Now I was at first tempted to write this off as the beginning of the end right off the bat. After all, the name Jeff Nimoy conjures up images of the poorly translated Digimon Aventure and Zero Two. But I'm under the impression now that he's cleaned up his act a bit. He directed the dub version of the fourth movie, "Diablomon Strikes Back" (or, Revenge of Diaboromon, as the dubbed version called it), and while I haven't gotten to see it yet, I hear it turned out great. So, I'm willing to give Jeff the benefit of the doubt here.
As I mentioned earlier, the name of the series has been changed to "Digimon Data Squad". I have to admit, I think it has a nicer ring to it than "Digimon Savers". As a Digimon purist, I can't help but raise an eyebrow, but it's still not a bad change; much better than just "Digimon: Season 2", "Digimon: Season 3", etc.
There have already been some name changes, sadly. And here they are:
Masaru >>> Marcus
Yoshino >>> Yoshi
Tohma >>> Thomas
Ikuto >>> (they're not sure yet)
Satsuma >>> Sampson
Chiko >>> Kristy
I can't help but ask; Why do they do this? Just 'cause they can?! I mean, it seems at first like they're trying to "Americanize" everyone's names, to make it appear that it's taking place in America instead of Japan. But the real ballbender is this; if that were the case, why change only a few names? Let's have a look: "Yoshi" is still Japanese, so why in the seven circles of hell did they find this change necessary?? It's just like changing "Miyako" to "Yolei" and "Yagami" to "Kamiya". It makes no sense at all! Also, is the number of characters who retain their Japanese sounding names: Sayuri, Yushima, Miki, and Megumi; as far as I'm aware, they all get to keep their names, and they sound just as Japanese as Masaru, Yoshino, and Satsuma. Just like how in Frontier, Takuya, Kouji, and Koichi's names stayed the same, but Izumi, Junpei, and Tomoki had to be changed. I have to ask again... Why?!
*Sigh* Aright then. Now that all that's off my chest, I have to say I'm still not ready to write DDS off as a total loss. Much of the voice talent that's been announced already looks quite promising. Most of them are some of the better voice actors already from Digimon as well as several other animes:
Masaru (Marcus) - Quinton Flynn [Kon (Bleach), Iruka Umino (Naruto)]
Yoshino (Yoshi) - Colleen O'Shaughnessy [Sora (Digimon Adventure/Zero Two), Ino (Naruto)]
Tohma (Thomas) - Crispin Freeman [Duskmon/Koichi/Lowemon (Digimon Frontier), Zelgadis (Slayers), Holland (Eureka Seven)]
Ikuto - Brianne Sidall [Culumon (Digimon Tamers), Tomoki (Digimon Frontier)]
Satsuma (Sampson) - Jamieson Price [Mr. Lee (Digimon Tamers), Norb (Eureka Seven)]
Sayuri - Mary McGlynn [Ophanimon (Digimon Frontier), Motoko Kusanagi (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex)]
Chika (Kristy) - Melissa Fahn [Ruki (Digimon Tamers), Ed (Cowboy Bebop)]
Yushima - Kirk Thornton [Gabumon (Digimon Adventure/Zero Two), Mummymon (Digimon Zero Two), Kisame Hoshigaki (Naruto)]
Miki - Stephanie Sheh [Orihime (Bleach), Eureka (Eureka Seven)]
Megumi - Kate Higgins [Talho (Eureka Seven)]
Agumon - Brian Beacock [Takato/Bokomon (Digimon Frontier), Yumichika Ayasegawa (Bleach)]
Lalamon - Dorothy Fahn [Lilymon (Digimon Adventure)]
Falcomon - Steve Blum [Guilmon/Yamaki (Digimon Tamers), Kazuma (S-CRY-ed)]
As I said, I'm liking the looks of the voice roster. I'm expecting good things from these guys.
According to Nimoys post on With the Will forums, DDS is scheduled to come out this fall. I suppose time will tell how it turns out. I will give credit where credit's due, the voice acting has improved greatly throughout Tamers and Frontier, so I may well have nothing to worry about in that department.
One thing I'm dreading is that they'll probably get rid of the original music and slap their own stuff in there as usual. Man, I don't imagine anything standing up to "Believer". If they're too cheap to pay for the soundtrack rights, *sigh*... they should't even be doing this at all... But I would hope they at least put some effort into it and come up with something better than the usual generic, boring, and uninspired music that's been in every other season.
Well, I guess I've run out of things to say. Jeff, the ball's in your court now. I hope you'll show everyone that Digimon lives; and it still kicks ass!! Don't let me down.
Jeff Nimoy's post on the With the Will forum
