There is a large gap between each installment of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure‘s anime adaptations, and one of the biggest differences between Parts 3/4 and Parts 5/6 is the dub. Considering that there were numerous OVAs and movies produced in the nineties plus an often-forgotten 2007 JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure movie that became lost media, it’s no understatement to say that the series has been popular for most of its life. The nineties OVAs were dubbed by Super Techno Arts and Part 1 and 2 by Viz Media. These were considered rather close to the original in quality, but a significant change happened after that.
For Phantom Blood and Battle Tendency, there also was a lot of effort put into the production by dub director Kevin McMullan. However, every part after Battle Tendency was consistently longer and contained darker thematic elements. Perhaps for this reason, a new director was cast: Tony Oliver directed the anime from Stardust Crusaders through Golden Wind. A big change happened in the quality when Netflix dubbed part 6 and released it in the unfamiliar form of “batches” releasing entire sections of the story in chunks, a release model that was unprecedented for JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures Parts 5 & 6 Have Better Dubs Than Parts 3 & 4
When it comes to accessibility, people with vision or processing impairments often benefit from being able to listen to dubs in their native language. What makes a good dub is having voice actors who can match a character’s voice and energy. For a dub to reach its full potential, vocal quirks and tonalities given to a character must be transposed to a different cultural context. Unfortunately, some mismatched performances for the main characters of Part 3 and 4 made the dubs of those parts difficult to get through. Luckily, Netflix has taken over the dubbing process for the latest season of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.
One of the biggest examples of this mismatched casting is Joseph Joestar’s voice in Part 3 and 4, as the dub did not make him sound like the old mischievous man he was. Jotaro spoke of his grandpa so differently than how he sounded, and it led to a disconnect that made it difficult to connect with Joseph. Only Parts 3 and 4 were set in Japan, and this was an important factor in the dubbing process. Having the freedom to translate dialogue into lines that convey the same meaning is crucial: Parts 1 and 2 had characters have accents and quirks matching their different nationalities.
That is something that Parts 3 and 4 could not do, as all the characters were Japanese. Despite having the same director as Parts 3 and 4, Part 5 was set in Italy and had a completely new set of characters. That made picking new voice casts necessary. Furthermore, the introduction of Netflix into the dubbing process brought fresh blood to JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure that led to Part 6 having arguably the series’ best dub yet. That brought it fully back to the quality of dub that fans expected from a hot show like JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.
