Cherami Leigh On Sword Art Online’s Growth And The Non-Stop Progress Of The Dubbing Industry

 

It’s always entertaining when anime fans can begin to recognize performers’ voices across different projects and begin to develop an ear for their favorite voice actors. Many voice actors have had the privilege of working in very different types of series, but this can often be even more exaggerated through the extremes of anime. Cherami Leigh is an acclaimed voice in the industry who has brought to life some wildly unique characters over the years . Cherami Leigh has provided voices in some of the most beloved anime of this generation like Pokémon, Sailor Moon, and One Piece, but she’s also been a part of plenty of recent breakout hits like her work as Anaak in Tower of God, Noi in Dorohedoro, or Asuna in the ever-popular Sword Art Online franchise. Leigh is also no stranger to voice work in video games and has contributed to just as many impressive titles in that industry as she has with anime series. 

Anyone that’s a fan of both mediums has likely heard Cherami Leigh’s voice in some capacity or another. Cherami has a number of projects underway at the moment and is currently contributing to the events at this year’s Virtual Crunchyroll Expo, where Cherami still has panels on the way. Cherami Leigh has been one of the most exciting emerging voices to come out of the industry over the past few decades and she graciously donated some time to reflect on her varied career, the growing trend of live-action anime adaptations, and what makes the anime industry so fulfilling and inclusive. And of course, justice for Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Pen Pen. 

 

Daniel Kurland: The Sword Art Online franchise has only continued to expand and evolve across multiple series. What has it been like to see Asuna’s character grow and gain a greater significance and the corresponding fandom that the character has received? 

Cherami Leigh: So this role, in particular, I had just moved to Los Angeles. I had grown up in Dallas and I had been acting since I was a kid. At that time in my life I was flying out to L.A. every other week so when I made the move to L.A. this was the first anime project that I got to work on. It felt like a new beginning, a new version of myself and, because it was a new company and a new place, there were a lot of nerves involved. 

When the fan base responded so wonderfully to it, then the pressure was on! When it’s a popular series and there’s so many people that love it, you don’t want to let them down. It has been amazing getting to go through the journey with Asuna and all of the things that she’s had to go through that have corresponded oddly enough, with things in my life. I got married, as she was going through her relationship with Kirito and I was going through my planning my wedding and going through the engagement process. When she’s dealing with loss, oddly enough, I was dealing with loss in my life and working through that through the character helps me with my own grief. There have been many instances in really every character that I played, but certainly with Asuna you can pinpoint them almost exactly so I always get nervous when she has a tragic thing that goes on, because I try to think how is this going to correspond with my life because somehow it’s going to be there.

And it might be just a little theme of her finding her independence and finding her courage and me needing to find my own voice and find my courage and different aspects of myself. It’s been fun to get to go through that journey with her and to grow as a human being and with the character and also to get to see the fans that have said I met my boyfriend or my husband, while I was watching the show and we’re having a Sword Art wedding. You kind of feel like you’re involved with them and you’ve grown up together and we’ve all gone through these experiences together and it’s kind of become like a Sword Art Online support group family. We can share things and share experiences that we might not know exactly what they are, but we have enough context that we can say oh my gosh exactly, and I can be there for you and it really, really is lovely. It takes what’s so wonderful about the anime community as a whole and elevates it because you have that bond with the people that love the show.

Daniel Kurland: The landscape for anime has changed so much in the past few years and there are more anime streaming services, original productions, and mainstream places like Netflix becoming more invested in anime. What are some of the biggest changes that you’ve noticed take place in the dubbing industry since your start?

Cherami Leigh: Simuldubs and the speed at which we are having to put out content and I feel like, during the beginning of COVID, there was a little bit of a pause, just as there was for everyone kind of where we freeze and say how are we going to process this? Can we do Simuldubs with people working at home in their closets not being in the studio and every different studio, every different company has figured out a way that they can still record an episode a week or an episode every two weeks, which is for me, mind blowing that we can be all over the all over the world and we’re still able to get an episode together. I don’t know how the engineers and the mix team and the rest of the production team are making it sound like it’s all recorded in one cohesive space, but they’re doing it! 

The writers are writing all of these episodes because there’s so much content available and there’s so many different streaming services and platforms that are sharing anime with the world, it’s fantastic because it’s becoming more mainstream. You can walk into a mall and people are wearing Demon Slayer, or Fairy Tail, or Attack on Titan, Sword Art Online and they’re wearing these T-shirts everywhere, as if it were the same as an NFL team, and that was not the case when I was young. So that’s fantastic, but then the flip side of that is there’s way more content and we’re still working with the same studios and everybody’s got to figure out how to get it done.

I don’t know how everybody’s doing it with directing and writing. And, of course, all of the emotional challenges that go along with just living your life. If you’re having a bad day or you’re going through loss or we’re dealing with a pandemic; all of those emotions and life things that we’re going through. You still have to produce anime because the fans are relying on it, and that is their escape from the world, so I know none of us take that lightly and we know that it’s important to keep producing the content. 

There’s a lot more content and it’s a lot more work behind the scenes and i’m amazed at how everybody has found this energy and summoned it from below, I guess it’s much like a Kamehameha they’re like it comes from the ground, and then we send it out into the world so but yeah that’s been fantastic to see.

Daniel Kurland: Who is the weirdest or most unusual character you’ve voiced over your impressive career and is there still some kind of archetype or role that you haven’t gotten to play yet, but would like to tackle at some point?

Cherami Leigh: I’m going to be that horrible person who says there’s something I’m working on right now that I never thought I’d get to do and I can’t wait to share with everybody! So what’s the weirdest character… I play a lot of strange characters and when I started in voice acting, I was playing teenagers. I was playing characters that were basically just me and I said I really want to play a kid. I want to play an adorable little girl. I really wanted to play a kid and I got to do that a couple times and then I was like maybe one day I’ll get to voice a boy, but I’m not really good at it and then I got to do that. Then I said, maybe one day I’ll get to voice a warrior or a mercenary and then I’ve gotten to do that and. So recently I was like man, I’d love to do Sims-speak or creatures or something like that, but it feels very intimidating because it’s all about being absurd and weird and nothing makes sense and it’s illogical. 

I am definitely someone who loves emotions, loves processing things, loves the psychology and when you’re doing Sims-speak or creatures or anything like that, and nothing can make sense. That is a struggle for me, but it’s something that I wanted to try and work on, and I was like I’m never going to get to do anything like that, but I have found incredible voice actors and coaches and friends of mine that have said we’ll let you practice and we’ll try some new things so that would be something if I got to do that, that would be incredible.

Daniel Kurland: You’ve played a lot of sentimental characters that experience tremendous adversity. Are there any scenes in particular that stand out as being especially difficult or emotional to get through?

Cherami Leigh: It’s my favorite. I don’t know why  I love the really deep emotional work. You get to go down to that very vulnerable place and I’m such a guarded person in my real life that I feel comfortable exploring that vulnerability through a character so it’s so nice to be able to do that. I feel like when you’re vulnerable through this character you connect with the character; there’s a bond that you’re creating with them and with the team, and also with the audience. When they see you in that vulnerable state they feel permission to explore those feelings with themselves. That’s really cathartic and that can be really healing and it can be a wonderful connective supportive environment when nobody feels like they’re feeling these things alone. 

That is one of my favorite things about being an actor, but specifically one of my favorite things about working in anime. Sometimes when you’re doing these things on camera it can feel very vulnerable because that is your face, and that is your body. When it’s a cartoon there’s a little bit of a safety net – you have this beautiful animation and this beautiful music and these beautiful backdrops that can help tell the story, and then you can kind of create behind the costume of the animation. 

It can also be more relatable to more people and more cultures, because they say, “I can see myself in this character,” whereas it’s a little bit harder when someone doesn’t look like you in a live action context. So that’s been really amazing to get to do and it’s one of my favorite things. I always tell people I don’t care if you love my character or if you hate my character (obviously I would love for you to love them!), but as long as you’re feeling something. I just don’t want you to go through life feeling numb and removed and that you’re not safe to feel because emotions are a gift and I want people to be able to feel comfortable feeling something even if it’s just for 22 minutes while you’re watching an anime.

Daniel Kurland: Netflix has recently announced that live-action versions of One Piece and Pokémon are on the way. You have experience with both voice acting and screen acting. Would you be interested in playing roles in those series and being a part of those worlds in a new capacity? 

Cherami Leigh: I mean duh – any time. If I could be able to do something that I’d worked on for voiceover and get to do it on camera that would be incredible or do something on a project that I’ve worked on on-camera and get to bring it to a voiceover animated space that would be fantastic. I’m an actor and I love doing both. When I’m doing a lot of voiceover and I’m not doing a lot of on-camera, I miss on camera. When I’m doing on-camera and I’m not doing voiceover I miss voiceover. If I got to bring those two worlds together that would be so cool and I would love to get to do that. I’m so excited about getting to see video games coming together for live action series or films and now getting to see anime brought to life in that context is really cool. Even if they said, will you be a random girl who trips and falls, I will say yes please, when do you need me there? I would just love to be a part of it and get to see how they create these animated worlds in real life, that would be fantastic.

Daniel Kurland: The long-awaited concluding film to the Evangelion series has finally come. Do you hope that there will be a happy ending for the beloved Pen Pen, who you helped bring to life?

Cherami Leigh: If there is not a happy ending for Pen Pen, we need to go back in time Steins;Gate-style and fix this. Yes, of course. That was another one I never thought I would get to play – an animal and when they asked me if I would like to be a part of Evangelion I was like yes, of course, and they said you’re going to be playing Pen Pen and I was terrified. Once I got over the terror and was like either people are going to laugh at me and we’re going to make mistakes and it’s going to sound silly and then somehow we’re going to land on something that sounds really cool. It was fantastic. So yes, Pen Pen was a very scary thing for me, and I feel like that sweet little penguin helped me get over my fear. Pen Pen deserves nothing but wonderful magical things for the rest of Pen Pen’s sweet life.