Few animation roles in recent years have been
as intense and deep, in character as well as timbre, as Edmond Dantes
in Gankutsuou - The Count of Monte Cristo and Alucard in Hellsing.
Jouji Nakata handled both of those roles in the Japanese originals of
those series, along with Giroro in Sgt. Frog and a wide range of
characters. He's voiced babes and monsters, but he's always looking for
a "rough and tough" role that matches his low-pitched voice. Hellsing's
Alucard is Nakata's best known 21st-century role, something that came
to him through his connections in the anime industry. "At the time i
was doing stage acting, the producer saw me and asked me to play
Alucard," Nakata recalled. "He has to be sexy, he has to be a little
insane - that's an aspect I have to put into his voice." Fans who are
waiting for each episode of the second animated Hellsing should be
patient, he said, because the vision for that series is going to take
time to resolve. While the television version of Hellsing that
introduced fans to the story and the characters was made before much of
the original manga was completed, the OVA series under production at
this writing is going to be a closer match to Kouta Hirano's manga
original. "The producer wants it to be as close to the original manga
as possible. He doesn't care how long it takes," Nakata said. "I took
it as my life work and I hope that the anime from the original manga
will end soon - otherwise I'll be doing it for a long time."
When English-language voice actors are asked
how to get started in that profession, the dub performers usually
answer that the best preparation for voice acting is stage acting, to
develop the skills needed to handle difficult roles. Nakata carries the
same opinion about voice acting in Japan, something he's developed
through his stage and film experience. "Japanese are two dimensional
with a technical voice and not three dimensional with a full bodied
voice," he said. That opinion comes from the trend toward developing
Japanese voice actors through specialized acting schools that prepare
performers more for anime work than for general acting he said.
Nakata's feelings on this have been further developed by his own
dubbing work, where he has provided the Japanese voices for many
English-language films. Nakata said he develops his performances by
listening to the English-language originals, and in general he's
impressed by those performances. "Because of how they train, they are
three dimensional and full bodied when compared to Japanese voice
actors." A deeper stage acting background in Japan would lead to better
anime acting performances, he said.
Few animation roles in recent years have been
as intense and deep, in character as well as timbre, as Edmond Dantes
in Gankutsuou - The Count of Monte Cristo and Alucard in Hellsing.
Jouji Nakata handled both of those roles in the Japanese originals of
those series, along with Giroro in Sgt. Frog and a wide range of
characters. He's voiced babes and monsters, but he's always looking for
a "rough and tough" role that matches his low-pitched voice. Hellsing's
Alucard is Nakata's best known 21st-century role, something that came
to him through his connections in the anime industry. "At the time i
was doing stage acting, the producer saw me and asked me to play
Alucard," Nakata recalled. "He has to be sexy, he has to be a little
insane - that's an aspect I have to put into his voice." Fans who are
waiting for each episode of the second animated Hellsing should be
patient, he said, because the vision for that series is going to take
time to resolve. While the television version of Hellsing that
introduced fans to the story and the characters was made before much of
the original manga was completed, the OVA series under production at
this writing is going to be a closer match to Kouta Hirano's manga
original. "The producer wants it to be as close to the original manga
as possible. He doesn't care how long it takes," Nakata said. "I took
it as my life work and I hope that the anime from the original manga
will end soon - otherwise I'll be doing it for a long time."
When English-language voice actors are asked
how to get started in that profession, the dub performers usually
answer that the best preparation for voice acting is stage acting, to
develop the skills needed to handle difficult roles. Nakata carries the
same opinion about voice acting in Japan, something he's developed
through his stage and film experience. "Japanese are two dimensional
with a technical voice and not three dimensional with a full bodied
voice," he said. That opinion comes from the trend toward developing
Japanese voice actors through specialized acting schools that prepare
performers more for anime work than for general acting he said.
Nakata's feelings on this have been further developed by his own
dubbing work, where he has provided the Japanese voices for many
English-language films. Nakata said he develops his performances by
listening to the English-language originals, and in general he's
impressed by those performances. "Because of how they train, they are
three dimensional and full bodied when compared to Japanese voice
actors." A deeper stage acting background in Japan would lead to better
anime acting performances, he said.
