English Dub Season Review: From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman Season Two

If you’re new to my reviews, I’ve reviewed numerous anime released on Crunchyroll.  Most of the ones I’ve experienced have been pretty tolerable, if not good, mainly because the English dubs put as much effort into them as the original Japanese dubs.  As for the ones from services other than Crunchyroll, that is an experience in itself.  While the concepts seem promising, whether the execution is good or not, their English dubs are basically what would make or break viewers’ tolerance for these versions.  Spoiler alert: they broke it.  With underwhelming vocal ranges and mistimed lip-syncing, it’s more of a distraction than a benefit, and it can make several anime fans want to switch to the original dub for the rest of a show.
Anime made exclusively for Amazon Prime Video are some examples of this.  One of them is “From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman”, another harem anime that features a former teacher reuniting with their female students and embarking on several misadventures.  Granted, it’s far from a terrible experience, as “Old Country Bumpkin” had a suitable animation style that represents the characters’ sword techniques.  However, its English dub fumbled the execution, despite a few good casting choices like Cory Yee as Beryl Gardinant.  The actors’ vocal performances were as stiff as boards, and the dub’s dialogue didn’t help make its corniness amusing.  While watchable despite its formulaic tropes, the series’ English dub highlights the massive difference in effort between the anime on Crunchyroll and the ones from different streaming services.  But at least it’s better than Amazon’s AI-generated voice acting, which didn’t bode well for “Banana Fish” before the show moved to Netflix.
To no one’s surprise, the second season of “Old Country Bumpkin” doesn’t address the dub’s shortcomings.  Given the year-long gap, I expected them to improve their handling of the show’s English dub.  Alas, it turned out to be nothing more than wishful thinking, as the dub performances continue to range from okay to mediocre.  Wissall Homayun continues to be the weakest member of the cast, with her performance as Mewi failing to convey the character’s strict yet timid personality.  While she still got the voice for this character, her vocal range is still very messy.  However, the worst part of the dub is once again the dialogue timing.  As mentioned earlier, it’s frustrating to see the dialogue not match the characters’ mouths most of the time, making them almost look like ventriloquists, and “Old Country Bumpkin” hasn’t done anything to improve that.  Its fifth episode, “Lets Out a Roar”, was the best example of this flaw in my eyes, particularly for its brief scene involving Beryl speaking without opening his mouth.  Whether you find it funny or annoying, that moment highlights the lack of effort in perfecting the dub’s lip-syncing, no matter how good everything else is.
Despite the dub’s misfortunes, season two offers a slight improvement over the first season in terms of its characters.  One example is Mewi, who continues her growth from a pickpocketing thief to Beryl’s adoptive daughter to a student training at the Magic Academy.  She also attempts to fit in with the other students by overcoming her shyness.  Despite Wissall Homayun’s weak performance, Mewi’s growth remains a promising trait that falls short of the show’s tropes.  However, the real heart of the season’s arc is Beryl himself, who continues his unintended journey of becoming a swordsman.  It also focuses more on his inner doubts about his role, as he faces the possibility that old age will keep him from picking up a sword again.  Of course, Beryl is also still choosing a wife at his father’s request, with Allucia as the top candidate.  It clearly reflects the fear of aging, especially when it affects the things people love doing.  But if I had to choose the best moment of Beryl’s growth in season two, it would be him rebuilding his self-confidence to face his father, Mordea.  It provided a satisfying closure to Beryl’s estranged relationship with Mordea, which had secretly haunted him because of Mordea’s formidable techniques.
Like season one, season two of “From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman” delivers on the expectations of a teacher/students relationship with a soft harem flavor added in.  Execution-wise, I haven’t seen anything refreshing in its tried-and-true premise.  However, its second season helps improve a bit through its character arcs, particularly Beryl’s confrontation with his father and old age, as well as its passable animation.  Sadly, its English dub remains the series’ weakest aspect, failing to elevate its formulaic concept with underwhelming, stiff performances.  With season three already announced, I won’t be surprised if the people behind the dub neglected to improve its noticeable flaws once more.  But hey, at least it’s not AI-generated.