(Reposting; didn't know images in posts weren't allowed on this sub)

An argument I VERY commonly hear levied against Mallorie Rodak's Frieren voice in the EN dub (yes these are the kinds of things I care about) is as follows (paraphrased): "Why'd they make her sound old? She's supposed to sound a bit childish, like in the JP dub"

This argument is hot garbage and objectively wrong (I think)

Specifically in the claim that "She sounds childish in the JP dub". Atsumi Tanezaki does NOT give Frieren a childlike voice in the Japanese dub, and yes I have evidence:

FIRST, u/Miyuki22, a fellow sub member who has lived in japan for 27 years, told me so. As we all know, if 1 Japanese person agrees with you on an anime topic you're instantly correct (this is a joke) (they also said to please comment any instances of Frieren sounding childlike they may have missed)

Honestly, I don't think anyone is actually at fault for thinking she should be; I feel like people are just misattributing the fact that Japanese is GENERALLY (not always) spoken at a higher pitch than most standard North American English accents. Yes this is a real thing, and it's especially evident when comparing how women generally speak between the two languages. Really, ALL of the female characters sound way deeper in the dub except for Fern and Serie (I far prefer the JP voice for Serie btw the dub fumbled her voice imho not tomboyish enough)

Now in case you need more evidence, let's compare Atsumi's Frieren voice to one of her other performances of a character that IS a child, Futaba from Bunny Girl Senpai (an amazing show that you need to watch) (I swear it's NOT as horny as it sounds the name is JUST a name); listen to these two clips side by side:

• Frieren
• Futaba

They're actually VERY similar performances; breathy, reserved, mysterious, etc. However, you can clearly hear a youthful "brightness" in Atsumi's Futaba voice that's basically non-existent in her Frieren voice (which is rich because [MINOR BGS CHARACTER SPOILERS AHEAD]a big part of Futaba's story is her trying to be more mature than she is). If anything, it sounds like Atsumi generally pushes her voice LOWER than it would naturally fall when she does Frieren

While we're at it, let's look at another AMAZING performance of Atsumi's, Lady Gyoukuyou from Apothecary Diaries. Another similarly breathy voice, though clearly more mature than Futaba's. Admittedly, she IS a mere 19 years old at the start of the story, but by that age her voice should've mostly completed dropping. And EVEN THEN, her Frieren voice sounds JUST a hair deeper and darker

Yannow what screw it. Let's compare Frieren's voice to everyone's favorite MILF/elf molester, Methode. Rewatch this scene and pay SUUUPER close attention to the pitch range of the two voices. They're basically the same; the highest I hear either go to is around A#3 (yes I pitch-watched the scene I'm incredibly autistic when it comes to the human voice). It's ESPECIALLY clear when Frieren drops the classic "smells nice" at nearly the exact same pitch as Methode. Frieren only has a more youthful tone than Methode here because her voice is more nasal

You're probably thinking: Does this at all matter?

No

This entire post is a waste of time

But I like talking about this stuff. If you disagree with me, I'd love to hear why (especially if you have counterexamples)

NOW. To give the illusion that I'm non-biased (I am INCREDIBLY biased), here are my least favorite line deliveries of the EN dub in least-to-most order of how much they piss me off:

1. Fern saying "GRANULE of sugar!!!" in ep 3. Delivery's fine, FUCKING HATE that translation though. Girl yes you have. Bread has glucose. That's at LEAST a granule. Go fuck yourself
2. Stark when Gumpy Fern approaches menacingly in ep 27. The EN voice actor plays it more whiny and sad, whereas I FAR prefer how the JP voice actor sounds legit annoyed like "JESUS CHRIST WOMAN WHAT DO YOU WANT??!"
3. Fern being like "So you feel the same way about it then!" during the jumbo berry special scene of ep 6. This one probably also stems from the lackluster translation; she's supposed to be being hit with a sudden jolt of relief that she FINALLY has a normal party member after a near decade of Frieren's bullshit, but phrasing the line like that means it only makes sense for Jill Harris to sound vaguely insistent. Oh the pains of getting the DANG lip flaps to match up
4. Frieren saying "but you'll die so soon" in the holy symbol flashback of ep 18 completely ruins the scene for me. She sounds like she's pouting or being silly in the EN dub, when really it should've been a "wow... she REALLY doesn't understand how much of a flippant dick she's being right now" gut-punch. I normally love when Mallorie puts on that hint of fae trickster goofiness for Frieren, but I have NO IDEA what she or the director or whoever was thinking for that line read
5. The lady who's kid got eaten by the demon child in the flashback of ep 7. She actually does a great job with most of her lines, but... just... the way she says "SwEENG yHeUR sWuAurrrRd" sounds so silly. It's a VERY weird phrasing to begin with (like "KILL IT NOW!" gets the same message across and has the same number of syllables), but also the delivery is just... REALLY bad. Like it's COMICALLY bad. Honestly even Frieren's mini-speech to the demon child is pretty awkward in delivery too. Himmel's "... no..." though? Nice <3