Trivia / Saber Marionette J

• Acting for Two:
  • In the Japanese version:
    • Yumeji Hanagata and Tiger are both played by Urara Takano.
    • Besides voicing Hikozaemon, Shigeru Chiba voiced the narrator as well as Akira in J.
  • In the English dub of J:
    • Erin Fitzgerald voiced Cherry and Luchs from episode 4 to episode 10.
    • Nicole Oliver, who voiced Baiko, later took over for Erin as Cherry. Colleen Wheeler took over for Luchs.
    • Tamasaburo, Yumeji Hanagata and Lorelei were voiced by Ellen Kennedy.
    • Paul Dobson was not only the regular voice actor for Hikozaemon starting with episode 3, but he also was the voice of Faust.
    • Richard Newman voices Soemon Obiichi and Goddel.
    • The late French Tickner voices Gennai Shiraga, as well as several background and one-off characters.
• Amateur Cast: Given that J to X was recorded at Blue Water Studios in Calgary, many of the English voice actors from J to X haven't done much else.
• Completely Different Title: Chica Marioneta (Girl Marionette) in Latin America.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: In the Japanese version of the series, Otaru is voiced by Yuka Imai.
  • Ditto for the English dub of J Again, where Otaru was voiced by Mona Marshall.
• Directed by Cast Member:
  • In the English dub of J Again, Bridget Hoffman was the ADR Director as well as Cherry's voice actress.
  • The Latin American Spanish dub was directed by Love Santini, who also voiced Bloodberry (Zarzamora in the dub).
• Franchise Killer: The controversial Saber Marionette Z manga. The story is that even though it's by then normal with human women on Terra II, maiden circuits are made for every marionette, and some chose to turn evil. The main marionette, Zero, had Combat Tentacles that she used to absorb the other marionettes and gain their skills. It only reached only 7 chapters with a huge Art Shift in chapter 6. It never was collected into a whole volume. It caused such a stir the whole franchise was put on hold until bought in 2015.
• Franchise Ownership Acquisition: The Saber Marionette franchise became a property of Animation Innovation Content Project, which was later renamed as Saber Project, in July 2015.
• No Dub for You: The J VHS release in 1999 was initially sub only, even though J Again, released around the same time, had a dub. Averted with the DVD release.
• No Export for You:
  • The Battle Sabers videogame.
  • Not only did the controversial Saber Marionette Z stay in Japan, it didn't even get a whole volume.
• The Other Darrin:
  • After episode 13, Nicole Oliver and Colleen Wheeler replaced Erin Fitzgerald as both Cherry and Luchs, respectively, in the English dub after Erin moved to the US.
  • Also the J series ended up being dubbed by Ocean in Vancouver instead of Animaze in LA ^note contrary to popular belief, not the other way around, so the entire cast was changed. Notably, Otaru went from being voiced by a female (Mona Marshall) to a male (Brad Swaile). Then J to X went to Blue Water in Calgary, presumably due to union issues, and the entire cast was changed once again.
  • The rest of the dubs were more consistent, with two major exceptions in J Again. In Japan, Kikuko Inoue (Panther) was on maternity leave during production, and thus was replaced by Emi Shinohara. In Latin America, Isabel Martiñón (Lorelei) was replaced by Elsa Covián, who ironically played R's version of Cherry. In both cases the original actress came back for J to X.
• Real-Life Relative: In the J dub, Paul Dobson voices Faust, while his brother Brian Dobson played minor roles.
• Studio Hop: At first, J was animated by Studio Junio, before switching to Hal Film Maker for J Again and J to X.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Apple was going to be part of the original series, but she was cut. She appears in the Battle Sabers game, anyways.
  • Saber Marionette J only has 25 episodes because the 26th was turned into J Again.
• You Sound Familiar:
  • Yuka Imai voiced Junior in R and would later go on to voice Otaru Mamiya in J.
  • The Sexadolls' voice actresses (Yuko Mizutani, Urara Takano and Kikuko Inoue) would later go on to play the Saber Dolls in J.
  • Shigeru Chiba played Doctor Lizzetta in R and Hikozaemon in J.
  • Hikaru Midorikawa voiced Star Face in R and Faust in J.

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