Your Top Gundam English Dubs?

[Nikkolas]

Hey everyone. I just recently became a Gundam fan. As in, I just started watching Gundam this month. Well, for the most part. I watched G Gundam back in high school but...does it even really count?

Anyway, I went on a "Gundamathon" where I watched the MSG anime, 08th MS Team, Stardust Memory, Zeta, Unicorn and then I just recently finished SEED and Destiny. Now the only sereis I have left are 00 and Wing. This is because I'm afraid my Gundam anime are restricted to the ones that have been dubbed on account of me being legally blind. It's just not practical or enjoyable to try and watch an action anime and read subtitles for me.

Anyway, since I still have Wing and 00 to go, I've been trying to get the "general opinion" of their quality from people. I've read a couple topics on here about Wing's dub but 00's dub seems to be a bit contested from what I can gather on some forums. All I can say right now is that, IMO, the top Gundam dubs for me are:
SEED - Mark Oliver as Rau. He made that thing all on his own. That isn't to say Matt Hill and Sam Vincent weren't fantastic because they most certainly were. I could actually believe them when they were crying for example. And Azrael's voice was so deliciously smug that it fit his character quite well too. Only criticism I have is that Lacus' VA makes her sound like she's 10 instead of a teenager.

Zeta - A very unpopular choice I know. Both Blue Water efforts are not treated well in the fandom and I'm sorry but I loved it. I don't deny that it might have been helped by the simple fact Zeta was hands-down my favorite Gundam that I watched. I loved every damn episode, I loved all the characters, I loved the soundtrack... It was glorious. But yeah, I think my favorite performances were Kamille, Four and Scirocco. Those were also my favorite characters too funnily enough, along with Emma.

08th MS Team - I came to this dub right after the MSG anime dub and man, it's like night and day. The dialogue is infinitely smoother, everyone sounds a ton more natural, and I actually identified and loved the cast while I kinda ended up hating the crew of the White Base save for Bright and...Bright. Anyway, I think everyone in MS Team was fantastic but my favorite were Kiki, Shiro and Karen. Oh and of course Michael McConnohie as Norris.

But yeah...that's me. Hey everyone. I would be really interested in hearing your thoughts on the various Gundam dubs and which you liked most and why.

P.S.
I know Paul Dobson plays "Graham Aker" in 00. I know Paul from Inuyasha where he was perfection as Naraku. I'm not sure what kind of character Aker is though or if Paul's amazing villain voice fits.

[LightningCount]

Welcome!

First off, I think you missed Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, which has a great dub and is one of the best Gundam series, despite being only 6 episodes.

As for Gundam Wing, its dub is iconic, and sort of helped set the stage for the modern dubs of anime. Overall, it's an excellent dub with a few issues/hiccups on some of the side characters and the fact that there are so many side characters that main characters do a lot of double duty, which can be extra noticeable upon multiple watches. The characters in this are all mysterious or tortured in one way or another, so you won't necessarily find all of them very natural, and some people will say that some subtleties in English were lost. One problem is that, for some reason, a few recurrent side characters change voice actors at some point, but it's not as noticeable unless you rewatch the series and see how they started out. Also, one of the main characters has a change of voice tone, though I think it sort of fits given the medical situation that happens to that character and his evolving persona. All and all, it's a remarkable series (my favorite Gundam series in terms of how much it covers) with a really good dub. Many famous voice actors got extra notoriety here, including Scott McNeil, Brad Swaile, and David Kaye. This anime has a plethora of famous quotes to it. Personally, I'd say the dub is a 9/10, and I love it.

Gundam 00 is sort of a modern reworking of Gundam Wing, although there are some big differences. I mention this because, again, you're going to get some characters who have had experiences that make them less than natural, normal people. That said, the dub overall is a bit more stilted than Wing (but I think that was intentional from the original source material). The cast just isn't as interesting or as played out as in Gundam Wing overall, so I don't think the voices get to work with as much as they could have. I like the first season, and the movie is decent, but the second season I found hard to get through. Strictly on the dub, I'd say it grows on you, and if I'm being super nit-picky, it is somewhere in the 7 or 8 out of 10 range. Content-wise, it's one of the more interesting Gundam series.

It's hard to separate dub and source material sometimes, but I gave it my best. Hope this helps. Neither of these is terrible by any means, whatsoever. I think you're in for a treat. And if you skipped Gundam 0080, be sure to check it out. It is dubbed, and takes place roughly between 08th MS Team and 0083. As for Wing and 00, they are alternate universes of their own making, and each has a sequel or two.

Ranking the dubs is hard. Contrary to popular opinion I don't think I've heard a terrible Gundam dub. You're right to say that 08th MS Team is near the top, though.

And, yeah, G-Gundam counts. Despite its eccentricities, it is a very good series with a fitting and memorable dub that's thought of in pretty high regard around here. It's alternate universe like Wing and 00. For the record, in case you're not familiar, Gundam Wing was the most successful Gundam series outside of Japan. Depending on one's tastes, some people turn against it or keep fervently loving it over the years, but one cannot deny its ambition and scope.

[Dark Duel]

G Gundam's dub is one of my personal favorites, despite the rampant changing of Gundam names, for several reasons. One of which is that the vast majority of the VAs really mastered the hamminess of their respective characters, and Mark Gatha in particular really had Domon's angry hot-blooded awesomeness down pat. My other personal favorite was Carol-Anne Day(a.k.a. Four Murasame) as Allenby.
But really, the Gundam dubs in general have tended to be consistently pretty good. Mind you, I have never seen the old dubs of Mobile Suit Gundam, so I can't speak for those.
Wing is another one I liked, mainly for being my introduction to Brian Drummond, who is one of my top five favorite VAs in anime in general, as Milliardo Peacecraft/Zechs Merchise. Also, it was IIRC the second anime I ever watched, and the first mecha anime I ever watched.
The only one I would say I ever had any issues with was Seed, mainly because at times the pacing of the dubbed lines for certain characters was stab-your-eardrums-out bad.
08th I really, really liked as well, except for Aina - but that had less to do with the VA than it did with the character itself, so I don't hold that against the dub specifically.

As for 00, I thought that in general the dub for 00 was excellent. What REALLY amused me, however, was that Setsuna, the main character, is voiced in the dub by Brad Swaile, a.k.a. Amuro Ray (In MSG and CCA). While in the original Japanese, Tohru Fuhruya(a.k.a. Amuro) voices...the main villain.
On the subject of Paul Dobson/Graham Aker...well, I absolutely hated Inu Yasha in general, so I can't comment on that. But Graham Aker is basically...have you ever seen Top Gun? He's like Val Kilmer or Tom Cruise in that, only a thousand times more awesome.
And I thought Paul Dobson did a great job of it.

[Kratos]

Hating the crew of the White Base!? Is the dub really that bad?

Anyways, I'll second Lightning's love for the 0080 dub (my favourite Gundam series!) and Dark Duel's love for the G Gundam dub.

I also think the Unicorn dub is excellent. It's not perfect, since there's at least one instance of a major line being lost, but it's very strong both in writing and performance. It's a series whose success hinges on thematic communication, and the dub pulls it off really really well. Angelo and Frontal in particular have great voice actors backing them, but honestly, the entire main cast shines.

[Nikkolas]

Hating the crew of the White Base!? Is the dub really that bad?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e8zUqP8yu4

[Kratos]

I've seen that, and while it's definitely silly, it would be far from enough to make me outright HATE a character.

[Nikkolas]

I dunno then ,I just didn't see anything particularly interesting about any of them. Fraw was your bog-standard female friend type who did nothing but get angry at Amuro when he started going through puberty while looking at Matilda, I never cared about Ryu, Amuro himself irritated me with how ridiculously immature he could be at times, and the less said about those three little kids the better.

Bright and Kai were cool.

Oh and don't forget Slegger and Mirai! Best Love Story Ever! He does nothing but hit on her like some macho jerk and then he slaps her across the face and she falls in love with him. Talk about the most unfortunate of implications....

[HellCat]

I can forgive some of the more awkward moments of MSG because by most accounts the show was intended as just a one off that would challenge the existing standard of giant robot shows at the time, with apparently none of the staff expecting it to become the juggernaut it now is. Basically semi-disposable and in the weaker moments it shows.

I'm certainly less forgiving with stuff created after the fact the sponsors determined it had legs and kept funding more shows. AGE is probably the most recent example, with even the female show staff questioning its treatment of women and girls.

[mechachap]

8th MS Team has a pretty good dub, as well as War.

I did like how the Zeta Gundam narrator said, "You will see the tears of time." a lot though

[Nikkolas]

I think a good narrator is one thing every Gundam dub has in common.

Speaking of which, the Wing narrator recently died it seems.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... asses-away

[DarthYAM]

I remember there was at least one dub of ZZ (behind the voice actors actually has recordings of certain characters); but at the same time it's really hard to track down.)

[YokozunaBulldozer]

I enjoyed the 00 dub.
It worked well for me.

[Quiddity]

I have a hard time thinking of a Gundam dub I haven't enjoyed (although there's been some I've yet to see such as Seed Destiny and 00). Nostalgia probably taints me a bit as I'm a big fan of the Ocean Group, but I thought Gundam Wing was terrific and MS Gundam was nearly as good (very sorry to hear of Campbell Lane's passing). The Animaze dubs for 0080 and 08th MS Team were quite good as well (not as much a fan of 0083). Even the Blue Water dubs were pretty good. The only big flaw with Zeta Gundam's dub is the complete lack of continuity with MS Gundam and Char's Counterattack (caused by union issues at the time). What I wouldn't give for a dub with the Ocean Group regulars on that one! Still, the group of actors they did have for that did a great job with rare exception.

[Mu La Flaga]

My thoughts?, hm.
I've personally thought 0083's dub was fairly good and the voices seemed to fit right.
Unicorn is one of the stronger Gundam dubs of lately, 08th MS Team is okay.
G-Gundam is fairly good for the most part.
00 is good mostly it has some hit or miss characters.
SEED and Destiny are a mixed bag, some voices I really liked and some I didn't like too much or didn't fit quite right.
MSG was decent, Zeta in my mind is kind of one of the weaker dubs, like for instance Cha-erm Quattro's voice never seemed to catch the right tone Michael Koopsa had as Char for instance.
Couldn't say on F91, 0080 from what I heard seemed average/okay.
Finally as for Wing, it was one of the better dubs overall with 1-2 small weaker cast members.

[Powerman293]

Considering I've only seen 2 dubs (Wing and 00, 3 if you count 10 episodes of G I watched and 3/4 if you want to count my upcoming rewatch of Unicorn.)

I say 00 is my favorite dub. Everybody sounds perfect and it never feels too cheesy. Except for maybe that season 1 final battle, that got kinda ridiculous lol. Wing felt really flat a lot of the time.

[angelwingzero]

G Gundam. Mainly for things like "KYOOOOOOOJIIIIIIII!!!!".

[Dark Duel]

Eh, I dunno. I can't really pick any particular one or two dubs, because of the Gundams that I've seen, in my honest opinion pretty much all of them have been at least pretty good, if not great.
Even the Seed dub, which suffered from recurring issues of eardrum-stabbing-inducingly bad pacing on lines for certain characters - that was more than offset by the absolutely brilliant performance of the dubbing on other characters.

If you twisted my arm though, I would say G Gundam, 08th MS Team, and Unicorn would generally be the top three best ones I've run into in terms of dub quality, with 00 and Z Gundam rounding out the top five. Generally because those five in my opinion tend to have the best overall quality of performances and fewer issues.