Thomas & Friends (Japanese dub)

きかんしゃトーマス (Romaji: Kikansha Tōmasu; English: Thomas the Tank Engine) is the Japanese dub of Thomas & Friends.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The Japanese version uses a standalone voice cast of well-known Japanese actors/actresses for all the characters, meaning the narrator isn't the only voice heard. It was the first Thomas-related material to feature standalone voices before and after mh:awfulmovies:Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
 * 2) *On a related note, the voice acting from both the Aoni Production (seasons 1-7) and 81 Produce Japanese dubs are energetic, epic and spot-on. This is mainly due to the voice cast having a lot of fun voicing the engines, humans, vehicles and rolling stock trains.
 * 3) The narrations from Leo Morimoto and Jon Kabira are really excellent. Leo's narration sounds smooth and soft, whilst Jon's narration sounds deep and interesting to listen to.
 * 4) The soundtrack is retained from the original UK English and US English dubs.
 * 5) The song "I'm Thomas the Tank Engine" from Thomas and the UK Trip is very catchy.
 * 6) It got three Japan-exclusive TV specials.
 * 7) *Thomas and the UK Trip
 * 8) *Hello Thomas and James!
 * 9) *A Wonderful American Journey with Thomas and Connie
 * 10) Before the TV show was sent over to Japan, its source material (The Railway Series) was translated into Japanese in 1973 (see "Trivia").
 * 11) Most of the characters are likable just like in the original English version, especially Toppuhamuhatto kyō (Sir Topham Hatt).
 * 12) Most of the songs get dubbed into Japanese, including "Thomas's Anthem", "Really Useful Engine", etc.
 * 13) Despite Japan not being used to fair-use laws, and because the show is British, you can watch the majority of the episodes on YouTube (including the Classic Series episodes).

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The voices from the engines can get annoying sometimes, like in the English version.
 * 2) The Jack and the Sodor Construction Company episodes never got dubbed into Japanese. Though it was announced in 2003 for a full dub of the episodes, but it's dub never saw the light of day due to HiT's takeover on Thomas starting in 2004. Even if all 13 of the episodes saw the light of day, it's unlikely the Japanese dub will ever exist anytime soon.
 * 3) Although rather nitpicky, the onscreen text isn't localised or translated into Japanese unless if it is spoken out loud by the narrator, even if the show is British.
 * 4) Season 8's songs (except for "Engine Roll Call") and as well as a few other songs from the main show were also not dubbed into Japanese, some that have been heard and seen in Japan have been left in English ("Thomas, You're the Leader" is an example of this. Although it was titled "The Thomas Rap" in Japan, but the song is left in English). Even a big majority of the CGI series songs have gotten undubbed and untranslated into Japanese such as "Roll Along", "All You Need", "Hear the Engines Coming!", "Go Go Thomas!", "Set Friendship in Motion", etc. There were some that did get dubbed and translated to Japanese like "We Make a Team Together" and "Free and Easy", but not that many.

Trivia

 * In 1973, Kaye and Ward released the Japanese translation of Awdry's 26 Railway Series books. The series was translated by Kuwabara Saburou and Shimizu Shuyu. Genyuu Kuroiwa supervised the technical terms of the railway. Christopher's books, however, have yet to be translated into Japanese.
 * As said before on WIR #3, Japan is the first country that gave the show its own individual voice cast and dubbed in a language other than English (if counting the Railway Series).
 * Several Thomas and Friends video games were released exclusively in Japan.
 * Iron 'Arry is called Harry in the Japanese dub.
 * In this version, the nameboards are used for the introduction of the characters who appeared in each episode. That was only during the Classic run of the television series (seasons 1-7). From the eighth season onwards, the narrator calls the title of the episode at the end of each episode.
 * The eleventh series episodes use the ninth and tenth series opening.
 * After the eighth series, the original voice cast affiliated with Aoni Production was replaced with new voice cast affiliated with 81 Produce due to the show being switched to another broadcasting station.
 * It is unknown why the twelfth season was not aired, but it is believed that Japanese kids would be confused upon seeing the mixture of live action with CGI. However, "Heave Ho Thomas!", "Saved You!" and "Best Friends" have been shown at Thomas Land's 3D Theatre and "Excellent Emily", "Saved You!", "James Works it Out" and "Percy and the Bandstand" were released on a DVD called the Unaired Video Collection.
 * In the seventeenth season, the opening credits credited Greg Tiernan as a director from "Steamie Stafford", the first episode of the season in Japanese broadcast order, but it was fixed in "Gone Fishing", the thirteenth episode of the same season.
 * The CGI specials are slowed down to 24 FPS, adding an extra two minutes to their length. As a result, their audio is slightly distorted and low-pitched.