Newly launched anime fighter Naruto x Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storms Connections has attracted a backlash for its English dub, with even a couple of the English voice actors criticizing it.
Fans getting mad over an English dub is nothing new; it’s all too commonplace within the anime community. However, a few English lines from the game have gained infamy for how ill-fitting they sound.
One example is a line from Naruto himself while he’s fighting his rival Sasuke, with the tone of his voice completely changing midway through. Naruto’s English voice actor Maile Flanagan (who’s been playing the character since 2005) was directly asked on Twitter if this recording was approved by the voice director and she candidly replied, “I can guarantee I did not say that line that way. … And I guarantee no voice director of Naruto or the games would have me do that in that way.” She also assured that she recorded dialogue for the game so it’s not as if a new actor was brought in to voice Naruto.
Another voice actor, Michael Schwalbe, who plays Kawaki, also gave a peek behind the curtain on Twitter in response to mockery of one of his voiced lines. He explained how he wasn’t given context for any of his lines: “They give you a list of lines and we go down the page and do two takes each and it might say “final attack” “small pain” “attacking”. But I swear to god I do not remember this being the line for that attack cuz there ain’t no way I’d do myself like that.”
For context, Naruto x Boruto, which is available on all major platforms, is an updated compilation of the previous Ninja Storm games. However, while it does include all the story content from those games, it seems at least some lines were re-recorded. One fan even shared a direct comparison of a line from Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 and it is clearly performed differently (and more awkwardly) in the newer game.
There are some allegations that AI voicework was involved; Schwalbe even had some lines run through an AI detection program, which apparently states that AI is present in parts of the performances. At the time of writing, though, this isn’t confirmed and Schwalbe has admitted he isn’t sure how reliable the software he used is. That said, “If it turns out they broke union contract by using AI to replace us and stiffed us out of extra session payments, we’re gonna raise hell.”
Dot Esports has contacted Bandai Namco for a comment on the situation and will update this article if the company responds.
