Monday, September 22, 1997 Voice-over work brings ‘anime’ to
U.S. DUBBING: Japanese art enters American culture with English
dialogue
By Stephanie Sheh
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Lia Sargent is standing in a small confined space making
retching and choking sounds repeatedly. She’s not in solitary
confinement in a mental institution. It’s a sound booth. And she’s
supplying the voice of Chun Li for the dubbed version of the
‘anime’ (Japanese animation) "Street Fighter" television
series.
When American viewers watch these dubbed versions of "Sailor
Moon" "Dragonball" or "Ranma 1/2," they probably don’t realize the
amount of work the voice actors, directors and producers do
translating Japanese animation for an American audience. Voice
actors like Sargent, who also is the voice of Nanami in "The
Wanderers (El Hazard)," have to time their vocalizations.
"I never looked at time codes when I first started doing this
because I felt the visual," Sargent says. "I had to coordinate my
eye to look at the time code and the picture at the same time."
Actors also need to match the lip movements of the animated
characters for the American audiences. This is something that is
not necessarily as important to the Japanese audience.
"What American audiences look for is lip sync," explains Yutaka
Maseba, president of ZRO Limit Productions, which handles the
production for most of Manga Entertainment’s titles. "We’ve grown
up with Disney films, Looney Tunes, where when a character is
speaking their mouth movements pretty much match real life. In
Japanese animation, once the dialogue starts, the mouth starts
opening and closing until the dialogue finishes."
Voice actor David Kaye ("Ranma 1/2," "Key the Metal Idol")
agrees that getting the lip syncing can be difficult. "Sometimes
I’ll do a little scene, follow the lip flaps and after the three
beeps and I’ll nail it. Other times it’ll take me 25 times," Kaye
says.
Both Kaye and Sargent have been doing extensive voice-over work.
But Sargent prefers doing dubbing for anime than providing a voice
for something that has yet to be animated.
"The visual is what inspires me," Sargent says. "There’s too
much leeway with just looking at the words, because there’s so many
different ways you can say it. That’s too much freedom for me."
Kaye disagrees. "If you want to take the character more comedic
or more sad or more angry you’re kind of limited because he’s
already drawn," Kaye says.
Unlike Sargent, Kaye still pursues other media with numerous
film and television appearances. He says voice acting is not that
different from other types of acting.
"A lot of the same things apply especially if you’re doing
theater," Kaye explains. "Some of the ways I come up with voices is
by using theater techniques."
Before auditions can be held, the production company must decide
what the Japanese characters are like.
"(The Japanese) would say, ‘Well, do you remember Mel Gibson in
‘Lethal Weapon?’… That’s the type of actor we’re looking for.’"
Maseba explains.
They refer to American celebrities because they need a type of
character that both the Japanese and American staffs can
understand.
Maseba says the talent pool of actors is fairly large. They can
pick at least five different actors to come in and read for a
part.
Maseba says some of these actors are actually fans of anime
while others just go into the studio, do their work and go
home.
"I wasn’t really (an anime fan)," Sargent admits. "(But) because
I work it, I got into it."
Kaye enjoys viewing them with his 4-year-old daughter. And he
has never gotten over the oddity of seeing cartoons speak with his
voice. But he tries not to think of the characters as having his
voice.
"If I start seeing myself then I haven’t done a good job," Kaye
explains. "If I hear a voice and I don’t think of me, I was on the
right track."
Despite all the work that goes into dubbing anime, many fans
shun dubbed versions of their favorite series.
Even Sargent can understand their loyalty to Japanese voices.
She admits that she sometimes prefers the Japanese to what she ends
up dubbing.
"There is a certain tone there that I appreciate," Sargent says.
"Sometimes I wish I could just keep her sound and then once and a
while flip me in there."
Many purists not only poo poo American voice actors, but feel
that only direct translations from the original Japanese scripts
should be made.
"We’re not trying to go for the exact literal Japanese version,
because it’s impossible," Maseba explains. "We try to find
something that was as close as possible here in American culture,
but also to try to stay true to the Japanese original."
Director Kevin Seymour of the Animaze Production Company points
out that having to read subtitles can be distracting.
"You can’t really watch a cinematographer’s work or the
animation when you’re constantly reading. These (subtitle fans) are
a little bit fanatical about it." Seymour says. "I think it’s like
the difference between Macintosh and IBM, like dog lovers and cat
lovers."
Maseba adds, "In order to expand your audience, which is crucial
in the entertainment business especially, you have to create
something that a large group of people can understand. That’s why
dubs are out there." Photo Courtesy of David Kaye
David Kaye is pictured here among many faces of the cartoon
characters for whom he supplies the voices. CHARLES KUO/Daily
Bruin
Lia Sargant adds voices to
characters in an animated series.