On
the day before his appearance at Anime Central, actor Chris Patton
finished recording his lines as Souske in the second Full Metal Panic
animated series, nicknamed "fumoffu." The character, the ultimate
strait-laced military brat who's wrapped too tight for the high school
where he's been assigned to protect a teenaged girl, is one of the most
hilarious in anime, but it was a difficult character for Patton to
regain. Two years had passed since Patton and actors such as Luci
Christian had essayed those roles, and it was hard for that pair to
recall how to make the performances work. ""We both thought it would be
easy to fall back into the characters, like riding a bike, and it took
a good hour to find his rhythm and pitch," recalled Patton at an Anime
Central interview session. "When we go to his hook lines like `that's
not a problem.' the scriptwriter had to help." Even though Souske is a
distinctive character, Patton's career has been so busy -- he was part
of as many as 17 series in the spring of 2005 -- that he had a hard
time rediscovering the character. "It was challenging at first and then
it was like playing...it was so funny and had such silly situations, we
had so much fun."
At
the time of Anime Central in mid-May, Patton said he was involved in 17
anime dubbing series at ADV Films and Funimation, as an actor and as a
scriptwriter. The wildest and strangest series in which he was involved
was Gantz, the series infamous in Japan for showing so much cartoon
violence that episodes were considered unsuitable for television.
"Stanley Kubrick meets Sam Peckinpaugh meets David Lynch" was the way
that Patton described the series and its mix of sex and violence.
"Staying up and writing Gantz until two or three in the morning gets to
you in a psychological level," Patton said. "Every time it gets a
little more sick and bizarre they raise the bar." The rough parts of
the show are attracting male buyers, Patton said, who said it was
unique that he got to write a series in which he's acting, but it's
hard to write that script because of Gantz' violence. Patton prefers
gentler series such as Supergals and the characters he plays in them,
but he noted that he's heard that ADV's "shojo" series such as Princess
Tutu aren't selling as well - or maybe just aren't appealing to major
store product buyers - as the sexier and more violent titles.
On
the day before his appearance at Anime Central, actor Chris Patton
finished recording his lines as Souske in the second Full Metal Panic
animated series, nicknamed "fumoffu." The character, the ultimate
strait-laced military brat who's wrapped too tight for the high school
where he's been assigned to protect a teenaged girl, is one of the most
hilarious in anime, but it was a difficult character for Patton to
regain. Two years had passed since Patton and actors such as Luci
Christian had essayed those roles, and it was hard for that pair to
recall how to make the performances work. ""We both thought it would be
easy to fall back into the characters, like riding a bike, and it took
a good hour to find his rhythm and pitch," recalled Patton at an Anime
Central interview session. "When we go to his hook lines like `that's
not a problem.' the scriptwriter had to help." Even though Souske is a
distinctive character, Patton's career has been so busy -- he was part
of as many as 17 series in the spring of 2005 -- that he had a hard
time rediscovering the character. "It was challenging at first and then
it was like playing...it was so funny and had such silly situations, we
had so much fun."
At
the time of Anime Central in mid-May, Patton said he was involved in 17
anime dubbing series at ADV Films and Funimation, as an actor and as a
scriptwriter. The wildest and strangest series in which he was involved
was Gantz, the series infamous in Japan for showing so much cartoon
violence that episodes were considered unsuitable for television.
"Stanley Kubrick meets Sam Peckinpaugh meets David Lynch" was the way
that Patton described the series and its mix of sex and violence.
"Staying up and writing Gantz until two or three in the morning gets to
you in a psychological level," Patton said. "Every time it gets a
little more sick and bizarre they raise the bar." The rough parts of
the show are attracting male buyers, Patton said, who said it was
unique that he got to write a series in which he's acting, but it's
hard to write that script because of Gantz' violence. Patton prefers
gentler series such as Supergals and the characters he plays in them,
but he noted that he's heard that ADV's "shojo" series such as Princess
Tutu aren't selling as well - or maybe just aren't appealing to major
store product buyers - as the sexier and more violent titles.
