Do you find Ash's earliest English Voice in the Kanto saga a bit...well...

[Rex Kamex]

I don't think it sounds... weird... (Well, I'm thinking of, like, the first 15 episodes), but I do feel the boy voice is somewhat forced there. I still like how it sounded in the 20s and 30s, and I guess 40s of the original series- I'm too lazy to check. That's when I preferred it the most. That's probably why when the voice switch from 4Kids to TPCI was expected to happen, years later, I wasn't initially upset that Ash was getting a new person to voice him.

[Dwail8023]

Veronica did force Ash's voice way too much at first. She sounded like the stereotypical "female-tries-too-hard-to-sound-manly" voice. Later on, though, her Ash sounded more like a preteen boy and fit him better.

That's exactly how I feel. To be fair, the current VAs have also improved as did the former ones, but I don't see a contest between the two sets. I'd rather all of them back than the current ones.

I was never so annoyed by the former VAs as I have been with the current ones. I can't even go back and re-watch DP because of the voice acting. -_-

[CyberCubed]

Everyone sounds off in very early Kanto, and yes I'm aware James and Meowth had different VA's in the beginning.

Early Kanto Misty is just as rough, she really sounds very little of what Misty's standard voice is for late Kanto through her final appearance back in 2005. You'll notice it in Jessie as well, and it makes sense as they're voiced by the same person.

[Dr. Steve]

Like everyone said in the topic every actor needs to get used to voicing the character before they find that certain pitch that just clicks with the series. This doesn't just pertain to Pokemon it pertains to every series. For example I am a huge fan of Batman: The Animated series from the 90s and I have always associated Kevin Conroy's voice with the character. He was actually the 1st guy to make Bruce Wayne and Batman have 2 separate voice pitches which would later influence other actors who portrayed the character. However if you watch any episode of the 1st Season you will notice easily his voice doesn't sound nowhere near as good as it does now. That's because he only got better with experience. He still voices Bruce Wayne/Batman in DC animated movies and the Batman Arkham games so you can look to those for further reference.

To be honest this has been rather obvious to me for years.

[manav95]

Ash sounded pretty good considering he's supposed to be a 10 year old brat.

[*~Silver*~]

Everyone sounds off in very early Kanto, and yes I'm aware James and Meowth had different VA's in the beginning.

Early Kanto Misty is just as rough, she really sounds very little of what Misty's standard voice is for late Kanto through her final appearance back in 2005. You'll notice it in Jessie as well, and it makes sense as they're voiced by the same person.

I agree with that.

Meowth's first voice actor just didn't put in any expression. There was some, of course, but not nearly as much as the second voice actor. xD

Yeah... Brock was too serious until much later in the series...

You know... It seems like all the shows that go super far started out with some pretty rough voice actors trying to get used to their roles... The only show I can think of right now that wasn't like that is The Legend of Korra... Avatar The Last Airbender had it, but the sequel to it didn't.
Weird. xD

I guess that's kind of beside the point though... Isn't it?

[Ciccone]

I hated his voice at the start; it just didn't sound right. It was too rough in my opinion, not what a 10-year-old boy would sound like. However, I don't usually complain about it because unlike his current VA, Veronica Taylor actually improved over time and it was clear that she enjoyed her job. She was passionate, which made Ash more enjoyable for me.

[The Power of Pika]

It's normal. Like Sarah, Veronica had a bit of difficulty to begin with aswell and it's only natural. I enjoy seeing both actors improve as they go along when it comes to my interest animation wise. I see it in alot of cartoons.

Personally it doesn't bother me either way because as they improve I can tell both love the role very much and really put their all into it. That's why I enjoy the show so much personally.

Some cartoons do have the acting good from episode 1 but usually it takes alot of effort and work to prepare said actors using a pilot they go over multiple times. Pokemon being a cartoon that obviously pushes out the episodes very quickly doesn't actually get that full luxury hence the roughness of Season 1 and 9.

[Lion Demon]

veronica sounded a bit forced in the beginning. she dubbed the first episode and then she was fired and then they again called her back and they redubbed the first episode. her voice felt more comfortable after a few episodes. she then settled down to ash voice. she said that ash was her hardest role as she had to learn not to hurt her throat while doing his voice.

Damn, My sympathy's for her... But I'm glad the voice changed during the battle frontier series. Hard to get used to at first but I got used to it... Eventually.

[Dwail8023]

Damn, My sympathy's for her... But I'm glad the voice changed during the battle frontier series. Hard to get used to at first but I got used to it... Eventually.

I never liked the voice changes idea or the changes, and I never really will. However, I do think the current voice actors are good now and much improved, though. I'm used to them by now.

It's normal. Like Sarah, Veronica had a bit of difficulty to begin with aswell and it's only natural. I enjoy seeing both actors improve as they go along when it comes to my interest animation wise. I see it in alot of cartoons.

Personally it doesn't bother me either way because as they improve I can tell both love the role very much and really put their all into it. That's why I enjoy the show so much personally.

Some cartoons do have the acting good from episode 1 but usually it takes alot of effort and work to prepare said actors using a pilot they go over multiple times. Pokemon being a cartoon that obviously pushes out the episodes very quickly doesn't actually get that full luxury hence the roughness of Season 1 and 9.

First 14 eps of S1 were definitely rough. As for S9, I'm the oddball in that re-watching it, I liked the sound-alike voices the current cast used more at the beginning of BF (to be fair, their own dub voices they came up with soon after had FAR more emotion in them, but I don't like the voices themselves they used in later BF as much...Ash's in particular got a lot deeper, which annoyed me). S10-11 and some of 12 bothered me the most in the dub...voices give me a headache there. Late Season 12 is when Sarah and the others really began to settle in with their own voices and the acting fit much better, too. Season 13 improved on that, and 14-current they are all good for the most part.

Everyone sounds off in very early Kanto, and yes I'm aware James and Meowth had different VA's in the beginning.

Early Kanto Misty is just as rough, she really sounds very little of what Misty's standard voice is for late Kanto through her final appearance back in 2005. You'll notice it in Jessie as well, and it makes sense as they're voiced by the same person.

Agreed.

IMO:

Meowth and James' second dub voices > Meowth and James' first dub voices > Meowth and James' third dub voices.

I hated his voice at the start; it just didn't sound right. It was too rough in my opinion, not what a 10-year-old boy would sound like. However, I don't usually complain about it because unlike his current VA, Veronica Taylor actually improved over time and it was clear that she enjoyed her job. She was passionate, which made Ash more enjoyable for me.

I feel like all sets of voice actors have generally put a lot of passion into the show (TPCi's voice cast, as of BW, anyway-- the only ones that felt like they were truly passionate about their roles in DP were Bill Rogers as Brock, Michele Knotz as Jessie, and Jimmy Zoppi as James and Meowth). It's just that I feel since the characters haven't aged yet, all of the 4Kids voices were generally much more appropriate for the characters. That's just my take on it.

P.S. I've always preferred Veronica Taylor to Sarah Natochenny to Kayzie Rogers, and that's just not going to change for me based on what I've seen so far. XD.

[skeletorissatan]

I think it suits the nature of the anime to be honest because It's aimed at kids and kids best recognize a young girls voice no matter what gender character it comes from