BioHazard / Resident Evil: Unused Japanese Voice Acting

Did you know that Resident Evil had Japanese dialogue before its release? Capcom originally recorded a voice track in Japanese, but it was disused after Shinji Mikami, creator of the series, felt that it wasn't realistic for the characters to speak in another language when they are suppose to be American, according to a Famitsu interview. So it was decided to switched over to the English VA that we all now love to hate (or vice-versa).

In fact, recently I've found out that Mikami's true feelings were that, according to the "The True Story Behind BIO HAZARD." (the freebie that came with the Sega Saturn version):

On page 157:
"We also recorded Japanese voices (for the game), not just English ones. They were discarded because they were 'really lame/bad'." (英語だけでなくじつは日本語のボイズ収録も行なった。　カッコ悪かったのでボツに。)

And apparently, the recorded unused dialogue does exists outside Capcom's realm. In a CD called BioHazard Symphony Op. 91: Crime and Punishment, Disc 2 has a track called "Character Voice 3" that contains some snips of the JP VA.

This video shows a recreation I made of some of the game's cut-scenes those particular tracks. Unfortunately, there are no subtitles for the moment.

EDIT 1/7/2010: Apparently, the IMDb website lists:
*Reiko Takagi (高木礼子) as Rebecca Chambers

Take what you will of that.
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Remember: I am NOT a translator, nor an expert in Japanese. While I am studying the Japanese language myself out of pleasure, these "interpretations" are purely educated guesses of mine, nothing more. So if you spot something wrong here and there, why not, point them out. If you are a professional, then awesome. Help would be appreciated! Thanks!

Also, stay tuned in the end for an extra Easter egg. ;)

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• BioHazard
• Resident
• Evil
• バイオハザード
• Japanese
• dialogue
• voice
• track
• acting
• unused
• intro
• opening
• 日本語
• ボイズ
• seiyū
• 声優
• Chris
• Redfield
• クリス・レッドフィールド
• Jill
• Valentine
• ジル・バレンタイン
• Barry
• Burton
• バリー・バートン
• Rebecca
• Chambers
• レベッカ・チェンバース
• Albert
• Wesker
• アルバート・ウェスカー
• Capcom
• カプコン
• survival
• horror
• サバイバルホラー
• Complete
• Disc
• yt:stretch=16:9
• resident evil
• zombies

[johnnysasaki]

from what I searched around internet,it seems Chris' japanese voice was done by Kazuhiko Inoue(Kakashi from Naruto) and Barry was played by Masaharu Sato(Master Roshi in Dragon Ball Kai and Death in Castlevania games)for these cutscenes.

[KeijiDragon]

@johnnysasaki Really now? Where did you learn this from, by ear?

[robonintendo]

Does anybody know who the live action actors are?

[KeijiDragon]

I'll give you a hint.

Not even Capcom themselves knew even back then, about who the live action actors and Japanese & English voice actors for the game were, according to a former Capcom music composer who worked on this game,

=P

[Quikquik98]

Wow, the Japanese voice acting sounds better than that in the English version... I would think.

[YamiAnubisX]

You guys do know japanese people love english voice acting, even if its cheesy, also they probably think english VA put more emotion into there stuff.

We are alot alike, english people dont like it when our voice actors are cheesy and bad, while Japan thinks opposite and they like our VA, while they hate there own, if its really bad.

[StarwindAmada20]

@TaloDarkMiner I'm a huge anime buff who watches everything in English, so this is extremely rare for me to see.

[TaloDarkMiner]

Dude the japanese version sucks, the voices don't suit to the characters, I'd prefer the English undoubtedly.

[GodzillaXAbudAwwal]

BIO........HAZAHDO....

[UltimateSyjin]

Lolz when joesph was shooting those dogs the blood seemed look like sprinklers

[ByronIsTheBestEver]

i almost spilt my drink going to the sound lol

[TheWONDERBOYZ1]

wow color version

[cyberhoodlum]

One thing that confuses me: In Japanese RE1, the opening scene has the zombie dogs being shot to pieces and multiple images of Joseph's dead, bloody body... plus Chris smoking a cigarette. In American RE1, those parts are censored out. However, in Japanese RE2, the violent game over scenes are taken out along with the game being made easier, while we got the harder, more violent version.

[ugforthewin]

@YamiAnubisX I dunno that is quite a sweeping statement.. but you may be right.. remember, Japanese are very proud people.. and Japanese voice actors are definitely (imho... ) better than many of their Western counterparts.

[AmaneTsukiko11121]

Lol this is just looking like a bad Cosplay video xD (nothing against Bio hazard I love the game but seriously... They could have better costums/actors D: )

[TheTrueNehme]

*tons of Japanese dialogue*

"This is Brad!"

Suddenly I'm blown back to those poorly translated and dubbed Eastern Films...