Berserk's, Fate's Nobutoshi Canna Recalls Past Roles in Otakon Panel
by Jeremy Tauber,
Going on about Guts, Canna admitted the most challenging part about voicing the iconic character was getting the register just right. “When I auditioned for Guts," Canna said, “I was told to perform in a lower pitch because back then my signature was doing higher voices. As the episodes went on, I was managing a lower voice, and I did it around episode three. If I could redo things, I would go on to do the first few episodes with the voice I had found.”
Canna also discussed his role as Lancer in Fate. A fan asked if there was anything specific Canna kept in mind when doing Lancer outside of the visual novels. “When you look at Fate as a series that mostly has a serious tone,” Canna said, “you might have a side series that'll be comical in tone, and then you have different aspects and sides of Lancer. So I try to act those sides out as much as possible.”
Canna's early role in Patlabor was also mentioned, although Canna said that his memory of working on the Oshii opus was spotty since it was so long ago. But one memory that stuck with Canna was working alongside his mentor, Toshio Furukawa. “Since I was standing right next to Toshio Furukawa in the studio, it meant that I was very nervous, and you can tell from my acting,” he said. “Because Toshio Furukawa was very strict as a mentor, but it was because of his strict teaching that I am here today.”
A surprising amount of attention was also given to one of Canna's longest-recurring roles of Knuckles the Echidna from the Sonic franchise. “This may not be for me to admit to,” Canna said, “but sometimes Knuckles gets stupid silly, and those are the times I have to act him out in a more mellow way. Normally, he's much sharper because his task is to protect the Master Emerald.”
Since the character had changed a lot over the years, Canna was asked if he had to re-audition for the role. “There are, of course, reasons why the movie Knuckles may not be me playing him, but when it comes to anime and video games, it's always me until I get fired from that role.” To paraphrase a line from Sonic Adventure 2, unlike Sonic, the last bit made the audience chuckle.
Strangely enough, his role as Basara Nekki in Macross 7 wasn't discussed as much as his other roles, although fans still offered some questions. A fan asked what his favorite Macross 7 song was, to which Canna said that while he liked all of them, his big picks were “Planet Dance,” “Angel Voice,” and his favorite, “Try Again.” He was also asked if he vibed with the anime's musical themes, which he did by saying that he had planned to be a musician if being a voice actor didn't pan out.
The conversation went beyond anime and into the world of live-action dubbing. One of the more intriguing discussion points was his role in the Japanese dub of Ridley Scott's Gladiator, where Canna-san voiced Joaquin Phoenix's character Commodus. The audition process had Canna try out for Russell Crowe's lead role, but the management turned him down. “I think Joaquin Phoenix is pretty cool though!” Canna said with a grin.
Canna also discussed another favorite live-action dub role of his, the Japanese dub for the thriller Becky, specifically because of its gratuitous nature. Being a fan of horror movies also helped him land a role in the dub of Scream, where he voiced, of all people, Jamie Kennedy's character Randy. I mean this positively and sincerely when I say that it's funny to picture the mental image of the man lending his voice to something as iconic as Berserk also voiced the actor who later starred in Malibu's Most Wanted. Especially considering how Guts is so far removed from B-Rad Gluckman.
When the panel shifted back into Canna's origins, the seiyuu admitted that he had been acting since he was three as part of a troupe that did commercials and TV. “I was out of my diapers by then,” he humorously added. Canna set his sights on becoming a voice actor, but he didn't start to enjoy it until he voiced a prince who got turned into a dog in the Dragon Quest series. Saying that that was the tipping point for him, he would then belt out a few dog barks that got another laugh out of the audience.
But his biggest acting goal? Buying something nice for his dear ol' mom. “Since we did not come from a wealthy family,” he said, “I wanted to buy a big house for my mother so she could have a huge kitchen.” As the old expression goes, Mother knows best, and it turns out that Canna did too when it came to picking out the roles that would give him the prosperous career any mother would be proud of.
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