The job of voice artists are considered to be as difficult as that of Mangakas. This is because, while mangakas rely on their imagination for the character, VAs rely on their ability to figure out the character and give them the deserved reaction and tone. Be it a sub anime with the original language, or the dubbed version, the voice artists need to understand the feeling of the character and bring it out through his speech and communication. One such instance was heard during an interview with the voice artists of the popular manga and anime My Hero Academia.
Bakugo’s Voice Actor Auditioned For Every Role
Clifford Chapin, who is known for his voice acting on anime series like Dragon Ball Super, Attack on Titan, Evangelion, Tokyo Ghoul and Black Clover, talked about how he was sure that he will not be getting the role of the Protagonist’s voice. In an interview, Clifford Chapin said
“I was in the same round of auditions as Justin (Deku’s Voice Actor) and just went in. The first two episodes I think had come out in Japanese at that point before we did the auditions and started recording. I went in, and I recorded for everybody. But, man, I was positive Justin was going to be Deku. I read for Deku, but I remember thinking I’ve got to really put my hat on this Bakugo audition and go for it. So I swung for it, but I live by a rule when it comes to auditions: Do it, and forget it.”
Justin Briner voices the main character Deku who is a kid without superpowers, in a world full of people who do. He has also voiced Luck on Black Clover, Ginro on Dr. Stone and Hanako on Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun. Chapin voices Bakugo, who is the friend/rival of Deku, who wants to be the number 1 hero of the anime series.
Issues Faced By Dubbed Voice Actors
While watching the first episodes of the anime series, Chapin believed that Justin Briner was the perfect choice for the voice of Deku. He believed that there was no one else who could have done it as perfect as Briner. He knew he was not going to get the role of Deku so he focused on Bakugo and gave it all and was hoping to atleast bang the role of Bakugo. He mentions that he auditioned for every role and was only confident about the one he got.
It is often seen in the field of voice actors that they have to struggle to match the expression and methodology with the animated character. This is one of the reasons why people prefer subbed anime over dubbed. It is more direct and relatable. Their is a decent amount of hate for the dubbed versions, which is why the auditions for dubbed are much tougher, as explained by Chapin.
The Pop Culture Rise of My Hero Academia
In the same interview, Clifford recalls how there were very few anime shows that were able to grasp that pop culture attraction. He said:
“When we started, they kind of told us, ‘We think this is going to be a really big show. We had concepts of what big shows were, what popular anime were, but very few anime in recent years had broken through just being an anime popular show to being a pop culture phenomenon. So when it started when we went to the first season, it was light. People liked it, but it didn’t explode.”
He also explained how he realized that the anime has gained the popularity and attention that it deserved. He talks about his first experience of realizing about the magnitude that My Hero Academia has gained. He said:
“It wasn’t until the first season came out on home video and was on Hulu and other streaming platforms, while we were doing the second season, that’s where it really caught. I was at a convention, and everybody was cosplaying as my hero characters and coming up to me and talking to me about My Hero Academia. That was the moment. It wasn’t until season two that I was like, oh wow, it really did catch.”
Season 7 of My Hero Academia is expected to release in early to mid-2024. Season 6’s plot adapted the manga’s story till Chapter 328, and there are still many chapters to cover after that. Season 7 will adapt a story from Manga Chapter 329.
My Hero Academia‘s six seasons, as well as the three movies, are all accessible to watch on Netflix, Hulu, and Crunchyroll.
Source: Hollywood Soapbox
