02/16/2026
Hi everyone! In October of 2021, seven months into the start of the Covid Pandemic, my production studio and I were chosen as the dubbing studio for the classic Anime TV show from the mid eighties, “Dirty Pair”. It was a job of massive scale, starting at a time of virtual impossibility to complete productions in any normal way. After an extraordinary time of challenge and effort, the Blu Ray set of this TV series dub (along with several other Dirty Pair related shows and features in the many releases that followed over the years due to it’s success) was finally delivered to Crunchyroll, which had acquired Right Stuf and Nozomi Entertainment in August of 2022, in August of 2024. Crunchyroll still had a huge amount of work to do in preparing all that material for Bu Ray replication and packaging, so it finally met the hands of the backers, along with all the other items that were part of this Kickstarter campaign, in September of 2025. Myself and my associates at Headline had already completed English Language dubs for two very successful Kickstarter campaigns prior to this; “Aria”, and “Emma: A Victorian Romance”. But nothing could ever compare to this massive, complex, “everyone is sick" or in lockdown (including me with Covid twice), 13,000 line, 250 character, action packed TV mono to 5.1 complete restored video from original masters classic Anime TV show and it’s several sequels and branch projects. All along, during the shift from Pandemic to sale of the company that hired me to do this (about which I knew nothing until it happened and the new company was beyond supportive) my goal, if we were able to complete this, was simply to make it great in English, and FUNNY. And sound really good!
And on that note… in my opinion there would be no updated release of the Dirty Pair universe if it were not for Jessica Calvello who was the original voice actor from the OVA dub. One of the most naturally funny and talented actors I have ever known. Before I even knew this was a possible project, she had convinced the powers that be to pursue it, consider me as the right person for the job, found the original voice actor from the original dub of the OVA who was her character’s “Partner in crime” (Pam Lauer), and get the incredible Jason Douglas and Brett Weaver to reprise their original roles from that OVA.
The reason I am making this announcement here now, even though there is not yet a scheduled public release of this show beyond what the Kickstarter Backers have received, is that Anime News Network contacted me a few months back for an interview. That interview was just incorporated into a fascinating investigative article to try and explore “The Dirty Pair Saga”. Something larger than I could really understand or wrap my head around since my job was simply to get the best possible English version of this old classic Japanese TV show to these backers. And yes, under extremely difficult and confusing circumstances. Reading the article, I find myself fascinated by all the details they uncovered… but at the end of the day, it exists as a reality. That was all along all I ever hoped would take place.
My suggestion to all Anime Fans and those involved in this production, including the backers themselves, is to write to Crunchyroll and encourage a public release version of this exclusive set of Blu Rays. It’s just too good not to be able to be owned by any Anime Fan, or simply a fan of great 80s Comic Sci-Fi Animation. It’s fantastic, whether you watch it in it’s original Japanese, or in it’s newly created English version. And I dug in deep to create a very engaging 5.1 mix of what was once simply a mono TV show. Things really DO blow up now with some intensity! Yes, a lot of things get blown up…mostly by accident I would say. Trust me… It’s funny. And you’d get to hear some of the best voice actors from New York and Texas in the English version. And LA too.
There are just too many people to thank. ALL the actors (and there were many, many actors), and some special shout outs. One to Shawne Kleckner, former CEO of Right Stuf, who brought me in as the dub director. Another to Brian Kehew at Round and Wound tape transfers who helped me get all this data from the vault transferred from it’s original format into mine so I could start the process of making this a 5.1 and stereo show. Another big one to Judy Albert, the producer who stayed with me until the very end on this endeavor. Another big one to Jake Hockenberry, the man who became the executive producer and acted as a liaison between myself and Crunchyroll to get all the unfinished details of completing this for release and assuring that it ultimately see it’s backers. And to Crunchyroll for not abandoning this in the complexity of their merger. And most ESPECIALLY to the backers of the Kickstarter. It was for them that I went through this and worked to simply give them the very best I was capable of giving. It was for you that I did this more than anyone else. Thank you for your endless patience.
