AnimeNEXT Richard Cox, Moneca Stori and Matt K. Miller
2004
When
three of the biggest names in anime dub acting appeared on the opening
day of AnimeNEXT in 2004, they drew a standing-room only crowd to one
of the convention's largest rooms, despite their appearance happening
around 2:20 on Friday afternoon. From left to right they're Richard
Cox, the English-language voice of Ranma and Inu-Yasha; Moneca Stori,
the dub actor for Kagome in Inu-Yasha, and Matt K. Miller, Tenchi
Masaki in the Tenchi-Muyo series. Their favorite roles are their
best-known lead roles, although Cox said that "There are some you can't
talk about. There's one I did last week...it was a video game that
hasn't been released. There's one I did a little while ago and I did a
lot of different characters. Stori said "Whatever character I'm
playing, you've got to live that character to do a good job. Right now
I'm having a lot of fun playing Kagome - she's in the forefront of my
life. It's been years since Miller voiced Tenchi, but "I guess whatever
I do, Tenchi is always going to be a favorite. It's the first big thing
I did in anime and I did it for so long." Also, these actors are
practical people who know that current roles are the ones that produce
paychecks,
Cox
said it's great to voice Inu-Yasha, the lead role in a series that will
stay in production for some time. "You get to have that nice strong
character that flows through the show - you get to follow that arc..
And actors like Cox get to come to conventions and meet fans like the
ones who packed the room. All of that for a small number of intense
recording sessions. "When we do Inu-Yasha we do one big session a
month. It really takes one or two days a month," a schedule that lets
voice actors work on several shows at a time. "On other shows it's one
or two days a week. When I was doing live stuff I was on the set all
the time - it's a totally different line of commitment." Cox said he
has the impression that fans are being won over from the subtitled
version of Inu-Yasha to the dubbed version, saying "The fact that we
get a lot of positive feedback is great." Then there was the moment in
the panel when a couple of Inu-Yasha costumers tried to sneak down the
center aisle and out of the panel; Cox spotted it, playfully called
attention to the costumers, and the audience started chanting "Sit back
down! Sit back down!"
As
the sheepish costumers retreated to their seats, Stori joked "You don't
want me to say the magic words," and the crowd chanted "Sit! Sit!" She
also was more serious about the challenge of voicing a lead role in a
series as compared to a supporting part. "The big difference is being
more conscious of the show and the story. With your voice, you have to
be able to do something you can sustain for a long period of time.
Maybe with some of the small parts you can come in do something really
wacky. With Kagome, you have to be consistent." Cox had noted
that his earlier work as Ranma led to his Inu-Yasha role, while Stori
said she happened to be in the right place at the right time for the
Kagome role. "I guess I was in recording something else, and they had
me put down my voice for the promo trial. I didn't know anything about
it, and I found out later that I got the part...after all these
episodes, I have a better grasp on the character." When the panel
moderator asked about being committed to a single role for a long time,
Stori joked that "Inu has commitment issues," and the understanding
crowd cheered.
Miller
had a chance to prepare for the Tenchi auditions by getting scripts and
learning about the character, and that helped him set himself up for
the role. He prepared tapes of his performances for the dub producers,
and the combination of those recordings and his auditions got Miller
the part. "It's nice to be the star," Miller said. "There's a little
bit of pressure because the show depends on you." But when you're the
lead character for a big series, The treatment is nice...you can sort
of relax a little bit and not have to worry about getting the next one
(role)." Miller used his higher-pitched voice for more than 60 episodes
of the Tenchi series and movies, but now he's moved on to other work.
Younger fans are now as enthusiastic about Miller's work in the Final
Fantasy X game as in the Tenchi series, but when Miller said that Ryoko
from Tenchi was still a favorite character of his, the crowd shouted
its approval.
When
three of the biggest names in anime dub acting appeared on the opening
day of AnimeNEXT in 2004, they drew a standing-room only crowd to one
of the convention's largest rooms, despite their appearance happening
around 2:20 on Friday afternoon. From left to right they're Richard
Cox, the English-language voice of Ranma and Inu-Yasha; Moneca Stori,
the dub actor for Kagome in Inu-Yasha, and Matt K. Miller, Tenchi
Masaki in the Tenchi-Muyo series. Their favorite roles are their
best-known lead roles, although Cox said that "There are some you can't
talk about. There's one I did last week...it was a video game that
hasn't been released. There's one I did a little while ago and I did a
lot of different characters. Stori said "Whatever character I'm
playing, you've got to live that character to do a good job. Right now
I'm having a lot of fun playing Kagome - she's in the forefront of my
life. It's been years since Miller voiced Tenchi, but "I guess whatever
I do, Tenchi is always going to be a favorite. It's the first big thing
I did in anime and I did it for so long." Also, these actors are
practical people who know that current roles are the ones that produce
paychecks,
Cox
said it's great to voice Inu-Yasha, the lead role in a series that will
stay in production for some time. "You get to have that nice strong
character that flows through the show - you get to follow that arc..
And actors like Cox get to come to conventions and meet fans like the
ones who packed the room. All of that for a small number of intense
recording sessions. "When we do Inu-Yasha we do one big session a
month. It really takes one or two days a month," a schedule that lets
voice actors work on several shows at a time. "On other shows it's one
or two days a week. When I was doing live stuff I was on the set all
the time - it's a totally different line of commitment." Cox said he
has the impression that fans are being won over from the subtitled
version of Inu-Yasha to the dubbed version, saying "The fact that we
get a lot of positive feedback is great." Then there was the moment in
the panel when a couple of Inu-Yasha costumers tried to sneak down the
center aisle and out of the panel; Cox spotted it, playfully called
attention to the costumers, and the audience started chanting "Sit back
down! Sit back down!"
As
the sheepish costumers retreated to their seats, Stori joked "You don't
want me to say the magic words," and the crowd chanted "Sit! Sit!" She
also was more serious about the challenge of voicing a lead role in a
series as compared to a supporting part. "The big difference is being
more conscious of the show and the story. With your voice, you have to
be able to do something you can sustain for a long period of time.
Maybe with some of the small parts you can come in do something really
wacky. With Kagome, you have to be consistent." Cox had noted
that his earlier work as Ranma led to his Inu-Yasha role, while Stori
said she happened to be in the right place at the right time for the
Kagome role. "I guess I was in recording something else, and they had
me put down my voice for the promo trial. I didn't know anything about
it, and I found out later that I got the part...after all these
episodes, I have a better grasp on the character." When the panel
moderator asked about being committed to a single role for a long time,
Stori joked that "Inu has commitment issues," and the understanding
crowd cheered.
Miller
had a chance to prepare for the Tenchi auditions by getting scripts and
learning about the character, and that helped him set himself up for
the role. He prepared tapes of his performances for the dub producers,
and the combination of those recordings and his auditions got Miller
the part. "It's nice to be the star," Miller said. "There's a little
bit of pressure because the show depends on you." But when you're the
lead character for a big series, The treatment is nice...you can sort
of relax a little bit and not have to worry about getting the next one
(role)." Miller used his higher-pitched voice for more than 60 episodes
of the Tenchi series and movies, but now he's moved on to other work.
Younger fans are now as enthusiastic about Miller's work in the Final
Fantasy X game as in the Tenchi series, but when Miller said that Ryoko
from Tenchi was still a favorite character of his, the crowd shouted
its approval.
