On the subject of deep voices...

[vspirit.livejournal.com]

I was reading the comments on the first dubbed episode stream when I came across a couple of comments about how American males, as a norm, don't have deep enough voices. The younger ones, anyway. This sparked an interesting thought in me head.


Most of you probably already know this but FukuJun doesn't actually have a naturally deep voice. He had to force it for the role of Lelouch. In a recent interview (links of the video provided at the end of the post), he revealed that when he was first approached about the role, he was sweating bullets and was all, "WTF? You /know/ my voice tends to be on the high end of the scale right? You've heard my other roles, right? Whyever did you pick /me/?" to Taniguchi, the director (in the polite way that the Japanese are brought up to speak, of course, but that's more or less the essence of what he meant), but he didn't have any other choice cos this was a huge career-defining opportunity and the director backed him into a corner by first humbly implying that he's a pro so he should be able to handle it and then bowing while pushing the script to his side of the table and going "Please". >.>;; Good thing it worked out. ^.^

However, it kinda led me to think that when he went for the auditions (if he went for any, that is, sometimes VAs are picked based on their portfolio...but I imagine there's still an audition to see if they'll really work), he most likely actually auditioned for something else. Suzaku, maybe. Or Rivalz. Or Ougi. That, or he /was/ picked based on his portfolio of mostly higher-pitched characters and the strange inkling that Taniguchi may have had that if he were to deepen his voice, it'd work perfectly for the kind of Lelouch he had in mind. He /was/ rather confident and insistent when the actor himself was doubtful.

Before this role, FukuJun's never used deep voices for all the other characters he's ever done. Not that I know of, anyway. Now he uses it every once in a while. Only thing is, he has a huge range for high voices but for low voices, he only has two. Which is why everytime he uses it with other characters, you tend to either think Lelouch or Zero.

Which brings me to the point of this post (yeah, finally). Maybe that's what the director was hoping when he selected JYB but it didn't work out quite as well, unfortunately. That, and I don't think he had a very long list to choose from to begin with cos, to my knowledge, stock VAs in the US tend to be a small group so constant recycling is inevitable.

For what it's worth, I feel at least they've made an effort. But my final verdict remains: American anime localizers still have a long way to go.

Anywayz, here are the links to the videos of FukuJun's interview like I've promised. Crossposted (albeit a few days ago) to fukuyama_jun, so I'll just copy and paste my post:

[start copy&paste]
Anime Giga - Fukuyama Jun interview 1/4
Anime Giga - Fukuyama Jun interview 2/4
Anime Giga - Fukuyama Jun interview 3/4
Anime Giga - Fukuyama Jun interview 4/4

Summary:
Quite a revealing interview. You get to find out what spurred his choice in career, what were the early days of his career like, his thoughts during a job, and the like. It basically gives a pretty clear idea on what Fukuyama-san is like as a person.

From what I could glean, Fukuyama-san himself seems to me very humble and forthcoming with information about his past, his ideals and principles. He also shares quite a bit of wisdom he'd gotten from experience. Plus, you'd also get an idea on what his family is like (interesting bunch of people, imo. Kansaijintte yappa omoshiroiwa! Eheh.).

Anyway, it's a very entertaining and enlightening watch. You'd most likely enjoy this if you're a fan.
[end copy&paste]

Comments

[kirarakim.livejournal.com]

I would love to watch this but too bad these type of things never get subbed. I am always amazed at Fukuyama's range. :)

[vspirit.livejournal.com]

haha i recommend you wtch it anyway cos they have this afureko thing which is a live voice-over performance. FukuJun does Watanuki and the main character from that 2005 internet streaming anime. there's also a part where he made takoyaki (dude's good at it, as expected of a native Kansaijin). Even if you don't understand what they're saying, it's still an amusing watch. =)

[csakura.livejournal.com]

yeah couldn't believe i was hearing fukuyama jun in xxxholic and vampire knight after hearing him play lelouch. i have so much more respect for him, not that i wasn't totally in love with him before!

thank you sooooo much for the interviews!

[vspirit.livejournal.com]

you're welcome. =)

have you ever heard him in "Inukami!"? it's one of my favorite roles from him. =)

[csakura.livejournal.com]

really? that show hadn't even been on my radar until you mentioned it. will def. check it out, then!

[corsette.livejournal.com]

fukuyama jun in xxxholic and vampire knight

...He's in Vampire Knight?

[fulguratus.livejournal.com]

Yup, he plays Aido actually (made me lol so hard because I've gotten used to him playing Lelouch). I recognized him because I've heard him do higher voices such as Kazuki from Busou Renkin and Yumichika from Bleach (LOL).

[eire-endellion.livejournal.com]

OMG =O He's Aido? That's my shocking news of the week xD

[rainbow-cnxn.livejournal.com]

I forget where I read this, but I seem to remember that after casting people for the roles, the seiyuus were shocked that Tanaguchi wanted Lelouch's voice to be deeper than Suzaku's. As a result, both Fukuyama Jun and Takahiro Sakurai had to try extra hard to fit a voice role that was outside of both their normal ranges--FukuJun had to strain his voice into the low register (he said he hurt his back doing Lelouch's voice >_>), and Takahiro had to strain to reach the boyish high(er) pitches for Suzaku.

I think it was something about showing how the two characters were both being someone they weren't? I guess they hoped that the strain of their fake IC personalities would come out in their improperly matched voice roles.

[inulovinkit.livejournal.com]

Have to give the man props for doing all that so we can have our sexy Lulu voice, though. <3

[vspirit.livejournal.com]

hmm...yeah, you're right. my memory's slightly skewed it seems. listening to to the interview again, it seems more like he was flabbergasted and then panicked when asked by the director to go lower...and then lower still, to the point where his limit was stretched, cos he's never done a character like this before. That's when the director pulled the "you're a pro so just do it" (complete with the humble air and smile set) line on him.

sakurai though...i'm surprised. while he's able to pull of the deep, low and majestic tone with seemingly no effort at all, i've had the impression that he's also able to do the youngish tone with possibly not quite as much effort as was implied. he's /had/ quite a bit of boyish roles in the past (one of his first ones was one) and he didn't sound like he's straining in any of them. it didn't come as a surprise at all to me when I found out he's the one doing Suzaku.

[vspirit.livejournal.com]

Never did manage to watch that one but I think I can imagine. I reckon it'd be somewhere along the tone of voice he used for characters like Ekou in Karas and various characters in BL dramas where he played the mysterious dominant character. Dunno what he sounded like as Sasori since I've never watched Shippuuden. I love what he did for the Kusuriuri in Mononoke, though. Both character and voice are to die for, IMHO. One of his best works yet, which I think he sorely deserved to have gotten an award for.

[jusrecht.livejournal.com]

Ahh, I agree. Kusuriuri is especially awesome. I really love the way he dragged his voice and somehow managed not to sound weird doing it..

But the character which left the deepest impression in me is still Yamazaki Susumu from Peacemaker Kurogane. It's the first time I heard Sakurai and instantly fell in love with his first line. Which is something like 'hmph' XD

[mystic-fate.livejournal.com]

"it seems more like he was flabbergasted and then panicked when asked by the director to go lower..."

Ohhh what part of the video is this in? xD

[vspirit.livejournal.com]

That was actually contained within his answers to the very first two interview questions, in part 1.

Watanabe: When speaking to you like this, you sound really friendly and genteel. Did you have to go out of your way to sound the way you did in Code Geass?

FukuJun: Well, it's actually something the director required. He didn't want something that I'd normally do and requested for me to go as low as I could.

Murai: But I imagine that you would've had a hard time adjusting your voice to sound like it did...

FJ: Well...yes. As you know, my voice is relatively high by nature and because of this, the roles I've normally had all this while were mostly youngish which suited my voice and vice versa. So, being asked to adopt this deep, evil sounding tone was something so far out of my imagination, I was pretty much lost and totally panicking inside for a while there. I had no idea what my limit was. At the end of the day, though, I think it's more a matter of acting than it is a matter of voice quality so I ended up focusing on that aspect instead.

That's what they're saying between 5:28 to 6:22.

[sapphynashi.livejournal.com]

:o Interesting. And now I have something new to add to my piles of Lelouch and Suzaku analyses. XD; Wow, a hell of a lot of thought really does get put into the themes and characterizations of this series.

[furato.livejournal.com]

FukuJun as Lelouch really impressed me as well. I knew him from Bleach where he played two characters, but one is a narcissistic biseinen shinigami with a high voice and the other is a bishounen womanizer with higher voice. Seeing him be Lelouch and Zero was, "Wow." and I'm not surprised that the role won him that Seiyuu Award in 2007.

And I suppose this also shows Taniguchi's skill as director.

[dark-alone.livejournal.com]

Considering I came off of watching Black Blood Brothers, basically right into watching Code Geass, and hoping, just really hoping he would by chance use his Zelman voice, for this role, I was very happy, and hence paid no attention what's so ever to the plot in the first season. >.> *sweat drop*
I'm just glad it wasn't his super gay voice, or even that 'happy Lelouch' voice from the first ep of R2.... But also happy it's not his speedy voice.... *just had to put his sheep counting track on*

sorry for my babble....

[saverellawish.livejournal.com]

Wow, I had no idea. I really need to find more series where he played a character then, cause I've since fallen in love with his Lelouch/Zero voice. I'm sure it would be amazing to hear him do a different range. I need to go do a search then.

[sevthebat.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the linkage - I'm definitely going to watch those at some point.

Yeah, I was very surprised to hear Fukuyama's deeper voice in Geass. I came to know him first as Albert of Gankutsuou, whose voice tends to pitch much higher than Lelouch's.
No kidding, the man's got talent.

[x-drear-x.livejournal.com]

I first heard Jun Fukuyama in Loveless as Yayoi. His voice in that was unrecognizable to me, so I was so impressed when I found out how much he had to change his voice for Lelouch. Maybe it's just that I'm not familiar enough with Japanese voices, but when a westerner tries to do that it sounds completely forced. So impressive~

[jusrecht.livejournal.com]

LOL Never thought Fukuyama went through this stage. But he quite amazed me, after listening to his version of xxxHolic!Watanuki until my ears hurt. Hmm... I don't know, but maybe it's the straining that does the trick because as Zero he sounds really evil. If he's really not used to low pitch, it must be hell for him to do both Lelouch and Zero and still has to make them sound different somehow...

And kudos to Taniguchi as the director. That's some trust he's showing.

[vspirit.livejournal.com]

yeah...but i think it's amazing that he doesn't sound as forced in the end product as he seemed to have put it during the recording process. While Zero's deep pitch seems very deliberate, at best, forced wouldn't be how I'd choose to describe it. well, he /is/ a pro after all. shows how much faith the japanese put in the meaning behind that word.

but then i got to thinking: if Zero came out sounding deliberate, isn't it because it /is/ supposed to sound that way? lelouch himself had to deliberately deepen his voice and forced it lower as Zero to sound more commanding and forceful (and to put on a thin sorta disguise to it). as everyday!lelouch, FukuJun just adopted a lower voice that sounded natural to me--which, as far as I'm concerned, is the case because it doesn't sound that far off from his own natural speaking voice.

[jusrecht.livejournal.com]

I believe you're right. I won't be surprised if he's chosen because they want that 'deliberate' quality in Zero's voice. After all, it's Lelouch trying to be Zero. His voice as Lelouch is really good though, nothing like that shriek for Watanuki... -_-

OOT

[vspirit.livejournal.com]

oh yeah, speaking of which, i just watched episode 4 of holic and damn...that shriek...it's almost pierced my eardrums through and through. -.-;; dude needs a chill pill. srsly. he's gonna develop high blood pressure at a very tender age at the rate he's going.

but man oh man, i love haruka...what a beautiful, beautiful man. and the yumekai is really adorable. ^_^ but haruka...*sighs*...i think i might very well be in love...trust me to fall in love not with a mere fictional character, it's got to be a dead one, too. =((

Re: OOT

[jusrecht.livejournal.com]

I don't really like the anime because of Watanuki's voice. Seriously. In the manga he seems much more bearable.

Haruka as in 'Tactics'? I'm afraid I don't follow ^_^*

Re: OOT

[vspirit.livejournal.com]

Haruka as in Doumeki's grandpa. I was still talking about holic. ^.^;;

Re: OOT

[jusrecht.livejournal.com]

I just felt like the most idiot... well, idiot in the universe.

Yes, of course. I forgot that his name is Haruka >_< He's so cool, not unlike his grandson but with definitely more charm. Can't wait to see him in the anime. And then it sort of make you think why Watanuki is the main character...

Re: OOT

[vspirit.livejournal.com]

You'll see him in 4. He's gonna talk, too. Which is why I have hearts in my eyes. He's so...genteel and beautiful...so beautiful...*shudder* that is, in a very peaceful and wise way. Suzaku...Suzaku's lovely in an angsty sorta way.

Oh, come now. Watanuki ain't so bad. Other than his over-reactions, other times he's pretty likeable. Especially when he's all calm and kind. =) I love episode 7 of season 1 when he rescued that dead little girl who was buried under the hydrangea bush. And I also really like his interaction with Haruka in episode 4 of Kei.

And you know at least that his attitude towards Doumeki will change later so his reactions will also be dampened (if not totally extinguished). And his reactions towards Himawari will become more subdued as well. So...yeah.

Re: OOT

[jusrecht.livejournal.com]

Really? I guess I'll wait until my friend finish d/l-ing it. I've only watched two episodes of Kei. Really curious now because you sound so smitten XD

Pardon my prejudice. It's just that I read Holic first before watching the anime. And while I never really liked Watanuki that much, his character just became too excruciating for me in the anime. Maybe it's just me. I agree that he's a very decent boy. I just don't like his characterization that much.

[firebird-88.livejournal.com]

Fascinating! 8D Wow, I figured he probably had to strain something to get down that low, but I had no idea he had to try that hard. It sounds so natural for him as Lulu. O___O That is PURE TALENT right there.

Johnny's range is pretty set though, I think. He dropped it probably as low as it'd go for dubbed!Lulu. << >>;; I've heard him do the Vash laugh and stuff though, so we all know he can go WAAAAY UP THAR, just not the other way around. .___.;;

I've noticed that voice actors tend to be very humble. They're kind of shocked that we cling to them for their characters. XD But English voice actors tend to be cast into parts that they sound like to begin with. I know Travis Willingham originally auditioned for Armstrong (LOL XD;; ) in Fullmetal Alchemist, but they said his deep-ish voice would actually work better for Roy Mustang because it wasn't AS deep as they needed it to be (for Armstrong.) Fun stuff. 8D

[vspirit.livejournal.com]

I've heard him do the Vash laugh and stuff though, so we all know he can go WAAAAY UP THAR, just not the other way around.

The funniest thing is, I'm willing to bet FukuJun can go even higher. There's this shriek that he did as Watanuki in episode 4 of xxxHolic Kei and it damn near pierced my eardrums. >.>;; So I think if the voice director had been as insistent as Taniguchi, and made JYB push his limits as both an actor /and/ a voice actor, there may have been better results.

[animegoil.livejournal.com]

No WAY, he does Watanuki too? @.@ Omg, I can't believe that... I'm in shock... I can't even remotely connect the two as being the same person.... (0_0) That's... amazing... shocking... rather disconcerting. Just yesterday me and my cousin were poking fun and fangirling at watanuki's voice craziness, and.... it's the same guy who does Lelouch? AND Zero?? ....I can't believe it....