So... Merlwyb will be voiced

[Elexia]

Sure sounds like an opinion, Abe!

just sayin'!

Opinion in this regard only goes so far though. When something sounds bad it generally sounds bad, when something sounds good it'll sound good.

It's the same as looking at "B Movies" and "Hollywood productions", I'm pretty sure most can agree that the acting in B movies is rarely top notch, this is exactly the same as VA/VO work between west/east. Japanese VA/VO work isn't "superior" but you'll rarely find VA/VO work in western games that's honestly above average and a lot has to do with voice direction, but it also has to do with the fact I've noticed few western VA/VO folks put a lot of emotion into what they do, especially if it's "silly" they won't take it seriously whereas I've seen mostly JP/KR VA take every type of role seriously. There's no right or wrong since as said it's mostly voice direction, but when you really sit down and look at it, it still falls down into the actor themselves.

While it sounds weird, taking even silly stuff seriously is why people like Jim Carrey got famous as an actor. Not sure what the exact english phrase is for this, but when a VA know they're "just simply in a cartoon/game" you can really tell compared to when I watch certain animes and play certain JP released games, the VA play the part as if the characters are them. I've honestly seen so few localizations and western games/cartoons that were like that. Hell the 70s and 80s in Japanese anime weren't even that great either, very few were really well done untill the mid-late 90s.

Someone used Cowboy Bebop as an example, that anime was designed more like a western cartoon than it was an anime.

[Denmo]

The only point I was trying to make was that saying Japanese voicework > all is simply a matter of opinion, regardless of how much experience one may have on the subject.

There's tons of hard working, talented, and incredibly good VA's working in America, and elsewhere. You're usually not hearing them in dubs of Japanese stuff (anime, vidya) because localizing anime is a risky business, and hiring the top talent is expensive. Abe should know. He's worked in it. For 6 years, I might add.

I do agree that I prefer most Japanese dubs over English dubs. But it's not a matter of Japan being better at VA. It's a matter of localization usually doing a crappy, cheap job of it.

[Abriael]

There's tons of hard working, talented, and incredibly good VA's working in America, and elsewhere. You're usually not hearing them in dubs of Japanese stuff (anime, vidya) because localizing anime is a risky business, and hiring the top talent is expensive.

No one ever says that american voice actors aren't hard working or talented. But if you bothered to read my posts a tad more carefully, you'd probably notice that most of the point is that Japanese voice actors are *put in the conditions* to generally perform better, both culturally and practically, mostly because in Japan voice work is considered one of the most important aspects of an artist's career and of audio visual production, while in the west it takes a serious backseat to live acting and stage acting.

[Fleurette]

I'll probably be listening to both English and Japanese tracks--not because I think Japanese voice actors are "better" per se, but because I'm sort of attached to the Japanese voice actors themselves...there was a picture from the last Live Letter of Yoshi-P holding up a poster with three Japanese VA names (which I'm assuming are going to be the voices of the three GC leaders...they might even be the three NPCs from the Circle of Knowing from each city, too, but I kind of doubt it unless they decided to not include Yda because Papalymo's the "main" Gridania npc...which I don't think they would do.)

here's the picture:

anyways in one of the other threads it was confirmed that one of the signatures was Japanese VA Rie Tanaka's. (she's done a lot of stuff, the most notable for me though is mitsuru from persona 3.) Anyways if the GC leaders' voice actors ARE the three names on that sheet, then there are two possibilities:

a) she's voicing Merlwyb (which she would be EXTREMELY well suited for--she can do a really good deep/serious voice. and i would probably explode of awesomeness if she did.)

b) she's voicing Kan-E-Senna (and i wouldn't put it past her--she's got good range and could probably do a good calm/cute-ish voice, whatever you want to call it...even though I'd rather see her as Merlwyb, I wouldn't mind her as the Elder Seedseer either since i'm an adder and would probably hear her voice a lot. :D )

...anyways i think Rie Tanaka's really cool and all, as well as other Japanese VAs they've announced on the project, like (i think?) Miyuki Sawashiro and Yumiko Kobayashi...so it's more the voice actors themselves rather than how they act...while their acting is exceptional, it's not the main reason why I would listen.

People always say English VAs aren't as good as Japanese, mostly because of acting reasons--but I do admit, they've gotten waaaaay better over the years and there are still some English dubs of games and anime I've seen that I prefer over the Japanese cast. (some examples: Panty and Stocking's dub was extremely well-done, as was Gankutsuou's a few years back. As for games, I really loved Persona 4's English cast.) Anyways! Part of it has to do with training, I think--in Japan, you can go to acting schools specifically targeted at being a voice actor for anime and games. We don't...really have that here. We have acting schools, sure! But not ones that are specifically designed to be for anime/game voice actors like they do in Japan.

I think the problem with a lot of English dubs is that there are so little voice actors out there with so little range that performances become dull and boring--you want to hear a unique voice for your favorite dubbed character, not just Johnny Yong Bosch/Yuri Lowenthal/Laura Bailey doing their one-trick pony routines. (I have nothing against them, by the way--the problem is they're just in EVERYTHING and i swear to god i will be kind of frustrated if they find their way into the ARR English cast. Usually SE gets a good bunch of "different" VAs, though, so I'm sure we'll be safe...for now.)

anyways, back to the poster, though...my main question is: who do the other two signatures belong to? We could probably find out which one of the three is actually voicing Merlwyb if they're choosing by certain VA "archetypes". For example, if they have a VA who usually does really shy/cute characters, then obviously that one'll probably be playing Kan-E-Senna and we can rule out that yes, Rie Tanaka's playing Merlwyb and no, they wouldn't choose a "kawaii" VA for Limsa's hardcore Admiral. and obviously whichever one is the guy VA would be Raubahn...unless there aren't any guy VAs on there...then my GC leaders theory is messed up.

i don't know why i care this much but i really want to figure out who's voicing who in the japanese cast--a lot of the VAs they picked are really well-known and I like their voices a lot...i might make a separate speculation thread later or something because i'd like to figure this stuff out. :P

anyways i posted too much...sorry! -goes back to lurking-

(*prays that Fumihiko Tachiki is the voice of Raubahn*)

[Abriael]

I'll probably be listening to both English and Japanese tracks--not because I think Japanese voice actors are "better" per se, but because I'm sort of attached to the Japanese voice actors themselves...there was a picture from the last Live Letter of Yoshi-P holding up a poster with three Japanese VA names (which I'm assuming are going to be the voices of the three GC leaders...they might even be the three NPCs from the Circle of Knowing from each city, too, but I kind of doubt it unless they decided to not include Yda because Papalymo's the "main" Gridania npc...which I don't think they would do.)

I definitely think the autographs on the picture are the actors that will voice the GC leaders. It's three of them, while the archons are four. I'm almost sure she'll be voicing Merlwyb.

I spent the better part of a couple hours researching Japanese autograph sites to idenitify the other two voice actors, but unfortunately I was unsuccessful.

[Fleurette]

I definitely think the autographs on the picture are the actors that will voice the GC leaders. It's three of them, while the archons are four. I'm almost sure she'll be voicing Merlwyb.

I spent the better part of a couple hours researching Japanese autograph sites to idenitify the other two voice actors, but unfortunately I was unsuccessful.

I really hope so! She would be so great for that role. <3 But I guess we won't really find out until the release of voiced trailers, if any, or the actual full release of ARR itself. (or maybe even beta 4 since that's gonna be pretty much like the retail version.)

I appreciate your effort to try and find the other two signatures, though! I've been searching too with no luck...so we may just have to wait and see. But thank you for trying to help the cause! gold stars for effort! :D


i mean that in the most sincere way possible. :P

[ArkhamNative]

anyways, back to the poster, though...my main question is: who do the other two signatures belong to?

If I interpreted* Google Translate properly at this link:

A signed script used during the recording will be shown(?) at the Nico Nico Cho Kaigi 2. Also three voice actors are making an appearance: April 27: "Mr. Shinnosuke Tachibana and Mr. Yuichi Nakamura" (中村悠一さんと立花慎之介さん) April 28: Ms. Rie Tanaka (田中理恵さん)

Corrections from expert/native speakers welcomed.
__
*Yes, as usual, Google Translate jumbled most of the names and other words.