Jormungand | Q's Anime Review & Commentary P.4

Va Choreography, General Sound Effects, Original Soundtrack

Everything regarding the sound component in Jormungand is pretty great, actually even more so. Both the original dub as well as the English Funimation dub were excellently casted, Making Jormungand yet another rare anime to perhaps have a better English dub than the original. Though before we get into that, I'd particularly to run down some of what I believe to be the most important or rather most notable performances, for both the English and Japanese dubs





Voice Actors As Koko Heckmatyar -

Shizuka Itou in Japanese Casting

Shizuka's role as Koko Heckmatyar was a little off putting at first, being that I was far more used to Anastasia Munoz's performance in the English dub. However I do think that Shizuka's performance was more consistent with more serious lines within the dialogue. Watching the original Japanese dub, I was quickly able to get used to her voice, I found that it seemed her performance was more youthful and girlish, and Koko's general antics seemed a little toned down comparatively speaking, in general her voice is quite bit softer. It's a decent fit, but I do prefer Anastasia's performance on the whole being her rendition of Koko was more rowdier and energetic, even despite her having a couple moments where her lines sound cheesy.


Anastasia Munoz in English Casting

In my experience Anastasia's performance had more authority, as her ability to be dynamic, to modulate her tone and general fit as Koko Heckmatyar I feel was better on the whole. With Anastasia's performance, Koko seemed a bit more mature, less girlish, and perhaps more of a grown woman. She's able to do this while at the same time offering more unstable antics and sarcasm, and to also have a casual yet super ambiguous voice that just pushes all my buttons and tugs at my curiosity into Koko's as a character. A fabulous fit, with lot's of flair and the right amount of forcefulness to have a commanding performance.

Voice Actors As Jonathan Mar -

Mutsumi Tamura in Japanese Casting

Again, I don't understand it, what's up with the Japanese voice actresses reprising male roles in anime? can actual Japanese men not play male roles better then their female counterparts? I feel this is somewhat has to do with more so with the casting selection as a opposed to Mutsumi's performance, as she indeed is veteran in the field, being casted in some of my favourite anime productions such as Anohana, Fate Kalied Liner as we'll as Fate UBW and the recent anime by Kyo Ani Kobayashi san chi no Maid Dragon. Again, being used to Micah Solusod's performance in the English dub, the younger and more fragile and effeminate sounding Jonah was kind of odd at first. An absolutely solid performance throughout, however, I personally feel it's not the greatest fit, even despite me being able to simply accommodate and just get used to it.

Micah Solusod in English Casting

Micah's role as Jonah I feel was more well suited for the character, he portrayed a more mature and stern Jonah, whilst still sounding like a teenager. It's a great fit since Micah was able to voice Jonah as more damp and emotionless, although when the scenario called for it, he can also show personality and be more explosive when angry, or perhaps when laughing amicably. Not to mention Micah just sounds more masculine. For me, this was the decisive reason for choosing which of the two dubs were better. In the end, I'd rather Jonah be and sound like a 13-14 year old rather than a grade schooler or a girl for that matter.








Voice Actors As Sofia Velemet -

Sayaka Ohara in Japanese Casting

Another Industry veteran that I continue to grow increasingly familiar with as my anime days go on, responsible for roles in series like Anohana, Aria, Fate/Zero, Usagi Drop and many, many more. Often times reprising roles as older women, in Jormungand that's also the case, it's a good fit as well. I feel her performance overall was more  subdued and bit more mature. Sayaka I feel was more capable of pulling off more serious lines with a more stern and drier tone, whilst being able to pull of the more silly ones, never sounding cheesy in the process.




Carli Mosier in English Casting

On the other hand though, I feel Carli Mosier voiced Velmet younger with a little more "zazz"if you will. Definitely a good performance, however I couldn't help but cringe at her occasional cheesy and overly frivolous lines, at times it really does seem like she's more of a comic book villain than a bonified badass. Not to mention the sillier scenes of her fawning over Koko also irked my impression of Valmet as a character, and proved to be hard to watch. If Carli Mosier tried to cut down on being less cheesy and frivolous with her lines, I think I'd be able to take her performance far more seriously and happily so.








Voice Actors As Lehm Brick -

Unshou Ishizuka in Japanese Casting

I felt a little unnerved by both voice actors in this production being that Unshou's seemed a little too much like an old man and for the English dub, Christopher Smith seemed a tad too young, and the New York accent just isn't my favourite. I like Unshou's performance because it had more grit, more manliness if you will. However, I do feel that his slightly overly casual voiced to seem more like an old geezer than a battle hardened veteran, which makes sense because in real life, he is an old geezer.



Christopher Smith in English Casting

Christopher's performance on the other hand lacked a slight bit of grit and was lacking a bit in a manhood department. However since Lehm is an American being former Delta Squad and all, It's only natural that it seems more fitting for an English voice actor to reprise his role. Christopher's performance only lacks a little bit in the manliness department - Just a tad, as in many cases, he is able to voice himself with more grit and force. However, if only he would sound a little more like Mason from COD Black Ops, with his super gritty, undoubtedly American, and a voice that is Manhood in it's prime, then Lehm would seem a bit more like a battle hardened Badass and less like a Yanky from the Bronx.

Voice Actors as William Nelson "Willie" -

Kenji Nomura in Japanese Casting

Kenji did a splendid job in portraying himself as possibly being an African American who speaks Japanese, his performance was fitting as wel as convincing. He had a nice amount of depth and hardness to his voice to pull it off. Kenji Was also able to also become the polite and smooth guy that Willie is. Willie didn't have much of a large role in Jormungand though, but it's nice to have the amount variety this cast does, though in the end, Kenji is at somewhat of a disadvantage compared to his counterpart Akron Watson who is  actually African American, for obvious reasons. None the less Great fit, great performance.

Akron Watson in English Casting

Akron - Being an actual black guy, most definitely has a bit of an advantage here, and understandably so. His voice is undeniably a black guys voice - He is a black guy. From his punctuation, modulative flow and swag overall, he's certainly able to pull of just about anything he's needed or required to, and he definitely fits Willie's softer side also, whilst being able to pull of a Willie that meant business as well. In general Akron was more able to pull off a bit more of a aggressive tone, and had more emphasis on such things like punctuation and dynamics. A great fit and performance from Akron Watson as Willie.









Voice Actors As Kasper Heckmatyar -

Masaya Matsukaze in Japanese Casting

Masaya did a great job in being the sarcastic prick that Kasper can and should be. From his phoney optimistic demeanour or his cruel impersonal nature, it's all there thanks to Masaya, he also does a great job in making Kasper seem to have one or two screws loose, when he's overly excited and eccentric at the most inappropriate of times. His performance was also great because his ability to sound half hearted, being the somewhat whimsical guy that Kasper is, being able pull off his generally casual and reluctant personality. Great stuff. In the end I do feel Masaya's performance was one of the more memorable performance Ive heard once in a while, though Eric vale doesn't do half a bad job either.

Eric Vale in English Casting


Eric Vale is seemingly a favourite when it comes to casting in English dubs as he has many anime series credits under his name, ranging from Dragon Ball z, Noragami or even One Piece. Eric did an equally great job potraying himself as an impersonal coddled Douchebag that casper is, seemingly being able to portray the English version of Masaya's performance, though I will say that, despite sounding quite similar considering, I do think Masay was able to pull off a Kasper that was more eccentric and neurotic. Performance wise. Both va's are pretty much equal, as they both sound quite similar, though slight edge to Masaya Matsukaze on this one.






Voice Actors As Chequita -

Yuumi Touma in Japanese Casting

It's really a shame Chequita didn't get more screen time or any more investment into her personal story, I really rigged her as a cool, laid back, and calculating character. Yuumi Touma being a industry veteran did a great job in being a sarcastically easygoing and sometimes amicable persona. Her generally casual and collected tone synergized pretty great with Masaya's performance as Kasper. Which is good because in the anime, the two stick together pretty often, being that Chequita is Kasper's bodyguard and all. IN comparison though, while Yuumi Touma's performance was solid, Clarine harps performance was superb in my opinion.



Clarine Harp in English Casting

Despite Yuumi Touma having a pretty decent performance, I feel Funimation casted Chequita with an English voice actress perfectly. I feel her laid back, sarcastic and detached nature as a character was emphasized further and with more authority in Clarine Harp's performance as Chequita. Again I personally find it an awful shame Chequita didn't play a larger role in the story. Like Dang.. Being, that she's probably one of my favourite characters in the Jormungand universe, though sadly it seems like Chequita will never serve a larger role in the anime than she already had. 

Segment Conclusion -

Jormungand is definitely casted well in both dubs, while I'd preferably choose the English dub first,  being that I personally feel that both Koko & Jonah's performances are somewhat better, which is particularly important due to their importance in the story as well as their general screen time, though I will say that the original Japanese Dub definitely has some stellar performances as well. It's just that the Funimation dub has more diversity, and that's quite important due to the international setting of the original manga. The Funimiation Dub obviously delivered on this front, being that they casted VA's with different accents from different national backgrounds accordingly, even character extra's with little screen time at all are casted accordingly well, this is where the Japanese Dub falls short. Due to the particular nature of this show, I will handily recommend the Funimation English Dub over the original Japanese dub, even despite English dubs generally being quite a bit worse in most scenario's than the original Japanese casting.


Original Soundtrack & SFX - Thoughts and Impressions

The sound directing department helmed by Yasunori Ebina was good fit in my eyes, being that Yasunori has experience in action oriented productions such as Naruto, White Fox's own Katangatari or perhaps even Digimon. In Addition to that, Daisuke Jinbo was in charge of sound effects, a great fit since he was responsible for a similar series such as Ghost in the Shell SAC, as well as Blood +, including many credits under his name for the Pokemon Franchise. Along with the pretty decent casting selections, Daisuke Jinbo really brought this series to life for a sound rich environment that the action series Jormungand can and should be. It's a great fit since Daisuke Jinbo being responsible for sound effects on Ghost in the Shell SAC did a fantastic job offering the sound textures and effects for vehicles, weapons, and other various technology used in Ghost in the Shell SAC. Which as you can imagine is quite similar to the various action scenes that occur in Jormungand.


From all different types of fire arms, to explosions, car chases or perhaps knife fights, all the necessary sound components and even more is there. I will complain about some mismatches between the sound of some of the gunfire and the actual guns firing them, I think Daisuke Jinbo probably expected that no one would notice and decided to get a little lazy on some episodes by using the same automatic gunfire sound for any gun that had automatic operation, when there is a very distinct difference between a typical AR and a turret of a chopper. Not a huge deal, but at the same token, it's these really easy and small issues that are so easy to fix.

Yasunori Ebina

Taku Iwasaki

I was also pleasantly surprised to experience quite a diverse and ample use of both more symphonic as well as more high gear EDM for action scenes. From Taku Iwasaki, I'd expect no less, being responsible for other great anime soundtracks and general music, ranging from Katanagatari, Noragami, Guuren Lagaan, Kill la Kill and even Gatachaman Crowds. I feel Taku Iwasaki knows how to keep it exciting and engaging, whilst being able to compose more subliminal music you just want to soak in, or perhaps more unnerving and epic selections as well. The music is well used and sequenced as well, say when the director wants to emphasize a particular scenes, the music as such, is able to deliver. Truly great stuff as I personally see more and more people and studios on the phone offering him job offers, because so far, in my experience he's done quite a fantastic job when it comes to action series in general. For White Fox, he's been somewhat of their go to music composer, appearing in Akame ga Kill as well. A great job done by the sound and recording engineers behind the scenes, really great stuff.

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Article Contents - Comments Section

1. Plot & Narrative Aspects
2. Character Analysis
3. Production Aspects [Cinematography | Animation | Art Direction]
4. Voice Actor Choreography | Sound Effects & Original Soundtrack
5. Addendum