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| Project: A-Kon |
Dub Directors
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| 2004
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 These
three men have taken the helm in some of the highest-profile anime dubs
of the last few years. From left to right, Musician-turned-actor Sean
Schemmel directed the dubs of Samurai Deeper Kyo and Space Pirate Mito
for NYB Post, former film directing student Jonathan Klein directed
Technolyze, Haibane-Renmei and Paranoia Agent for New Generation
Pictures, and actor Mike McFarland directed Dragon Ball Z, Yu Yu
Hakusho and Case Closed for Funimation. Their job is to transform a
Japanese original into something that can be enjoyed by
English-speaking audiences, a task that these directors start by
listening to the Japanese actors' performances. "I try to get a pretty
close match if I like the Japanese," said Schemmel. "It's not just the
timbre, it's the energy." Klein said "I listen to the Japanese and I
use it as my guide, but not to the letter of the law. if a person
matches that voice, good, but sometimes going in a different direction
adds an interesting aspect." And McFarland said "The Japanese track we
use as a guide, except for cultural differences," noting that some
Japanese voices are pitched higher than what English-speaking ears
would accept.
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 Some
of Schemmel's largest directing challenges come when actors have
multiple roles. At the time of Project: A-Kon, Schemmel was working on
Nana Seven of Seven, where a young woman divides into seven people. "In
the Japanese they use seven different actresses, but scheduling that
many actresses would be a nightmare." So Schemmel cast Veronica Taylor
(Ash in Pokemon) to play all seven Nanas. "I have her change her voices
for each character. She's doing all of these roles different - this is
happy Nana, this is angry Nana. In each episode we go through every
different Nana." The multiple roles take Taylor much more time to
record than it would take a typical lead actor to voice in the
recording booth, and both director and actor have to be careful which
Nana is recorded first to save Taylor's voice. In Space Pirate Mito,
Lisa Ortiz has four voices for two characters, both adult and "chibi"
versions. The Japanese original had different actors for different
versions of the Mito characters, and "Originally I was going to use
three different actors, but she did an exemplary version," Schemmel
said. "I rewrote the snot out of Mito because it was boring otherwise."
Mito fans learned from Schemmel that there's a second season of the
series which might be dubbed and released in the U.S.
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 Haibane-Renmei
is known for its good ensemble acting among its six lead characters,
but there were no "ensembles" because all of the roles were recorded
separately. The actors who record first are the ones who have first
perfected their performances. "You figure which ones have their
character down at the beginning," Klein said. "Once you have those
people in the show, then you layer it in with those characters who are
better at playing off the leads that other people set." Directors feel
they can better control performances when they know all of a series'
plot changes, which isn't always possible. For R.O.D. the TV, the
continuation of the Read or Die series, the dub production began before
the series had been finished in Japan. "We were given special access to
the Japanese producers and directors. This isn't based on the manga,
it's based on Read or Die and Read or Dream together. We wanted to know
how it ended so we would know where we were taking the characters. They
were kind enough to tell us, but they made us swear not to tell anyone
else." New Generation's dubs keep profanities where the Japanese
original had them, but Klein said they'll record a "safety" version
without profanities when the client requests it, a request that comes
if there's a chance the show might be broadcast where standards and
practices discourage profanities.
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 Much
of McFarland's work for Funimation involves shows that are going to
reach TV, so he often has to record alternative safe versions of
dialogue. That includes the infamous U.S. standards and practices
substitution of "destroy" for "kill." Those writing changes are the
main differences in McFarland's dub direction of TV shows as compared
to OVA releases. He cites his recent work on Case Closed (also known as
Detective Conan), destined for the Cartoon Network, as an example.
"I've taken into account where it's going to end up, I guess there's a
bit of a difference," he said. "You wouldn't want to take a Shakespeare
play intact and show it to tiny tiny children - the intent would get
lost - and you wouldn't want to take a children's theater play to an
audience in their 40's. In anime, most of the differences are in the
script. I'm not going to change the actors' performances, but I'm going
to change the script."
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