When
voice actors appear at anime conventions, their panel discussions are attended
by fans who really want to learn how to become a voice actor. The message
from (left to right) Stephanie Sheh, Kristen Nelson, Michael Sinterniklaas
and Rikki Simons was to start by acting, as much as possible, regardless
of the circumstances. Only practical acting experience in a range of situations
will prepare the hopeful actor for a voice acting role, they said. "You
have to be an actor at heart and someone who loves that creativity," said
Nelson. "I used to do every thing I could get my hands on do it for the
love of it and the fun of it."
Since
the days of Mel Blanc and Daws Butler, voice acting has been a tough job
with many actors vying for a handful of jobs. "It's highly competitive,"
said Sheh. "Often you go in for an audition and you see the same people.
Some shows don't audition people - they know the actors and what they can
do." Another big challenge of anime dubbing is to get an effective translation
of the Japanese script. "It's tough," Sheh said. "On the shows I made,"
which included the quirky FLCL, "a decision was made on how Japanese or
Americanized we wanted the dubs to be. For FLCL, because it was such a
strange and bizarre show, we didn't want it to be Americanized."
Sinterniklaas,
who directed the dub that transformed Mahou Tsukai Tai into Magic Users'
Club, said Japanese and English don't equal each other very well. In Japanese
storytelling it's cool to be vague. A lot of things are missing and there
is some ambiguity. In the translations I get, it's hard to tell who's talking
to who." The final challenge is caused, in away, by anime fans. So
many people want fresh titles that producers and directors must work fast.
"Companies have to turn things around fast to get their money back. We
don't have time to think about the characters - you have to crank the stuff
out." Despite all of those challenges, Sinterniklaas feels that anime dubs
are a lot better than they used to be.
When
voice actors appear at anime conventions, their panel discussions are attended
by fans who really want to learn how to become a voice actor. The message
from (left to right) Stephanie Sheh, Kristen Nelson, Michael Sinterniklaas
and Rikki Simons was to start by acting, as much as possible, regardless
of the circumstances. Only practical acting experience in a range of situations
will prepare the hopeful actor for a voice acting role, they said. "You
have to be an actor at heart and someone who loves that creativity," said
Nelson. "I used to do every thing I could get my hands on do it for the
love of it and the fun of it."
Since
the days of Mel Blanc and Daws Butler, voice acting has been a tough job
with many actors vying for a handful of jobs. "It's highly competitive,"
said Sheh. "Often you go in for an audition and you see the same people.
Some shows don't audition people - they know the actors and what they can
do." Another big challenge of anime dubbing is to get an effective translation
of the Japanese script. "It's tough," Sheh said. "On the shows I made,"
which included the quirky FLCL, "a decision was made on how Japanese or
Americanized we wanted the dubs to be. For FLCL, because it was such a
strange and bizarre show, we didn't want it to be Americanized."
Sinterniklaas,
who directed the dub that transformed Mahou Tsukai Tai into Magic Users'
Club, said Japanese and English don't equal each other very well. In Japanese
storytelling it's cool to be vague. A lot of things are missing and there
is some ambiguity. In the translations I get, it's hard to tell who's talking
to who." The final challenge is caused, in away, by anime fans. So
many people want fresh titles that producers and directors must work fast.
"Companies have to turn things around fast to get their money back. We
don't have time to think about the characters - you have to crank the stuff
out." Despite all of those challenges, Sinterniklaas feels that anime dubs
are a lot better than they used to be.
