#Will I be doing more of these with other lines from Billy Kametz?

[warpeddaydream]

So, a friend got me into Lego Monkie Kid… and pointed out this one guy in episode 2 of The Owl House had the same voice actor as earlier Macaque (Rest In Peace, Billy Kametz) so this animation was a product of that!

[generallemarc]

Dandadan voice actor facts

Momo is voiced by Abby Trott, best known for her roles as Pod-153 in NieR Automata, Nezuko in Demon Slayer, Tae Takemi in Persona 5, and(my personal favorite) Annette in Fire Emblem: Three Houses.

Seiko, Momo's grandmother, is voiced by Kari Wahlgren, best known for being the voice of Saber from Fate: UBW onward but also having quite the career outside of that, voicing nearly 20 characters in Winx Club(so that means Saber worked with 4Kids), Rip Van Winkle in Hellsing Ultimate, and of all characters, Jeremy's evil little sister Suzie from Phineas and Ferb.

Jiji/Jin Enjoji is voiced by Aleks Le, whose major roles include Zeinutsu from Demo Slayer, Anos from Misfit at Demon King Academy, Thorfinn in Vinland Saga, Caiman in Dorhedoro Makato Yuki in Persona 3 Reloaded, Shen Xiang in Undead Unluck(his best role, if you ask me), Wangnan Ja in the new season of Tower of God(how I wish that series hadn't fallen off), the main character of Rent A Girlfriend which I will do my best not to judge him for because he's gotta eat, and the later seasons of the mecha anime 86, taking over the role of the male lead Shinei Nouzen, better known by his callsign Undertaker, after the tragic passing of Billy Kametz, who was his original voice.

Okarun(not saying his name since it's a spoiler for the end of episode 1), the male lead, is voiced by relative newcomer AJ Beckles, whose only major role is also in the new Tower of God season as Khun Ran. But while I'll always love hearing my favorites pop up in every other series, it's always good to be getting new blood into the industry, and from the one episode that's out so far I'd say he nails it, playing off of Abby Trott's lines perfectly without falling into the annoying tone someone like, no offense to Aleks Le, Zenitsu can sometimes have.

Turbo Granny, as I said in a previous post, is voiced by Barbara Goodson, aka the queen of evil Rita Repulsa. I'll admit that her lines are alot more uncomfortable when directed at a child, but damn does she sell them regardless. And I suppose it wouldn't be the first time she's used magic to attack a group of teenagers with attitude. Well, Momo's the only one with attitude so far, but she's got more than enough for the both of 'em.

Tl;dr- Watch Dandadan's dub. It's awesome.

[vibinginthedreamlands]

Mild season five spoilers at one point, I give a heads up before hand.

I have to say, I'm very happy with the LMK casting of voice actors who are mostly known/most prominently coming from the anime English dub field.

I personally don't watch much anime. One of the reasons being I don't like a lot of the over acting that comes with it. Great for other people, but it throws me out of the immersion and just generally gets on my nerves (no shade to anyone who enjoys it, just not for me).

Having said that, the actors themselves are so talented and have such good voices.

Christopher Sabat, Azure Lion's VA, is All Might in MHA.

Matthew Mercer, as of Season 5, plays The Nine Head Demon and in the past was AoT's Levi Ackerman.

And then of course, SEAN SCHEMMEL. I've seen a lot more Dragon Ball (Siblings) than most any other anime, and I never really paid any speacial attention to Goku's VA, despite him being the MC. But now in LMK, wow. Impossible not pay attention. Monkey King is for sure one of my favorite characters and that feeling has only grown with each season as his character growth has been supported and elevated by the voice acting. Season 4's A Life of Mistakes lines?

"I did this for us!"

"Oh kid, you found me."

"I lost sight of why I was even doing it in the first place."

And quick Season 5 mention because I just finished it and this scene alone was definitely not the reason I started making this post in the first place:

The Scream. In Episode 9. Oh My God. I have an occasional habit of smiling while watching media, even if it's tense or sad because I'm enjoying it and appreciating the work that was put in. Not with this. The gutwrenching horror he put into that-

Fuck me I guess, made me sick/pos

And that's just the characters and their VAs I recognized based in my Generalized Anime Knowledge! Each of them have done dozens of more shows or projects.

As well as the rest of the cast who bring such amazing talent and skill. I don't know what they've all done prior (aside from Jack De Sena of course) but wow am I so happy they're apart of the show.

Billy Kametz as Macaque for the first three seasons was amazing. Rest in peace sir

Alejandro Saab who took over in 4 and 5 does such justice to the role (check out his song covers they're amazing and there's nothing like being able to imagine Macaque sing Peaches).

Jack De Sena? I loved him as Sokka, saw the possible corruption arc abilitiy with Callum, and was granted that dream in the form of MK and his subsequent Harbinger counterpart. This man has range and I'm so glad the show is allowing him to use it

Stephanie Sheh as Mei? Gaaaaaaah! I love Mei, and she brings such a vibrancy and life that just perfects the vision for the character.

Dave B. Mitchell and David Chen as my all time favorite old married couple, Pigsy and Tang respectively. Couldn't have asked for better.

Patrick Seitz as Sandy, Kyle McCarley as Red Son (who now that I'm looking at it, is *also* an anime voice actor) and Johnny Bosch as Ne Zha to name just a few more.

I don't know, this started out as a post about being able to enjoy voice acting from people who aren't normally in shows I would watch, but now I guess it's just an appreciation post.

I Love this show. The team, everyone involved, do such a good job . No one who worked on it will see this of course but just gotta say thanks for 5 Amazing Seasons, I've never been crazier about plastic monkies.

[patricia-von-arundel]

Fundraiser for the Colon Cancer Coalition: In Honor of Billy Kametz

As many involved in video game and anime fandoms know, last week we lost mega-talented, mega-good-guy voice actor Billy Kametz to stage IV colon cancer. His family has requested that fans who would like to recognize the legacy of Billy and his work make donations to the Colon Cancer Coalition in his name.

I personally don't have a lot of money to spare right now - but I do have a lot of cross-stitching materials, and a desire to do what I can. So... I designed a quick-and-simple little pattern:

For those who are not Fire Emblem fans, one of Billy's characters was the inimitable, unmistakeable, tea-loving Ferdinand in Fire Emblem Three Houses [and the upcoming Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes], whose most famous line is the very self-satisfied "I am Ferdinand von Aegir!" Nobody could have delivered that line quite like Billy did. And in his honor... we share it.

Since, as mentioned, I'm a little cash-short, I can't donate to the CCC myself - but I can encourage others who have some extra money to do so, by offering up to five hand-sewn pieces like the one above. They're free of charge with a donation.

For a donation of $10 or more, I will recreate the pattern on 14-, 16-, or 18-count white/cream Aida cloth. For a donation of $25 or more, I will also offer a choice of black cloth (14-count) or a wooden-framed cloth (14-count) such as the one pictured above (while supplies last - it will be first-come, first-served, so if you want black cloth or a frame, feel free to send me a message to make sure I still have them available). I will also happily adjust colors as requested on any fabric.

Again, I am doing five only of these. Once I have five requests, I will take no more. I can also only ship to the US. (If you are located elsewhere, and would like one, please contact me - if you're willing to pay shipping costs, we can talk.) To receive one, you must show me proof of donation, including amount.

I cannot ship these until mid-July at the earliest. So if you request one, please be patient. (It takes me about six hours to sew each, and I need to save a bit to cover shipping.)

If anyone would like a copy of the pattern, let me know! That's totally free (no donation necessary).

Message me with any questions. Thank you! And remember...

[tezzbot]

now I'm curious, what other opinions abt the dub do you have 👀👀👀 me and my friends think karamatsu sounds like markiplier

RAY CHASE BESTIE I AM SO SORRY but no youre rightJKGHFJGH

THIS GOT LONG IM PUTTING A READMORE

i do actually really really like Ray Chase as kara but the way that Nakamura pitches his voice down for him and then when something karamatsu isnt like. prepared for or whatever happens he goes back up into his regular vocal range or sometimes a bit higher really adds to karamatsu's whole. everything HJGKHFJGH LIKE his whole identity pretty much IS performance so even his voice being part of his front is so fun to me, Ray Chase's voice feels so naturally deep and smooth that its like. his voice is Too Cool for kara yknow like his voice being Actually cool? karamatsu fucking wishes JHKGJFGHD BUT i do think he is one of the better choices that the casting directors made compared to the rest of the brothers

(AGAIN NOT SHITTING ON THESE EXTREMELY PROLIFIC AND TALENTED VA'S this is just my opinion of them as the ososan characters)

like i said before i have Absolutely zero qualms with Max Mittelman as Totty literally thats a match made in heaven I think he was perfect for the role n absolutely killed it hes so funny and from what ive seen the writers actually gave him so many good lines big ups for todo likers

Kyle McCarley as Ichimatsu i honestly havent seen much of his performance but god did he put is whole pussy into the one episode where he INSISTS they have to respect each other, hes honestly really really good at maintaining the monotone voice while also conveying a lot of emotion through his voice its pretty impressive that he can do the yellingscreaming while keeping that up, Fukuyama Jun's like. jump from monotone to YEEEAAGHHK when ichimatsu is At His Limit is really really funny so i think that these two are pretty much on par with each other while putting their own spin on how the character . i dont know. expresses himself i guess. poggers :thumbs up emoji i cant use cus im typing on desktop:

in a ranking id prob put Ray's kara here but i already did him so. just. in case u wanted to know this is where he goes to me lmfao hes pretty on par with Kyle's ichimatsu to me tbh

Billy Kametz as Osomatsu honestly worked pretty well osomatsu is the most some guy ever and when u listen its like. a little over the top(obv bc its an anime dub) but its definitely a voice youd hear and go yeah ive probably walked past someone what talks like that, again Great delivery on some lines, he does sound a lot less SillyGoofy #girl... frat bro vibes in there tbh But i mean if he was american i guess he kinda would be huh GHJFGHDF he kinda lost how cheeky he sounds in jp also like there are moments but for the most part :( also the way they wrote him (again i havent seen much but from what i Have seen) he doesnt have the same I Love My Little Brothers energy idk how to describe it they all feel like they hate each other more rghjbhjgh

Sean Chiplock ouygugh im so sorry king but also not it for Choromatsu...... casting directors, voice directors, whoever else is involved in the process, if youre gonna cast around your initial reactions to how the characters are why doesnt he sound like a fuckin nerd!!! i get that hes initally played as a Straight Man but you didnt have to Just Some Dude him make him sound like the loser he is!! even like a little nasally! i also think he sounds a little too much like Billy's Osomatsu, (which again not the va's faults i feel its a voice direction issue) when they talk at the same time its kinda hard to tell em apart which might be on me for not watching enough and getting used to it but... sorrie... no from me

Michael Sinterniklaas i have so much repect for you but.... i already said in that other post, the voice they okayed..... everything he was made to say....... no. thats not jyushimatsu. that fuckin. companion character in some fantasy anime ass voice, his whole deal in the dub is too childish imo and i get why that was their first impression but oough his character suffers so so much for it moreso than any of the others.... they massacred my guy..... and this is absolutely not a dig at Michael, ive seen his other work hes incredibly talented, just everything they got him to do as jyushimatsu makes me take critical damage in real life my hp bar drops so so much

Also i really like Cassandra Lee Morris as Totoko but I feel like she doesnt capture the flip between teehee totoko chwwaaannn and KILL KILL KILL voices that Aya Endou manages, he voice is very cutesy, but i feel like she doesnt sound mad enough when totoko gets pissed WHERE IS YOUR ANGER? YOUR RAGE??? RISE RISE RISE RISE RI

also also Keith Silverstein as iyami is honestly really good i didnt really know what to expect but i feel like hes p spot on, idk how iyami-likers feel abt him though lol ask telly or sth HJGHJ

SORRY this got long but i probably was never gonna be happy with the dub, im not gonna get too much into the writing in the localisation but ough. it is Just a comedy show to the dub writers and i can respect that, but the show means a lot to people Because of the characters and how they clearly run deeper than they appear thats a huge part of the appeal for ososan imo and i feel like a lot was lost in the translation. But! it can be pretty funny sometimes and thats all it rlly needs to be, funny haha penis anime

im gonna try and give the dub another shot, ill do me best to grit n bear through it GHJFG

[skellebonez]

Why Worry At All?

I had so much trouble writing certain parts of this out for some reason, which makes no sense to me because I chose to write this on my own without a prompt. But I finally nailed out the in between parts that were giving me trouble! So... Billy Kametz can sing, huh?

Xiaotian knew what they were hearing. They knew it!

They'd heard Xiaojiao before and she wasn't that deep. They'd never heard Sandy but he had to sound much deeper if he could. Tang and Pigsy were out of the question, Tang couldn’t hold a tune to save his life and Pigsy never did more than hum at a much different octave. It couldn't have been Wukong, he'd still been asleep from overexerting himself in their last fight.

So that only left Macaque as the one who could have been singing outside the med bay door.

“But then I guess we know there’s blame to share... and none of it seems to matter anymore...”

It was such a soft tune, something that Xiaotian barely recognized from a video online he watched long ago. Maybe something Xiaojiao had shown him. Something soft and gentle, which made no sense given the possible culprit. Or the fact he heard it being sing just outside his mentor’s room while he was checking on him. But he was hearing it through the door nonetheless. Almost whisper like in how soft it was, it was too weak to have been heard belted from a distance, and muttered almost a bit off tune. That only left it being from someone right outside the door. But why not just come inside?

Unless the singer, who again Xiaotian was certain was Macaque, didn’t want anyone- even Sun Wukong- to know it was them who was singing and they didn’t realize that anyone was in the room with the power drained immortal.

So, like anyone who heard a mysterious singing voice would do, they pulled out their phone and started recording.

The song only lasted for another few seconds before silence, and then the almost deafening in comparison sound of running footsteps.

And as Xiaotian looked down at the recording on the phone, less than even 20 seconds in length, they were struck by a realization.

“... I can use this.”

~

“Well well well,” Macaque said with a chuckle, turning to face the person who joined him on the deck of the self piloting drone ship. Just where they knew he would be at this hour of the morning. “Didn’t take you for a morning person, kid.”

“I’m not,” Xiaotian grumbled, hair down and unkempt and clearly barely brushed just to keep it out of their face. "But I wanted to check on Wukong after what happened yesterday.”

This made the other’s fur stand up and his tail tense, though whether this was because he realized what Xiaotian meant or of it brought his mind back to the fight of the day prior they couldn’t tell. The fight that, for some reason, Macaque left himself vulnerable during. That left him wiped out and barely able to move out of the way of an oncoming attack. That make Sun Wukong rush in and save him much to the surprise of everyone involved, Macaque himself included.

The fight that Xiaotian was beginning to think was going to change a lot more than just knowing the de-powered duo’s limits.

“You’re going to be honest with me for once.” they proposed, joining the immortal monkey at the guard railing he casually leaned against.

“What makes you think I’m going tell you anything?” Macaque asked, chuckling boastfully and smirking that damn smug smirk he’d been wearing almost every minute since he had been taken onto the ship.

The longer Xiaotian saw it the faker it seemed to be.

“Oh, I dunno... maybe this?” They rebutted, pulling out their phone and hitting play on the open audio file they had pulled up long before the conversation, and they watched with their own smirk as a look of surprise and then horror and then something akin to “resigned but impressed” flashed on the ancient demon’s face.

After hearing the other speak there was no doubt that the two voices were identical now.

“Qi Xiaotian,” Macaque said, an almost cat like smirk gracing his face. This one seemed slightly more honest than the last one. “I didn’t take you for a blackmailer. Maybe I did have an influence on you after all.”

“Why were you singing this outside Wukong’s room?” Xiaotian asked, not in the mood for playing the other’s games this early in the morning. “Why were you trying to hide it? Why did you not realize I was in there? And...” He gestured to his phone, the soft gentle sounds of an almost uncharacteristically sweet song playing through his speakers. “What the hell is this song!?”

“Alright alright,” Macaque said, holding up his hands before he leaned forward on the railing. “No need to give the the third degree, great hero. It’s just a song I heard online.”

“You know how to use the internet?”

Turning his head, Macaque leveled the other with a very over exaggerated wilting gaze of disbelief. “I am honestly offended you’d think I wouldn’t learn how to.”

The tone of voice he had did not give the impression that Macaque even gave a shit, but Xiaotian muttered an apology regardless, to which the other simply laughed at.

“There’s this guy... Bill something? Kinds sounds like me, you know. Found him by chance one day and just kinda looked for all his songs and memorized them a long time ago out of boredom.” He shrugged, a distant far off look on his face. “Almost considered just being a copy cat voice for him once, way before I found out where our great King was, but I never followed through with that. Shame, though, knowing I’m on par with Broadway. Probably could have snagged a pretty decent amount of yuan from desperate fans. Don’t really have much use for money, though so eh.”

He shrugged, and for once he sounded... honest. Just honest.

“I wasn’t really trying to hide it, not from you anyway. Just... didn’t wanna deal with Wukong waking up and hearing me sing for the first time after. Ya know.” He waved his hand with another shrug. “History and all that. It was just a moment I had with myself, nothing more.”

Xiaotian took particular note that he avoided one particular question.

“You’re awful open about all this stuff,” the Monkie Kid mused, the two of them watching the horizon slowly move under the drone ship as the sun rise continued. Everyone else would be getting up soon enough. “Even for blackmail.”

“It’s not really effective blackmail,” Macaque admitted after a moment, tail lazily swishing behind him. “Not content wise, anyway. I was bound to be heard eventually no matter how much I hid. Think of this as more a... reward for you being able to catch me unaware. Take a lot of skill to do that with my ears.”

“I know most of your powers are gone too,” Xiaotian said bluntly, dropping the real piece of information he was here to hold over the other’s head out in the open, and that got Macaque to freeze instantly. “Not like ours are but... I dunno. I didn’t really think that far ahead. But if you still had most of them we wouldn’t be talking right now. You ran away instead of just whooshing into the shadows I know were in the hall. You’ve been wearing earplugs since we let you stay, I saw Sandy give them to you and you’re even wearing them right now, but even with your hearing dulled you would have been able to know I was in that room. You’ve been walking through doors instead of just vanishing. I don’t think I’d seem you walk through one except for at the shadow play before last week, and that was obviously to get my attention. I don’t think I’ve seen you make a clone or transform either, or manipulate a single shadow. Why not flaunt your powers over us, knowing we don’t have ours since you’ve made a point to annoy us about our lost abilities, unless you don’t have yours too?”

The elder said nothing, only growled and glowered out at the horizon before letting out a deep sigh.

“You really are a good kid,” he said with a humorless chuckle. “Smart, too, when actually you put your mind to stuff. But you’re only half right.”

“What do you mean?” Xiaotian asked in shock, amazed that the other was even still admitting to anything point blank at this point.

“I still have all my powers, it’s just... Not a good idea for me to use them too much,” he said vaguely, shrugging his shoulders and turning to walk away from the young man in a way that clearly indicated this line of conversation was over with. “I know you can keep a secret, kid, so do me a favor. Keep quiet about this.”

That same humorless chuckle, the one the young man now realized was more common from the demon’s mouth than not, sounded as he stepped into the forming shadows of the driver’s post from the rising sun and seemed to fall and melt into the floor in an instant.

Xiaotian couldn’t help the flinch that ran through their body at the implications of that final sentence. His training of Xiaotian. The second meeting. The Calabash.

The White Bone Spirit...

“Asshole,” Xiaotian muttered under their breathe, taking the door instead.

~

The very first thing Xiaotian was greeted with when they entered the communal kitchen was low and muttered but still the less than whispered tune of a song by a pop punk bank from overseas.

“Why do we worry at aaaaall,” Macaque sang just loud enough for everyone around him to hear, the baffled and in some cased impressed faces of everyone (barring the presumably still resting Wukong) looking in his direction as he seemingly ignored them to prepare his own fruit based breakfast. “Why, just tell me why do we worry? When worries never happen tell me why, why worry at all?”

When Macaque turned to look at Xiaotian he smirked almost playfully, winking at him.

And the only thing that ran through Xiaotian’s head was “there goes half of my blackmail... asshole.”

Though... when he looked closer...

Macaque seemed oddly tired.

Did he have the dark bags under his eyes during their conversation before?

[ultraericthered]

Pokemon English Voice Compare/Rank, Rivals

In which I rank the English dub voice actors of Pokemon characters from strongest to weakest, and sometimes throw in my 2 cents of who I think would be solid casting choices. This one is for rivals.

BLUE: 1. James Carter Cathcart - Voice of Gary Oak in the main anime. Look, I just have to put this one first, it’s GARY MOTHERFUCKING OAK. Plus it just fits the original Gen 1 character way too well. Smug and insufferably snotty when he’s a jerk, but more amiable when he mellows out without ever quite losing the defining cockiness. 2. Lucien Dodge - Voice of Blue in Pokemon Origins. Lucien just totally nails Blue. The natural tone of his voice and his every vocal inflection carries across a better-than-thou jackass characterization, and his turn towards humility in the final act is convincingly played. 3. Billy Kametz & Henry Mason - Voice(s) of Blue in Pokemon Masters. If we could take the voice that Lucien Dodge gives Blue and combine it with the more rough delivery of Erik Kimerer, it would pretty much be the late Billy Kametz’s take on Blue, which is emulated by Henry Mason following Billy’s unfortunate passing. Not one of their strongest roles, but definitely suitable for Blue. 4. Erik Scott Kimerer - Voice of Blue in Pokemon Generations. He gets the arrogance down pat, but his voice just doesn’t really fit Blue the way the others do. It’s just Ryuji Takasu if he was an asshole. FANCAST OPTION: Billy Bob Thompson. Not only has he provven he can flawlessly imitate James Carter Cathcart, but even his awful Pokemon Trainer voice sounds more Gary/Blue than it does Red!

GREEN: 1. Kate Bristol - Voice of Leaf in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. With only a handful of lines, Kate fits Green/Leaf’s character like a glove.

2. Michelle Marie - Voice of Leaf in Pokemon Masters EX. How she played the role initially left something to be desired, sounding pretty generic and overly child-like, but her return as Sygna Suit Leaf delivered so much improvement that she’s as great as Kate Bristol! 3. Cristina Vee - Voice of Green in Pokemon Evolutions. Cristina never really does a bad job in a Pokemon role and this is no exception, but the casting of her in this role just feels off. It’s just the typical Cristina Vee girl voice acting with no real substance to it.  FANCAST OPTION(S) - Kira Buckland probably should’ve been cast as Green in the latter instead of Cristina Vee. But ideally, I’d go for Lisa Kay Jennings. Her work in Miraculous has shown she can play the untrustworthy, sneaky, sly-as-a-fox type of girl really well.

SILVER: 1. Joe Zieja - Voice of Silver in Pokemon Masters EX. What really can be said other than he plays the part perfectly? 2. Lucien Dodge - Voice of Silver in Pokemon Generations. Lucien’s acting in this role was excellent, but the voice itself isn’t that much different from his Blue, and it fit Blue much better. 

FANCAST OPTION(S) - Had Silver got to be in the main anime in a speaking role, Anthony Salerno would be the guy to voice him. And like with Blue, Billy Bob Thompson could voice a great Silver as well - his voice as Shamus in Black & White is what shows that.

BRENDAN: 1. Aleks Le - Voice of Brendan in Pokemon Masters. The vocal pitch and delivery he does for Brendan make him an ideal fit for the role. 2. Unknown VA - Voice of Brendan in the animated trailer for Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire. Generic, forgettable, not much a performance.

MAY: 1. Veronica Taylor - Voice of May in the main anime prior to the Battle Frontier season. Casting the same VA as Ash in the role of May was a big risk but boy did it ever pay off since Veronica’s May is insanely charming and adorable, nailing every aspect of May’s character. 2. Deneen Melody - Voice of May in Pokemon Masters EX. Like how Aleks Le nailed the OR/AS version of Brendan, Deneen totally nails the OR/AS version of May, sounding closer to Veronica Taylor in spirit without having to do a straight up impression of her May. 3. Michelle Knotz - Voice of May in the main anime for the Battle Frontier and Diamond & Pearl: Battle Dimension seasons. She’s good at imitating Rachael Lillis, but not so much Veronica Taylor. Her delivery was fine, but Veronica’s voice is just one of a kind and she couldn���t replicate it, plus she just sounds naturally more mature. 4. Unknown VA - Voice of May in the animated trailer for Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire. Generic, forgettable, not much a performance.

BARRY: 1. Jamie McGonnigal - Voice of Barry in the main anime. While he sounded too flat and low-voiced at first, by the time of the Twinleaf Festival he was just going all out with nailing Barry’s personality and giving the perfect manic delivery for his “I’LL FINE YOU!” outbursts. 2. Erik Scott Kimerer - Voice of Barry in Pokemon Masters. Going outside his usual range, he gives a surprisingly spot on, properly energized vocal performance, at times nearly measuring up to Jamie. 3. Connor Ludovice - Voice of Barry in Pokemon Evolutions. Very weak casting and weak performance, which really hurts the character since the short he appears in is literally centered around him. FANCAST OPTION - Zach Aguilar could’ve also been cast as Barry and nailed it. His more screechy, frantic and bombastic moments as Nikkaidou from March Comes In Like A Lion could carry this role.

CHEREN: 1. Landon McDonald - Voice of Cheren in Pokemon Masters. While some of his line delivery would fit better with BW Cheren than the B2W2 Cheren that he’s playing, his voice and tone are dead on for how Cheren ought to sound. Smart alecky but not overly arrogant. 2. Todd Haberkorn - Voice of Cheren in the main anime. This was as ideal casting as you could get for Cheren. His voice and Landon’s voice sound quite alike. He really only gets second place here due to his material; I did not care for the Cheren he was playing at all. 3. Jason Griffith - Voice of Cheren in the animated trailer for Black 2/White 2. Oh dear, what were they thinking with this one? This voice doesn’t suit Cheren whatsoever. It’s like you’re expecting Ienzo but get Zexion, as in Vince Corazza’s horribly awkward sounding Zexion! FANCAST OPTION - Darren Dunstan. His Kaz Kalinkaz in Chaotic was basically a dead ringer for Landon and Todd as Cheren anyway.

BIANCA: 1. Erica Schroeder - Voice of Bianca in the main anime. She doesn’t exactly sound like how a girl Bianca’s age should, but the flighty, peppy delivery and energy in her performance really sells her as the character despite this. It’s the closest to an ideal Bianca that we got. 2. Erika Harlacher - Voice of Bianca in Pokemon Masters EX. I think she needed less Eileen Stevens and more Erica Schroeder in her delivery. Otherwise she does very well, but something’s just a bit off. 3. Eileen Stevens - Voice of Bianca in the animated trailer for Black2/White 2. A few lines, but similar to Erika Harlacher’s late take. FANCAST OPTION(S) - Jennifer Cody would be the perfect Bianca if they were able to nab her to do the role, but if not, then I’d cast Kate Higgins, with a voice like Mimi Tachikawa in Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna or Serra in Fire Emblem Heroes.

HUGH: 1. Stephen Fu - Voice of Hugh in Pokemon Masters EX. Ideal casting. He’s got the voice, the strength, and above all, the RAGE! 2. Sean Schemmel - Voice of Hugh in the animated trailer for Black2/White 2. It’s just Goku, and it really doesn’t match with Hugh.

SERENA: 1. Havan Paschall - Voice of Serena in the main anime. I don’t really care for the anime’s Serena and she is a vastly different character from Serena of the games, but Havan Paschall never did a poor job in voice acting her, giving her the right sounding voice and some stellar emotional delivery. She’d no doubt kill it with better material. 2. Jackie Lastra - Voice of Serena in Pokemon Masters. Her voice is just as good a fit for the role as Havan’s, but I think her delivery is off for the most part, as I’d prefer Gameverse Serena to sound more refined and matured as opposed to “generic perky young heroine.”

HAU: 1. Neo Chihi - Voice of Hau in the main anime. A young nonbinary VA born in Japan, they’ve not done much notable work yet they hit the bullseye with Hau’s voice - young but not too young, and easygoing. 2. Laura Stahl - Voice of Hau in Pokemon Masters. Oof. The one indisputable miscast in the entire game. There had to have been a more male-sounding VA who could’ve fit Hau - a voice actress had no business being cast and making Hau sound younger than he is. FANCAST OPTION(S) - Jack Dylan Grazer. He lives in LA and does voice acting there, would it not be awesome if he got cast as Hau?

GLADION: 1. Alan Lee - Voice of Gladion in Pokemon Masters EX. He nailed it. 2. Eddy Lee - Voice of Gladion in the main anime. Same last name as the above, and almost just as good were it not for the fact that his voice is notably deeper and grungier than Alan’s more natural take.

HOP: 1. Vargus Mason - Voice of Hop in Pokemon Masters EX. It’s a stand-up comedian (with voice acting experience, though) putting on a high voice with an obviously fake British accent. How is it that this ends up sounding EXACTLY how I always pictured Hop to sound?

2. AJ Beckles - Voice of Hop in Pokemon Journeys. I’d had him as a fancast option and said “this is the sort of role that up-and-coming AJ Beckles would just thrive at.” Then they went and cast him, and guess what? He thrived at it! Really made the most of Hop’s time. 3. Adriel Varlack - Voice of Hop in Pokemon Evolutions. Barely said much of anything in the first short, which is a shame since he sounds alright and probably could’ve delivered with some more material. 4. Griffin Puatu - Voice of Hop in Pokemon: Twilight Wings. Uh, no. This voice for Hop doesn’t work. Way too forced and actually a bit deeper than Leon’s voice. They got the casting ass-backwards here! FANCAST OPTION(S) - Ogie Banks could do a similarly perfect job as Vargus Mason if Bang Zoom had gotten him again. 

BEDE: 1. Beau Bridgland - Voice of Bede in Pokemon Masters EX. Not only can he pull off young characters, but he actually is British, meaning his accent is authentic! There could’ve been no casting more perfect. 2. Brandon James Winckler - Voice of Bede in Pokemon: Twilight Wings. His brief material did him no favors. Bland, generic, ill-fitting.

MARNIE: 1. Cristina Vee - Voice of Marnie in Pokemon Masters EX. Marnie is a Girly Girl with a Tomboy streak trying to come across as more of a competitive hardass punk than she really is at heart, and the voice acting from Cristina Vee really gets that across. Plus, that accent! 2. Hayden Daviau - Voice of Marnie in the main anime. Hayden voiced a reserved, antisocial but nice girl unable to smile in Love Live! Nijigasaki School Idol Club, and she does just as great here. 3. Dawn M. Bennett - Voice of Marnie in Pokemon: Twilight Wings. Her brief material did her no favors. Bland, generic, ill-fitting.

NEMONA:

1. Yolis Arroyo - Voice of Nemona in Pokemon Horizons.

2.Olivia Vidas - Voice of Nemona in Pokemon: Paldean Winds. 

3. Cristina Milizia - Voice of Nemona in Pokemon Masters EX.

FANCAST OPTION - Michelle Rojas

[agent-cupcake]

Do you have favs among the english dub for three houses? Besides the obvious, of course.

YES

Favorites~

Alejandro Saab as Yuri: Perfect, there's basically no other word I could use to describe as accurately how effective his voice and performance were in this role. He shifts from aloof, sensual, cool, witty, and emotional without it feeling awkward. The way he talks under his breath or just casually pokes fun at people is so realistic and charming it doesn't even feel scripted. It's a shame there's not more of him, I'd have loved to see this role expanded specifically to get into the different aspects of Yuri's character that Saab delivered so pitch perfectly. I also just adore taking a very feminine-looking man and giving him this sexy masculine voice. The contrast of being both feminine and masculine is such a fun trait of Yuri's that is usually skewed towards one or the other, but he goes total Jia Baoyu and that's how it is. Love it.

Lucien Dodge as Felix: He fuels my voice kink. Don't get me wrong, Hackney's Dimitri does too, but Saab and Dodge's voices just hit, you know? Like, as far as raw... attractiveness(?) Yuri and Felix are the clear winners. And I love Dodge's performance too. The force of his scorn and disgust is genuinely biting and Dodge does a wonderful job of the sharp, brittle way Felix clings to his beliefs because he needs them to be true. And there's also this dorkiness that is so charming. It really sells him as an edgelord who says things not because they're actually cool, but because he thinks they're cool and that's who he needs to be in order to convince other people as well as himself of his unwavering strength. And, at the same time, he's oblivious and awkward. There are a lot of instances where Felix is cool and a lot where he is a dweeb and Dodge performed both of those really well.

Joe Zieja as Claude: Obvious. He's only going here because I had to remind everyone of my voice kink first and foremost. Zieja is really fun as well. Wholesome dad core. I mentioned that I really like Toshiyuki Toyonaga's Claude too which is true but Zieja gives him this personable charm that makes him both incredibly effective at sneakiness and an affable friendly facade which is exactly what he needs. Overall, I'd say he tends a little more towards dorky? But I also really like that interpretation of Claude, he's a very eclectic mix of intelligent, kind, disrespectful, funny, and laid-back (or pretending to be) that makes it easy to believe he's this charismatic mastermind that makes a game of balancing politics. It's really fun early game because he's got a "you can trust me :)" voice while everything else kinda hints that you can't.

Joe Brogie as Sylvain: Listen. Look up Joe Brogie. He's on Instagram and did some anime impulse things a while back on youtube. Like, that's not why I'm enthralled by his performance as Sylvain but it helps. Anyway. Sylvain is both a fuck boy and a bro and Brogie captures both really well. He's another that feels really natural, like it's just a conversation with someone. Except for his terrible, terrible pickup lines but the schmoozy asshole way he delivers those is great. Brogie, in my opinion, makes Sylvain really likable in places where he's really not and is convincing with the emotional beats. The way he tells the off-color jokes deserves a mention as well.

Billy Kametz as Ferdinand: One time I was hanging out in a stream of his and my friend gifted me whatever it is that your name is on the screen and he said it and some anon messaged me after asking if it was me. That is, no joke, the height of my career. Anyway. He's great! I love his Disney prince voice and have watched the 2016 Aladdin stage show more than once because I am cringy. Ferdinand is just a Disney prince because of Billy Kametz and it makes me unreasonably happy. As far as favorite sounding voice, just the way they sound, Billy Kametz (and Ferdinand by extension) is definitely is my number one.

Honorable Mentions~

Robbie Daymond as Hubert: Sexy laugh + I like it a lot when he threatens people. Like, he did a really good job but also that.

Chris Patton as Linhardt: The best thing about Linhardt, probably. His sass is everything.

Allegra Clark as Shamir and Dorothea: Allegra Clark is wonderful and her work for both ladies is over half of the reason I like them.

Kirsten Day as Constance: HER LAUGH! She sounds like Barbie and I love it so much, Constance von Nuvelle Supremacy.

Mark Whitten as Seteth: The battle at Garreg Mach if you kill Flayn. I don't have a link but if you know you know and if you don't, look it up.

I know there are others I enjoy but these are my faves off the top of my head. I think a lot of the voice actors gave fantastic performances and I applaud their work!

[houseaegir]

Thoughts on Ferdinand’s contrasting character arcs in CF vs other routes? 👀

Ah, jeeze, I’m not sure I have anything new to add? People more eloquent and thoughtful than me have already written about this, but I shall do my best

He’s certainly at his lowest in non CF routes, perfectly encapsulated by his unique dialogue with Hubert in Enbarr “It does not matter what I think, those are my orders.” But I also find the preceding line extremely interesting, where even now Ferdinand wants Edelgard to leave and live on rather than stay and fight a losing battle to the death. I find it hard to believe Ferdinand’s orders are anything but “take the capital and the palace and kill/capture the Emperor”, so in a way he’s defying orders by urging Hubert to take Edelgard and retreat. But then Billy Kametz does such a good job of making Ferdinand sound so dead inside for those two lines and it breaks my heart, especially when Hubert is still being his typical dramatic self. (I am curious about the original Japanese script for those lines, since the localization flubbed so much around Edelgard I can’t trust these lines to be a completely accurate translation :/)

As much as I dislike the Edelgard+Ferdinand support chain for being totally meh in execution, their B and A supports are, I think, integral to Ferdinand’s CF character arc. He needs Edelgard to kick his ass so he can finally focus on something other than trying to outdo her. And he needs her to acknowledge his contribution and also state plainly that she values him as a friend regardless of his usefulness. Because someone’s got to. I don’t think anyone else ever actually says to Ferdinand’s face that they care about him for him and not just what he can do for them. (Side note: I can’t bring myself to like Hilda/Ferdinand as presented in the game. They’re kind of terrible for each other, with Ferdinand giving in and doing things for her and enabling her laziness, and Hilda seeming to only like him because he’s so easy to convince to do her work for her. The Hilda+Ferdinand support chain is the antithesis of the Edelgard+Ferdinand chain, rather fittingly seeing as they can’t coexist on the same route.)

There’s also the fact that Ferdinand is never abandoned in CF. When recruited, he spends the five years of the war on his own, with no one from the academy around to help. While in CF he’s always part of the BESF, he has a place among his friends for the whole five years and is never left adrift without a support network. (side note #2: When the heck is the BESF even formed? Edelgard comes up with the name in a cutscene shortly before the invasion of Garreg Mach at the end of WC, but then in the CF war phase everyone’s personal history says “1185: Reassigned to Garreg Mach when the Black Eagle Strike Force is formed.” So did Edelgard wait 5 years to actually put the name to use or??? This isn’t super relevant to Ferdinand’s character development, but I was referencing FEDataMine bc my memory is shit and getting confused.)

This is a rambly mess and I think I made about 0.5 of the points I was trying to make. I’m gonna refine this tomorrow and make the Edelgard vs Hilda supports thing my thesis

[natsspammityspamspamham]

Fire Emblem Three Houses (ENG vs JPN) - Opinion

This is just an opinion post for which I prefer. I have 650 hours and counting on the game, so I’ve had time to listen to a bit of both. These are the voices I prefer. I can’t say for sure which voice or dub is better. Overall, they’re both pretty solid. 

Byleth (Male): Yūsuke Kobayashi | Zach Aguilar I feel like Kobayashi’s voice fits better. I just didn’t like Zach’s interpretation for Byleth or Tanjiro. 

Byleth (Female) Shizuka Ito | Jeannie Tirado This one is more of a preference. 

Edelgard: Ai Kakuma | Tara Platt Again, I feel like this is more of a preference. I just feel like Tara Platt doesn’t sound like a teenager either. Ai Kakuma gives her more of a softer and more “girly” vibe if that makes sense?

Dimitri Kaito Ishikawa | Chris Hackney Chris is funny with Dimitri’s character. He goes from the whole “don’t eat the weeds” to the emotional scenes that are great, and as much as I really, really, really like Ishikawa’s dialogue as well, I didn’t get the nuance from the script of the Japanese version. 

Claude Toshiyuki Toyonaga | Joe Zieja This one is a tie. I couldn’t choose. I know everyone prefers Joe because he’s very involved with the fandom, but Toshi is really good too. If it makes sense, he gives Claude more of a romantic vibe? He seems a lot more flirtatious and suave in Japanese, but I will admit that there’s more nuance in the English script. Regardless, the confession scene feels way better in Japanese (Toshi does a lot of otome games so maybe it’s from that)

Hubert Katsuyuki Konishi | Robbie Daymond I don’t really like Hubert all that much, to begin with. Katsuyuki makes him sound less like a cartoon villain and more like an actual potential good guy to S-Support.

Dorothea Juri Nagatsuma | Allegra Clark When you have Dorothea and Mercedes on your team, you can only take so much “ara ara”. Allegra (not the allergy medication) also makes her sound a lot more natural. I personally didn’t notice the first time I played through that she was double-casted, but after a couple of times, I got tired of the whole “let’s hire one actor/actress to play more than one character!” 

Ferdinand Taito Ban | Billy Kametz Billy Kametz just won a Crunchyroll Award for his dubbing of Shield Hero, and I can definitely see that he’s really talented. He’s pretty prolific with his roles in other anime too like Cells at Work and Demon Slayer. Both of Ferdinand's voices are a good fit, but nothing beats the FE meme of “I am Ferdinand Von Aegir” 

Bernadetta Ayumi Tsuji | Erica Mendez I don’t really like either. You can open any dub out of a can, and Erica Mendez has a 50/50 shot of being there. Bernie’s JP voice is like a broken squeaky toy though, so Mendez just automatically wins. 

Caspar Satoru Murakami | Ben Diskin Besides double-casting (which I’m not a fan of), Ben just made Caspar sound like too much of a child even with the time skip. 

Petra Shizuka Ishigami | Faye Mata Petra’s English is probably a contributing factor. Localization does wonders.

Linhardt Shun Horie | Chris Patton You can also find Patton in a lot of other dubs. However, I just preferred Patton’s a bit more because it made him sound a bit more grown-up. Not to mention, some of his lines just fair better in English.

Dedue Hidenori Takahashi | Ben Lepley There’s such thing as making a voice a little too low, and after playing Crimson Flower, hearing the pain in Dedue’s voice after he loses his best friend is quite something.

Felix Yuichi Jose | Lucien Dodge Felix is a whiny brat, but I feel like Yuichi makes him feel like less of a whiny brat. 

Mercedes Yumiri Hanamori | Dorothy Elias-Fahn There was no competition. Yumiri’s voice is the absolute perfect fit for Mercedes. Elias-Fahn’s voice made her sound like a cartoon dinosaur.

Ashe Yūki Inoue | Shannon Mckain There’s a lot more character in Mckain’s voice. 

Annette Takako Tanaka | Abby Trott This is purely personal preference.

Sylvain Makoto Furukawa | Joe Brogie This one is a tie. I couldn’t choose. Joe Brogie does bring that “f-boi” vibe, but Sylvain’s confession scene in Japanese was really sweet while his English version was... passable. Furukawa’s got too much experience with those kinds of things. 

Ingrid Manaka Iwami | Brittany Cox She makes Ingrid sound so sweet, and her voice has so much more emotion and character compared to Cox’s version which sounds so flat at times. Also, her death line is infinitely better post-time skip in Japanese. 

Lorenz Hiroshi Watanabe | Ben Diskin Nobody likes Lorenz. 

Hilda Yūki Kuwahara | Salli Saffioti Again, there’s more nuance in the localized version. 

Raphael Takaki Otomari | Zachary Rice The amount of “himbo” energy stuffed into that dub is legendary. 

Lysithea Aoi Yūki | Janice Roman Roku Aoi Yuuki is a symbol in the seiyuu fandom because she does a lot of voices for little girls. 

Ignatz Shougo Yano | Christian La Monte They tried to do something with the JPN dub that didn’t quite work. They tried to make him sound much higher pre-time skip then made his voice hit puberty, and while I appreciate the authenticity and efforts put in, they couldn’t make it consistent so his voice was constantly going from high to low when exploring the monastery post-time skip. 

Marianne Sawako Hata | Xanthe Huynh I just prefer her more soft-toned voice. 

Leonie Sakura Nogawa | Ratana I don’t like Leonie that much really. 

Jeralt Akio Ōtsuka | David Lodge I like both, but Lodge is a better fit for the narrator too. 

Rhea Kikuko Inoue | Cherami Leigh I really like Cherami as a voice actress, but this feels like a great miscast. Her singing voice for Rhea isn’t great either, and her screams felt subpar at best. Kikuko Inoue really gave her that “wise old lady” vibe. 

Sothis Tomoyo Kurosawa | Cassandra Lee Morris I don’t really like Sothis. I still say that they could’ve made a better character than that. Her child voice is offputting too. 

Manuela Sachiko Kojima | Veronica Taylor No preference here because I never cared for her or ever really put her in combat. 

Hanneman Kenji Hamada | W. T. Falke Hamada’s voice was a bit too deep. Besides that, the same as Manuela. 

Catherine Chie Matsuura | Laura Post No preference here. 

Alois Manabu Sakamaki | Dave B. Mitchell His character is based on puns, so of course, English dubbing will prevail here. 

Seteth Takehito Koyasu | Mark P. Whitten Mark dubbed some fan lines, and his voice is much more distinctive and isn’t associated with any big-time characters yet (cough Dio). 

Flayn Yuko Ono | Deva Marie Gregory Yuko Ono’s voice is way too high. It rivals Bernadetta.

Jeritza Atsushi Imaruoka | Patrick Seitz Patrick did a great job directing this dub, but Jeritza sounds like he’s constantly about to yawn in the English version. 

Shamir Yurina Watanabe | Allegra Clark Their voices are extremely similar in quality. I just have a bit of bias, and I don’t like double-casting. 

Cyril Kengo Kawanishi | Griffin Burns I don’t like Cyril. Yuri Junya Enoki | Alejandro Saab Junya provides a really good voice for Yuri. It makes him sound even more like his character if that’s even possible. Junya gave much more of that trickster “Claude” kind of vibe. It’s hard to decipher, but despite being kind of similar, Junya wins by a landslide despite Saab providing a stellar dub. 

Balthus Subaru Kimura | Aaron Hedrick I think it’s because of the localized script. His voice is also a perfect fit for the character. 

Constance Sarah Emi Bridcutt | Kirsten Day I can’t take all the “OHOHOHOHO” laughing all the time. 

Hapi Sachika Misawa | Christine Marie Cabanos Hapi’s localized script is really down-to-earth and adds to her character more. 

[recentanimenews]

INTERVIEW: Persona 5 Royal Dub Actors Laura Post & Billy Kametz Steal Our Hearts

  Ahead of Persona 5 Royal’s release in the West, SEGA/Atlus threw an impressive event to hype up the release of the game. While I was there, I had a chance to sit down with Laura Post, who plays Kasumi, and Billy Kametz, who plays Maruki. Fans of THE PROMISED NEVERLAND’s dub will likely recognize Laura Post as Mama, and The Rising of the Shield Hero fans likely recognize Billy as the voice of Naofumi! No need to worry about the game's spoilers; we focused on the start of their voice acting journey and which RPGs are their faves. Read on to get the details, and then afterwards, check out our brief interview with Ari Advincula from SEGA/Atlus!

    Hello, and thank you for taking the time to talk with me today! Could you introduce yourselves for our readers?

Laura: I am Laura post, and I am the voice of Kasumi in Persona 5 Royal.

Billy: And I’m Billy Kametz, and I’m voicing Maruki in Persona 5 Royal.

So, Persona 5 Royal is almost here!

(Everyone cheers and rejoices!)

Could you tell us a bit about the characters you both play in Persona 5 Royal?

Laura: Kasumi is a transfer student to Shujin Academy, just like the protagonist, and she comes in right around the same time as the protagonist. She aspires to be a world-class gymnast. She’s really kind, very polite and passionate, and driven!

Billy: Maruki is the new school counselor brought in after the events that took place in Chapter 1 of the game. He’s a big ‘ol lovable goofball! He’s trying to fit in, he doesn’t do the best job all the time, but he just wants to talk about your feelings! (laughs)

Were either of you fans of Persona, or RPGs before working on this game? Do you have any particular favorites?

Laura: I like RPGs in general; Final Fantasy VIII is my favorite RPG of all time! But Persona 5 is a game I started playing before I played the role of Kasumi;  it was the first Persona game I’ve played, so it’s by default my favorite. Though I do know a lot about Persona 4, I’ve never actually played it.

Bill: It’s the same for me; I was actually introduced to the Persona series when 5 came out, and I grew to be a fan of that, so it’s also my favorite Persona game. I was a big fan of JRPGs growing up; Final Fantasy X is probably my favorite, and also, I’m a HUGE fan of the Tales games, so Tales of Symphonia is up there for me. Really good stuff! Love me some JPRGs!

All of those games are excellent! Tales of Symphonia? My favorite one; that’s my jam!

Billy: I knew I liked you for a reason!

(laughs) Why, thank you!

Alright, so how did you two get your start in voice acting? What drew you to that profession?

Laura: I have been interested in voice over since I was a kid. I realized that the same actor played Raphael from the Ninja Turtles and Mighty Max! I was sold on that profession for life, but I was so little, so I didn’t pursue voice overs until I was a teenager and I went to my first anime convention; there were a bunch of panels on voice overs and I was like, “That’s what I wanted to do when I was a little kid! I’m gonna go to all the panels, I’m gonna take notes, and I’m gonna try this out!” And right now I’m still trying it out!

Billy: You’re doing a great job!

Laura: Thanks! I’m glad you think so!

Billy: We actually have very similar stories! I’ve been wanting to be a voice actor ever since I was a kid, too. When I was watching Invader Zim, that’s when I realized “OhmyGOD, that’s Daggett Beaver! This is a job?! People are doing this and I wanna do that!” But also, I was a kid living in Pennsylvania, so I was like “okay, I guess I’ll just do theatre, that’s acting; this is doable.” So I did theatre for years, but it wasn’t until I got a job that brought me up to California, and I was like “ohmygosh, I can try to do voice overs now!”, so I started inhaling classes as soon as I got out here. And I’ve gotten to do some pretty cool stuff after all of that!

Both of you have done anime and game roles. Do you find one to be easier than the other?

Billy: Yes!

Laura: Yes, although I think our answers are going to be different here! (laugh) I actually find video games to be easier than anime, because you don’t have to worry about matching lip flaps most of the time. But it’s not a matter of “easier," it’s just a matter of “different.” I can’t say, “Oh, I prefer doing games over anime because it’s easier,” because I also really love doing anime, it’s just about the different experiences. I mean, doing original animation for broadcast is a totally different experience than either games or anime, so all of it is fun!

Billy: Yeah, I find that anime is easier for me; again, neither of them are easier, but with anime, you can hear the music, you can see the picture, you can hear what the Japanese voice actor is doing, and it immediately puts you in character of “okay, this is what I’m gonna do!” You get to practice the line one time through it so you’re right on track. But with video games, it’s a lot more work on your end; you need to make up exactly what’s going on in the scene, and again, you’ll have the director and the clients are there to kinda help you along, but you gotta really do more work of getting pictures in your head of “This is how far away I am from the person,” and “This is the tone that’s going on right now.” So it’s a little bit harder, I think, but it’s super rewarding when you’re done, and you’re like, “Man, I really accomplished something today!”

To wrap this up, I gotta ask: do either of you have a dream character you’d love to lend your voice to?

Billy and Laura: Oooohhhh…!

Laura: I do!

Let’s hear it!

Laura: I would love to play Barbara Gordon, whether she’s Batgirl, Oracle, or just the commissioner’s daughter, I don’t care, I just really want to play her just once! I know Kasumi’s a redhead, but Barbara Gordon is also my favorite redhead. I love her! I wanna play her just once!

What about you, Billy?

Billy: ...Anyone who ends up in Super Smash Bros.! (laughs) I just want to be a playable Smash character! (laughs)

An admirable goal! Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today! Do you have a message for our readers before we wrap up?

Billy: I’m super excited for everyone to check out Persona 5 Royal on March 31st, and I hope you all like the new characters. Really proud of this, and we hope you enjoy it.

Laura: Yes, I agree, I hope Kasumi is everybody’s new best girl! (laughs)

After finishing my chat with Laura and Billy, I got a chance to sit down with Ari Advincula, the communications manager for SEGA/Atlus. We were both pretty excited from trying out the playable demo of the game and all of the other activities going on at the event, so we focused on all the new goodies to come from Persona 5 Royal, and I even got to ask her the most challenging question ever right at the end!

  Could you detail a bit about what players can expect from Persona 5 Royal?

So Persona 5 Royal is a whole new Persona experience. It’s a whole new “heist”, as the Phantom Thieves would say! And I think what’s been really fun about working on this game and everyone else who’s been working on the game is how much everyone's like, “I love the original Persona 5, but I love Persona 5 Royal even MORE!” And for me, personally, when I went through Persona 5, Akechi was definitely one of my favorites, and to see that character be fleshed out to the point that I wanted to see as a fan in Persona 5 Royal. I mean, besides that, there’s so many situations that you’re gonna see all the original cast be in that gives you even more about their story and their journey as Phantom Thieves. I know there was one criticism that was like “there wasn’t enough screen time for some of the characters,” but now there’s even more content, and there’s even more time to spend with this awesome cast of characters. I mean, who doesn’t want to go back to the metaverse and conquer all those palaces again?! I just think it’s such a great window for people who are new to Persona 5 and for people who have already loved and played Persona 5 before, like the Sega team working on it!

Definitely! I’ve always found it interesting that ever since Persona 3, there’s been a Persona 3 FES, and then Persona 4 to Persona 4 Golden; I really like this concept of going back and revisiting the game’s world, but with way more added into it. 

Right! And Persona 3 also had P3P! What it is, especially for Hashino-san, the director behind Persona 5, this is the extended vision, the truly “golden vision” for Persona 5, as we like to say. It’s the perfect time to become a Phantom Thief and relive that world, and also get the full extent of that world, and there’s even MORE to come! I mean, there’s a GRAPPLING HOOK, that allows you to be more Phantom Thieve-y! If you’ve ever played any of the Sly Cooper games, you’ll be all “This is my jam! This is so awesome!” It really gives it that “thief” feeling to it. Along with that, there’s a new palace, there are new characters, Kasumi and Maruki, who fit right into the Persona world, almost like they were there to begin with, because they were introduced right from the start, it’s a very fluid character development that we got.

It sounds like everything a Persona 5 fan would love wrapped in a nice package for them to open! 

Yeah, for sure! It’s incredible for Persona fans all over.

SEGA/Atlus have really been knocking it out the park lately with Persona, Yakuza, the SEGA AGES releases, and several others. Many of these have strong fan support; do you think that plays into why they’ve been received so well lately?

I 150% think so! It’s all thanks to the fans all the time. That’s even the reason why we’re doing this event; for this media event we have fan sites and community members! The way I look at it, the small little Ari who was playing Persona 3 on a PS2, that same person is the person that is here today. I can say the same for people here today who have played Persona since the first game! So it’s always because of the community, and the developers and everyone who’s worked on the games feel that way. I can’t thank everyone enough; it’s been such a joy to work on this game just because of that, too, and compared to any other community that I’ve worked with, the Persona fans are the best!

They’re one of the most passionate fans, for sure! 

  Let’s finish up with a fun question: If you had a Persona, which one would it be?

Oh my gosh... (laughs) It’s really tough for me, because with each Persona game, I start to stick with one main Persona and use that one as I go on throughout the game. I have to be really corny and say Jack Frost, just because he’s super cute.

YES!! He’s adorable!!

He’s SO adorable! I remember at AX 2017 being the first one to line up at Atlus’ booth to buy the Jack Frost plushie because he’s so cute and that’s my jam! He’s Hee-Ho man! And only because it’s so iconic, I always make sure to fuse him in every Persona game, even in the Shin Megami Tensei games, if I can come across him.

The SEGA/Atlus team were a total blast to talk to; I really appreciated the time that Ari, Laura, and Billy gave me to talk about Persona 5 Royal and lots of other topics. If you’re curious about whether you should pick up Persona 5 Royal, check out Carlos’ review here, and prepare your heart to get stolen once again when the game releases later this month! 

What would YOUR Persona be? Have you ever considered becoming a voice actor? Let us know what you think in the comments! 

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Nicole is a frequent wordsmith for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[sophiescarlet]

my anime boston recap

i told a few people i’d write this, so here. warning, it’s long as fuck.

rebecca black - friday

while waiting for artists’ alley to open, i sat in a corner and watched people go by and saw a group cosplaying the main characters from the extremely underrecognized game the arcana, which was awesome and i totally would have asked for a picture but i’m way too shy. even though i’ve asked cosplayers for pictures before but i seem to have regressed in that sense...

i also saw (and this happened throughout the con) a bunch of hot, fit, really thin girls, which made me feel gay (as expected) but also really envious and sad and insecure about my body. cause i wish i looked more like them.

i also saw two girls cosplaying snow halation!honoka and kotori from love live, and the honoka had a giant honk nesoberi that i totally envy, and then right afterward a hate na heartbeat!eli and nozomi came around the corner and they were the coolest. i wish i’d had the guts to ask them for a picture too.

finally i went to artists’ alley and i got to buy a print from one of my favorite persona 5 fan artists but unfortunately she didn’t have the postcard set i wanted to buy. BUT right across was another fan artist whose stuff i really like so i bought a BUNCH of her prints - one of each of the p5 girls for me, and an extra makoto for my friend - and she came over to thank me and we chatted a little and it was nice. i am fucking determined to befriend some of these people and now at least one of them knows who i am.

i went to a panel on “fandom as coping” presented by a social worker which was really cool. she talked about how even though she’s a social worker, she still went through a severely suicidal period this past year and survived because of yuri on ice. i left partway through because then she turned it over to the audience to share our stories and i didn’t need to hear from a bunch of people talking about bad things that had happened to them.

the next thing i went to, after hanging around the vendors for a while, was tara platt’s (mitsuru and elizabeth from persona 3) q&a. she was really cool, and i actually managed to ask her a question, which was which one she preferred. (she said she can’t choose a favorite, but had more fun with elizabeth.)

i went to a presentation by sunrise, the studio that made love live among other things, but it was boring and i left early again because they were talking about gundam and other action stuff i don’t care about.

i’d planned on going to johnny yong bosch’s (makoto from free, kitamura from toradora, yu and adachi from p4) q&a, but it had a hella long line and it was obvious i wasn’t going to get in since the room wasn’t going to accommodate that many people. so i went over to a panel greg ayres (kaoru from ouran, nagisa from free, monokuma from the danganronpa anime) was doing on “it gets better.” come to find out he is openly bi! and is good friends with his ex who’s a trans woman and confronted her family about misgendering her! he is my new fav ngl and a far cry from hikaru’s va whom i met at tora-con a few years ago and was kind of an ego. it was a conversation sort of panel and we talked about a lot of stuff around queerness and bullying. i had to leave that one early too, but wished i could have stayed for the whole thing. also, there was a girl across the aisle from me who mentioned she was trans, and at one point i happened to catch her looking at me, and i think she was checking me out! sadly, i did not run into her again.

the reason i had to leave early was to get johnny’s autograph. he was really cool and i totes wish i could’ve gone to his q&a. since i don’t actually have any free! or toradora! or p4 merch, i had him sign my p3/p5 dancing game since it did at least come with p4 dancing as a free download. he took his daughter with him to the con which i find adorable though i have to wonder how bored she was sitting there for an hour and a half while he signed autographs.

katy perry - last friday night

at this point, i had a couple hours to kill, so i walked out to newbury comics in the hopes they’d have the bananarama vinyl reissues from the british record store day. they didn’t (though weirdly they did have the shakespears sister one), but they had kacey musgraves’ golden hour on sale, and i’ve been waffling on buying that for ages, so i finally snapped it up. then i went back to the mall where the con (sort of) was and got some godiva ice cream, which was even more overpriced than you’d expect but still very good.

so my last agenda item for the day was yuri lowenthal’s (makoto/minato from p3, yosuke from p4) q&a, which tara crashed because they’re married, which i love because it means that mitsuru is irl the canon waifu. once again i managed to ask a question, which was which p3 girl he’d like to have minato end up with, which made everyone laugh, and of course he said “i want to preserve my marriage, so either mitsuru or elizabeth.”

then i went home and felt like death.

i don’t know any songs that have “saturday morning” in the title

i took an uber to the con for saturday because the T was being replaced with a shuttle bus and i decided i’d rather pay $17 each way for a 15-minute trip than $2.50 each way for a 90-minute trip.

i went to a panel on “idols in anime” that was kind of interesting but i didn’t take much away from it, other than that i should maybe watch revue starlight. but then i went to a panel on “diversity in the magical girl genre” that was really cool. it was hosted by a queer latina woman and she talked about racial, gender, sexual, and ability diversity. it was interesting because she has a very negative view of yuuki yuuna, which i can certainly understand but don’t really share. but it was a great panel and i feel like i learned a lot. one neat idea she had was that what comes across as queerbaiting (or whatever-baiting) to western audiences can be really progressive representation in japan, and vice versa.

after that i went to another panel on “magical girl fashion” and literally got up and left because i couldn’t stand how wrong the presenter was.

i’d missed out both days on the free autograph passes for yuri and tara, so i went to their paid session, which to make a long story short was an absolute fucking disaster, and i ended up making a complaint, during which i cried in front of the con’s assistant director. so there’s something i can check off my bucket list. i also met the director, who came over to reassure me they were fixing things and said, “i keep saying i need a machete to take off people’s heads this year.” so obviously i immediately liked her! in the end, i did get their autographs (on the same p3d/p5d game) for fifty fucking dollars... i’d been expecting more like thirty. and they didn’t even personalize them. sad trombone noise. they were nice though.

then i rushed over to the free autographs and saw kara edwards (chihiro in the danganronpa anime) and had her autograph a wall scroll i’d bought from a vendor. i wish i could’ve gone to her q&a because she seemed sweet.

and right after THAT, i got in line for tara sands (a bunch of pokemon) and had her sign a manga volume i bought for my friend. she was also awesome and i really wish i could have gone to her q&a because we had this exchange:

me: this is for my friend who’s a huge bulbasaur fan

sands: oh, you’re such a good friend!

me: i know. and i won’t let them forget it.

sands: [laughs] that’s good! keep it up, i like your style!

i then went to greg’s q&a, which was fun. he mentioned that while recording the audio commentary for ouran, caitlin glass (haruhi) and todd haberkorn (hikaru) got really uncomfortable during one of the twincest scenes and started talking about anything else they could so they wouldn’t have to talk about the twincest, and in the commentary you can just hear greg laugh a little because he’d made himself laugh by thinking of saying “i just think it’s hot” but kept himself from saying it out loud. the hero we deserve tbh.

whigfield - saturday night (i actually don’t like that song btw)

at this point, it was time for the 18+ panels to start, so i went to one where yuri, tara platt, lisa ortiz (idk her), and billy kametz (same) did in-character readings of various scripts. they did a couple of star wars ones which obviously did nothing for me, except that tara did bb-8 in a christopher walken voice, which was fucking hysterical. the other one i remember was lisa doing a southern belle voice narrating the notebook, with yuri as sasuke (i think) as noah, and billy as lelouch (?) as ally. but the best one, of course, was the last one, which was the iocane powder scene from the princess bride, performed by yuri as spider-cop (iirc) as the sicilian and tara as elizabeth as westley. it was AMAZING.

then i went to greg’s 18+ panel where he recounted risqué stories like when his mom wanted to watch an anime where his character has anal sex. i remember it being hilarious but unfortunately don’t remember any specifics other than him affectionately calling his lawyer the C-word and a story about beating up an asshat in the o’hare airport after asshat broke a jigglypuff ornament his friend made him.

blondie - sunday girl

so having stayed out past 11:30 for greg’s panel the night before, and forgetting to take melatonin before bed... i actually couldn’t wake up sunday morning so didn’t end up going back to the con at all. which was really sad and disappointing as it meant i missed getting greg’s autograph, a panel on autism in anime fandom, and the voice actor roundtable panel, all of which i really wanted. so after finally getting up at 2:30pm i spent the rest of the day super depressed and mad at myself and just sad and disappointed.

the end.