 So you
don't like an anime dub because the performances sound flat or strained?
Don't blame the performers, said a group of actors who appeared at Ohayocon
on Saturday. Instead, consider that there's a good chance that the voice
director messed up. On this panel, (left to right) Jon Osborne, Michael
Brady, Juliet Cesario and Scott Simpson had some stories about odd direction.
Osborne had a great tale about dubbing Fushigi Yuugi, where the director
gathered a group of actors to fill in the sounds for a crowd scene and
said "Just say the sort of things you say in ancient China." Of course,
none of the actors had been in ancient China... |
 ...which
is why Simpson said it's hard to get too critical of actors in an anime
dub unless you know what the actors were directed to do. Still, the actors
know that the fans are going to be demanding of their dub performances,
especially on a show like Oh My Goddess, which was a fan favorite before
it was dubbed. "We realized this was sacred material," said Simpson. Less
familiar shows are easier to work on, such as the Blue Submarine No. 6
dub that came out of the studio which often employs Cesario and Simpson.
The Submarine show got a lot of attention when it was shown on the Cartoon
Network cable service in 2000. "It was great to be able to call my relatives
and tell them, `Hey, look at what we did on the Cartoon Network,' " said
Cesario. |
 How can
you judge a performance when the character isn't human? A second group
of actors (from left to right, Doug Smith, Brett Weaver, Jessica Calvello
and Tiffany Grant) spoke about how they've had to voice any number of monsters
and demons. Weaver was the roar of the bizarre, huge-headed dragon from
Slayers the Motion Picture (remember the forced-perspective joke?) Weaver
even had to voice a girl once and came close to convincing his director.
And Calvello took on the role of a metallic floating teddy bear in the
online Chi-Chian animation series. |
