Animax’s Blog

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Anime, unlike
cartoons and other western styles of animation, hold the distinction
for innovativeness. If you are more accustomed to traditional anime
styles, however, these experimentations with new styles may at first be
jarring to the senses. I remember the first time I watched Gankutsuou (The Count of Monte Cristo),
I developed a bad headache from watching all those computer-applied
textures. After a few episodes, I grew accustomed to its unique
animation style, and it remains my favorite anime of all time.

Which brings us to Mononoke. This 12-episode anime was the offshoot of the final story arc "Bakeneko" in the horror trilogy, Ayakashi,
which will soon be aired on Animax. Because of its distinctive anime
style and riveting plot, "Bakeneko" reaped critical acclaim. It’s only
expected that an anime will be developed from it.

First, just what
is an "ayakashi" and a "mononoke"? Ayakashi are malevolent spirits that
plague mankind with curses and evil ills. When an ayakashi combines
with the grudge, hatred and anger that exists in a human heart, it
transforms into a monster known as a mononoke.

Mononoke continues
the adventures of the mysterious Medicine Seller, who seeks out these
evil creatures. He must first reveal the mononoke’s physical shape or
Form ("Katachi"), the reason for its rage or Truth ("Makoto"), and the
state of its soul or Regret ("Kotowari") before he could unsheathe his
formidable Sword of Exorcism and destroy the evil spirit.

The anime consists of five spine-chilling stories:

1) "Zashiki Warashi", about a pregnant woman who seeks shelter in an inn with a bloody past

2) "Umibouzu",
about the passengers of a merchant vessel who find themselves trapped
in the infamous Devil’s Triangle (Japan’s version of the Bermuda
Triangle)

3) "Noppera-bo", about a woman who confesses to murdering her samurai husband and his entire family

4) "Nue", about three men who embark on an incense-smelling test in order to win the hand of a noblewoman

5) "Bakeneko", about the passengers on the maiden voyage of a spooky subway train

Mononoke is
both a visual and an intellectual treat. Visually, it’s like watching a
moving Japanese tapestry on your TV screens. Except for "Bakeneko"
which utilizes the color black, the use of pastel colors heightens the
creepy ambience of the anime. People who say that originality in books
and film is dead would be pleased to know that it is alive and kicking
in Mononoke. All the stories are refreshingly new, and it does
not need gratuitous violence or gore to scare you out of your wits. The
tight plot will keep you on edge, only to drop you off the precipice
with an unexpected twist or cliffhanger.

Credit to Mononoke’s
appeal falls squarely on the shoulders of the talented seiyuu voicing
the characters, making this one anime that I would prefer NOT to be
dubbed in English. For one, you will get to appreciate seiyuu Sakurai
Takahiro’s ability to pitch his voice very low without falling into a
mumble, like other voice actors are prone to do. Also, his line
delivery ranges from dry sarcasm to the blusterous delivery
characteristic of actors in traditional Japanese Noh plays. To those
who are particularly interested in how Japanese dialects sound like,
the fourth story "Nue" has all the characters speaking in Kansai-ben,
which is often disastrously rendered with an American country twang
when dubbed in English.

Admittedly, Mononoke is
not for all audiences. The mature themes hinted at in the story arcs
makes this anime more for older teens and adults. This is also not
advisable for those who don’t want their brain cells stimulated. I’ve
had a friend call it "boring", but as a more overly critical
acquaintance said, and I quote her, "Those who complain about boredom
are lazy people to begin with."

In any case, to those who want to give Mononoke a chance, mark my words! This is one anime that you will find mentally stimulating. If there is a message that Mononoke would
like to convey to its viewers, it’s that the most fiercesome monsters
are created from the darkness that exists in the human heart. In fact,
the most terrifying monsters of all might just be humans themselves.

Sakura & Syaoran in Chronicles of the Wings © CLAMP • KODANSHA/NHK • NEP

After
interviewing two male voice actors, it’s the ladies’ turn. I’m pretty
sure all of you are very familiar with the voice of this talented voice
actress. Among her list of credits are Sakura (Card Captor Sakura and Chronicles of the Wings Season 1). Presently, she is known as pretty but stern basketball team manager Ayako in Slam Dunk.

Introducing…ANDREA!
(Sorry, folks! Andrea only wanted to be known by her first name and
didn’t send a picture to accompany this blog. Although I am aware that
some of you know her full name, PLEASE! Let’s respect her wishes!!)

~~~~~~~~~~

What prompted you to become a voice actress? Did you get formal training?

I was
very lucky and fell into voice acting when I moved to Hong Kong from
Canada in 1997. Unlike most of the team I worked with in the company, I
had no formal acting training to start with, but by paying attention
and working hard, I‘ve now had 11 years of ‘on the job’ training in
voice acting (dubbing) and also directing. I made up for my lack of formal training by doing the best I can when I’m in the studio. 

You
are in the core group of voice talents since Animax decided to go
English. Did you feel any pressure then, given the huge clamor from
diehard anime fans for Animax to return to the subtitled format?

My
attitude towards both dubbing and directing is to do the best that I
can. I can’t say whether ‘subs’ or ‘dub’ is better, everyone has their
preference and I can enjoy both [whether it is anime or film]. Hollywood
films also make use of dubbing or in technical terms, ADR [audio
dialogue replacement], when a scene requires it. What I can say is that
both the actors and the company I work for try to be as true to the
original version as we can, not just with Animax projects but with
other projects we work on. That involves the character voice and acting
performance, as well as the script. We’re lucky in this aspect as we
have one of the best ‘dubbing’ scriptwriters around - Ranma 1/2 and recently Yakitate! Japan.
We work in a team setting, rather than as individuals, so that the
actors can play off one another. One of the best recent examples of
this was my team members as the female and male leads of Ginban Kaleidoscope. I felt their performances were enhanced by the fact that they dubbed their dialogue together.

A
lot of anime fans are awed by your vocal techniques, especially with
the way you easily switch from a child’s voice to a young lady’s voice.
When you play multiple characters, do you record them individually
or all of them in one take? Please describe to us the vocal technique
by which one could change from a low to a high pitch and vice versa.

If
the dialogue of my characters doesn’t overlap, then I can switch back
and forth without too much trouble and without changing vocal tracks
(record separately). But sometimes when your
characters speak back to back it’s kind of fun to see if you’re up to
the challenge of doing it in one take! I’ve been associated with the
same company now for 11 years, Omni Productions, and I’m currently
working with one of the most talented incarnations of ‘the team’ that
I’ve had the pleasure of working with, they can all voice back to back
characters without having to stop and switch tracks.

As
for ‘how one changes from a high to a low voice’, I can only speak for
myself when I say that it has a lot to do with squeezing or relaxing
the muscles in my throat as I’m talking. I’ve never asked my team
members how they change their voices, perhaps they have different
methods. Because of all this ‘squeezing’ I actually prefer to do little
boys voices in the morning rather then female voices – it’s easier on
my throat. J

You obviously take great care of your voice. What health tips could you give for the voice?

I don’t smoke and I very rarely drink so those factors have never been a concern for me. I
like to drink lots of water or herbal tea and I rarely stay up late.
I’m not much of a partier so you won’t find me out in Lan Kwai Fong but
on occasion I can be found on Xbox live having a late night of
shooting, crashing or being killed! That may not have anything to do
with taking care of my voice, but it sure is a great way to unwind.

Among the characters you have voiced, who is a) your favorite, b) the most challenging, and c) the most memorable, and why?

I think the character I liked best was the female incarnation of ‘Ranma’ in Ranma1/2. I thought that was a great series and was very sad to see the end of it. I enjoyed voicing her because she had reactions which were boy-like, which makes sense if you know the series. I
also think she was one of my more challenging characters because I had
to try and portray her the same way her ‘male’ half was portrayed. At
the beginning of the series I often found myself thinking how would he
[the male voice actor] sound if he said that line or did that reaction? The fact that we dub as a team helped me understand and play off my male counterpart in his male Ranma role.

I also found ‘Major Motoko Kusanagi’ from Ghost in the Shell challenging because I have a really hard time playing ‘straight’ characters; I like to be the ditzy or weird one. J

The most memorable character for me was a girl named ‘Remy’ that I played a few years ago. The cartoon was titled Nobody’s Girl
and was about an orphan. In one scene her adopted uncle was dying of a
heart attack and trying to reassure her, meanwhile she was in tears
begging him not to die. At the end of that scene the male actor and I shed a few tears because we were so moved by her story. That’s my most memorable moment.

Would you recommend voice acting as a career? For you, what are the qualities of a voice actor?

Sure, I don’t see why not. Voice acting’s been good to me, but I also think I’m lucky in that I’m able to do it. I
think a lot of people think that voice acting is just pure fun and that
there’s no hard work involved, or that dubbing is ‘easy’. That’s not
always the truth.

For me a good voice actor/actress should have a decent range of voices. For
actresses this means they should be able to do an old woman’s voice,
their own voice, a teenage girl, a teenage boy, a little girl and a
little boy, plus a number of variations of all of those. The same goes for men, although not too many men can do a convincing little girl’s voice…

Any advice you would like to give to those who aspire to become voice actors?

Be professional about your work, show up on time and be productive, not disruptive in the workplace. Dubbing and voice work may sound like fun, but there’s a time for work and a time for play. J

[Catch Andrea's voice work in Chronicles of the Wings and Slam Dunk, Mon to Fri, 5-6pm.]

REC © Hanamizawa Q-tarou/Shaft/TBS.

I’ve
always loved voice actors. Credit for this officially goes to Casey
Kasem, erstwhile host of the popular radio program "American Top 40"
and who is himself a voice actor. Needless to say, I fell in love with
his voice when he made a 360 degree turn from voicing comedic
characters like Shaggy from Scooby Doo to doing the serious role of Mark/Ken Washio in the classic anime Gatchaman (then known as Battle of the Planets during the late 70s). Back then, Casey was so kind and patient enough to answer the questions from a "diehard" fan. When Transformers became
a hit, it was through Casey that I also became briefly acquainted with
Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime). If anything else, my criteria for good
voice acting was established thanks to my brief correspondences with
these professionals.

Just
what makes a good voice actor? It is my honest opinion that voice
actors are not born; they are made through years of dedicated voice and
drama studies. I also don’t believe that anyone could just become a
voice actor either. One could be good at "changing voices", but could
not "act".

To
those who aspire to become voice actors, whip out a tape recorder and
tape your voice while reading a short excerpt from a novel or, better
yet, reading along to the subtitles of your favorite anime DVD. You can
even try changing voices by pitching your voice high or low, or
experiment with foreign accents. Once you’re done, see if your voice
reel follows the Obataku’s strict criteria below…

1. A voice actor should sound good on tape. Take note this does not have
anything to do with a person’s voice type. Preference for voice types
ranging from high pitched to baritones is purely subjective
("listener’s choice"). What I mean is that while your voice may sound
good to your ears, its quality changes when recorded on tape. You have
to sound just as good on tape as you do in real life.

2. A voice actor should have perfect enunciation.
Voice actors should pronounce words correctly and clearly so that the
listener understands every syllable that comes out of your mouth. In
the case of English dubbing, any type of accent that causes a word/s to
be mispronounced is a "no no". That is why a dictionary is a voice
actor’s best friend in case he is unsure as to how to pronounce a word.
If you have a distinct accent, it’s best to take speech studies first
in order to correct it. For example, during his Mad Max days,
actor Mel Gibson used to have a distinct Austalian accent, which he had
lost years later after extensive speech training. Compare his voice in Mad Max to his latest films, including the animated ones he did, such as Pocahontas.

3. A voice actor should know how to speak properly.
A voice professor once told me that there is little difference between
singing and correct speaking. When you speak in the right way, the
power of the voice is exerted not through the vocal cords, but via the
diaphragm and respiratory muscles. If a dubber’s voice sounds rough,
strained, or excessively breathy, or just listening to them makes your
throat ache, your ears wince, or makes you want to gasp along with
them, chances are they are not employing correct vocal techniques.
Learning vocal techniques from a voice coach will allow you to change
the speed of line delivery, pitch, volume, timbre and tone of your
voice effortlessly and without causing damage to your vocal cords. It
is especially effective for those shouting and screaming scenes.

4. Be aware of any weaknesses.
Newbie voice actors have a tendency to stutter, stammer, trip their
tongues over words, or even run out of air in order to keep up with the
"mouths" of the character on screen. Again, these flaws can be
corrected by voice exercises.

5. Know how to correctly pronounce character names.
I am particularly nitpicky about this because I’ve observed that
western voice actors have problems pronouncing the names of Japanese
characters. That is why it is best to listen to the original Japanese
dialogue first in order to get the names right. The most common error
is the way three0syllable names are pronounced. Except for a select
few, most three-syllable Japanese names are pronounced with the accent
on the FIRST syllable. Western dubbers always put the accent on the
second syllable. So instead of saying "Ko-GU-re", it should be
"KO-gure." "Sa-KU-ra" should be "SA-kura."

6. Know the character and interpret him/her the way you see fit.
It is always important to get to know the character first — like is
the heroine the shy, quiet type or the tomboyish type, or the hero
could be the boisterous type or the dark, brooding type. Researching by
reading character profiles or, better yet, reading one or two manga
volumes or watching one or two anime episodes will help you to
understand him or her, so that you could correctly interpret his/her
personality. NEVER COPY THE PERFORMANCE OF THE ORIGINAL JAPANESE VOICE
ACTOR. Some diehard otaku always compare the seiyuu to the English
voice actors. Judge voice actors ON THEIR OWN MERITS and NEVER basing
it on the performances of others, even if they are the original talents
to play the role.

7. Never make the mistake of dubbing an anime like a cartoon.
Most cartoons are dubbed in a sing song, emphatic, over-the-top, or
bombastic manner. Except for comedy anime and when certain scenes call
for exaggerated expressions, dialogue is best delivered in a natural,
conversational manner.

8. Foreign accents are a double-edged sword.
If done effectively and applied to the right character, foreign accents
are a boon to any production, aside from anime. However, to my horror,
most voice actors make the mistake of going over the top with their
accents or, worse, use them for characters who are of a different
nationality altogether. The French accent is the most horridly abused
of all foreign accents. If it is not spoken in an exaggerated manner
that makes you think of that amorous skunk Pepe Le Pew, it is always
used for villains, who end up sounding "cheesy" instead of "sleazy and
sneaky". One good example is Van Argeno in Blood+. If you want
to get the French accent right, pay close attention to how actors Jean
Reno or Gerard Depardieu speak. Sorry, but I have to admit that while I
was impressed with the accents used in Le Chevalier D’Eon, some of the characters to which they were used were wrong. For example, Louis XV’s wife  Marie Leszczynska is Polish and should not be speaking with a British accent.

9. Same with foreign accents, apply "special voices" to appropriate characters, but avoid stereotyping.
Sounds contradicting, but allow me to explain. This is usually a
problem for men. Admittedly, I am not fond of men pinching their voices
to make it sound higher-pitched. While men with high-pitched voices are
great for comedic characters, I wince whenever it is used for
stereotypes, especially 1) sneaky, sleazy characters and 2) gay
characters. Case in point, Chronicles of the Wing’s Fye
Flowright, especially in the second season. The use of the pinched
voice did not suit Fye at all. Although "rumored" to be a gay character
on account of his connection to the god Ashura, he is a refined
intellectual which warrants a soft-spoken vocal performance with a
sharp edge to it, something which the first voice actor was able to
achieve. Another example is Kou Reishin in Colourcloud Palace. While he may have a penchant for sneakiness, the fact that he is a stern court official warrants a lower-pitched voice.

10. FINALLY, in voice acting, it’s not how you "sound" that matters, but how you "act".
You may have the versatility and the vocal chops of Robin Williams, but
if you don’t know how to use your voice to convey emotion and connect
with and evoke emotion from your audience, then you are a failure as a
voice actor. Let’s take one Animax voice actor who is being dissed by
some overly opinionated viewers just because he possesses a baritone
voice. It is the opinion of many that a youthful character should
always have a "young voice", but this is not true in real life. Some
develop baritones and other low-pitched voices in their youth. So,
arguably, a baritone can also be applied to a young, but mature
character like Nomiya from Honey & Clover. In fact,
baritone aside, the voice actor was not only able to capture Nomiya’s
maturity, but also his gentle compassion and sympathy towards Yamada.
This made his performance very effective in my book. One very good
exercise was shown in Sakura Wars, wherein Sakura was made to
repeat one line over and over again, but in different emotions. Try
getting a line from a book and practice saying it while happy, sad,
lonely, angry, furious, etc. Believe me! It works!!

Still
want to become a voice actor? The bottomline is it’s still important to
get an education, especially drama and speech studies. Professors will
not only teach you voice techniques and exercises, but also how to take
care of your voice. Last but not least, when you go around looking for
voice jobs, don’t limit yourself to dubbing anime. There are careers
for voice talents in advertising and radio. Try to gain more
experience, training, and broaden your horizons!

Later this week: The Obataku reviews the horror anime, Mononoke!