[EVA] Misato's Voice Act

[Richard Fung]

On Sat, 11 Oct 1997, Basara the Executioner wrote:

> Richard Fung wrote:
> > 
> > First of all, I don't understand why you criticized and made fun
> > of Mitsuishi Kotono (Misato)'s voice acting skill just because her
> > previous role was Usagi (Sailor Moon).  Besides, her performance as SM was
> > superb, unless you're anti-SM then I can't argue.  Anyway, a good seiyuu
> > is supposed to be versatile, meaning able to do a wide range of
> > characters, read the post that says Hayashirbara Megumi's role??  So do
> > you happen to hate Rei too because she is Momiji in Blue Seed??
> > 
> > And to tell you the truth, it's extremely hard for one to decide, or
> > judge, a seiyuu's performance unless you're actually familiar with the
> > language being spoken, i.e. tone, expression, etc.  I'm rather
> > amused by  your ignorant comment on voice actors especially when you
> > stated your astonishment of Ogata-san being Shinji, it shows how little,
> > if at all, you know about voice-acting.


> Excuse me, but I've been a voice actor for some fan-made stuff, thank you 
> very much.  And I've been told first hand by a professional voice actor 
> how good or bad my voice was.  

You have to be told by someone whether another voice actor sounds good or
not?  And who's that professional voice-actor, someone who happens to hate
the original?  I think in most cases, I can decide by myself whether a
performance is done well or not.


> Some people's voices are just annoying.  
> And the Americans can't seem to compete with the Japanese' high-pitched 
> voice.  

If you are annoyed by the high pitched voices, then I suppose you hate
most of the female characters in Japanese anime then, deshou?



> That's why Usagi's dorky Japanese voice was changed to a 
> "Valley-Girl"-esque American voice.
>

Though I'm not a hard-core SM fan, I still like the way Mitsuishi Kotono
portrays Usagi and it's very appropiate.  When she does Misato she uses a
more normal voice and sounds very serious to depict a 29 year-old adult.
You said you hate her version of Usagi, right?  Do you mean that she
should use the same serious and mature tone to depict Usagi, a stereotyped
sailor-uniform wearing clumsy junior high student, as well?  And you
mean changing Usagi to a valley girl is inevitable just because of an
actor's inabiltiy to raise her voice?  I don't think that's that's a
convincing reason.  To be honest, I hate valley girls (No one happens to
like Alicia Silverstone, right).  I wish that Canada wouldn't have dubbed
SM to begin w/.  But many dub-fans in here are all faithful to Dic about
the series being brought here, so what can I say.  


Anyway, I'm not completely anti-dub. As I've said many many many times
before, if a dub is good, it's good, doesn't matter in what language like
many others have said.  Spanish, French,Italian, German, Chinese and Engs
can be dubbed well if a suitable cast is provided.  I won't say the
original cast is good just because it is in Japanese.  But Japanese
seiyuu, in fact, are more talented and more trained before they even enter
the field of voice-acting.  Most of the American dub is indeed torturing,
I wonder if the US dubbing-company producers just go out and  pick up
about anyone from the street?  Of course, there are a few exceptions, one
of the very few decent Eng. dubs that I can name is Ranma 1/2.  I'll have
to say I enjoy it to a certain extent because of the Canadian seiyuu
who played the boy-type Ranma, whose name I don't recall for the time
being.



> Although I'm waiting anxiously to see the rest of EVA, I'd hate to hear 
> what Misato sounds like Americanized.  Will the voice acting be 
> ludicrous, I wonder?  Will this great show be given a greater dubbing?
> 

Yes, I thought you said you like dub?  And now you're afraid of
hearing it Americanized, I don't get it.  For the ADV dub, I heard 
from my friends that Misato is also portrayed as a valley girl.  I would
very much like give the dub a chance, however, I only have the money to
buy one format of tapes.



> And lastly, I'm not anti-SM.  I'm against stupidity.  And no matter how 
> many times you play a serious person in voice-acting, that stupid show 
> you just done is going to be forever in your records.
> 

You think Usagi is stupid because of her high-pitched voice, then suit
yourself.  I think you're saying a voice-actor is marked as bad if s/he
ever plays a character that you don't like.  As I have already asked on my 
last post, Momiji (Ayanami Rei) from Blue Seed is somewhat like Usagi,
clumsy teenager sort, then I guess you hate Hayashibara Megumi, the most
popular Japanese female seiyuu, too based on you interpretation of
"stupidity leaving in records".




Rich (Shinomori Aoshi)
rfung at eden.rutgers.edu