Persona 3 Reload - New voice actors' samples
Persona 3 Reload - New voice actors' samples
Not sold on Yukari's, but besides that they sound good. Shinjiro's and Ken's didn't do many roles before but I think it's safe to trust the voice director at Atlus West.
Man, I will miss the original cast. Atlus had stuck with them for so long, including for all the crossover and spinoff stuff. Are they presumably going to use the new cast going forward for anything with the P3 characters?
(I had thought that leaving Persona Q 2 in Japanese voice only was a cost-cutting measure, but now I'm wondering if they were planning on a full recasting of the English cast even then, maybe due to the issues surrounding Vic Mignogna.)
Also, maybe it's just the samples chosen, but it definitely feels like the VAs for Akihiko, Junpei, and/or Shinjiro should be switched up with each other. (Junpei's especially sounds like a good Akihiko voice.)
Fuuka and Ken already got switched along the way, they may as well recast now to give fresh blood a chance. I like this decision, especially since this game should focus on drawing new players in, so it doesn't matter.
We know nothing about Shinji's and Ken's voice actors since they had like, 1-3 roles. But to me, that just means they did well enough in casting that the voice director thought they can do as well as established VA's. The bois probably just need to try different tones.
Also, while it's probably the most iconic, I'm fine with the Aigis recast especially. It feels like the Nanako voice rubbed off while Karen is doing Aigis' voice, and she sounds more energetic. Maybe it was intentional for PQ1 since the game's cutesy?
(Karen... is also somewhat controversial, even if only in views unlike Vic. But I don't follow all the other VA's, so maybe it's not just her and I shouldn't be pointing fingers)
Yeah, they had already switched up a few, and I do know a lot of folks liked Fuuka's later VA better than her earlier one. That said, yeah, it might not be a terrible idea to further differentiate characters within the series who currently have the same VA (Aigis and Nanako, Yosuke and P3MC).
Dragon Age did something similar when they recast a DLC character (Anders) from the first game as a main party member for the second, and gave him a new voice actor to go with the expanded role. And they're probably glad they did, as the actor they originally cast (who is better known for voicing a different character in DA, Cullen) went hardcore controversial a few years back (i.e., making an hour-long YouTube video in character as Cullen to decry cancel culture, talk about how the evil feminists were destroying our culture, why can't men be men anymore, etc. etc...it was incredibly cringe and ensured the company will never give him work again).
This'll take a bit to get used to for sure. Did they ever explain why they're doing the clean slate? I would've expected only Junpei to be replaced.