma to go with it as is so often the case in media (for an extreme example think Toren from M21). I just really like what I've seen so far and it feels cool to have a main character that feels more like me, because there are literally thousands of scenarios where I could never imagine doing (or even wanting to do) the stuff Ash did!

 

[Hidden Mew]

Actually the internal thoughts were a lot of what made her even more relatable for me personally. I definitely see what you are saying about potentially being too deep (I don't even know what her age is supposed to be), but at least for me personally that is extremely relatable as I tend to be very introspective and "think talk" to myself more than I actually speak to others (even directly communicating via quote on here is kind of hard for me still lol). Introversion is all a part of a spectrum and roughly half of all humans skew more introverted than extroverted, sometimes it gets talked about as if it is some sort of disease, but it really is just a way some people's brain tends to work - it doesn't mean they aren't able to hold conversations or have friends - in fact most introverted people do have many friends and lead completely normal lives - they just might have to work harder to succeed in social situations and tend to find calm in non-social situations. It seems to me like Liko is someone who skews towards the introverted side because of her tendency towards internal thought (aided by diary keeping) and beyond just the shyness she also has the lag in response time when put in a social situation (such as how to respond with the mistaken hi at the bus stop or her awkward way of telling Ann her name because she hasn't put together what she was going to say - and again that is very relatable). I feel having someone that skews towards introversion is rare for this show as the only other main characters I would see as even more introverted than extroverted would be Sophocles, Lillie, and Go although maybe could argue Max, Tracey, Iris, Clemont, and Chloe are at least near the middle. With those characters it wasn't always consistent and that may well end up being the case with Liko as well, partly because it is written by so many people. Again the preview is all I have seen so far, so maybe this is totally off base, but I also like that she is able to be shy without being given some extreme stigma to go with it as is so often the case in media (for an extreme example think Toren from M21). I just really like what I've seen so far and it feels cool to have a main character that feels more like me, because there are literally thousands of scenarios where I could never imagine doing (or even wanting to do) the stuff Ash did!

I assume that she's supposed to be ten since she gets her first Pokemon and Pokedex at the school. Characters can be older than ten when they first become trainers and I don't recall if their ages have been confirmed in the Japanese version yet, but Liko definitely doesn't look or act older than a ten year old based on what I've seen and heard. Despite my issues with it, there was still something relatable with her internal thoughts wondering about who she really is. I remember having thoughts like that around that age and I'm sure that's the case with plenty of other people too, so it isn't impossible for ten year olds to be introspective. I think that part of the problem for me might have been having this moment right when the audience is meeting Liko for the first time. It does establish more of her personality, helps to make her distinct from Ash and arguably being away from home for the first time would make her internal thoughts more believable too, but it just kind of felt like they were trying too hard by having this moment right in the first few minutes of the series. Maybe if this happened after some external event like discovering some secret with her family, learning about her pendant or at least something bigger than being on the bus to her new bordering school, it might have felt more organic to me.

Honestly, Liko's behavior, at least in this ten minute preview, read more as autistic to me than introverted, especially with struggling to find a way to jump into conversation or not being able to plan ahead how she wanted to introduce herself to her roommate. It just feels like people use shyness and introverted as if they mean the same thing when, at least as far as I understand, they aren't.

 

[BigDocFan]

As someone with Aspergers, I can relate to Liko if this is true

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

As someone with Aspergers, I can relate to Liko if this is true

No shame in that, thanks for being so open with us about this: it’s a very difficult thing to do.

Save Goldfarb’s music replacements, and excluding Lucius, Roy, and Friede (happy Crisipin is back, though)’s lackluster VA work for the human roles, everything else looks passable so far in the sneak preview. The dub’s script writing has become a lot more “natural” than it has been imo since BF began, and the VA work is better too than it has been imo since 2007 so far without prior English VAs to imitate or base impressions off of with iconic voices previously & such.

Whether the former two hold up as time passes, I don’t know, that said.

 

[snowmint]

Has there been overt Japanese culture in this series or violent scenes that would need to get edited so far?

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

Has there been overt Japanese culture in this series or violent scenes that would need to get edited so far?

Not really, it's been very tame and very little of any of that thus far. The baguette using sandwich Roy made recently, even kind of looks like the MS Paint style sub sandwich 4Kids made in a way: the Series gradually got sterilized over time losing its Japanese culture as it grew Internationally.

The only thing I think could be censored so far is Quaxly drinking a wine-looking cup in a Luxury Ball, so far.

 

[JohtoKid103090]

As someone with Aspergers, I can relate to Liko if this is true

Same here

 

[Sakuraa]

This dub preview was really nice. Can't wait for the full series, especially hearing more of best boy Roy. I'm really glad that this preview came out because it clarified something I totally didn't understand in the original. I'm sitting here thinking all of these first partner Pokémon are being handed out at random, when it seems they were matched as a result of an interview earlier on. That's a pretty cool concept, though if it were me, I'd totally prefer to choose who I'm getting

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

This dub preview was really nice. Can't wait for the full series, especially hearing more of best boy Roy. I'm really glad that this preview came out because it clarified something I totally didn't understand in the original. I'm sitting here thinking all of these first partner Pokémon are being handed out at random, when it seems they were matched as a result of an interview earlier on. That's a pretty cool concept, though if it were me, I'd totally prefer to choose who I'm getting

Roy's dub VA grates on me so far, but I like Liko's, of the two mains so far: it's early, though, hard to say how things will go (except the music replacement, had zero hope & they're not even pretending they won't at this point- par for the course). JCC no longer being in charge of the script writing (why on Earth did he get promoted in Season 9, and how did he get to jump to TAJ when others weren't given the chance to do so-- long overdue) has fixed a lot of my issues with the script writing the dub has had the last 17 years, and I no longer have to hear VAs trying to live up to prior VAs performances and IMO not remotely doing so either, so there's that.

 

[snowmint]

Looks like the old Digimon movies are being redubbed uncut with the Japanese music.... I hate TPCi...

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

Looks like the old Digimon movies are being redubbed uncut with the Japanese music.... I hate TPCi...

With the current English cast post-Tri? That's interesting stuff. The latter are cheap to the nth extent, that's for sure, bringing in famous VAs but misdirecting them most of the time has been an odd choice they've done since late BW though IMO.

Joshua Seth's Taichi is one of few Saban era VAs I think was well cast, but his rendition fit the role more in Adventure 02 and Tri than it did in 01 to me (I think both dubs were wrong to cast men as little boys, in general, Zeno Robinson wasn't my first choice and his take is largely more bland- I like it more than his Goh in this Series, though, personally). Colleen Shaughnessy's Sora was pretty good, too (the current one is fine), as well as Tom Fahn's Agumon (Diskin is...pretty annoying, so far, Beacock and Fahn had the right idea to go higher pitched with him IMO) and Michael Lindsay's Joe Kido (Robbie Daymond took over in Tri from him, as Lindsay retired after voicing Urahara in Bleach's Viz English dub, Daman Mills does the deed in the current dub).

 

[Alola]

I think Liko's English VA is absolutely wonderful. Like with Chloe's VA, it doesn't feel like she's putting on an exaggerated voice of a child so to speak, and reading from a script.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

Honestly, Liko's behavior, at least in this ten minute preview, read more as autistic to me than introverted, especially with struggling to find a way to jump into conversation or not being able to plan ahead how she wanted to introduce herself to her roommate. It just feels like people use shyness and introverted as if they mean the same thing when, at least as far as I understand, they aren't.

As someone with Aspergers, I can relate to Liko if this is true

More characters that are coded to be on the autism spectrum is always nice. I never really thought of it, but if she is intended to, it would be nice. Only other character I can think of off the top of my had that potentially could have Aspergers is Izuku Midoriya from MHA.

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

I think Liko's English VA is absolutely wonderful. Like with Chloe's VA, it doesn't feel like she's putting on an exaggerated voice of a child so to speak, and reading from a script.

Ann and her have the best dub VAs so far (I wasn’t a big fan of Chloe’s, though, I think Cherami Leigh has done better but I’d take her rendition of that role over Goh’s), IMO.

 

[DigitalGen6]

As someone with Aspergers, I can relate to Liko if this is true

Same, I’m socially awkward and introverted (from what I see) like her, I guess I’m Liko (my favorite Paldea starter is Sprigatito too, so once again I guess I’m Liko)

 

[Hidden Mew]

More characters that are coded to be on the autism spectrum is always nice. I never really thought of it, but if she is intended to, it would be nice. Only other character I can think of off the top of my had that potentially could have Aspergers is Izuku Midoriya from MHA.

I have my doubts that it was intended, but I wouldn't be upset if they for some reason confirmed it. There aren't a lot of confirmed autistic characters in anime, or media in general for that matter. Honestly, I remember fans reading Goh as autistic coded and I could see that. His flashback in the Drizzle episode hit me a lot harder than I thought it would be because of how relatable it was to my own experiences growing up.