Pinoy voice actors of 'Ghost Fighter' look back at dubbing the iconic show

Some truly strange things happened in the Filipino version of "Yu Yu Hakusho," more popularly known here as "Ghost Fighter."

For example, Dennis (Kurama) was initially introduced as a girl, and Master Jeremiah (Genkai) was initially introduced as a man.

Pinoy voice actors Montreal Repuyan, who dubbed Vincent, and Bonner Dytoc, who dubbed Eugene, reunited online and looked back at what the industry was like all those years ago.

Montreal said that at the time, everything was analog. They would even squeeze into a hot room and share one microphone while they were recording.

More importantly, there was no such thing as internet yet. And because of that, they had no idea what the show was actually about.

"Kung ano 'yung binigay sa iyo, wala, 'yun lang. You work on that piece of transcript," Montreal said.

Bonner said they just made presumptions based on the characters' looks and voices.

"Mukhang babae, boses babae, o sige babae to. Tapos sinabi sa amin, hindi babae 'yan, lalaki 'yan," he recalled.

"It's an honest mistake, wala kaming backgrounder diyan," he added.

They improvised a plot twist that would explain Denise's transformation into a boy, eventually turning into Dennis.

But even funnier than Denise turning into Dennis is the fact that they never figured out that Master Jeremiah was a woman.

"Until the show ended, we never knew," Bonner said.

They also explained why the characters' names were changed.

"Inimbento na 'yun, for marketing purposes," Montreal said. "Di naman kilala si Vincent as Hiei, di kilala si Eugene as Yusuke."

Bonner added, "Noong time na 'yun mas relatable sa audience na bigyan sila ng English names kaysa gagamitin 'yung Japanese names."

The voice actors expressed pride in contributing to what would eventually turn out to be a classic anime show that remains in Filipinos' hearts to this day.

Montreal said, "Personally, I feel proud kasi syempre kahit na behind the cam kami may nakaka-appreciate ng Tagalog dub."

Bonner meanwhile felt like his work was not wasted.

"Nakakatuwa na maraming sumusunod sa atin, kahit na yung edad natin...may mga nakukuha pa rin tayong comments na fan sila ng show," he said.

"Ghost Fighter" once again made a splash after all four seasons dropped in Netflix.

—JCB, GMA News