I tend to laugh rather a lot inside whenever anybody complains about the Yu-Gi-Oh 4Kids dub, because I'm, "Hey, guys, I bet you didn't know there's another dub out there, one that didn't censor so much and was closer to the original!" ;) And I am so proud because it was made in my country! Naturally they hired a lot of... foreign talent, but! There are fellow countrymen in there! You may think it's not much to be proud of, but I am proud. Country is a bit like family, sometimes: sometimes it doesn't really matter whether you objectively think what they did is good or bad, it's part of you because you're part of it. (Even if you might want to disown parts of it sometimes).
It's so weird. I used to want to hide where I came from, who I was, so much about me. And now, I'm just, I don't care if you care where I come from. I'm proud to be from this country. Sure, we do silly things sometimes: what country doesn't? But some of the silly things we do, I am so proud of, and sometimes I am extra proud because I know no one else in the world is as crazy as we are about these things. Excuse me guys, exactly HOW is the world's biggest Santa gathering something to be proud of?! And this: does any other country in the world have PSLE?!
So! Two days ago,
ariesdraco and I went to watch Beauty World. I'd always wanted to see this musical, actually, and when it came around for its twentieth anniversary it was just too good a chance to pass up, especially when Jounouchi's dub voice actor was in it. It was absolutely brilliant to be able to go and watch this musical along with ariesdraco, because it meant 50% more YGO crack. I was heading off to meet her when suddenly my phone rang, and I picked it up, only to see it announce, "Malik Calling", asking if I'd like to have lunch with the family! BUT OF COURSE ♥
ariesdraco's parents are really nice, and we had a FUN lunch conversation that involved, among other things, cosplay, the People You Meet There, Lord Denning, and the last CJ. (Lord Denning's the kind of judge who makes you proud to be a lawyer, the last CJ is the kind of judge who... let's just say he's not like Lord Denning). And then we went off to watch the musical! It was actually incredibly fun. It's set in 1970s Singapore, in a cabaret, and it has the sort of set that you can just stare for hours at. The band was beautifully integrated into the glorious set, and it was full of in-jokes (my favourite one was where the cabaret madam was yelling instructions that went, "YOU! LEFT! You two! Right! And MUSTAFA - CENTER!"
GUESS WHO JOUNOUCHI'S VOICE ACTOR IS:
WAIT FOR IT
surprise!
... which made me think, Oh dear God, Jounouchi's voice was a Singapore idol finalist?!
FRANKIE WONG FEI HONG INDEED!
Well, at least his... namesake is as good as kicking ass as Jou is? XD
This is the geekiest character alive, but omg, he was so hilarious! ♥
And
ariesdraco and I guessed it was him because of his voice. I guessed it because of his singing voice (he has his songs up on his website), and because I guessed down to him via the time-honoured process of elimination. HAVE ONE MORE CRAZY PICTURE:
Cut for Plot Spoilers
You seriously did not even have to try particularly hard to see the YGO parallels in this musical. First of all, the entire show hinges on a mysterious necklace which is the ONLY clue to the main character's identity. Secondly, the main character's first big musical number goes, "Say bye-bye to the sweet and shy, say hello to a brand new you!"
Also, to my great delight, the Yuugi character ended up with the Jounouchi character in the end.
... and the Pegasus character turned out to be Yuugi's mother, but that's a story for another day.
