Day #26

So, it’s a well-known fact that I’m a strange person, and probably have many hobbies that are way too weird for the normal person, but I feel that the quirk of mine that I am about to write about is not actually that unique. Other people are bound to do similar things…it’s just that my obsession with anime makes my quirk, um, quirkier. Anyways.

Have you ever read a book that you adored, and, even though you know that it would be butchered in doing so because the book is always better, wished at least a little that it would be made into a movie? And have you ever, after making that wish, thought about who you would cast as the main characters? Yeah, me too. But more often, I find myself watching an anime in Japanese, and wishing fervently that it will be licensed in the US soon, so I can buy it on DVD (like I have the money, but oh well) and knowing that 90% of the anime that is licensed in the US is also dubbed in English by about 4 main studios. And so I find myself thinking which studio should get the rights to the anime, so they can dub it and have the voices kind of match, at least to me. (Warning, the rest of this post contains a lot of anime-specific information that most of you don’t care about. Read at your own peril)

I did this before, with Bleach. I had been watching it, and thinking that the voice of Fuu from Samurai Champloo would make an excellent Orihime. Having thought that, I thought also about what other voice actors are from the same area/studio, and what roles they should be given, if any. Y’see, there are 4 main area/studios in the US/Canada. One in Vancouver, BC (InuYasha voices), 2 in Texas (FMA voices and Excel Saga/Eva voices), and the LA area. The LA area isn’t actually a studio; the VA’s there have agents who get them roles in whatever is available. But VA’s there include the voices from Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, and Hellsing (just to name a few). Anyways, since I had been thinking of the voice of Fuu (Kari Wahlgren) as Orihime, I figured I needed voices from the same area, and since she’s from LA, that gave me a bunch to choose from. It actually took me a bit to decide on the appropriate voice for Ichigo, but I finally landed on Johnny Yong Bosch, the voice of Vash from Trigun. Actually, I kinda half-assed that one, in that I couldn’t think of any other VA’s that it was imperative to have, so I didn’t really pick out any others. Now, flash ahead a couple of months, when I find out for a fact that the LA contingent got the dubbing rights. I’m ecstatic, mainly because this means in a while I’ll be able to purchase the DVDs so I can watch them whenever I want, and much higher quality than Youtube, but also because I find out that, indeed, Johnny Yong Bosch has been cast of the voice of Ichigo! Woo, go me. I’m so cool. Kari Wahlgren was not cast as Orihime, but the girl they did get isn’t too bad. However, those two, plus Ichigo’s 2 younger sisters, are about the only voices I’m happy with…so, I’ll definitely be watching it in Japanese. And forcing other people to watch it in Japanese, too.

Anyways, the real reason for this post wasn’t to talk about Bleach, but to talk about another show. I recently came across a manga (thanks, Aerine) called “Ouran High School Host Club”. After reading the first 4 books, I decided to find out if it had been made into an anime. It had, and in 3 days I watched the entire show. Loved it. Absolutely loved it. But again, I want to own it, so I began to formulate devious plans of who should voice these unique characters. And, I think I’ve come up with a few good ones. The studio I have chosen for appropriate talent is ADV Films, the people who brought us Excel Saga, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Nadesico, Abenobashi, Steel Angel Kurumi, Princess Tutu, and Loki to name a few. And here’s some of what I’ve got:
Haruhi Fujioka: Kira Vincent-Davis Her natural speaking voice (as heard on the extras of Steel Angel Kurumi) is excellent…she doesn’t sound too old, and while you can tell she’s a girl, she could probably be dressed as a guy and you not realize that she isn’t one.
Kyoya Ohtori: Chris Patton His voice can sound very reserved and cold, while at the same time sounding very knowledgeable and kinda sexy.
Mistukuni Haninozuka (Honey-sempai): Hillary Haag She has the right about of bubbliness for Honey, and I figured I’d keep with the Japanese and have a girl be Honey in English, too.
Tamaki Suoh: Jason Douglas The voice of Il Palazzo and Frey (among others), his voice has the right amount of self-satisfied dramatics to be Tamaki.
Hikaru Hitachiin: Greg Ayres Youngish, slightly nasal voice that I think will fit Hikaru well.
Kaoru Hitachiin: Spike Spencer Also a youngish voice, but slightly nicer sounding, that as long as the two can pull off the tandem speech, should do well.
Takeshi Morinozuka (Mori-sempai): Jay Hickman Actually, this voice is the hardest for me to cast, so I pretty much said “there’s a voice actor, he can do it”. His voice is kinda deep, and he can definitely pull off the subdued character (Mytho in Princess Tutu), and it’s not like Mori has that many lines!
I suppose as long as I’m doing this, I might as well pick out a voice for Haruhi’s dad, so…Ryoji Fujioka: Illich Guardiola He’s the voice of Yamino in Loki, so he can play the kind of high voice needed for Haruhi’s cross-dressing father.

Now, I doubt that anything I say will have an effect, but wouldn’t it be awesome if someone at ADV came across this and said, “Yeah, that girl’s got some good ideas”? So awesome. And so not-gonna-happen. Ever. Oh well.

So, there you have it. My quirk of the day, as it were.

Mata ashita!