This is Crusher Joe, space mercenary. He just happens to look like Michael Brady, American voice actor, when he speaks English. Brady, an anime fan who also writes for Anime Online on the Internet, has the role of Crusher Joe in the English-language version of the anime, and spoke to Katsucon 4 fans about the real world of translations, subtitles and dubs. His main point: no translation can completely express the nuances and subtleties of the original language. Subtitles look good to those who prefer to read a script on-screen while hearing the inflections of the original voices, but those subtitles offer only a pared-down version of the story, deliberately cut down because American producers can not assume that their viewers are fast readers. "To be reared with the language is the only way to understand an idiom and its emotions," Brady said. "The subtleties are lost on an audience that watches only subtitles."

It's common for hard-core anime fans to criticize dubbed films, but Brady thinks that's unfair in some cases - especially when the English-language voice actors are blamed. Directors, who need to get good performances out of their actors, bear the responsibility for a flat performance, according to Brady. 

Voice tracks for Japanese and American animation are handled differently, Brady noted. In America, actors record the script and animators follow those recordings when the cels are made, using "phoneme charts" to match mouth movements with the spoken words. In Japan, the animation is filmed first, then voice actors record their parts, much in the way a radio drama is recorded. That explains why mouth movements rarely match voice tracks in anime. It also leads to American fans criticisng English-language dubs when the voices start or end before the mouth moves, a criticism Brady feels is unfair.

Crusher Joe was created by Haruka Takachiho (pictured), one of the guests of honor at Katsucon 4. Brady had not met Takachiho and introduced himself during the convention, only to learn that the science fiction author didn't believe that Brady had voiced Joe in English. Finally, a Japanese guest of the convention convinced Takachiho of Brady's role, whereupon Takachiho took brady's picture - something that Brady was told he could consider a high compliment from the character's creator.