CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

(Ok, let's see if I can explain this as best as possible...)

So in anime dubs, the one things that REALLY annoys me is the overacting some VAs do to the characters, which I find even worse than just unsuited voices :/
I was just remembering about the time when I went to my old high school and watched these skits put on by the senior acting class. Seems like it's almost always the girls that overemphasize and therefore, overact their parts and it annoys me >_< Instead of saying something simple like "well, everyone knows that" they will overemphasize words and make it out to be somethign like "well EVERYONE knows THAT!!" and I'm sorry, but it really annoys me! >_< I guess mostly because it's not even as though they are really trying to even play their role, their character and put their emotions into it.
Live-action stuff doesn't really do these (since all the bad actors didn't get the part^^) unless it's a kids show... kids shows tend to overemphasize and overact stuff for the kids to learn and make it more exciting, for them.
Looking at Japanese Vas, I think the reason that they are so good and talented, is that they seem to put all their emotions and feelings into the character to make them come to life.
Coming full circle back to anime dubs, the reason I disslike some dubs, is because of this overacting. Maybe they think it's more of a cartoony kids show and don't try to really play up to their role, or maybe they just don't put enough feeling into their character cause it's all about getting a pay check *shrugs* I know that some dubs, I think are REALLY good, like the GitS: SAC. I hear they are more of the professionals in the business, and I think they do a good job in playing the characters well. Although, one of my elitist friends seems to think that it's not that good (well, I HAVE seen worse!)

So hopefully you get what I mean by all this^^ Anyone agree though with the whole "overacting" thing? And for another question: is this one reason dub voices (if bad) annoy you too?

lol yea overaching happens alot specially in Nedesico the guy who did Akito yelled like 80% of the time.

I imagine this would vary almost entirely from anime to anime, studio to studio, and actor to actor. Therefore my opinion is decidedly qualified.

For example, in a lot of older anime the voice actors strike me as being far too monotone. But there are some times when I see overacting as well. This occurs with American voice actors, yes, but more often (in my opinion) with the Japanese voice actors. However, I must temper this by saying that some anime themselves have characters that are conducive to overacting. For example, One Piece characters fly off at the slightest thing, so it would be nearly impossible to overact in most cases.

*shudders at memories of Sailor Moon* Enough said.

GrubbTheFragger wrote:lol yea overaching happens alot specially in Nedesico the guy who did Akito yelled like 80% of the time.

That would be Spike Spencer, better known as Shinji in Eva.

I think you can find overacting in both dub's and sub's.

I was watching a few animes in sub a few days ago and I found some of the voice actors overacting a few parts.


Wingzero22

uc pseudonym wrote:For example, One Piece characters fly off at the slightest thing, so it would be nearly impossible to overact in most cases.

Well, it does depend on the character/series too. Like One Piece, is purposely overacted for it's form of comedy.

Hmm I've been going through the Haibane dub lately, since I think it's a GREAT dub, with one little exception: Kanna. The VA tried suiting her character since she'd the type that gets annoyed easy so does yell often, but her whole speech seems to be through talking loud/yelling. *shrugs* Can't remember how the orginal VA sounded, and even if it was the character, the whole yelling thing bugs me and I see it as being overdone.

About the orginal VAs overdoing it... can't really think of any examples. I've seen hundreds upon hundreds of hours (I hate math, but close enough :/) of orginal anime and it seems to me that in the Japanese language/culture not only do they talk high pitched and stuff sometimes, but they tend on overacting for the character's personality and part, if they do. *shrugs* Guess I just notice it in my own language^^

I did notice that seita's voice in "grave of the fireflies" was somehow underacted at some parts. When he yells something about his father. It sounded so... unnatural, with no tone of anger or anything. (This is the sub by the way) but other than that, he had a great voice.

Mr. SmartyPants wrote:I did notice that seita's voice in "grave of the fireflies" was somehow underacted at some parts. When he yells something about his father. It sounded so... unnatural, with no tone of anger or anything. (This is the sub by the way) but other than that, he had a great voice.

I don't remember that part when Seita is yelling about his father. I'll have to watch that movie again after my professor finishes watching it. But back to the actual topic...

As far as overacting goes, particularly in dubs, I think it can be hard to get the emotion right, especially extreme emotions like anger and deep sadness, and still sound believable. For example, in an episode of Kaleido Star, Sora, the main character, cries uncontrollably and screams. In the dub, the VA does this but it seems a bit off. In the sub, it seems better but still a bit much. I think really strong emotions are harder to act no matter language it's in.

Overacting is probably one of the main reasons I don't enjoy anime as much as I could. I personally like when they have more famous actors as the dubs. (i.e. Patrick Stewert in Nausicaa, or Anne Hathaway in The Cat Returns) for some reason the acting is better when it's more famous actors. (maybe this is just my opinion, people are welcome to contradict me)

The type of actors that are usually chosen for voicing roles are generally those who are skilled at it, so that makes sense. Of course, you could be biased because you know the actor, but I don't think that has to be the case.

Tenshi no Ai wrote:Well, it does depend on the character/series too. Like One Piece, is purposely overacted for it's form of comedy.

Precisely my point.

This reminds me of an interview with Crispin Freeman that I saw once--this one here .

Particularly this one quote:

Crispin: Because they hear the Japanese acting and think that's incredibly emotional and real. Now, many of the Japanese are amazing at what they can do. A Japanese director friend of mine in Japan, who I worked with in many theater shows, when I told her that I was working on Anime, she said, "Oh, are you over-acting like they do in Japanese Anime?" And I was like, "Um … well …. I'm trying not to. Maybe I am, but I'm trying not to."

So, anyway...yes, I think there probably are some overacting in anime dubs, but the original Japanese actors do some overacting as well. XD

Although I think sometimes it's good in a series that has a lot of comedy. For example, some of Romi Paku's acting as Ed could probably be considered over-acting, particularly when Ed's freaking out about his height. But that's part of the humor in the series--so, of course, Vic maybe 'overacts' a little bit in the dub, as well, because Ed himself is overreacting to people's comments.

Plus, there's some dubs where the acting can be very understated, too. What comes to mind for me is Chris Patton (I *hope* I got his name right...) as the main character in Full Metal Panic!. I haven't seen the sub yet (I've got one of the DVDs coming in from Netflix today, so we can see then XD), but I can't imagine something as funnier as Patton's cool-as-a-cucumber performance in the anime.

And as for celebs doing the anime dubbing...sometimes they're great. I was really surprised at how well Anne Hathaway did in the Cat Returns dub. But I think sometimes the professional voice actors can sometimes give better performances than the celebs they're acting alongside (not just in anime dubs, but in animation and video games in general). A good example of this is Kingdom Hearts--Haley Joel Osmond is AMAZING in the game, but I think the other famous VAs they use besides him are overshadowed by Donald and Goofy most of the time.

MorwenLaicoriel wrote:A good example of this is Kingdom Hearts--Haley Joel Osmond is AMAZING in the game, but I think the other famous VAs they use besides him are overshadowed by Donald and Goofy most of the time.

Yeah I thought he was great! I heard since Mandy Moore didn't come back to play Aeries, that her voice sounds "ug" now :/ ...and I still find it funny thought that Lance Bass off N*Sync did Sephiroth's voice (although since I never beat him, I never did get to hear if it was good or not...)

I thought the Excel Saga dub was really bad. The Japanese seiyuu did a good job speaking rapid fire, but the dub VA (was it Cavallo?) was just incoherent and screechy.

plutogrl03 wrote:I don't remember that part when Seita is yelling about his father. I'll have to watch that movie again after my professor finishes watching it. But back to the actual topic...

It happens when he is at the bank, withdrawing some money when he figures out
[spoiler]That Japan lost the war, and Seita learns that his father's ship sank[/spoiler]

KhakiBlueSocks wrote:I remember hearing on a cartoon commentary when they interviewed the V/A that many V/A's pretend that they're actually doing this live in front of a camera. That could be good and bad depending on who's doing it.

I've heard VAs say that if you're too nervous and inhibited to be a "visual" actor, you won't do any better as a VA, the mistaken notions some people have notwithstanding.

I personaly enjoy it when people over act. I don't know why I just do. I think it's cute!

Pan Chan wrote:I personaly enjoy it when people over act. I don't know why I just do. I think it's cute!

Orooo.... @_@

Tenshi no Ai wrote:I still find it funny thought that Lance Bass off N*Sync did Sephiroth's voice (although since I never beat him, I never did get to hear if it was good or not...)

He doesn't talk, even when you beat him, so the only things Lace Bass actually did were the general combat noises. I tried to keep an open mind about it, but I still found it pretty funny at times (especially the noise he makes for his high jump... it sounds very N*Sync to me). The real question is if he will do Sephiroth's voice in Advent Children.

WOW! I have never heard it put like that! Im glad someone was able to express it so well! I feel the same way. I wish they were able to pull together more relaxed actors..like Disney ones..

Tenshi no Ai wrote:and I still find it funny thought that Lance Bass off N*Sync did Sephiroth's voice

*laughs hard* Whoa, that's great. Maybe I'll have other comments once I get over the humor of that. *has a mental image of Sephiroth busting an N*Sync move and starts giggling* Is Vince the back-up? ^_^