Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why Do Voice Actors Get Re-Cast In Sequels and Reboots?
|
Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4 Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
penguintruth
 Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
|
|||||||||||
|
Personally, I prefer quality over consistency. If you can find somebody better to play a role when doing a second season or a remake, or it's a new dub studio, then don't bother getting back the original voice actor. Get somebody better. Frankly, a lot of people's nostalgia fee-fees are just nonsense that drags down the quality of productions.
Granted, consistency does have its merits, and if the cast is already good, then yes, by all means, try to get them back, but it's really a case-by-case basis with me. It's just like Arise not having the cast of Stand Alone Complex. It would have been neat if Funimation got the SAC cast, but they're in a different area, it's a different incarnation, being handled by a different studio. Even the Japanese cast was different. There's no expectation for consistency with the SAC English cast in that case. Then there's the Rebuild of Evangelion cast, where Funimation brought on only the dub voices of Shinji, Asuka, and Misato from the ADV dub of the TV show. Frankly, I'd have preferred if they recast Shinji and Asuka, since their VAs have been butchering those roles ever since they first got them, but apparently there was some demand for their return. Did people really want Spencer back as Shinji because they like him in the role o because it's just consistent? I wonder. Again, it's case by case. I'm glad the folks who badly dubbed in DBZ by and large (with a few exceptions) improved for DBZ Kai (though with decades of reprising the roles for video games, it would have been surprising if they hadn't improved dramatically). But I also felt most of them were outshined by the people who replaced some of the old VAs. |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
|
|||||||||||
Regarding recasts, what really astonishes me is that Anthony del Rio sounds exactly the same voicing Pit in Super Smash Bros. 4 as Lani Minella did voicing Pit in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. That is, a man nails a performance previously voiced by a woman.
Son Goku sounds exactly the same in Dragon Ball when he was 12 as he does in Dragon Ball Super when he's...in his forties, I think? Well, in Japanese, at least. (In every other language I've heard a Dragon Ball dub in, they recast Goku as an adult.)
While not precisely a remake per se, it was kind of funny when Sean Schemmel voiced Wapol for 4Kids's One Piece dub, then was hired by FUNimation to voice Indigo for FUNimation's One Piece dub, especially as the One Piece Podcast had Schemmel show up in an interview with J. Michael Tatum (he had happened to walk on by) after the Wapol role but before he was cast for Indigo. Tatum asked him if he's voiced for One Piece, upon which he hesitated and nervously said that he voiced for the 4Kids dub.
You can tell when someone's REALLY passionate about anime voice acting because they'll continue to play roles in addition to higher-paying roles, like those of video games and western animation. I remember David Lodge retiring, for instance (Kenpachi in Bleach, Jiraiya in Naruto), his stated reasons being that they weren't paying as much as his other work. For Jiraiya, I believe Steve Kramer stepped in (not entirely sure on that though), but Lodge reprised his role for the video games. I don't mean this as a knock on Lodge or anything like that, and I respect his decision to retire from anime voice acting.
They are idols, but they are idols for a narrow, dedicated group of fans. They are idols in the same sense that Yeardley Smith or John Swartzwelder are idols to Simpsons fans, the same sense that François Trauffaut or Sergei Eisenstein are idols to film historians, and the same sense that Angus McLane or Ronnie del Carmen are idols to Pixar fans. The public may have heard of these names here and there, but they don't care about them to nearly the same level as those who are actually into what these people do.
Well, I did like Spike Spencer's performance in some of his other roles. He's superb as Arakune in the BlazBlue games, for instance. (Then again, he has repeatedly mentioned in his interviews he prefers to voice crazy, unhinged people, and Arakune is exactly that.) You also have people like Christopher Sabat, who started out not that good but improved by leaps and bounds over the years; and people like Andrea Libman, who are good at acting but were hamstrung by being in works whose voice directors didn't take seriously. |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
belvadeer
|
|
|||||||||||
I disagree about the butchering. As for Spike, I've always liked his voice and so do a lot of folks. He was great as Felt in Atelier Iris 2, to name an example. |
||||||||||||
|
REL-84
Posts: 8 |
|
|||||||||||
I also find the difference between the dub and the original voice cast in Berserk interesting. I do believe that, considering the reinterpretation of Griffith in the movies (visually and personality-wise he's more youthful, playful) that Takahiro Sakurai makes a great role-interpretation. In the original anime he had a much more stern, manly appearance, much due to the performance of Toshiyuki Morikawa, but also visually. He was no teenager (or didn't feel like one, I'm not fan enough to know the details). But in the movies they transform Griffith, and thus is makes sense to choose a different VA. On HxH: Though Hiroki Takahashi's performance of Hisoka is one of the more original role-interpretations I've heard (and I love him in this role), he makes an excellent Parison Hill in the 2011-edition. It's not a bad choice of recast and Daisuke Namikawa is also perfect as Hisoka. I think Berserk and HxH both managed to nail near perfect role-castings for both the original and reboot somehow. Once the character designs change and the direction of the anime it starts to make sense to also look at a change in cast. Though I don't agree with the change of Morikawa as Tyki Mikk. I don't know who replaced him but most of the recast, Mikk included, is just so bland and uninspired that I simply can't approve. Goes for the changes of Kanda (Takahiro Sakurai) and Lavi (Kenichi Suzumura) and others. Unmemorable performances by VAs who might mature in the future but right now simply don't have the ability get the show to take off (well the anime had other issues also, still, great voice acting could have helped alieve some of that). |
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group