The "Maze" OAV series is one of those anime that will likely stay on my shelf forever, having been watched only once. It's not a bad anime by any means. There's simply not much there to either like or dislike. The story of a female wandering warrior who turns into a lusty man at night, the "Maze" OAVs take place in the middle of the manga on which they are based. There's no exposition, save for a brief speech by one of the characters at the very beginning. Without being properly introduced to "Maze" and his/her many companions, it's hard to truly care about them, so the appeal of the anime derives from a lot of action, slapstick humor and fan service.

When my editor suggested that, for this month's column, I write my first negative review, I decided upon "Maze." The reasons were twofold. First, I had attempted to watch "Maze" in English once before, and had lasted only three minutes before giving up and switching to the Japanese track. Secondly, I was stunned when I read, in an otherwise negative review in "Animerica" magazine, that "...the English cast of 'Maze' turns in a good performance." Was I wrong? Had I been too hasty in hitting the "audio" button?

After fully watching both episodes of the "Maze" OAVs dubbed, I can safely say that the answer is no. While the voices aren't as bad as I initially feared, they are nowhere near good enough to redeem this horribly produced, horribly directed and horribly cast dub.

Usually, when a dub exhibits the flaws I see in "Maze," my instinct is to blame the director. In this case, I'm not sure who that is. I've never seen so many people given management credit for a dub. "Maze" has a "dubbing manager," a "dubbing coordinator," and an "ADR director," any of whom may have either directed the voice actors, or perhaps simply handled the technical side of things. Although while watching I couldn't help but wonder if anyone was in charge at all.

You know you're in for a painful sixty minutes almost as soon as the video begins. The first voice you hear is that of Mill, ably, but not impressively, voiced by Elisa Wain (Hinageshi in "Yu Yu Hakusho"), as she delivers the necessary exposition. At the end of the speech, Mill pops onto the screen and flaps her mouth for a solid three seconds without saying anything. I can only conclude that the translator never bothered to account for the difference in sentence length between English and Japanese, which results in Wain finishing her lines early. The video is simply allowed to run, like a silent movie.

The program then proceeds with a battle scene, as our heroes kick the butts of some bad guys dressed like hooded monks. One of these monks speaks, and it is at this point that I initially quit watching. From the sound of it, whoever plays this role has no acting experience whatsoever. It literally sounds like someone on the directing committee got a friend of his to stand in and say the line. This monk is what I call an "incidental voice." He has no name, one line and never appears again. However, he is also one of the first voices you hear! Given the importance of making a good first impression, you would think Central Park Media could have borrowed an actor from one of their other productions to say the line.

Once this initial action ends, the plot begins. Mill and female Maze (Angora Deb), and their companions Solude (Tara Jayne), Rapier (Suzy Prue), Aster (Michael Schwarz) and Woll (Tristan Goddard) are all voiced competently. The voices sound natural and unforced, implying that the actors have experience doing character voices. However, they seem unsure what to do with those voices. The actors struggle to find their way for the first few scenes, delivering lines filled with awkward pauses and unconvincing emotions, as if the only direction they are receiving is what is written on the script.

Casting is also a problem with this dub. Michelle Medlin does her best as Randy, but the little fairy's high-pitched voice strains the top of Medlin's range, resulting in an annoyingly squeaky performance. The directing committee should either have told her to lower her voice a few notes (Randy's voice didn't need to be that high), or simply cast another actress better suited to that vocal range.