Digimon Adventure: English Dub Coming with New Cast?

[MarcFBR]

While we definitely don't have confirmation, a few different things have popped up on an ongoing basis, to suggest an English dub for Digimon Adventure: is currently being worked on, with a release coming potentially sooner rather than later.


First, from prior Digimon cast members...

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Awhile back Colleen O’Shaughnessey responded to a comment on Instragram about them not bringing back to the old cast. In the past cast hasn't been fully aware, so while we mentioned it offhand on the podcast, there wasn't much to report on at the time.

Yesterday, Joshua Seth responded to a question on Twitter about Digimon from 2020 specifically, saying roughly the same thing, that it's being done with a brand new cast.


The Japanese cast for the kids in Adventure: was an all new cast, while most of the Digimon partners themselves returned.





On top of that, we have an oddity in the case of the US release version of the Shodo figures changing their branding.

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Wave 1 came out last year using the legacy English branding, while Wave 2, coming out in April, is switching to Adventure: branding.


We'll see where things go, since it's possibly it's all just coincidental timing and misunderstandings, but these things, combined with Toei and Bandai both mentioning more and more how the brand is doing internationally (with a focus on North America) with plans to expand that even more, tends to mean that getting news on a dub won't be unexpected at this point.


And while no guarentee of it, it's also been mentioned that some parts of the Digimon Con stream will be unique based on if you watch the English or Japanese streams, so it'll be interesting to see if we might have news about it by the end of the month.

 

[BlankShell]

As much as I do love the old cast, I feel like having them come back for the sake of nostalgia is sort of ignoring the potential of the reboot. I’m all for giving new people a shot, will be interesting to see how it goes if that’s what happens.

 

[Muur]

Hopefully this is true! I didn't watch any reboot episodes (though I read spoiler threads and probably shouldn't have oh well) because I was waiting for a dub. Is it February 26/27th yet? no? darn. Come soon DigiCon, since it'll prob be announced there.

Old cast would prob get the 02 movie. The reboot recast everyone too, so it's fair I think if that's what'd happen.

 

[Geode]

Oh yeah, can’t wait I hope they don’t leave only half the them dubbed like what they did with Fusion seasons 1 and 2 and leave only the third season undubbed.

 

[Chimera-gui]

I honestly wouldn't a lot of stock in this.

For one thing, the English dub of Xros Wars wasn't even finished and App Monsters would be on the dub docket before the reboot anyway which already doesn't help the likelihood of this happening.

Second and more problematically though is the licensing issue. Saban Brands sold most of their library to Hasbro, including Glitter Force and Power Rangers despite and PreCure being a Bandai franchise and PR belonging to Bandai originally.

While Toei Animation Inc should have the license, that Hasbro now partially owns Glitter Force and wholly owns Power Rangers makes it a little more questionable whether or not this is actually true.

 

[Muur]

I honestly wouldn't a lot of stock in this.

For one thing, the English dub of Xros Wars wasn't even finished and App Monsters would be on the dub docket before the reboot anyway which already doesn't help the likelihood of this happening.

Second and more problematically though is the licensing issue. Saban Brands sold most of their library to Hasbro, including Glitter Force and Power Rangers despite and PreCure being a Bandai franchise and PR belonging to Bandai originally.

While Toei Animation Inc should have the license, that Hasbro now partially owns Glitter Force and wholly owns Power Rangers makes it a little more questionable whether or not this is actually true.

Kizuna was dubbed literally 1 year ago and it's not like Saban somehow own the rights to a series that has yet to be dubbed Toei would just go "hey insert company here dub this show". Also, Appmon is technically a spin off so it wouldn't be surprising if it came under a different umbrella or something plus what would be the point in dubbing it at this point? Appmon isn't something Bandai/Toei are pushing and basically died they moved on from it

 

[D O R U g o r a m o n]

Hopefully if they do dub it they can fix some of the pacing issues with new dialogue.

 

[Nightwing]

I don't see why Appmon would have anything to do with an Adventure: dub. The license to stream the subtitled version of Appmon was already sold to Crunchyroll years ago, so they obviously didn't find anyone interested in dubbing it.

Anyways, this is good news! I was really hoping they'd go with a new cast. Just makes sense for a reboot.

 

[Chimera-gui]

Kizuna was dubbed literally 1 year ago and it's not like Saban somehow own the rights to a series that has yet to be dubbed Toei would just go "hey insert company here dub this show". Also, Appmon is technically a spin off so it wouldn't be surprising if it came under a different umbrella or something plus what would be the point in dubbing it at this point? Appmon isn't something Bandai/Toei are pushing and basically died they moved on from it

I don't see why Appmon would have anything to do with an Adventure: dub. The license to stream the subtitled version of Appmon was already sold to Crunchyroll years ago, so they obviously didn't find anyone interested in dubbing it.

You know how Saban used Gekisou Sentai Carranger footage when they made Power Rangers Turbo? Yeah there was a reason for that, Saban was not allowed to skip Sentai series during the Zordon Era of Power Rangers until Disney got the license following Time Force.

Generally when a franchise gets licensed for an English dub; it is for the franchise as a whole (up to a certain point at least), not individual series. That's why Saban dubbed not just Adventure but 02 and Tamers while Disney oversaw Frontier and Data Squad.

You also missed the part where I said that the dubbing license may have ended up in the hands of Hasbro like how Glitter Force fell into their hands despite Bandai owning Precure.

 

[Danewilliams4]

Maybe Netflix can do it? Along with Ghost Game, just edit it?

 

[Takao]

Kizuna was dubbed literally 1 year ago and it's not like Saban somehow own the rights to a series that has yet to be dubbed Toei would just go "hey insert company here dub this show". Also, Appmon is technically a spin off so it wouldn't be surprising if it came under a different umbrella or something plus what would be the point in dubbing it at this point? Appmon isn't something Bandai/Toei are pushing and basically died they moved on from it

I don't see why Appmon would have anything to do with an Adventure: dub. The license to stream the subtitled version of Appmon was already sold to Crunchyroll years ago, so they obviously didn't find anyone interested in dubbing it.

You know how Saban used Gekisou Sentai Carranger footage when they made Power Rangers Turbo? Yeah there was a reason for that, Saban was not allowed to skip Sentai series during the Zordon Era of Power Rangers until Disney got the license following Time Force.

Generally when a franchise gets licensed for an English dub; it is for the franchise as a whole, not individual series. That's why Saban dubbed not just Adventure but 02 and Tamers while Disney oversaw Frontier and Data Squad.

You also missed the part where I said that the dubbing license may have ended up in the hands of Hasbro like how Glitter Force fell into their hands despite Bandai owning Precure.

Toei Animation isn't the same Toei who produces Super Sentai. They're related companies but they're operated wholly independently. Not that it matters either, since you brought up an example that's nearly 30 years old and isn't relevant to today. Multiple Sentai series have been skipped over for Power Rangers adaptations in the 2010s without issue.

There has been no indication Hasbro acquired the rights to Digimon Fusion in their acquisition of Saban Brands' children library. Even if they did, it would be limited to that specific series. You mention Pretty Cure. Hasbro did inherit the rights to the first season of Glitter Force. Has that prevented Toei from distributing successive iterations without Hasbro's involvement? No. Was Hasbro or Saban involved with the release of Appmon (on Crunchyroll), Adventure Tri or Kizuna? No. Saban Brands acquired Digimon Fusion and the library rights to the franchise a decade ago this September. Given the franchise was a failure for them, there is little doubt those contracts are either expiring or have already expired.

Appmon is a failed brand extension. There is no reason to require that to be dubbed before letting entirely unrelated pieces of the franchise come out. This entire conversation about licensing will likely be a non-issue, too. This dub is most likely being produced directly by Toei USA, just like Tri and Kizuna. They've handled other shows. The biggest issue of concern should be how it'll be released. Linear kids TV is a dead end (which should give us the benefit of a hopefully uncut dub) but I don't know of many platforms a show this long can be successful on. Netflix likes their anime fresh and/or exclusive and everyday this show gets older.

 

[Brodul]

Well who is going to replace Mimi's dub voice since Sampler is gone

 

[Chimera-gui]

You mention Pretty Cure. Hasbro did inherit the rights to the first season of Glitter Force. Has that prevented Toei from distributing successive iterations without Hasbro's involvement?

Funny thing but Glitter Force wasn't just a singular season, there were four seasons total derived from two different PreCure series split in half: Smile! and DokiDoki! with the latter being dubbed as Glitter Force: Doki-Doki. All of them were dubbed by Saban Brands thus all four would belong to Hasbro now.

Toei hasn't distributed anything of Precure for the US directly as far as I know presumably due to Hasbro owning the Glitter Force brand.

There is no reason to require that to be dubbed before letting entirely unrelated pieces of the franchise come out.

And there was no reason to require Saban to use Carranger footage for Turbo but it was required to, just because it was thirty years ago does not make it irrelevant since companies can and do very stupid, nonsensical things.

Also the only Sentai series I know to have been skipped over was Go-Busters and even then, not only was there a proposal to adapt it into a Power Ranger series before it got skipped over but it eventually was adapted into Beast Morphers following the Hasbro acquisition.

 

[Muur]

That still doesn't matter. Tri and Kizuna were dubbed. And Sabans fusion rights ran out in 2020 I think I think Marc posted it here? The day after it happened Digimon fusion content was added to the English version of Digimon masters which seemed related to saban having fusion. That's when it left Netflix at least.

All Saban would have if they do is old shows and if they had "all the franchise" they'd be listed in the rights of the English games but they're not. Plus even if they did why would hasbro/Saban block a dub?

 

[shynely]

You know how Saban used Gekisou Sentai Carranger footage when they made Power Rangers Turbo? Yeah there was a reason for that, Saban was not allowed to skip Sentai series during the Zordon Era of Power Rangers until Disney got the license following Time Force.

Generally when a franchise gets licensed for an English dub; it is for the franchise as a whole (up to a certain point at least), not individual series. That's why Saban dubbed not just Adventure but 02 and Tamers while Disney oversaw Frontier and Data Squad.

Power Rangers also started just skipping seasons of Sentai after Saban came back, so it's not like the "rules" from the original Saban era are still in place.

Also the only Sentai series I know to have been skipped over was Go-Busters and even then, not only was there a proposal to adapt it into a Power Ranger series before it got skipped over but it eventually was adapted into Beast Morphers following the Hasbro acquisition.

They (both Saban and Hasbro) have skipped Toqger, Zyuoger, Kyuranger and Lupinranger vs Patranger since then. It's mathematically impossible for them to have reached the 2019 Sentai (Ryusoulger) by 2021 without skipping more, so I'm not sure why you made this assumption in the first place.

 

[DazzleDream]

Sounds interesting. I would still expect the old cast for the 02 movie, since it is original timeline (depending on who shows up). So a recast is an interesting opportunity here.

 

[RogueX4]

Maybe Netflix can do it? Along with Ghost Game, just edit it?

There’s absolutely no need to edit it. The story is fine as it is. I’d even say better than the original only falling second to Tamers. There’s a reason why Fusion was bad. Leave it be. Hopefully who ever handles it handles it with love and respect.

 

[Mon-Ohma]

I can’t say I find it too much of a big deal if they did get a new cast in.

It’s not as if the original dub voice actors could have done anything to improve on the weak writing, Taichi-centricness, and paper-thin characterisation that plagued the reboot. The same way they didn’t fix any of the problems I had with Tri’s original narrative.

It’s only real selling point was the fight scenes and music anyway. The remainder is just nostalgia.

Heck, whoever voices Taichi would only need to rattle off a dozen or so stock phrases and be done for the rest of the series.

 

[Golden_Fate]

Honestly. Ya, it's for the best. Start fresh. Hopefully we'll still see them in OG material

 

[Nightwing]

Kizuna was dubbed literally 1 year ago and it's not like Saban somehow own the rights to a series that has yet to be dubbed Toei would just go "hey insert company here dub this show". Also, Appmon is technically a spin off so it wouldn't be surprising if it came under a different umbrella or something plus what would be the point in dubbing it at this point? Appmon isn't something Bandai/Toei are pushing and basically died they moved on from it

I don't see why Appmon would have anything to do with an Adventure: dub. The license to stream the subtitled version of Appmon was already sold to Crunchyroll years ago, so they obviously didn't find anyone interested in dubbing it.

You know how Saban used Gekisou Sentai Carranger footage when they made Power Rangers Turbo? Yeah there was a reason for that, Saban was not allowed to skip Sentai series during the Zordon Era of Power Rangers until Disney got the license following Time Force.

Generally when a franchise gets licensed for an English dub; it is for the franchise as a whole (up to a certain point at least), not individual series. That's why Saban dubbed not just Adventure but 02 and Tamers while Disney oversaw Frontier and Data Squad.

You also missed the part where I said that the dubbing license may have ended up in the hands of Hasbro like how Glitter Force fell into their hands despite Bandai owning Precure.

None of that is relevant. We've seen what the license to Adventure: looks like on Toei Animation Europe's website years ago, it's where we got the "66 episodes" number from after all. It's a standalone order of 67 episodes, Appmon has nothing to with it. Plus, it's in the OP itself that Adventure: has its own branding that's already being used now, so it's not tied to the classic Digimon branding at all whatsoever and is clearly its own thing.