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INTEREST: Ghibli Using Fewer Pro Voice Actors for Lead Roles


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1945113



Joined: 23 Dec 2010
Posts: 291
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 8:36 pm Reply with quote
I believe they do the same for the english dub's as well using actors and actresses , they might used singers but idk about that they don't go to people like Funimation and or other company of the such.
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Maidenoftheredhand



Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 2633
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 8:59 pm Reply with quote
I think the most important thing is to choose the person who best fits the character whether it is a celebrity or voice actor.

But I do feel Studio Ghibli is being unfairly dismissive of professional voice actors
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BassKuroi





PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:00 pm Reply with quote
I knew that a long time ago...
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Tumbling Potato



Joined: 19 Jul 2011
Posts: 1
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:09 pm Reply with quote
IMO, this hurts the quality of the films more than it helps. I've seen my fair share of Ghibli films in Japanese, and in all of them (as well as in some non-Ghibli films), there's always the stigma of clunky and/or flat voice acting. At times, I would think that the only good thing about them was their quality of animation; everything else fell apart because the voices seemed so emotionally divorced from the characters themselves.
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yamiangie



Joined: 03 Mar 2010
Posts: 465
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:21 pm Reply with quote
It's all marketing. Acting is Acting. You need to be a actor before you are a voice actor.

Our English VAs can handle it, Summer Wars was great with the professional VA cast it had. Hell most famous actors can't dub for shit.
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leoncloud



Joined: 12 Jun 2008
Posts: 15
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:35 pm Reply with quote
It's all about money at the end of the day. Using someone famous just means they can milk more out of it. Gotta remember for a group like Ghibli it's not just a Otaku brand, it's a family brand. So your average JP is more likely to recognize someone off the tube as oppose to some seiryu. No different than state side feature animation. I don't do dubs at all, i won't deny they do good work, but they just dont match up for me.
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WatchforMoons7



Joined: 19 Mar 2009
Posts: 529
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:49 pm Reply with quote
Of courrrrrrrrrrrrrse it's marketing.
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charpkun



Joined: 22 Sep 2009
Posts: 13
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 9:57 pm Reply with quote
I hadn't noticed this trend until I read this news article, though I can't say I'm surprised. This has been a tactic that most Western animated films have used for a long time, most notably with Disney and Dreamworks.

Though I think it's unfair to say that film actors don't have the chops to do voice acting or vice versa. I think it really comes to each individual actor's talent/skill/dedication and a good ADR director to guide them.
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JuicyB



Joined: 08 Mar 2010
Posts: 278
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 10:08 pm Reply with quote
Many Ghibli films have terrible (Japanese) voice acting; I guess they figure that name recognition is more important than quality work. I agree with those posters who've mentioned that celebrity actors tend to do a decent job voicing american productions like Toy Story but for some reason that doesn't seem to be the case with Ghibli films. Perhaps the actors involved just don't take their roles seriously enough.
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14757
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 10:30 pm Reply with quote
This is well-known for a while.

The "Disney Co. of Japan" is just following the Disney book of mainstream family marketing. Laughing

Besides, Hayao Miyazaki is dismissive of current anime (he doesn't even call his films "anime" but rather "manga eiga") and probably doesn't want the baggage that comes with anime seiyuu (e.g. otaku bait, tsundere or loli typecast, schoolgirl outfit live-acting promotions, etc).


JuicyB wrote:
Many Ghibli films have terrible (Japanese) voice acting; I guess they figure that name recognition is more important than quality work. I agree with those posters who've mentioned that celebrity actors tend to do a decent job voicing american productions like Toy Story but for some reason that doesn't seem to be the case with Ghibli films. Perhaps the actors involved just don't take their roles seriously enough.


So, you're saying Miyazaki doesn't pick well, and that professional foreign dubs could be better than the original? Laughing
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mrsatan



Joined: 06 Jul 2005
Posts: 909
Location: Olympia, WA, USA
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 11:06 pm Reply with quote
I was just complaining about this the other day. Using celebs instead of voice actors usually hurts your performances, no matter what language the movie is in.

I was just watching the infamous Tales of Earthsea. With some decent voice acting, I would have probably given this movie a C- instead of a D-.

The main villain for example: her readings were so flat and quiet, they literally put me to sleep. I can see that she was going an aloof creepiness, but it just didn't work. I also didn't realize this character was supposed to be male until about 90 mins in. Kujira's portrayal of Orochimaru in Naruto is basically the same character, but done right.
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Jessica Hart



Joined: 12 Aug 2010
Posts: 219
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 11:10 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Nishioka said that Ghibli films tend to contain stories close to real-life experiences, and professional voice actors would seem out of place in such depictions of life-like events that take place over a short period of time. In another comment, Nisihioka noted that professional actors are often used for roles in dubbing of foreign live-action projects.


Fair enough.. I do have to say I dislike all the 'actor pushing' in American animated films. It's funny when the actor's name is bigger than the title of the film, or feels the need to point out "Voiced by ___!". I mean, the Donkey in Shrek was pretty much just Eddie Murphey doing his stand-up anyway. Razz
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Cryssoberyl



Joined: 17 Jan 2009
Posts: 238
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 11:12 pm Reply with quote
Ghibli has always tried to distance itself from what we conventionally think of when we talk about "anime". I guess this is just another example of that. It's unfortunate for the Japanese VAs, who are already working for a pittance...
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kakoishii



Joined: 16 Jul 2008
Posts: 741
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 11:24 pm Reply with quote
Jessica Hart wrote:
Quote:
Nishioka said that Ghibli films tend to contain stories close to real-life experiences, and professional voice actors would seem out of place in such depictions of life-like events that take place over a short period of time. In another comment, Nisihioka noted that professional actors are often used for roles in dubbing of foreign live-action projects.


Fair enough.. I do have to say I dislike all the 'actor pushing' in American animated films. It's funny when the actor's name is bigger than the title of the film, or feels the need to point out "Voiced by ___!". I mean, the Donkey in Shrek was pretty much just Eddie Murphey doing his stand-up anyway. Razz

Well for a lot of american animated features a lot of time the character is made around the actor they cast, after all they record the audio for the most part before they animate thus the reason the characters in a lot of animated features have a likeness to their voice actor. Obviously this isn't the case for japanese animation.

On topic, I can't say much for japanese actors voicing in ghibli works because I really only watch ghibli films dubbed, but to the credit to the american actors that have done voice work in ghibi films I've never really heard a bad performance from any of them. I mean they are "actors" and voice acting is a subset of that. I mean although a lot of va's that do dubs for anime have done some great performances, they're aren't all Steven Jay Blum's that and from time to time I do like to hear some variation in voices in the japanese animation I watch dubbed state side.
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JuicyB



Joined: 08 Mar 2010
Posts: 278
PostPosted: Tue Jul 19, 2011 11:31 pm Reply with quote
enurtsol wrote:
JuicyB wrote:
Many Ghibli films have terrible (Japanese) voice acting; I guess they figure that name recognition is more important than quality work. I agree with those posters who've mentioned that celebrity actors tend to do a decent job voicing american productions like Toy Story but for some reason that doesn't seem to be the case with Ghibli films. Perhaps the actors involved just don't take their roles seriously enough.


So, you're saying Miyazaki doesn't pick well, and that professional foreign dubs could be better than the original? Laughing


You should have read my post before sniping me; I was talking about american voices in american productions. and FYI, Miyazaki is a man not a god. He is certainly not beyond criticism.
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