Reddit AMA Recap: English Dub Cast of My Hero Academia
We highlight a rather spirited discussion featuring one of the biggest anime properties on the planet.
The English dub cast for My Hero Academia dropped by the /r/BokuNoHeroAcademia to take part in a Reddit AMA channel featuring the likes of Justin Briner, Clifford Chapin, Christopher R. Sabat, and Colleen Clinkenbeard all asking fan-submitted questions that had a wide-range of topics like voice acting as a profession, how the actors get “into” their respected characters, and a whole lot more. Check out highlights from the AMA below and read the whole thing here.
On how Chris prepares for “ultraing” moments
Chris: Anime dubbing is in many ways very difficult because you can’t change the lines or the timing of the mouth movements. However, the biggest benefit to dubbing anime over any other type of animation is that you get to record with all the music and sound effects (and sometimes all the other actors) in your headphones. You feel like you’re completely in the moment and all you have to do is rise to the level of everything else. MHA makes this very easy.
Cliff: Well, it kinda comes from me directing other series at Funimation. I had the sense of what the Japanese voice sounded like, and I sorta knew that the closest fit would be Justin, but that he could also really nail the character’s mannerisms and personality. So Justin just felt like the natural choice to me!
On what kind of difficulties that could arise when acting alone in a booth
Cliff: I go in with no expectations to whether the other actors are there or not. ADR acting requires a really high sense of how scenes flow, so if you can comprehend how the lines on the script feed into the lines you’re about to say, it is pretty easy to react to someone even if they aren’t there. And if it doesn’t sound like it reacts properly, the ADR Director will have you do another take to make sure the emotion follows correctly.
Colleen here: Our translation team sticks very closely to the actual trans of an episode- i.e. if they curse, the trans has them cursing. But the adaptor’s job includes deciding if that curse word can be included on the versions we release, according to the rules of the media format. So if we’re putting the show on Cartoon Network, we have a certain number of cuss words we can include and certain cuss words we have to avoid. It’s far easier to do one version of the show and put that on the home video version, too, rather than get a clean version for CN and then get the curse word version for HV, so that’s why they usually get printed the way they are broadcast. But for MHA we’ve stayed really close to the Japanese translation of the anime. I will say… I have noticed that some translations of the manga ADD curse words that aren’t there in the actual translation. So I wouldn’t be too quick to assume those are correct if you’re reading it online. In fact… buy it! That’s the only way to be sure you’re getting an approved translation.
Colleen here: Sabat and I regularly cry about scenes in the Japanese we’re about to record. I’ve never seen Briner or Cliff cry. In my personal opinion (I think Sabat will back me up here, we’ve talked about it before) it’s because we have kids. Once you have a child in the world it completely changes how you view every single issue. Suddenly everything is so real.
Cliff: I have noticed my laugh has changed after losing my voice so much. My laugh almost sounds like a wheezy smoker laugh now, and I don’t smoke at all.
Justin: I personally don’t think I have a very extensive range. I try to differentiate characters based more on diction, rhythm, melody (highs and lows vs. monotone). Several of my characters probably sound alike without acting alike, so it doesn’t really bother me.
Cliff: All of the screaming is pretty rough, but i think the scene I was hardest on myself for was the second fight between Bakugo and Deku.
Justin: Based on what little I was able to see/read, I had a feeling it was something special. I’m glad to see that it has taken off, but nothing could prepare me for what a phenomenon it has become. It’s a testament to what a wonderful story it is!
On how Justin puts emotion into his acting scenes with Deku
Justin: I just try to stay as honest as possible. Aside from all the superhuman circumstances, Deku still seems like a very real kid who is in touch with his own emotions and feels them very strongly. I try to take each line as it comes and make it seem realistic and in the moment.
Justin: I try to make Deku feel as real and relatable as possible. He deals with a lot of feelings that are common to us growing up and finding our place in the world so I want people to resonate with him. I love that kids have him now as a role model to cheer for.
Justin: Deku vs. Todoroki holds a very dear place in my heart! It has such a beautiful theme and I think a lot of viewers can really use the message that who you are is not determined by where you’re from or who has come before you.
Colleen here: I don’t think Momo has come even close to as powerful as she can with her creations. This is the sort of quirk that just gets better with age as she gets more and more research under her belt.
Hi Ashley, thank you so much for reading and we love the feedback. Note that on that day we had 14th posts go up and only ten posts show on the front page, so it's possible the preview had already been archived by the time you got to it. One recommendation would be to add our RSS feed to your favorite news aggregator service like Feedly, this way you get all of the latest posts!