why are they british

[Microsoft PowerPoint 2010]

why

[McFuzz]

I don't know how to tell you this but the game takes place in Britain.

[Mantis]

The Japanese audience really likes Sherlock Holmes themes. So Capcom's interest in incorporating that into Ace Attorney's story is understandable. They're not a bad match, especially if they felt that their approach to Ace Attorney had become quite stagnant and it needed something more refreshing.

[Alayern]

I think the OP is asking why Naruhodo and Susato have plain British accents. It did strike me as odd too.

To clarify, they -should- have British accents in their speech, since they would have been practicing British English. What we should be hearing is British English spoken with a Japanese accent. This is especially true for Naruhodo, though a case could be made for the more prestigious Susato Mikado having English tutors who helped reduce/mitigate a Japanese accent.

[Seb | セビ]

Originally posted by Alayern:

I think the OP is asking why Naruhodo and Susato have plain British accents. It did strike me as odd too.

To clarify, they -should- have British accents in their speech, since they would have been practicing British English. What we should be hearing is British English spoken with a Japanese accent. This is especially true for Naruhodo, though a case could be made for the more prestigious Susato Mikado having English tutors who helped reduce/mitigate a Japanese accent.

dont know if youre trying to suggest the opposite, but you can clearly hear susatos japanese accent

[Mantis]

Originally posted by Alayern:

I think the OP is asking why Naruhodo and Susato have plain British accents. It did strike me as odd too.

To clarify, they -should- have British accents in their speech, since they would have been practicing British English. What we should be hearing is British English spoken with a Japanese accent. This is especially true for Naruhodo, though a case could be made for the more prestigious Susato Mikado having English tutors who helped reduce/mitigate a Japanese accent.

That's a bit nitpicky. We don't hear him much, but is Phoenix's English voice actor Japanese? No, I'm guessing he's American. Why isn't he speaking English with a Japanese accent since the game actually takes place in Japan? (Not Japanifornia.) I don't think it really matters.

[A Dirty Whiterose Shipper]

Originally posted by Mantis:

Originally posted by Alayern:

I think the OP is asking why Naruhodo and Susato have plain British accents. It did strike me as odd too.

To clarify, they -should- have British accents in their speech, since they would have been practicing British English. What we should be hearing is British English spoken with a Japanese accent. This is especially true for Naruhodo, though a case could be made for the more prestigious Susato Mikado having English tutors who helped reduce/mitigate a Japanese accent.

That's a bit nitpicky. We don't hear him much, but is Phoenix's English voice actor Japanese? No, I'm guessing he's American. Why isn't he speaking English with a Japanese accent since the game actually takes place in Japan? (Not Japanifornia.) I don't think it really matters.

The english version does take place in Japanifornia, and we do hear his voice actor quite frequently in the 3ds games. Pretty sure its Sam Riegel.

[Alayern]

Originally posted by Seb | セビ:

Originally posted by Alayern:

I think the OP is asking why Naruhodo and Susato have plain British accents. It did strike me as odd too.

To clarify, they -should- have British accents in their speech, since they would have been practicing British English. What we should be hearing is British English spoken with a Japanese accent. This is especially true for Naruhodo, though a case could be made for the more prestigious Susato Mikado having English tutors who helped reduce/mitigate a Japanese accent.

dont know if youre trying to suggest the opposite, but you can clearly hear susatos japanese accent

This may very well be true. I've only heard her VO for the handful of words she gets on their arrival in Britain.

[Alayern]

Originally posted by Mantis:

Originally posted by Alayern:

I think the OP is asking why Naruhodo and Susato have plain British accents. It did strike me as odd too.

To clarify, they -should- have British accents in their speech, since they would have been practicing British English. What we should be hearing is British English spoken with a Japanese accent. This is especially true for Naruhodo, though a case could be made for the more prestigious Susato Mikado having English tutors who helped reduce/mitigate a Japanese accent.

That's a bit nitpicky. We don't hear him much, but is Phoenix's English voice actor Japanese? No, I'm guessing he's American. Why isn't he speaking English with a Japanese accent since the game actually takes place in Japan? (Not Japanifornia.) I don't think it really matters.

"Matters" is of course subjective, and ultimately I agree with you, it didn't really hurt my enjoyment of the game any, just seemed odd. Incidentally, there's a trick used by storytellers/writers of all kinds when it comes to localization known as "accent coding."

If you, like me, have watched any amount of anime, it's only a matter of time until a "Kansai dialect" is brought up. The dialect is noted and remarked upon because it is different, and has specific cultural connotations–most often prejudicial in my experience. If, however, the story were to take entirely within the Kansai region, there'd be no reason to go to the extra effort of writing everyone with the same dialect, since to local ears, it is the established norm.

Likewise, having two Japanese students speaking with no trace of an accent on their first day in the country would be illogical. I haven't heard enough of the VO to say for certain they don't have an accent, but the strong British phonology did feel jarring at first take.

[Bitwolf]

ITT: People not getting the joke. You guys are disappointing.

[PageFile]

Originally posted by Alayern:

Originally posted by Seb | セビ:

dont know if youre trying to suggest the opposite, but you can clearly hear susatos japanese accent

This may very well be true. I've only heard her VO for the handful of words she gets on their arrival in Britain.

If you go to the extras menu and go to the voice recitals you can hear some recorded lines that seem to not be in the games. Maybe they're in 2, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

[Alayern]

Originally posted by PageFile:

Originally posted by Alayern:

This may very well be true. I've only heard her VO for the handful of words she gets on their arrival in Britain.

If you go to the extras menu and go to the voice recitals you can hear some recorded lines that seem to not be in the games. Maybe they're in 2, but I haven't gotten that far yet.

Indeed, I got to case... five, I think, and there's a cutscene there where they very clearly speak British English with thick Japanese accents, so I happily stand corrected!

[cutehoor]

Originally posted by Alayern:

I think the OP is asking why Naruhodo and Susato have plain British accents. It did strike me as odd too.

To clarify, they -should- have British accents in their speech, since they would have been practicing British English. What we should be hearing is British English spoken with a Japanese accent. This is especially true for Naruhodo, though a case could be made for the more prestigious Susato Mikado having English tutors who helped reduce/mitigate a Japanese accent.

From Janet Hsu's dev blog[capcom-unity.com]:
"For example, in the case of Ryunosuke and Asogi, they’re both studying English at university, so through exposure and practice, their pronunciation would be much closer to a British national’s, I imagined. Meanwhile, Susato mainly studied English at home by herself through essays and books (and ‘The Adventures of Herlock Sholmes’, of course!), so perhaps she didn’t have the chance to refine her accent to the same level as Ryunosuke."

[Bitwolf]

Why are people still not getting the joke

[PageFile]

Originally posted by cutehoor:

"For example, in the case of Ryunosuke and Asogi, they’re both studying English at university, so through exposure and practice, their pronunciation would be much closer to a British national’s, I imagined. Meanwhile, Susato mainly studied English at home by herself through essays and books (and ‘The Adventures of Herlock Sholmes’, of course!), so perhaps she didn’t have the chance to refine her accent to the same level as Ryunosuke."

You know I wondered this myself. At least, I figured Kazuma and Ryunosuke having a British accent signaled that they got their English education at the University which seems to be pretty closely tied cultural exchange with Britain

Originally posted by Bitwolf:

Why are people still not getting the joke

Because there's an interesting discussion about the decisions behind the localization going on