The first time I watched the English dub of A Letter to Momo , I was tucked away in a small, drafty apartment on a rainy Tuesday, feeling much like Momo herself—adrift and burdened by things unsaid.
The story began with a silence that felt heavy. Momo, a young girl mourning her father, is clutching a letter he left behind. It’s blank, save for two words: "Dear Momo." In the dub, Amanda Pace captures Momo’s grief not through histrionics, but through a fragile, guarded tone that makes her eventual frustration feel earned. A Letter to Momo (Dub)
As Momo moves to the remote island of Shio, the quiet of her grief is shattered by the arrival of three "guardians" sent from above to watch over her. This is where the dub truly shines. The voice acting for the trio of yokai —the hulking, dim-witted Kawa, the tiny, flatulent Mame, and the leader, Iwa—brings a rowdy, classic-sitcom energy to the supernatural. Iwa, voiced with a gravelly, authoritative bluster by Rick Zieff, creates a perfect comedic foil to Momo’s sharp-tongued skepticism. The first time I watched the English dub