But then, so do much of the rest of the cast. Take Ling-Ling, played by Susan Chester. She does a better job of hitting her character than Bakko, but she nevertheless sounds too restrained, especially during those scenes in episode one when she's supposed to be a source of humor. At other times, she has this odd smirk in her voice that's not reflected by her character's facial expression. (Check out the scene in episode one when she explains that she affixed a transmitter to the stolen statue.)

When the bad guys, Mrs. Wong (Jean Gilpin) and Chow (Yuji Okumoto) show up, it makes for one of the clumsiest scenes I've seen in a dub. No two actors appear to be on the same wavelength. Campbell is dead-on as Yakumo, but Bakko is flat. Chester acts like she wants to let Ling-Ling's attitude out, but can't. Gilpin gives a stereotypical performance, remembering to do an accent about every other line. And Okumoto does give an over-the-top evil bad guy voice, which just emphasizes how flat Chester and Bakko are.

The whole dub is like that - flat. In episode two, when we meet Yakumo's school friends, it again sounds like the actors are holding back. I feel the blame has to land squarely on the shoulders of director Greg Weisman. My best guess is that, this being a horror/action anime, Weisman wanted to avoid ruining the mood by getting too silly. The problem with that approach is that there are several silly moments in every episode of "3X3 Eyes." And besides, you don't get truly subtle acting by muting your actors' emotions. You just get dead acting. It's for this reason that a well-known directing method is to have your actor begin with an over-the-top performance and dial them down from there. If you err, best to err on the side of more emotion than less.

The irony is that Yakumo, despite being a zombie, sounds more alive than almost anyone else in the cast.

Rating: ** (out of 4)

(review based on episodes 1 and 2)

Released by: Pioneer

Dub by: New Generation

Director: Greg Weisman

Pai - Brigitte Bako

Yakumo - Christian Campbell

Lee Ling-Ling - Susan Chester

Chow - Yuji Okamoto

Mrs. Wong - Jean Gilpin

Tatsuya - Rick Simone

Hide - Greg Weisman

Monkey - Thom Adcox

Natsuko - Mia Korf

Frog Demon - Taliesin Jaffe

NOTE: Ed Asner, TV's Lou Grant, has a miniscule role as Pai's adoptive grandfather in episode five. He sounds great, but it's such a small role that it's really not worth buying the two-DVD set just for that. And so I'm a little annoyed that he's listed on the case. For comparison, Ling-Ling is a major character in three episodes, yet Susan Chester isn't listed on the case at all. This is, in my opinion, a rather dishonest way to sell DVDs, yet I have no idea whether to blame New Generation or Pioneer.

I couldn't possibly write this column without the help of the Dub Seiyuu Database.

Agree? Disagree? Have a comment about a dub, or just about dubbing in general? Let me know!