For those unfamiliar with Japanese voice acting, Genda is a deity. He is the official Japanese voice of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Samuel L. Jackson, and—fittingly—The Hulk. He has a deep, gravelly, volcanic bass that shakes the speaker. Casting Genda as Tony Soprano was a masterstroke. Where James Gandolfini’s Tony had a sleepy, sad-eyed menace, Genda’s Tony has a monstrous, yakuza-like gravity. His "Omae, nani itta?" ("What did you say?") carries the weight of a freight train.
When Junior puts a hit on Tony, the dub emphasizes Urami (grudge) and Kataki (revenge) more than the original’s clinical business arrangement. Dr. Melfi’s psychoanalysis is awkwardly filtered through Japanese pop-psychology terms like Amae (the desire to be taken care of) and Honne to Tatemae (true feelings vs. public facade). sopranos japanese dub
Have you heard the Japanese dub of The Sopranos? Who is your favorite Japanese voice actor in the series? Let us know in the comments below. For those unfamiliar with Japanese voice acting, Genda
Translating The Sopranos for a Japanese audience required more than just literal translation; it required of identity: He has a deep, gravelly, volcanic bass that
Finding the original Japanese dub today is a quest worthy of the Treasures of Ischia. Unlike Netflix or Amazon Prime (which usually only carry the English audio with subtitles), the official Japanese broadcast versions are locked in licensing limbo.