When
actor Vic Mignogna wasn't making phone calls to director Mike
McFarland, he told fans how he's enjoyed dubbing shows such as Aquarian
Age, but the role that has taken the most time and thought has been
Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist. Mignogna sympathizes with Edward
because that character is a child forced to become a man under rough
conditions - the disappearance of his father, the death of his mother,
his attempt to revive his mother with alchemy that nearly cost his
brother's life. Mignogna was raised by his mother after his father
left, and he can understand the feelings and pressures on Edward. The
series' lead character is a 14-year-old boy who tries to act tough as
he seeks secrets of alchemy to undo the mistakes he made in the first
episode, but that toughness is a veneer that conceals Edward's real
vulnerability, Mignogna said. Edward gets into plenty of fights and
action sequences in Fullmetal Alchemist, but Mignogna's favorite scenes
are the ones where Edward shows his fear and apprehension - those
scenes send shivers up his spine, the actor said.
Doug
Smith was trying to sell the last of his custom t-shirts at OtakuCon
when he wasn't speaking about his acting and art career. Smith's big
role is still Kintaro Oe in Golden Boy, and he chatted about how,
during his convention travels, he's been able to meet some of the
people who created that series. There's a natural curiosity by
English-language actors about their Japanese counterparts, and Smith
said he's found that the opposite is the same. Ironically, for someone
who has had an acting career, Smith didn't like the dub acting he heard
when his interest in anime began - as an Army brat. Smith's family
spent some time in Germany, and he was exposed to Japanese giant robot
shows when they were telecast on the Armed Forces Radio and Television
Network's TV service. At the time, in the 1980's, Smith was more
impressed with the mecha designs than with the acting; he'd spend hours
drawing his versions of the robots, wearing out VHS tapes he'd made of
the shows when he paused the tapes to draw the robots' poses. Then he'd
take the drawings to school and show the other military brats what he'd
done.
This
is one of the more restrained moments of the Scott McNeil panel, and
one of the most common - where the actor was presented an offering of
art from one of his (mostly female) fans. McNeil is an extroverted fan
favorite who usually can be found in the middle of a cloud of
supporters as he moves from event to event, and there's a good reason:
he loves dealing with the fans and enjoys the attention he receives.
McNeil noted that he'd go to more conventions if he didn't have to
occasionally stay home in Vancouver and work for a living. He's been in
so many popular shows - Gundam Wing, X-Men, InuYasha, even a Scooby Doo
movie - that most fans are familiar with his work. McNeil hosted this
panel a couple of hours after he appeared with producer Toshifumi
Yoshida at a showing of the second InuYasha movie on which both had
worked.
At
least twice during his meeting with fans, Johnny Yong Bosch was asked
to recite his "Love and Peace" line as Vash from Trigun, and he
complied each time. Bosch's performance history is a great story of
coincidences gone right. He really wanted to be a martial arts star and
was studying that at the same time he was working at a fast food
restaurant, and got his break when he nabbed one of the roles as a
ranger in the first Power Ranger series adapted by Saban for U.S.
television. That role disappeared over salaries, but Bosch was
recommended for more work in anime dubbing as Vash. Bosch told fans
that he didn't really want to be a dub actor, but the Vash deal worked
out - and he's been getting dub roles in California-based productions
ever since. It turned out there was just enough dubbing-style voice
work in the Power Rangers series to give Bosch the experience to nail
the Vash audition. Or maybe Bosch really wanted to be a rock star: his
Eyeshine band performed at OtakuCon.
New
York performer Mandy Bonhomme said she'd been taking acting lessons for
only a couple of years before she landed the Juri dub role in
Revolutionary Girl Utena. That series' mysteries confound some fans and
actors, but Bonhomme said she comprehends most of it and the role fell
naturally to her, although some of the Utena movie is still a mystery
to her. Bonhomme's been involved in a part of the performance business
that's more physically challenging than anime dubbing, product modeling
for newspaper and magazine ads. Those seemingly casual poses you see in
print advertisements come after hours of work and dozens of takes that
are needed to produce the image and atmosphere wanted by the
advertising client. Bonhomme recalled one session at a store mockup
where she spent what seemed like hours on her knees posing with
simulated customers; after a while, the kneeling pose got
uncomfortable, she recalled. And after all of that kneeling, the ad
agency decided to use her in a standing pose.
Scott
McNeil was still signing autographs in a foyer, hours after his panel
discussion, when it was Kirby Morrow's turn to speak. Morrow and McNeil
have several parallels in their voice acting career, appearing in
InuYasha and Gundam Wing, among others. Morrow mentioned that his
favorite role in animation remains Michelangelo in one of the many
versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, although he's also very fond
of a role he voiced in a Muppet show from Jim Henson Studios. And there
were a couple of roles in the long-running Ranma 1/2 series, a show
that ran so long in dubbing that Morrow had to take over some roles
from the original performers. Anime dubbing requires a mixture of
performance, discipline and timing, since the lines have to be
delivered to animation that generally can't be changed. Morrow said
there are some talented and fortunate actors that can get it right the
first time, and to be successful you need to get the feeling of rhythm
needed to match that animation.
When
actor Vic Mignogna wasn't making phone calls to director Mike
McFarland, he told fans how he's enjoyed dubbing shows such as Aquarian
Age, but the role that has taken the most time and thought has been
Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist. Mignogna sympathizes with Edward
because that character is a child forced to become a man under rough
conditions - the disappearance of his father, the death of his mother,
his attempt to revive his mother with alchemy that nearly cost his
brother's life. Mignogna was raised by his mother after his father
left, and he can understand the feelings and pressures on Edward. The
series' lead character is a 14-year-old boy who tries to act tough as
he seeks secrets of alchemy to undo the mistakes he made in the first
episode, but that toughness is a veneer that conceals Edward's real
vulnerability, Mignogna said. Edward gets into plenty of fights and
action sequences in Fullmetal Alchemist, but Mignogna's favorite scenes
are the ones where Edward shows his fear and apprehension - those
scenes send shivers up his spine, the actor said.
Doug
Smith was trying to sell the last of his custom t-shirts at OtakuCon
when he wasn't speaking about his acting and art career. Smith's big
role is still Kintaro Oe in Golden Boy, and he chatted about how,
during his convention travels, he's been able to meet some of the
people who created that series. There's a natural curiosity by
English-language actors about their Japanese counterparts, and Smith
said he's found that the opposite is the same. Ironically, for someone
who has had an acting career, Smith didn't like the dub acting he heard
when his interest in anime began - as an Army brat. Smith's family
spent some time in Germany, and he was exposed to Japanese giant robot
shows when they were telecast on the Armed Forces Radio and Television
Network's TV service. At the time, in the 1980's, Smith was more
impressed with the mecha designs than with the acting; he'd spend hours
drawing his versions of the robots, wearing out VHS tapes he'd made of
the shows when he paused the tapes to draw the robots' poses. Then he'd
take the drawings to school and show the other military brats what he'd
done.
This
is one of the more restrained moments of the Scott McNeil panel, and
one of the most common - where the actor was presented an offering of
art from one of his (mostly female) fans. McNeil is an extroverted fan
favorite who usually can be found in the middle of a cloud of
supporters as he moves from event to event, and there's a good reason:
he loves dealing with the fans and enjoys the attention he receives.
McNeil noted that he'd go to more conventions if he didn't have to
occasionally stay home in Vancouver and work for a living. He's been in
so many popular shows - Gundam Wing, X-Men, InuYasha, even a Scooby Doo
movie - that most fans are familiar with his work. McNeil hosted this
panel a couple of hours after he appeared with producer Toshifumi
Yoshida at a showing of the second InuYasha movie on which both had
worked.
At
least twice during his meeting with fans, Johnny Yong Bosch was asked
to recite his "Love and Peace" line as Vash from Trigun, and he
complied each time. Bosch's performance history is a great story of
coincidences gone right. He really wanted to be a martial arts star and
was studying that at the same time he was working at a fast food
restaurant, and got his break when he nabbed one of the roles as a
ranger in the first Power Ranger series adapted by Saban for U.S.
television. That role disappeared over salaries, but Bosch was
recommended for more work in anime dubbing as Vash. Bosch told fans
that he didn't really want to be a dub actor, but the Vash deal worked
out - and he's been getting dub roles in California-based productions
ever since. It turned out there was just enough dubbing-style voice
work in the Power Rangers series to give Bosch the experience to nail
the Vash audition. Or maybe Bosch really wanted to be a rock star: his
Eyeshine band performed at OtakuCon.
New
York performer Mandy Bonhomme said she'd been taking acting lessons for
only a couple of years before she landed the Juri dub role in
Revolutionary Girl Utena. That series' mysteries confound some fans and
actors, but Bonhomme said she comprehends most of it and the role fell
naturally to her, although some of the Utena movie is still a mystery
to her. Bonhomme's been involved in a part of the performance business
that's more physically challenging than anime dubbing, product modeling
for newspaper and magazine ads. Those seemingly casual poses you see in
print advertisements come after hours of work and dozens of takes that
are needed to produce the image and atmosphere wanted by the
advertising client. Bonhomme recalled one session at a store mockup
where she spent what seemed like hours on her knees posing with
simulated customers; after a while, the kneeling pose got
uncomfortable, she recalled. And after all of that kneeling, the ad
agency decided to use her in a standing pose.
Scott
McNeil was still signing autographs in a foyer, hours after his panel
discussion, when it was Kirby Morrow's turn to speak. Morrow and McNeil
have several parallels in their voice acting career, appearing in
InuYasha and Gundam Wing, among others. Morrow mentioned that his
favorite role in animation remains Michelangelo in one of the many
versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, although he's also very fond
of a role he voiced in a Muppet show from Jim Henson Studios. And there
were a couple of roles in the long-running Ranma 1/2 series, a show
that ran so long in dubbing that Morrow had to take over some roles
from the original performers. Anime dubbing requires a mixture of
performance, discipline and timing, since the lines have to be
delivered to animation that generally can't be changed. Morrow said
there are some talented and fortunate actors that can get it right the
first time, and to be successful you need to get the feeling of rhythm
needed to match that animation.
