Voices in Various Venues

I recently mentioned Loid from Spy X Family as a great laid-back hero. 

I must mention the voices--Takuya Eguchi, Japanese, and Alex Organ, English. 

What amazes me about Alex Organ is that he is able to give Loid a dead-pan voice. A dead-pan voice! And yet it doesn't sound monotone. In fact, the voice sounds warm and kind. Even when he gets exasperated, he sounds more like  "guy trying to get by" than a zealot--which is largely the point. 

Like Scarecrow (Scarecrow & Mrs. King), Loid is a spy who actually IS better at the family stuff: he just doesn't know it yet. 

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Max Mittelman

Saitama in One-Punch Man is excellently rendered in the English dub by Max Mittelman, who manages to capture the character's dry, laconic, "hey dude" personality in a light tenor. 

Makoto Furukawa

The voice is amusing by itself--but a great deal of the anime's humor arises from Saitama's tone paired with Genos's earnest, monotone and slightly deeper voice. The exchanges are quite amusing.

Genos is voiced by Kaito Ishikawa and Zach Aguilar.

Makoto Furukawa is the original Japanese actor for Saitama. Voices do not have to match up to image but in this case, I found the "hey, folks, wassup?" photos more than a little amusing. Maybe capturing the character IS all about mindset. 

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For World Voice Day, I decided to pay tribute to anime voice actors and post a short interview with Don LaFontaine, 1940 - 2008.

The anime voice actor for today's post is Adam Gibbs, who has an impressive resume in that field. He does the voice of Taichi Mashima in Chihayafaru. Gibbs' voice notably captures Taichi's personality, including the doubts, romantic longings, self-reflection, and leadership qualities. Taichi is a complex guy!

Don LaFontaine, of course, is That Announcer Guy From the Movies. 

What amazes me about the interview is the anecdote about how fast his voice changed and how extreme was the change. The other fascinating point was how his voice can cut through loud music and explosions--it doesn't get drowned out.

By all accounts, Don LaFontaine was as sweet and generous and good-natured as he appears in the interview.