Forum - View topicAnswerman - How Are English Dub Voice Actors Cast?
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Animeking1108
Posts: 1244 |
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Our generation of anime fans are so entitled. You have no idea how good you have it with dubs nowadays. Go look up an episode of "Robotech" and "Speed Racer" on Youtube and tell me how bad English dubs today are. |
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frubam
Posts: 135 Location: under Sana's bed |
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Chaos Wars anyone?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pD83hmKjr0 https://youtu.be/269uRYEUBd8?t=51s |
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levonr
 Posts: 820 |
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Neither of these are the norm. They usually always hire people with a background in acting of some kind. Rarely do I hear about anime & video game voice actors that were just picked off the streets (like Steve Blum). I believe I recall Justin once saying its very hard & limited for actors to get into the business. They don't just hire anyone off the streets with no acting experience. It seems like nine times out of ten I hear the actors were stage actors. |
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Melicans
Posts: 627 Location: Canada |
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I'm actually wondering why the dub timeline is so compressed that they don't give themselves the room to do things ideally. Certainly that rush would make sense for the simuldubs that Funimation does, but that's a small percentage of shows each season. It isn't like most dubs have to rush it so they can animate, or meet as strict deadlines as their Japanese counterparts. So why do they rush it so much instead of giving themselves a bit more time to make sure they have that ideal situation Justin described?
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13615 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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Okay, people want to see me do a more thought out post than my standard 1-2 lines, this is it. Several of these points are mostly word for word from a fansub forum posts I did.
@Hypeathon: While Singapore-based Odex used the same few VA for a lot of the One Piece characters in their Yu-Gi-Oh! dub (For example, Chuck Powers was Yugi, Bakura, and Yugi's grandpa), at least Luffy was played by a guy in that version. Justin said:
When it comes to prepubescent boys with a woman's voice, I am fine with that. When it's 13+, that's another story. That is, because with few exceptions outside of it being a gender-bender boy (trap, cross-dresser, or transsexual), I feel that any 13+ male character should be voiced by actual guys. I will give leeway to animal characters and if it is a character that doesn't exactly have a human body for the most part (Alphonse Elric). Reasons why come the aforementioned fansub forum post, a thread I made called "Criticism of when women do the voices of 13+ boys in anime": 1. The high-pitched girly voices are the reason why I most of my subbed anime muted. Occasionally, I do turn the audio on. However, sometimes, for a show with a girly-voiced guy, it's merely to see how awful I feel they sound and think, "A guy should've done that voice or hopefully he will be voiced by a guy if it gets dubbed". 2. Just as people are free to have reasons not to like a dub performance, I am free not to enjoy a voice in Japanese version. Notice, I how am not trying to pass this off as fact but rather my opinion with phrases like "to me" or "I feel that". 3. I'm more for men doing the voices of 13+ boys in nearly all circumstances (specifically, in harem/fan service titles, because I find it distracting if a clumsy MC is on a guy and that MC is voiced by a woman. To me, it just feels unnatural for this. 4. If it was more boyish voice like Junko Takeuchi as Naruto, I am more forgiving). That is, if I was to watch 100 anime titles where a 13+ MC is voiced by a girl, I think that perhaps only 10 (at most) are the right fit if he isn't androgynous, cross-dressing, or get turned into a girl. 5. I think it is also possible that even if the director approved a woman doing the voice of a main guy, the casting choice was a mistake (depending on the character and their personality). I think it's more natural to have a guy to a teen boy's voice based on how their voice sounds but I don't think it's my intent to object based on the gender. It's more so the voice. 6. When they have an Armin or Shinji character (those weak and whiny characters that are seemingly useless), they might opt to go for a woman. I think a male can portray a "sissy" character. Sometimes, they can get a teen male seiyuu to do said voice 7. From my experience, only a handful of female seiyuu have been convincing as boys. However, I'm sure there's a lot more I haven't heard that do a good job (I'm not saying that it's only 10% overall but a really low amount from my experience). 8. Examples of which characters I feel were miscast: Mamiko Nota as Kouta in Kanokon. Seriously, I find it annoying that it's fairly common that to have a wussy character (Armin and Mirai Nikki's Yuuki come to mind), they choose a woman. There are young male VAs out there that can do it more authentically. I see more of a Jun Fukuyama's Rail Wars! voice for Kouta. I can picture a whiny Lelouch being attacked by a hot fox wolf spirit. The Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's character Luciano I fail is a miscast but I don't know which male seiyuu would've been better. 9. If the voice of Xamd's Yango was born earlier than late Jun. 1996, I think he would've been more of a natural fit for Cyborg 001 in Cyborg 009 (2001 version). 10. I find that most female-voiced teen boys or older I've heard sound unnatural or forced. The same thing applies to men doing said voices but I think it sounds more convincing when it comes from a guy. |
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levonr
Posts: 820 |
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Wasn't it many years ago at Central Park Media who aren't exactly known for well made dubs IMO. Personally I can't stand most of CPM's dubs. Just compare their Yu Yu Hakusho movie dub to FUNi's TV dub. Whenever I hear interviews or commentary from directors its usually this: "Then the director and whoever is paying for the dub sit down, listen to the auditions, and figure out who should play what role." I don't really hear a role(excluding nobody characters) cast with no audition as he says as if its normal: "Often the cast will be selected from each actor's pre-existing reputation and work." Is that really the norm? They just don't mention it for some reason? Last edited by levonr on Fri Sep 11, 2015 7:20 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18426 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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While it may not be the norm, it isn't rare, either. I've heard this mentioned several times on audio commentary tracks. |
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Hypeathon
Posts: 1176 |
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That's... fine? The intention behind the second paragraph behind my post earlier was just to provide an interesting tidbit about how other companies approached dubbing an episode of the show before 4Kids was the first to officially distribute the show. It was meant as a side note, especially since it's been mentioned how other companies at the time (including Funimation) supposedly bid for rights to One Piece but we've never heard the details of the show.
That's actually how Michelle Ruff sort of got the role for Sinon in Sword Art Online 2. Mami Okada* who was apparently the casting director for both seasons (whereas Alex Von David is the voice director) emailed her, offering she try out for the role and then she eventually got it. She mentioned it months ago during an interview on the Toonami Faithful podcast. *NOTE: I mean Mami Okada who works at Bang Zoom. Not Mari Okada, the anime screenwriter. |
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DuchessBianca
 Posts: 562 |
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Firstly I want to state that what I'm about to write is solely my opinion and not meant to be taken as absolute fact.
I'm not shy about my love and preference of dubs but as another commentor stated in this thread dubbing industry has never been better and there are more fantastic English VA's then ever. I had the pleasure of meeting my favorite voice actress at anime boston this year (Christine Cabanos) and having seen many youtube videos or her interacting with fans at other cons and performing her roles it's clear to me that she as well as many other VA's care very much about their jobs and love what they do and aren't just reading a script and getting a check so if dubbing companies really are rushing VA's it doesn't seem to have any real impact in the VA's ability to do a good job or love the role they do. Secondly (more personal opinion) since it is clearly noted that anime is very cheap to produce and this article stated dubbing is a cheap process it truly surprises me that voice acting in western animation sounds absolutely sub par to even certain Sentai dubs that many users seem to complain about. People are free to disagree but having seen many western animation products like family guy, south park, Simpsons, many various western cartoons (Excluding large budget Hollywood movies of course) the VA pool used in dubbing anime seems to do a much better job and feel much more realistic and believable to me and that's definetely a plus for me as I couldn't care less about how the Japanese VA's sound, as long as a VA sounds believable, fits the character well and the performance is believe that's all that matters to me and how it compares to the Japanese VA's is irelevent. Lastly it wasn't mentioned in the article but what I think it would be great if more companies showed access to how the VA is performing their lines like Sentai did with its NGNL dub reveal. Personally I think it does a great job to show how a VA does their job and shows off their passion for a specific role, how they get into character and demonstrates well how they really care about a given role. |
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levonr
Posts: 820 |
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No, that sounds just like what he said should ideally happen, but often doesn't. "The actors that immediately sprang to mind will be invited", "...listen to the auditions, and figure out who should play what role." But he followed that by saying, "That's what happens ideally. However, these days not many dubs can afford the time and money to do things the right way." Sounds like he is saying they often cast solely based off their previous work, with no auditions. |
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Anime Hero25
Posts: 26 |
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{Deleted for violating over-quoting guidelines. ~nobahn}
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Divineking
 Posts: 1297 |
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From what I've heard VA's say over the years auditions are still usually how VA's are picked for this stuff though I imagine whether or not a ADR or casting director had specific people in mind might play a part in how they make their selections |
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stilldemented
 Posts: 232 |
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It's true for the most part in any sort of film/theatre role. Directors usually will cast actors that they are confident can play the role and see if they're available. Funimation, Sentai, and Bangzoom all have a nice pocket of actors established in their respective areas and their directors know more or less what role would suit which of these actors. Open auditions don't happen too often anymore due to rising fandom. There would be a lot of fans (not actors) turning up to the auditions and taking time away from the dubbing process, which is short enough as it is. Especially now, with simulcast dubbing becoming a thing. Normally when they bring a new actor into the pool it's because that actor has established himself/herself somewhere else (usually the theatre or another ADR company) so they're willing to give them a shot. Back in the day, I think they had open auditions for Light in Death Note (assuming I remember that correctly). Brad Swaile landed the part in the end. (Though some of the auditionees may or may not have got a more minor character. Idk.) Long story short, people apparently do look at resumés. 
Strangely though, I remembered this one saying that seems to apply: “If you choose Good and Fast, it will not be Cheap. “If you want it Good and Cheap, it will not be Fast. “If you want it Fast and Cheap, it won’t be as Good as it could be.” All that jazz. |
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R315r4z0r
 Posts: 717 |
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The person casting also makes a huge difference in the quality of the dub overall.
Even just sticking with FUNimation dubs, you can really tell which casters put thought and effort into the casting and which casters just put whomever in the roll. Especially if you listen to commentaries. Unfortunately, this new simulcast dub thing is really screwing up the quality of dubs, imo. There isn't as much time to research roles and the history surrounding them and the setting... so we end up getting dubs that aren't as good as they could be. |
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sunflower
 Posts: 1080 |
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This is a meaningless comparison. Neither does a better job. Voice acting in Western animation shows comes to us via a vaudeville history. The actors do voices, like comedians do. They're not striving for reality but for exaggeration so to say they aren't as good when that's what is expected in their industry is silly. Japanese voice actors don't have that same cultural background. Instead they strive for reality. It's rare to hear them attempting to do a Mel Blanc because he had little place in their history. Two different artistic cultures with two different demands. It's fine to have a preference, but silly to say one is better. |
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