Square Enix's latest press release proves their commitment to the Kingdom Hearts franchise: Kingdom Hearts II will have an all-star cast for its characters. Haley Joel Osment, David Gallagher, and Hayden Panettier all reprise their roles as Sora, Riku, and Kairi, respectively. Mena Suvari is replacing Mandy Moore as Aerith, James Woods reprises his role as Hades, and they got the original Mulan (Ming-Na) to do her voice in the game. We're expecting, then, to have no qualms with the game's audio.
Square Enix's statement does not include the entire list, so here is to hoping they kept a majority of voice actors from the original: Chris Sarandon (Jack Skellington), Billy Zane (Ansem), David Boreanaz (Squall), Lance Bass (Sephiroth), and Sean Astin (Hercules).
The game is set for release on March 28th on the PlayStation 2. According to Japanese reviews, this title surpasses the original in almost every way, so it should make any fan of this Disney/Final Fantasy hybrid very giddy, indeed.
The partial list, as denoted from the press release:
- Haley Joel Osment as Sora
- David Gallagher as Riku
- Hayden Panettier as Kairi
- Jesse McCartney as Roxas
- Britany Snow as Namine
- Christopher Lee as DiZ
- Steve Burton as Cloud
- Rachael Leigh Cook as Tifa
- Mena Suvari as Aerith
- Hedy Buress as Yuna
- Tara Strong as Rikku
- Gwendoline Yeo as Paine
- Ming-Na as Mulan
- James Woods as Hades
- Zach Braff as Chicken Little
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(Page 1) Reader Comments
not to bring up anything bad, but i'm always curious when someone is replaced...
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Sure, the guy was in N'Sync, but can you blame him? "Hey Lance, check this out, sing in a pop group, and we guarantee you that girls aged 15 to 51 will be all over you. Not to mention millions of dollars."
What would you say? I'll dye my hair blonde.
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AWESOME.That's an awesome choice. He makes a great villan, what with his commanding voice and all.
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I'm a little disappointed that Mandy Moore didn't return to voice Aerith, though.
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Brittany Snow is in this game
shes hot!!
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Chicken Little? :X
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This isn't just any studio. This is DISNEY. They have the resources to get these names and they can afford it.
And it's not like these people do a bad job, either. Christopher Lee is badass, so all is good. I guess I should finish Kingdom Hearts 1 someday before I get Kingdom Hearts 2...
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Tehy haven't stated who'll be Jack Sparrow, but not using Johnny Depp would be stupid considering that they are using the original VAs for some of the other Disney characters this time around.
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Erm, in this case the JAPANESE voices are the dubs. So you'll be getting 1/2 of what you want, American actors voicing the American Disney characters.
I don't really think they're going to put in an option so that Sora, Riku, Kairi and co. speak in Japanese and the Disney folks speak in English.
Anyway, aside from Sora, no Square character really plays a major role in this game. The cameo voices really shouldn't bother you.
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The game, if it had to be released one way around the world, would probably be done in english. The majority of the cast are english-speaking American cartoon characters. It's released in japanese first because that's where it's made, and it's near necessity to do so.
The kind of people who whine about english voices piss me off when I want to sit there and watch FLCL with its wonderful english dubs (of which were cast and handled by Kazuya Tsurumaki, the director himself, same as the original voices). Hell, any anim?ith decent english voice overs, for that matter. Americans speak mainly english. Get used to it.
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Anyone want to fill me in with what the hell is up with this game? Has it really been in the making for 5 f'ing years?If so,why hasnt anyone commented on how long it's taking to be made?
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And ROFL at the "dub" complaints. This is a Disney game. In truth, I'm more inclined to conicider the japanese version as the "dub" =)
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I find it distracting having to read the subtitle text because I want to use my eyes to enjoy LOOKING AT THE BEAUTIFUL ANIMATION. Isn't that the point for appreciating anime in the first place? The actual animation itself??
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I'm gonna take a WILD GUESS and assume that the reason Mandy Moore isn't returning to voice Aerith is because Mena Suvari got the part for the movie. Likewise, some of these FF7 characters weren't really in the last game, so I wouldn't be surprised if these actors will also be in the movie.
I hate Mena Suvari's voice for Aerith though. She is NOT what I imagined at all.
#8: Yes they do.
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At least i's almost positive. If they aren't doing the voices you should be able to sue because that would be just WRONG!
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