The
participants in this Anime Central panel work as actors, scriptwriters
and directors of anime dubs. Visitors to this site will be familiar
with the faces of the three people on the left, Monica Rial, Colleen
Clinkenbeard and Mike McFarland. The person on the right is a new face
to anime conventions, but he's been one of the busiest dub writers and
directors of recent years. Jeff Nimoy (the other Nimoy's cousin) has
served as dub director for "Zatch Bell," "Digimon" and the recent
"Naruto" dubs. In an era where dub work is freelance work, Nimoy finds
it's necessary to stay busy in the West Coast world of writing,
producing and dubbing. "In L.A., if you say `no' and you say you're too
busy, you might never hear from that person again, so you'll work on
four shows at once," Nimoy said. "Speed is always the main concern."
That's one of the reasons why the same actors seem to get dub roles in
each market, Nimoy added, noting that the cost of California studio
time means performers are hired who can get a dub line down in a few
takes. "It's all business in the booth. I say `do it do it were running
out of time.'" One of those reliable performers mentioned by Nimoy is
Steve Blum, last seen on this site a couple of weeks ago in Tennessee.
McFarland,
who has acted and directed in series such as "Fullmetal Alchemist" and
"Trinity Blood," said the idea of hiring the same actors for most roles
happens for the Funimation titles he handles as much as on the West
Coast, although he likes to try new voices from time to time.
Clinkenbeard is one of those reliable actors, who had spent time in
medium-sized roles for a couple of years (and in directing the
"Alchemist" episodes that McFarland didn't handle) until she got a
"Trinity Blood" lead. McFarland also had a great story about the
difficulty of translating Japanese puns into English, from his work on
Kodocha (Child's Toy). There's a scene in Kodocha, McFarland said,
where a character eating a restaurant meal describes the ways in which
he might be executed by the yazuka if he doesn't pay back a loan. That
sounds like tough dialogue for a comedy, but the humor comes when a
waiter keeps delivering food that sounds like the execution techniques
mentioned by the character. However, the sound-alike puns are in
Japanese for which there's no direct English equivalent, so McFarland
had to think up English-language puns that made as much sense and
carried the same brand of humor.
The
participants in this Anime Central panel work as actors, scriptwriters
and directors of anime dubs. Visitors to this site will be familiar
with the faces of the three people on the left, Monica Rial, Colleen
Clinkenbeard and Mike McFarland. The person on the right is a new face
to anime conventions, but he's been one of the busiest dub writers and
directors of recent years. Jeff Nimoy (the other Nimoy's cousin) has
served as dub director for "Zatch Bell," "Digimon" and the recent
"Naruto" dubs. In an era where dub work is freelance work, Nimoy finds
it's necessary to stay busy in the West Coast world of writing,
producing and dubbing. "In L.A., if you say `no' and you say you're too
busy, you might never hear from that person again, so you'll work on
four shows at once," Nimoy said. "Speed is always the main concern."
That's one of the reasons why the same actors seem to get dub roles in
each market, Nimoy added, noting that the cost of California studio
time means performers are hired who can get a dub line down in a few
takes. "It's all business in the booth. I say `do it do it were running
out of time.'" One of those reliable performers mentioned by Nimoy is
Steve Blum, last seen on this site a couple of weeks ago in Tennessee.
McFarland,
who has acted and directed in series such as "Fullmetal Alchemist" and
"Trinity Blood," said the idea of hiring the same actors for most roles
happens for the Funimation titles he handles as much as on the West
Coast, although he likes to try new voices from time to time.
Clinkenbeard is one of those reliable actors, who had spent time in
medium-sized roles for a couple of years (and in directing the
"Alchemist" episodes that McFarland didn't handle) until she got a
"Trinity Blood" lead. McFarland also had a great story about the
difficulty of translating Japanese puns into English, from his work on
Kodocha (Child's Toy). There's a scene in Kodocha, McFarland said,
where a character eating a restaurant meal describes the ways in which
he might be executed by the yazuka if he doesn't pay back a loan. That
sounds like tough dialogue for a comedy, but the humor comes when a
waiter keeps delivering food that sounds like the execution techniques
mentioned by the character. However, the sound-alike puns are in
Japanese for which there's no direct English equivalent, so McFarland
had to think up English-language puns that made as much sense and
carried the same brand of humor.
