What Zero Could've Been

[KariTheFox]

There is of course going to be a lot of divergence when it comes to liking or not liking fictional characters; real life is no different. But based my own experience watching anime since the early days of imported Japanese laserdisks, I have to wonder:

Is people's liking or not liking of a character influenced by what language they listen in, or more specifically,
to which voice actor/actress is voicing the character?

The sound of someone's voice is a huge part of their personality, sometimes more than the words they say. We see this in anime: Lisa Ortiz did fine work, but Megumi Hayashibara defined Lina Inverse IMO. Movies too: Darth Vader was brought to life as much by James Earl Jones' deep voice and manner of speaking as anything else, for example.

My Nihongo was never much more than enough to get me around as a tourist, and it's declined a lot since I last visited Japan. But still, I prefer subtitled to dubbed (even when I notice that the subtitles aren't true to the spoken words), even for things like the Ghibli films that employ A-list actors to do the dubs.

So naturally, I listen to FFXIV in Japanese.
And I really like the way Ai Kayano voices Y'shtola.
Would I like Y'shtola less if I listened to Robyn Addison's English rendition of her?
I don't know.

I think it would be interesting to survey the FFXIV English-speaking fanbase and see if a character being liked or disliked is strongly correlated with which voice actor/actress a person experiences the character through.

I do wonder about this, as a listener of the Japanese dub, a lot of the way certain characters are described by people who listen to the English localization do not really match up with my impression of them.

Y'sthola, Zenos, and Thancred being some standout examples to me.

[Boblawblah]

Language and culture always plays a role in how an audience perceives a character. Feo Ul was so full of character in the English version, and while it took a bit to get used to her, it fits her character perfectly. In Japanese, she's a fairly generic energetic little sister type from an anime. Now if someone is more inclined to enjoy the Japanese language, then they might like her more, and get a different vibe from her characterizations than the English. That's not a bad thing though, that's just culture/language/personalities/preferences.

[Jason_Ashford]

Language and culture always plays a role in how an audience perceives a character. Feo Ul was so full of character in the English version, and while it took a bit to get used to her, it fits her character perfectly. In Japanese, she's a fairly generic energetic little sister type from an anime. Now if someone is more inclined to enjoy the Japanese language, then they might like her more, and get a different vibe from her characterizations than the English. That's not a bad thing though, that's just culture/language/personalities/preferences.

personally i much prefer the English version, they put so much effort into creating a diverse culture just through the dialogue of characters from around the world, or from other worlds, as is the case with Feo Ul. I think Thavnair encapsulates this entirely, the way they have an accent that is very distinct to the people of the country.

[Raoabolic]

Language and culture always plays a role in how an audience perceives a character. Feo Ul was so full of character in the English version, and while it took a bit to get used to her, it fits her character perfectly. In Japanese, she's a fairly generic energetic little sister type from an anime. Now if someone is more inclined to enjoy the Japanese language, then they might like her more, and get a different vibe from her characterizations than the English. That's not a bad thing though, that's just culture/language/personalities/preferences.

Personally, I would like the version the original writers wrote for the character and not a stranger's reimaging of said character.

[Lauront]

You say that like they're the only person causing any issues and there aren't others engaging in name-calling, personal attacks and not letting people hold their own opinions without having to argue against them.

Both extremes keep the argument going, and I've tried to stay out of it – both because my feelings are somewhere in the middle and I don't want to get caught up in the argument. But here in this thread, they're letting it spill out onto a different group of people who are rightly confused by the name-calling and the self-identifying as some kind of team with a name.

The reason I singled them out in particular is the persistence and obnoxiousness of it, not so much to say they're alone in it. With that said, I do respect your stance on the matter and would agree that there was little reason to let it spill into this thread.

[Graeham]

We say it is bad to single the one person for all the burger anger when it is the sign show the bigger problem. There is so much of the problem with the bad diet. Grahad burger scene was bad because of the high cholesterol burger. The Zero it does not chew the apple properly and eat it drain apple with the spell. We know they is listen to the course corrector feedback from the silent majority and now offer the healthy food as well but must reinforcing the good eat tech. Please chewing the food it is danger choke risk. Must having the positive masculine role model not the bad.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

We say it is bad to single the one person for all the burger anger when it is the sign show the bigger problem. There is so much of the problem with the bad diet. Grahad burger scene was bad because of the high cholesterol burger. The Zero it does not chew the apple properly and eat it drain apple with the spell. We know they is listen to the course corrector feedback from the silent majority and now offer the healthy food as well but must reinforcing the good eat tech. Please chewing the food it is danger choke risk. Must having the positive masculine role model not the bad.

[SassyAssassin]

We say it is bad to single the one person for all the burger anger when it is the sign show the bigger problem. There is so much of the problem with the bad diet. Grahad burger scene was bad because of the high cholesterol burger. The Zero it does not chew the apple properly and eat it drain apple with the spell. We know they is listen to the course corrector feedback from the silent majority and now offer the healthy food as well but must reinforcing the good eat tech. Please chewing the food it is danger choke risk. Must having the positive masculine role model not the bad.

Damn right, how am I supposed to keep healthy when my damn friends eat burgers in front of me?
Apples aren’t any better either, all that sugar you might as well eat candy.
An apple a day only keeps the doctor away if you throw it at his head.

[magtuired]

Consideing how much the writing team has consistently shown loved to kill off our female cast or write them out I am glad Zero exists at all.

Also we HAVE had plucky and more feminine characters (Minfilia, Tataru, Krile and Lyse) and they are all on the recieving end of some kind of backlash. Frankly at this point I think people are just wanting a waifu character which I can get behind because we have so many male characters that are openly flirty with the MC for the het/bi girls and gay men but I wish people would be honest about that and not shit on a genuienly compelling new character.

Also Vtra being whiny? Since when. If my sister disappeared years ago in a self sacrificial move I would be a lot more distraught than him.