We have now heard what may be the worst English dub ever made. Even worse, its put on top of a series we genuinely love. It's Kuwahara now. His name is Kuwahara. That's what they did.
This week on Toonami Absolution, Alyx, Jon, and Sam cover Yu Yu Hakusho: The Movie – Poltergeist Report (1994), the second and final full-length Yu Yu Hakusho theatrical film, and the only piece of Yu Yu Hakusho media that Funimation has never been able to redub, because Central Park Media got the rights before Funimation started dubbing the series.
The film was released in Japanese theatres on April 9, 1994, during the height of the show's original run, and later dubbed into English by Central Park Media in 1998, predating the Funimation TV dub by three years. Thus, it uses an entirely different cast. Hence: Kuwahara.
After the Spirit World is flooded by an overflowing the River Styx, a powerful enemy from a previously unmentioned fourth realm called the Netherworld begins invading the human world to seize control of it and remake it in his own image.
It is, structurally, a very standard non-canon anime film, elevated almost entirely by 1994 theatrical animation that looks genuinely gorgeous, fluid, detailed, and operating at a level of polish the TV series could rarely afford. The fights are good, but new lore is immediately irrelevant to the series.
Alas, the dub is wooden and clunky and half of the characters have zero personality. For example, Kuwabara (who Central Park Meda call Kuwahara for the duration) speaks formally, something that is an utter culture shock if you’re familiar with the Funimation version of the show.
We get into the strangeness of encountering beloved characters through an entirely unfamiliar voice cast, why the Central Park Media kinda sucks, and whether the dub is an ordeal or an experience. (Answer: both. It is both.)
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