Because I at least have to respect that aspect of Monkey D. Luffy. But seriously, I do have to give a lot of credit to voice actors, especially the ones who dub anime, it is a thankless underappreciated job and if I did it, I would live for conventions where fans make voice actors feel like rock stars. For one thing the job mostly consists of sitting in a recording studio, which is basically a closet with a microphone and watch cartoons desperately trying to match mouth flaps. It is incredibly important work in my opinion and I appreciate everyone who does it, their voices were in my head when I wrote 7th Moon and I really want the pros to work on the final project. Historically it's important to recognize how far anime dubbing has come, since the evolution of it is at the heart of the sub vs dub debate. I remember once when I was in college I joined the Anime Club where we watched anime in original Japanese with English subtitles, and once I suggested we switch to the English dub. The room went silent and the president simply said "There's the door." Now, that was over ten years ago, and I must stress, there was a much bigger difference back then, as opposed to now when English voice actors put forth real effort. There have been anime dubs for about as long as there has been anime, but up until the turn of the millenium, American importers did a crappy job because they were marketing it to kids and figured by the time we got old enough to have more discerning tastes, we would outgrow cartoons and this stuff wouldn't matter anyway. This worked until my generation, because of two major factors, video games and internet. First, video games are a whole new way to market cartoons to kids that added a new dimension the previous generation didn't have. We didn't just watch cartoons, we interacted in video games between episodes, and when we couldn't play video games(which was rare after Game Boy) we would play with plastic action figures. We would literally eat, drink and sleep our favorite shows because we got sponsored cereals, fruit snacks, crackers, fruit drinks and by the time we went to sleep we were dreaming about our favorite shows. We were a generation that thrived on the nostalgia and when we got internet the first thing we did was contact people from Japan and talk to them about our favorite video game/cartoon combos from their country. And the first thing our bilingual Japanese pen pals did was tell us how bad our imports were screwed up. Some infamous examples include Warriors of the Wind, a dub of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind that was edited so far beyond recognition that Ghibli issued a new rule that their films were not to be edited in the future, and Samurai Pizza Cats, dubbed so inaccurately that it's considered an entirely seperate show, and Robotech which was edited together from multiple anime, primarily Macross. As a result of the revelation that we got crap dubs, a black market of illegally imported fan-subs opened up over the internet-I'm not making that up, I first saw the Bardock Special as a fan-sub on VHS that my friend lent me. Yeah that's right, this was in the days of VHS and dial-up so we couldn't even get instant streaming online, so we had to wait for snail mail from overseas. Fans were desperate, but the market spoke and eventually the companies realized they needed to step up their game so now voice actors know they have to bring their A-game. I feel that most of them are, the only complaint I've really had since Samurai Pizza Cats was Luffy in One Piece-until I heard the original Japanese and found out the English dubbers were just trying to emulate the Japanese, affirming that the Americans are doing the best job they can. Among the best is Vic Mignogna, who I mention really only because I met him at Roc-Con last year and wanted to show this picture:
And as long as we're talking about conventions, I want to give a shout out to cosplayers, especially female cosplayers. Yes, you know I'm singling you out because you're sexy, but that's only half of it. The other half is that you took the time to watch a cartoon or play a video game long enough to recognize a character and think to yourself, "I want to dress up as that character". When I was young, such women did not exist. Geek was totally a male thing, no female ever went anywhere near it, or at least not admitting it. Our species was doomed to die out because we could never get girls. Then one day, cosplayers happened, hot chicks dressed up as superheroes, not because they were getting paid, but because they actually thought it was fun. And we deserve it, if the other guys can get cheerleaders and models, then we deserve cosplayers. Nerds need love too. So ladies, if you catch any flak for being a cosplayer, just know you are appreciated, and who really matters, haters or fans? I especially want to thank Stan Lee and the other folks at Marvel for Psylocke. She is not the best known character, she has not been in the movies or any animated series, even in the comics she may not have the biggest part, but she is a very popular cosplay. Psylocke is probably popular because it's a simple cosplay, you can google "female cosplay" and get an easy costume for the weekend, a one-piece swimsuit, thigh high boots and elbow length gloves. But it sure looks good, showing off all of a lady's curves and as an obscure character gives you as much credit for being nerdy as sexy. When I'm at a convention selling books, stuck at my table, it is the highlight of my day to see you ladies walk by. That and Finn cosplayers whom I ask "What time is it?" and they are obliged to answer "Adventure Time!"
No comments:
Post a Comment