Digimon Data Squad American Dub Review

It's been about four years since the last new episode of the acclaimed Japanese series Digimon: Digital Monsters hit American airwaves. Now, Digimon makes it's triumphant return on the small screen with a brand new series: Digimon Data Squad. Fans of the series all across the country huddled around their TVs in fevered anticipation to view the season premiere on October 1st and see just how American company Studiopolis handled the translation of Digimon Savers (the Japanese title for the series). Here are my thoughts on how things turned out.

First of all, we have the American theme. Unlike themes in previous series, this one is only thirty seconds long, and is an ultimately forgettable rock tune by Thorsten Laewe, best known as the composer for other Studiopolis shows such as Zatch Bell and Megaman Star Force. Sadly, the man can't seem to write a memorable theme song, but perhaps it's an acquired taste. Only time (and dozens of listens) will tell for sure.

The voices fit the characters quite well. Quinton Flynn stars as Marcus, the young street fighter who loves nothing more than duking it out with others. His voice is a little high-pitched for my tastes, but after a while, you really start to warm up to his take on the character. The pitch of his voice could particularly use some work when it comes to the character being angry; he's a very hot-blooded character, and that should come across a bit more. Colleen O'Shaughnessey fits the role of Yoshino like a glove. Colleen has always done a fine job playing motherly characters, having also played Sora Takenouchi in season 1 of the show. While the voices are practically identical, something about it stands out; she practically IS the character. Brian Beacock, best known for his roles as Takato and Bokomon in seasons 3 and 4 respectively, sounds very similar to the Japanese voice of Agumon. His child-like, innocent voice is perfect for the character, and he even manages to pull off the toughness of GeoGreymon, something I was concerned about. The other main character introduced is Commander Sampson, played amazingly by Jamieson Price. His deep, booming voice couldn't be better suited for the big, burly man. Voices for relatively minor characters (at this point, anyway), such as the mysterious old man and Kamemon, also suit the characters well.

The American script is fairly accurate to the Japanese thanks to writer and director Jeff Nimoy, only changing some things that wouldn't particularly fit in with American culture (changing coffee jelly to chocolate pudding, for example). The message of the show still comes across quite well.

Gone is Deddy Inon Tzur, who composed the music for the previous season, as well as the newly released movies, replaced by theme composer Thorsten Laewe. His music has a more rock feel to it, as opposed to the orchestral music of the first three seasons and the tribal sound of the fourth. The music isn't overbearing in any way, and doesn't play when it isn't necessary.

All in all, Digimon Data Squad is perhaps the most faithfully adapted Digimon series yet, and I eagerly look forward to seeing how the rest of the series plays out. Check it out every Monday night at 8:30/7:30 EST on Toon Disney's Jetix block.