State of the Fansite

I think we’ve done a lot to be proud of, but things can be a lot better.  Not least of which, things got derailed this year because I had pneumonia this past Spring, and I’ve had to put work before play this Fall to make sure I stay ahead on my graduate school work.

Nonetheless in the past year other members have really stepped up when I wasn’t here, and run their own panels at Anime Boston, and Anime Central in Chicago.  I always really wanted this to grow to the point that if a meteorite fell on my head, it would continue on without me.  Also, I have recently taken steps which will stabilize things at New York Anime Fest.

I missed a lot of news which I’ll be trying to catch up on in the coming weeks.  Generally speaking, this year we had the excitement of Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0:  You Can (Not) Advance; I wonder if the final two Rebuild films are going to match up to that experience.  Rebuild 1 was enjoyed by many but ran into some criticism that it was mostly introduction, and stayed too close to the original TV series.  States-side, while I think FUNimation did a great job on Rebuild 1, there was a lot more buzz for Rebuild 2 when it came out, what with Rebuild 1 being their best-selling title of the year and all.  Rebuild of Eva 2 was, to me anyway, a perfect mix of starting to change the source material without straying too far away from what we tonally think of as “Evangelion”; it was great that they stopped relying on the old storyboards and started taking full advantage of their bigger movie budget.  Who can say what Rebuild 3 and 4 will be like, if they change drastically more?  Time will tell…sooner or later…

Also as you can see from the (sporadic) updates I’ve been making since Fall began, among other things, REVA wrote the cover-story on Rebuild of Eva 2.0 for Otaku USA magazine, the last anime-dedicated regular publication in North America.  I hope that really got the word out about our fansite, as well as help spread the word about Rebuild of Evangelion.

The general goal now is to get more done next Christmas/Summer break, to make sure everything is *finally* “up to speed” as the definitive Evangelion resource, by the time Rebuild of Evangelion 3.0 comes out in Japan:  the release date has been tentatively announced for “Fall 2012″, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there are delays.

Finally, we’ve started doing what no fansite with aspirations of becoming “the theonering.net of Eva fandom” can do without:  cast interviews.  I’ve started posting up some English-dub cast interviews.  REVA was always meant to be a rejection of the silly subs vs dubs divide, and to thoroughly embrace English dub actors.  These aren’t the days of ten years ago, when people seriously wished English dub voice actors bodily harm.  They’re like rock stars to us!  And they give some fun insight into the making of Evangelion.

We’ve got work to do.  But the best is yet to come:

 –>Discuss this news item in the forum

Brina Palencia interview for ReVolutionOfEvangelion.org

Your Voice Acting Career

*How did you first get into voice acting?  What is your prior acting experience?  What was your gateway anime (or what anime had you seen before in general)?

When I was in high school, my boyfriend and I were big Dragon Ball Z fans, and we managed to get a tour of Funimation.  When I graduated high school, I ended up attending a community college that was just around the corner from Funimation at the time.  I remembered where it was, so I just walked in and asked how to audition. At that time, the waiting list was only a month, so in a month, they called me in to audition.  From there I got to do a lot of bit parts and WALLA (that’s the industry term for crown scenes and background chatter).  I continued doing smaller stuff for about 2 years before landing the role of Nina Tucker in Full Metal Alchemist.  After that, I slowly started to get cast in larger and larger roles.

Before getting my start invoice acting, I had done a lot of community theatre and had taken theatre in high school.  I was always interested in voice acting, though.  I was a fan of Gundam Wing, The Big O, Blood: The Last Vampire, Vampire Hunter D, Hellsing, Battle Angel, and Pokemon

*Why did you shift to a music degree instead of a theater degree?  How has this benefited your work?

With all creative degrees, there’s always a required class that everyone hates taking.  For me, the idea of learning how to build sets and setup lighting for a theatre degree was vomit-inducing.  In other words, I hated it.  I am way too lazy of a person and had done enough set striking in community theatre to know it wasn’t for me.  However, the classes that make most people cringe in a music degree filled my heart with joy.  Music theory and counterpoint were a delight.  Therefore, I decided a music degree was a far better fit.  Having gotten a music degree has opened up avenues in my acting that would have otherwise been unavailable.  I am now one of the primary music directors for Funimation.  I get to adapt the lyrics into English and direct the singers on the songs.  I think I still would have been able to sing theme songs without the degree, but the skills I developed in my university studies are what have made it so easy for me to take over the position of music director.  I think it has given me a competitive edge with my singing as well.

*How did you move up through the ranks so quickly at FUNimation?  It seems like quite a ride.  Not too long ago, I was still kind of on the fence about liking this new show airing on Adult Swim with the dubious title “Fullmetal Alchemist”, but then the Nina Tucker episode happened.  Left me tearing up.

Honestly, since I did bit parts for so long before even getting noticed, I don’t feel like it was all the quick.  I know people like Colleen, and Sabat, and Monica, and many others got leads as soon as they walked in the door.  However, once I did get noticed it seemed to escalate.  I think it was a matter of staying humble and never getting a sense of entitlement.  I see a lot of actors come through who are in the same shoes I was – doing bits for so long – and they start acting like someone owes them something.  They start asking when they are going to get to direct or why they haven’t gotten the lead in every show.  It’s a major turn-off, and with an attitude like that it will never happen for you.  It can get frustrating when you feel you never get cast, but that’s just the nature of the business.  It was so eye opening for me when I started directing.  I, too, was burdened with the fact that I rarely got significant parts, and I didn’t understand why until I started directing the people who always get cast.  On Moon Phase I had the pleasure of directing people like Monica Rial, Luci Christian, Jason Liebrecht, Jason Douglass, Chris Sabat, and I realized…There’s a reason these people get cast when I don’t.  They’re waaaaay better than me!  It takes them 2 takes to get a line that would have taken me 6.  I learned so much from directing people like them, and it’s because I was willing to learn from them that I get cast so much today.

*What help did you get from Colleen and Mike?

They were the first directors to use me in anything significant and really give me a chance.  I am especially grateful to Colleen.  After directing me as Nina Tucker she became my biggest cheerleader and always recommended me to other directors.  She was the one who hired me first as an assistant director, then promoted me to ADR director.  Mike is the one who opened the door for me to start music directing as well.  I owe them both a lot, and they are very important people in my lives.  I wouldn’t be here without them.

*Speaking of Nina Tucker…ironically, aren’t you a cat person? ^_^

Yes, I have 2 cats J

*Frequently, voice actors in Evangelion have been playing against type:  Spike Spencer is actually a really outgoing guy and nothing like Shinji, and the original Japanese VA for Rei (Megumi Hayashibara) usually plays really outgoing roles (she was Lina Inverse in Slayers, and Faye Valentine in Cowboy Bebop).  In contrast, do you feel that you’ve generally been playing more “reserved” characters like Rei Ayanami before? Or, that you’ve played such a wide range of characters, that playing a reserved character isn’t particularly unusual?

I feel like I started out doing a lot of reserved characters – Eve in Black Cat, Yue in Negima, Ai in Hell Girl, Elsa in Gunslinger Girl.  Those were all fairly early in my career.  However, since then, my range has stretched significantly.  I hadn’t done a character like Rei in a while when I was cast as her.  However, it was pretty easy to slip back into that mindset.  Like slipping on a pair of your favorite old boots.

*You sort of started out in voice acting just as the big 2003-2004 boom was ending, and we started entering into the crash era.  Do you feel that your views on how the industry works are significantly different from the earlier generation of voice actors?  Some folks like Spike Spencer and Tiffany Grant started out back when the *original* VHS tape companies were coming out.  Were any of the shows you worked on even released on VHS, or do you belong to the DVD era?

I belong to the DVD era.  I must say, I didn’t even realize there was a boom in 2003-2004.  That was when I barely even worked at all.  The slowing of the industry was hard for me to notice, since I was getting cast so much more often during its downturn then I was when it was booming.

*How do you feel that FUNimation was able to rise to its current (circa 2009/2010) pre-eminent state, during years when once major names like Geneon and Central Park Media shut their doors?

I think it was a matter of using technology to their benefit.  Rather than letting illegal downloading get the best of them, they used the same technology to make shows available online through iTunes, Hulu, YouTube, and the Funimation website.  I think they realized this technology was not going to go away, so they tried their best to take advantage of it.  I don’t think any of the other companies did that to the level that Funimation did.

*In the past few years, we see that you’ve been making your way around the convention circuit:  do you still feel “new” like at Anime Boston 2007, or do you feel you’ve settled in now? Which were the best ones you went to?

I feel like I’ve settled in now.  I was so lame at Anime Boston.  I hardly even spoke the entire time I was there.  I just had difficulty believing that anyone cared what I had to say.  That concept still baffles me, but I’ve learned to embrace it.  I think the best convention I went to was, hands down, Armageddon Expo in New Zealand.  Why?  Because it was in New Zealand!  Also, Colleen was my travel partner, and I couldn’t have asked for a better one!  Honorable mentions would have to be Anime Boston (even though I sucked at it), Sakuracon, and Anime Central (specifically the year I pranked Michael Tatum at opening ceremonies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix-OgRXitCg)

*When you’re at conventions, do you ever feel a driving need to strip your shirt off and dance around on stage in your bra?

No.

*To shift gears, what live-action acting projects have you been up to?  We’ve seen you in commercials and other small stuff, but then you got the coveted role of senior anchor on GamestopTV.  Do people notice you for that more than big anime roles you’ve done, and if so do you think that’s kind of weird?

I’d say I get as much attention from being a host on GameStop as I do for my anime roles.  As far as new projects, I am involved in the horror webseries Throwing Stones and was recently cast in a zombie film called Archaic Redemption as Chasity.

*What about live-action independent films?  Where might we have a chance of seeing these?  And don’t you have an upcoming spot in the TV series “The Good Guys”? (episode: The Whistleblower)

I was on the Good Guys, and I have a small part in an up and coming episode of the TV show Chase.  It should be airing February 9.  She is toward the end of the episode.

*What are other major projects on the horizon for you?  You were just announced as the lead in Summer Wars, and that was huge in Japan.

Yes, I’m very sad we didn’t get an Oscar nomination.  I knew it would be a long shot as soon as the possible nominations shrunk down to 3.  However, I am extremely proud of the work we put into it.  I am also happy with the theatrical run we got.

*You’ve also been cast as Ciel in Black Butler; what’s with that kid anyway?  He’s got this amazing super-butler who caters to his every whim (platonically) yet he still seems pretty glum.   Oh I admit, things seemed a bit quaint at first, what with the whole “I freak out when everyone *except* Sebastian makes physical contact with me” thing, but he’s allergic to cats, while Sebastian loves cats.  This sounds like disaster waiting to happen.

It’s a beautiful show and I can’t really explain much about why he is the way he is without giving any spoilers.  You’ll just have to watch!

*Was it simply not meant to be, between Chibitalia and Holy Roman Empire?  Or does hope spring eternal and love conquer after all these years?  What is it about Chibitalia that makes people just *assume* he’s a girl?  And why are the other countries always bullying Chibitalia around and invading him?

He’s just too sweet and trusting, I suppose.  I think the fact that he always wears girl clothes makes it a little confusing.

*Team Edward, Team Alucard, or Team Switzerland?  Now that FUNimation is finishing up the Hellsing Ultimate OVA series, any chance you’ll be appearing in them? (given that most of the characters have been cast by this point, probably a cameo, something along the lines of one of the familiars Alucard summons?…)

Though Funimation owns the rights to Hellsing now, we did not dub it in house.  It was dubbed in LA.

Rebuild of Evangelion

*Were you surprised that FUNimation got the license?  How did you first hear about it?  Were you surprised that they cast you as Rei Ayanami?  Did you audition for Rei or were you hand-picked?  If so, what was the audition like?

I was hand-picked by Mike McFarland.  I had never even heard of Evangelion before getting cast.  I just thought it was a random role.  She never speaks, so I was only in there for barely 2 hours of work.  It wasn’t until it was announced that I truly understood the level of fandom surrounding it.

*Were you worried or excited to step into a role that’s already one of the biggest in anime, with a  pre-existing, large fanbase? (it is said without hyperbole that Rei Ayanami is so big in Japan that literally any magazine she appears on the cover of, will instantly sell out, i.e. when Rebuild of Eva 1.0 came out in Japan, Rei appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone Japan http://darkdiamond.net/web-notes/rolling-stone-does-evangelion/).

I wasn’t worried at all until the announcement was made and the messages started coming in.  They were all nice and wishing me luck, but the sheer amount of them was overwhelming.  Once I realized how popular the show was I got very anxious about the release.

*Did the original English dub for Rei Ayanami by Amanda Winn-Lee influence your performance? Either that you were trying to stay faithful to what the legions of fans were expecting, or that you were trying to intentionally distance yourself as much as possible from the original?

I have never heard her performance.  Mike wanted me to focus more on my own performance and not have to worry about voice matching anyone.

*Had you even seen the original series before?  Did you know who Rei was, and what you were taking on? [mention that Princess Leia analogy Mike used]

As I said before, I had no idea how popular the show was.  Though Mike did try to warn me by saying, “As far as nerd level, I just gave you the role of Princess Leia.”

*Well, you probably heard bits and pieces about it from other anime industry people you were with (as with any popular show).  What did you think of the show *before* you got formally introduced to it?

I genuinely knew nothing about it.

* Did Mike McFarland and/or Colleen Clinkenbeard sit you down and make you watch the entire original series to prepare? Did you guys have a DVD party or did you watch it alone?  All in one big marathon or one episode at a time?

Colleen was my producer when I was directing, so yes.  I was required to watch the series on my own before working on it.  Mike has never been my producer, and directors don’t require that of their actors.  Though, Chris Bevins had me sit and watch the first four episodes of Beck when we first started on it.

*Did they make sure to have you watch the Director’s Cut versions of episodes 21-24 (the ones that are in the Platinum Edition from 2004).  Rei has a lot of new scenes in those that explain stuff.

I have never  seen the original series.  Mike wants the movies to stand alone.

***Surely, they made you watch the *actual ending*, the aptly named “End of Evangelion”?  If so, what did you think of it?

Never saw it.

* How did you prepare and research for Evangelion, and Rei Ayanami?  What kind of help did you get?  I.e. what specific coaching or instructions did ADR director Mike McFarland give in hard scenes?

Um… Rei doesn’t talk, so not much.  I mean he gave me the background of whatever I needed to know about the scene, but she pretty much only says 2 or 3 words at a time.  As far as I remember, none of her scenes are hard.  They come pretty naturally.

*Do you think that Rei has Schizoid Personality Disorder? (Shizoid and autism are actually two distinct things, though many just generically say “its like Rei has autism”)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizoid_personality_disorder

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeEFBMxhfIs&featuret#t=3m3s

I don’t think about her having and specific type of personality disorder.  I just think that she, like many, has endured a lot in her life.  She is overwhelmed by emotions that she doesn’t have the capacity to handle properly.  Instead, she buries them deep – to the point that it seems she has no emotion.

*What were the difficulties presented by playing a character as non-emotive and stoic as Rei is?  She has few lines, though as a result each of them is loaded with importance.

I completely agree.  I’ve never had difficulty with those kinds of characters.  Anyone who knows me now will find it hard to believe, but I was extremely quiet when I was in elementary and middle school.  I actually had a fellow classmate ask me if I was capable of speaking because he had never heard me talk before.  I completely understand what it means to seem like you have no emotion, all the while you more than you know what to do with.

*Were there any scenes or lines that provoked a significant amount of debate over how to perform them?  [and if so, describe the debate in detail and how you chose to resolve it]

Nope.  Mike and I are pretty much always on the same page.

*Were there any aspects of the series or events which you had particular difficulty understanding (not necessarily involving Rei)?

I choose not to overwhelm myself with the philosophy of it while recording.  It is my job to interpret the world only through Rei’s eyes, and I will continue to do that until it is finished.  Then I might go back and try to figure out what it all means.

*Please explain “the Chekov method” that you use?  [And if its this refers to that “pretend the character is doing a gesture, then don’t do it” method, how do you deal with characters like Rei, who are intentionally mysterious and not very emotive?]

The Chekov method deals a lot with the physical.  You think about what element your character would be (water, earth, fire, air), where their center (or focus) would be on the body, what kind of symbolic gesture they’re doing with each line (like if they want something it would be a pulling gesture).  However, I didn’t use Chekov with Rei.  Because I can personally relate to her so easily, I used more of a Stanislavski Method, which deals with your character’s objective and what obstacles come their way.  I’d rather not disclose what her actual objective is until we’re completely done dubbing, though.

*SPOILERS:  “Rei Ayanami” is basically the “soul” of the progenitor alien “Lilith”, embedded into the cloned body of Shinji’s dead mother Yui.  So on the whole, her soul/mind is this non-humanoid, superpowered alien who is trapped in human form.  How the heck do you method act something like that?

Like I said, I don’t complicate it.  I have a very simple goal that I focus on, and anything keeping me from that goal is just another obstacle.

*Given the analogies Mike McFarland has made saying that in terms of popularity Rei is sort of “the Princess Leia of anime”…well, knowing what we know now, looking back at the Rei shower scene when he falls on her…would you say that “the Rei/Shinji shippers” are “the Princess Leia/Luke Skywalker shippers of anime fandom”?  (damn them, damn them all to hell).

I think the feelings Rei has for Shinji are incredibly powerful, but not sexual in any way.  I think the same for Leia’s feelings for Luke.  I can’t speak for the boys.  Does that answer the question?

*This got cut out of the Rebuild series, but in the original series Toji and Hikari (played by your friend Leah Clark) were the B-couple on the show…and Rei develops as a character to the point that she’s having meaningful conversations with *Toji* of all people in episode 18, and Hikari *literally gets jealous and thinks Rei is trying to steal Toji from her* …are you happy you don’t have to fight Leah in a live triangle?

Been there. Done that multiple times (Negima, Suzuka).  I’d do it again.  I love working with here in any sort of role.

*The Japanese voice actress stated that director Hideaki Anno told her that its not so much that Rei doesn’t “have” emotions, but she doesn’t “know” what human emotions are, they’re like an alien concept to her…to the point that she has to figure out that you smile when you’re happy.  How did you try to convey such a bizarre character nuance?  I think the way the final line played out (“I…don’t know what to do in situations like this”) really nailed it, though.

I didn’t know Hideaki Anno said that, but it makes me really happy!  I think that explains it better than I could have.  That’s exactly how I feel!  It didn’t take much trying.  That was just my first instinct.

*Did you think Rei’s selflessness was a positive thing, or a bad thing?  Because its sort of a deconstruction of the yamato nadeshiko stereotype:  Rei thinks so little of herself, has such little ego, that Shinji’s shocked at how near-suicidal her actions are.

I think it’s bad to be that way in real life, but it’s wonderful in the show.  Makes the story much more interesting.

*How long did it take to record the entire movie?  Was it spread over a series of days, or did you do it all at once? (given hew few lines Rei has, but then again they’re all very important and very difficult)

We did it all at once in less than 2 hours.  The second movie was 3 hours (I think).

*Did you interact much with the Rebuild dub actors, or did you all record one at a time and never interacted with each other? I realize that only really expensive Ghibli movies can afford to have all actors record at the same time, but what about FUNimation regulars?  i.e. if you and Colleen were in the office on the same day, did you just record scenes with Ritsuko and Rei together?

We never record together because it is way too complicated to try and get good sound, while trying to match the mouth in the animation, while interacting with the other actor.  That is something reserved more for pre-lay actors who have the show animated to them.

*Brina…we’ve heard that at Anime Expo and other cons you keep getting barraged with fans shouting out deep interpretive questions, which frankly are better suited to *the Japanese writers*.  You do know that a theory randomly shouted out during Q&A might not necessarily be fully thought out, right? (all the unverified “Hey Brina, how do you feel Eva conveys this philosophical concept” questions.  Sorry about those, they tend to crop up.  Though the show *is* about a bit more than giant robots fighting each other….)

Right or not, I frankly don’t care at this point.  It’s nothing that will help me with my character.  If I need to know a philosophy, Mike will tell me.  Otherwise, Rei doesn’t care, so I don’t care.  Now once the show is completely over, then I will be dying to know!

*Rei is a vegetarian, because director Hideaki Anno is a vegetarian.  Didn’t you mention somewhere that you yourself are a vegetarian?

Yup, for 6 years now.

*What I think is really ironic is that…many of the voice actors on the show actually have really strong music and singing backgrounds (you, Allison Keith-Shipp) but there really isn’t any singing in the show, and being a movie it doesn’t really have an intro song to record an English cover of.  Are you disappointed?  I mean I’m not sure how they could work in Rei singing, she’s very stoic.  One thing is that in the original series, literally every episode has a variant cover of the theme song “Fly Me To the Moon” done by a different voice actor from the series.  But I’m not sure if you guys can do that for copyright reasons (it wasn’t actually in Rebuild)…though FUNimation did have that troupe of “Rei-clones” at AX singing it so….

I’m happy to sing when I get the chance, but it doesn’t disappoint me that Rei doesn’t sing.  She’s still awesome.

*By the way…this is sort of skewed because most clips loaded to youtube tend to have been taken for a reason, but…it seems like people physically ambush you at conventions and *demand* that you sing the themes from anime series you worked on, like you’re a bipedal jukebox of some kind.  Are you happy to put up with this, or should everyone give it a rest?  Shouldn’t they be more worried with you know, “interacting with the voice actors”?

I don’t mind it at all.  The only reason I wouldn’t do it is if I had a sore throat.  In that case I would just say no.  I won’t ever do anything I’m not comfortable with.  Singing is something I like doing pretty much all the time.

*What do you think of the mountain of porn fanart about Eva characters, specifically things like putting Rei in hardcore sex scenes with Shinji and/or Asuka and/or Ritsuko? (Revolutionofevangelion.org has a strict zero-tolerance policy on porn fanart; other sites think we’re weird for this, but we’re trying to have “standards” and *make people watch the actual show* and not their own fantasies)

I HATE IT!!!! I know it’s bound to happen, but I hate that there are characters I do that are getting disrespected like that.  I hate the One Piece porn even more! That is straight up wrong!

*Hideaki Anno is on record as saying that Rei tends to be more popular in Japan, while he was surprised that Misato and Asuka were fairly popular in America because in Japan they’re sort of unusually strong female characters and scare off the fanboys.  Most of the fanboys there and here, crave blank, submissive femae characters who are basically walking meat puppets.  They want Rei to be a helpless doll…like on Dollhouse!  But isn’t Rei’s central storyarc how she *finds her personhood* and own self worth?

I love Dollhouse! Great show!  Anyway, I don’t think she’s a meat puppet at all.  I think she’s incredibly hardcore!  And yes, she slowly finds herself as the story progresses.  That’s my favorite part of the story.

*Basically, is Rei the fanboy’s doll?

No.  Though there are many dolls of her you can buy, so I guess, technically, yes.

*Have you had to deal with any crazy obsessive fans yet?  Amanda Winn-Lee had some true nightmare stories:  things like fans writing in letters asking if she ever exercised naked while talking in the Rei voice (shudder).  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yuu2SFIWb_Y&featuret#t=3m10s

That’s horrifying, and no.  No crazies…yet.

*Do you enjoy Doritos?

I don’t eat junk food, but I loved them when I was in high school.

*How do you feel Rei’s blue hair influences the character, and how did this inform your method acting? How vital is it to the character? Because after Dragonball Evolution, in which Bulma didn’t have blue hair for some reason (there’s flying people and green aliens in Dragonball, but suddenly blue hair isn’t realistic?!) we got worried that people might think her blue hair isn’t essential to the character.

It doesn’t affect how I play the character, but I probably wouldn’t recognize her without it.

*Some people say Evangelion was “about” fight scenes, or random religious symbols, etc. but most of the people I’ve run into are so drawn to it for the psychological character drama.  What do you think?  The “Hedgehog’s dilemma” scene actually presents this pretty succinctly, I’m surprised people didn’t think the “message” was clear.  It’s a character drama.

I focus much more on the character drama of it.  Rei is so badass, she doesn’t make many noises while fighting, so most of what I voice is about the character relationships.

*Overall, what were the scenes from Rebuild of Eva 1 that you enjoy the most (both Rei, and in general)?

I liked it when she slapped Shinji.  That was cool.

*In your opinion and as Mike, Colleen, and others have explained it to you, who do you feel is the main female character of Evangelion?  Or is it more of an “ensemble cast” with no one “main character”?

I guess I never thought about it.  I suppose I consider Rei to be the main female character since she is really the only one I care about.

Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0

*Have you met Tiffany Grant yet? [we know you have at least once at the Minnesota con].  How will you handle the sparring between Rei and Asuka in the second movie? [make up some funny answer, like “with quiet dignity, and grace”]

I have met her before, and we plan on arm wrestling soon.

*The problem is that in Rebuild of Eva 1.0, Rei’s scenes play out almost exactly as they do in the original six episodes.  The only differences are in omissions (and more fanservice this time).  But in Rebuild of Eva 2.0, they start drastically changing the plot.  Without giving too much away, its as if…well, the second half is loosely like the Eva-03/razor-armed Angel storyarc stopping at episode 19 (good stopping point), while the first half has some bits from the Monster of the Week arc….but most of those episodes got cut because they were too standalone, and they started making up *entirely new plotlines* for Rebuild which simply have no equivalent in the original series.  Its now clearly a separate continuity, not like the original series.  Rei, in particular, is *drastically* different in the second movie, compared to this part of the original series.  Do you feel that this ultimately helps to differentiate your performance as Rei in Rebuild?  That you’re not just redoing scenes almost lifted from the original series?

I would assume so.  I can’t say for certain since I’ve never seen the original.

*There is no right answer for this, I’m just very worried and sympathize that this will be difficult:  in the original series, Rei actually does have a “character arc”, but its so subtle and *gradual* that you’d only notice if you watched the series in marathon and paying close attention.  Subtle things like minor shifts in her body language from episode to episode, she starts making eye contact more often, that kind of thing.  But while Rebuild of Eva 1 covered six episodes (and presumable, Rebuild 3 and 4 will too)…Rebuild of Eva 2 crams about 12 episodes of storyline into one movie.  They cut out a lot of the more standalone episodes.  The result is that at the start of 90 minutes, Rei is basically behaving as she was in episode 9, while at the end she’s behaving as she was in episode 19.  Even in the original series, Rei’s behavior was drastically different between the two…but now, this subtle character change that was supposed to happen in gradual steps is happening *really really fast*.  So, no real correct answer here…are you worried about how to “organically” portray this rapid character development?  She starts off the movie flat and borderline autistic, and ends very emotional.  Good luck, we sympathize that it will be extremely difficult.

I’m not worried in the slightest.

*Did Rei say really say “poka poka”?!

Sure.

*Do you think a live-action Evangelion movie, produced by Weta Workshop, could succeed in telling the story?  I mean that it is *theoretically* possible to make them, if the right director and actors are in place?  That its not “unfilmable”?  Even good ideas for movie adaptations can get ruined if crazy people are in charge (i.e. M. Night Bialystock’s hack job on Last Airbender).

I think it would be difficult to cover it all in one movie.  Maybe if it was a series of movies, that would be better.

*God’s in his heaven?

I’m an atheist, but okay, “All’s right with the world”.

–>Discuss this interview in the forum

Your Voice Acting career

*How did you first get into Voice Acting?  It seems like Amanda recruited everyone to it…what was she, like the ADV version of Kambei from Seven Samurai?

Man that was so long ago.  I really don’t remember.  But I do remember her boyfriend Jason telling me I should try this new voice work called anime.  I was like what #$% is anime?  I was a pretty well established voice over talent in Houston and Texas.  But I was mainly doing commercials and training videos.  I had no clue what I was about to get into.  Amanda was my first director.  I did Golden Boy.  I did not understand the work process at first but soon got a handle on it.  She was great to work with as I remember.  But I do drink a lot so maybe I am remembering something else.  No just kidding.  She was great but it was a foreign work flow for me.

*What past exposure to “anime” did you have when you became a Voice Actor?  What series/movies had you seen/heard of before?  (i.e. Tiffany Grant said she was a big Robotech fan back in the day)

My first had to be Speed Racer.  Hell I did not even know it was anime.  But I grew up in a time when we were all about Bugs Bunny.  Speed made us laugh cause we thought it was goofy…at least in public with our friends.  But home alone watching it we all wished we could drive the Mach 5 and Trixie.

*To get ahead of ourselves, what are your favorite anime series/movies today?  Have your preferences changed much?

I don’t really have a favorite.  I enjoy all the characters I play and certainly the shows I have directed.  But my favorite two are Air Gear and NHK.  They are cool to me because they are not your typical animes…mechs and all.  Still lots of fan service – got to love that!

*How to you approach playing anime characters who are sometimes incredibly outlandish or difficult to relate to from a method acting perspective?

I like playing the crazy ones.  Gates from Full Metal Panic – my hero!  You have to really rely on the director and his or her insights because as an actor we don’t get a whole bunch of time to work it up.  We play with a voice but it may take an episode before you really “find” the character.  Lot’s of times we may go back and re-record the first stuff just so it matches the rest of it.  But characters are always evolving and growing.  We need to match that vocally.

*Now some people might not realize this, but you’re one of the veterans that was with ADV back in the early days, back to Golden Boy, Bubblegum Crisis, Nadesico.  So you’ve been in the business longer than most.  What exactly was ADV and anime dubbing in general like back in the early days in the 1990’s?  We always think its some giant factory with major Hollywood studio board rums and such; wasn’t it a lot more personal in real life?  How many people actually worked at ADV back then?  Who were the inner circle of folks in charge?

I did not start with ADV at their beginning.  But I came on pretty quick.  They already had their own studio as opposed to renting out studios by my first show…Golden Boy.  I still did not know anyone.  I worked with Amanda and Matt as directors.  Of course we had a bunch of sound engineers.  Chris Bourque was one of the last ones before ADV went HUGE.  He is still there.  But I remember one night I was working and got to talking with Chris and he said something to the effect of, “You will not believe what is about to happen”.  Of course he was talking of ADV on steroids.  After that happened I would walk around not knowing what the hell or who the hell I was looking at.  It was a bunch of fans who found their coolest job EVER!  There was an inner circle…I was not in it.

*Why do you feel that Houston turned into a major hub of English dubbing in the early days, as opposed to anywhere else in the country?

Pure luck I think.  Matt Greenfield and John Ledford had a love for the genre and were in the right place at the right time.  Texas is a right to work state, so production budgets could be kept lower than in New York or L.A.  Plus they pulled together a really talented staff.  The sky was the limit and they knew it.  It was a very untapped market.  Also Houston has a great number of very talented actors.  ADV trained them and they all went on to become…well you know.

*Are you a freelancer, or are you contracted to work with a specific company? I assume you’re a freelancer because you’ve worked with both FUNimation and ADV.  We don’t understand the complexities of the contract stuff, how does that work?

I am a freelancer.  Even when I directed I was a freelancer.  So I can work with whomever I choose…rather whoever chooses me.  I know there was talk about setting up the “old Hollywood studio system” of having actors on staff, but it was just talk , mainly by the actors.

*At what point did you notice the shift in attitude, where anime companies started thinking of the DVD release as the “primary” release of a series, and really moved away from VHS?  A particular title or general time period?  People are still kind of hesitant to switch to Blu-ray these days, how is that similar to or different from the switch to DVD?  Weren’t laserdiscs the cool new format for a while in the mid-1990’s?  Do you think Blu-ray is slow to catch on because people are worried its going to be like Laserdisc? (a new format which, despite winning “the format war”, quickly got superseded by the next big thing, DVD).

Ok dude, how many freaking questions are you asking me in this ONE QUESTION?!?!?!  I really do not know the answer to this.  But I do know that technology is rolling over on itself and people are hesitant because they do not want to get stuck with the “old version”.  But if you find a way to watch it in a format that you like then who gives crap?  Just watch it.  You know what the best wine in the world is?  The one you like to drink.

*Carl Macek spoke highly of working with you in what turned out to be his final interview.   He directed a few projects you were in like “Lady Death”.  What was it like working with Carl?

Wow I loved Carl.  I was so sad to hear of his death.  He was a real pioneer and a good friend.  He gave me my first “bigger roles”.  I learned a lot from him.  He was a gifted director and really let the actor have fun.  I felt I was his “go to” guy.  Whether or not that is true, only he will really know.  But I can still believe it.  He was quite a talent.  Some loved him, some hated him, some were jealous of him.  I am just glad I had the opportunity to work him and be his friend.
*Did they ever tell you what “AD Vision” stands for?  Matt Greenfield continues to adamantly deny it was for “animation dubbing”.

At first I thought it was a Christian reference.  But then I realized NO WAY.  I thought it was Animal Dooty.

Working on Neon Genesis Evangelion

*Now some people don’t realize this, but you actually worked on the original Evangelion TV series, briefly voicing Asuka’s father in flashbacks in episode 22.  [at least, according to IMDB you did].  How did you first hear about Evangelion?  What was the atmosphere like around the ADV offices?  I.e. when did everyone realize it was a mega-hit?  Do you have to audition for minor roles like that, or how are they divided up?  Did you audition for anything else in the series?

I had never heard of it.  But I knew nothing of anime.  Matt was telling what a great show it was and I was like, Okay.  He wanted me to audition so I did.  I did a bunch of voices on it.  I did a general audition and got cast as a lot of different things.  Soemtimes I would start doing different voices and they would say, “Hey can you do such and such a character?”  I was like sure!  The more I did the less I had to audition.

*How did your impressions, and those of everyone at ADV, change as the series progressed?

Well I think they all knew they had something big on their hands.  Again I was so new to the genre that I did not really get it. But I loved the work so I wanted to hang on.  I did.

*How did you react to the sudden drop in animation quality near the end of the series as Gainax ran out of time and money?  What was your reaction to the TV ending?

Don’t know. Don’t really watch anything I do.  I am weird like that.  But I can say that endings seem to be an ongoing problem with anime.  It can be a disappointment because you are thinking, “what the hell were they thinking”?

*When did you first realize that there was something “different” about Evangelion?  That it wasn’t just a run-of-the-mill stereotypical Giant Robot show?

I didn’t really.  You have to understand that I was so new to this (sorry to sound like a broken record) I did not really know what I was doing other than voicing some fun characters.  I had (and have) done so many shows that often they would blend together.  I know that might be hard to grasp.  But it was really fun job to me and that’s it.

*What Evangelion merchandise do you own? (Tiffany Grant has an entire room devoted to Asuka merchandise)

She stole that from me.

*What are your favorite episodes or moments from the series?  Are there any particular scenes or lines that you really like and that stuck with you?

No not really.  I know that is boring.

*In your opinion, who is the main female character of Evangelion?  Rei or Asuka?  (Betty or Veronica)

About the same.  You need both! Right?

The Anime Boom years:  1997-2004

*As a voice actor who has been in the business since the early years, how did things start changing when the real boom happened in the late 90’s/early 2000’s?  How did the convention scene start to change?  Did you feel there was larger acceptance of anime? (as more than either “just kids cartoons” or “violent porn with large eyed girls”)

The Boom was a great time.  ADV employed more actors than anyone in Houston.  I was not into the con scene at the time.  I was married and starting a family.  So taking off for the weekend was not appealing.  Now I can’t wait to go to as many I can or at least that will have me.  I think it is important to get out and meet the fans. The market was growing at that time.  Unfortunately it hit a plateau. ADV was growing right along to meet the demand and we were all working 10-20 hours of recording a week.  The shows ran the gamut of what it was.  All of the above!

*How did you first hear about End of Evangelion?  From your own perspective, just as another person around the office, what was the bidding war like between ADV and Manga Entertainment for the rights?  What was the reaction when ADV didn’t get it?

I cannot answer that.  I do not know.

[our fansite…and to be honest, even major anime journalists like ANN’s Justin Sevakis, openly consider Manga Entertainment’s release of End of Eva as one of the worst DVDs ever made, purely from a physical standpoint they had lots of quality transfer problems.   We think “everyone lost” because Manga made a bad release, paid too much for it, ADV didn’t get it, etc.

I will agree with you.

*There were a lot more companies during the boom years than there are now.  These days, once big names like Geneon and….”names” like Central Park Media, have shut their doors.  There really aren’t dramatic buy-outs like that anymore.  What was it like having multiple big anime companies actively engaging in bidding wars for titles?  As a VA, how did you juggle allegiances? (i.e. if you recorded for one company, would another refuse to hire you again for your “disloyalty” etc?).  Of course, these days they say the big bidding wars between Geneon, Bandai, and ADV in the boom years are what ate up most of their previous profits.

Well when the boom was going on, there was no reason to go anywhere but ADV.  Other companies were not going to pay for you to come out when they could get good talent out in L.A. or New York.  Funimation was just starting out. If you did work for more than one company you did not go around bragging about it…poor form. You quietly did your job.  You do need to understand that for a lot of VA’s, it is a job…a fun one but a job nonetheless. We were and are all trying to make a living and we will do it wherever the work takes us.

*At any point in the boom years, when they were cranking out so many titles *assuming* they’d all be hits like Eva…did you or other voice actors on the con circuit ever pause and go “wow…how can we license this much stuff and still make a profit?”….or as voice actors, were you just happy to have more work than you’ve had before or since?  It was more paychecks either way.

More work More Better.  But we all knew that it could go away at any moment.  We just hoped it could go on forever.

Playing Gendo in the Director’s Cut episodes

*This is a sensitive question but unfortunately its directly related to your casting so I doubt we can avoid it.  We know that the original Gendo voice, Tristan MacAvery, got into a fight with Matt Greenfield over the rights to a script.  As a fansite, we cannot take positions on one side or the other and need to maintain an official position of neutrality (that, and it was a long time ago).  Rather than drag that up again, we’ll simply ask:  were you around the office when these arguments were happening, or did you find out after the fact?

First I have heard of it. As a VA, you come in do your job and then leave.  Not too privy to the inner workings.

*How did you get cast as Gendo in the director’s cut episodes (included in ADV’s Platinum Edition DVD set released in 2004)?  Was there an audition process, or were you hand-picked?

I had gained a rep of being able to do a lot of voices at ADV.  Matt asked me to come in and audition for Gendo.  I needed to sound similar to Tristan.  I thought I sounded better but I am not biased.  After that it was all golden.

*How did you address the difficulty of stepping into an established role?  I mean, people give you some flak for this, but it was stepping in at what was the tail end of the series, for only 4 episodes.  Sort of difficult to just jump into that.

Yes it was.  I have done that with other roles too (FMA, One Piece).  But you get in there and do the best you can, hope the fans like it, and know that it was not some mean choice I made. It is like Darrin Stevens on Bewitched..Dick York vs Dick Sargent.  I a not trying to be Trisatn (in this case) but be Gendo.

*Then again, there were problems in the initial run because *ADV only recorded the dub 2 episodes at a time* because that’s the rate they were coming out of Japan.  So in the initial episodes, they had no idea about the backstory revelations that would come in the later episodes.  Do you feel you had an advantage in at least knowing where Gendo was headed as a character by that point? (further, because the director’s cuts had been delayed so long that you probably already saw what happens to Gendo in End of Eva, which was released in 2002).

No not really.  When we record we just go in and do it.  In real life we do not know where we are headed always and that makes for an exciting ride.  I think the same way about voicing characters.

*What kind of preparation did you do?  I assume you had seen the original series including English dub already, given how big of a release it was for ADV.  In which case, it was unavoidable that you had already heard the original performance (in contrast, Brina Palencia never saw the original English dub so after being cast as Rebuild-Rei, she has intentionally avoided ever watching the original English dub).

Initially I did other voices than Gendo.  So I went in blind for those and got to create my own thing.  For Gendo they wanted me to be as close to Tristan as possible but not mimic him.

*How did you try to make your own performance as Gendo distinct?  Did you intentionally try to make it very different to set it apart, to follow the original, or to just do whatever seemed right based on your own interpretation? [talk at length]

Well at first I was trying to be as close to original English VA as possible but then I started to find my own sound.  I think that as long as I am true to the character then it will sound good.  I mean when you watch you aren’t saying “wow I love Tristan or John’s voice”.  Hopefully you are thinking “wow I love that character”.

*Did you try to humanize Gendo more, or to try to give him more nuanced motivations?   Because while I do enjoy Tristan’s performance as Gendo, he’s this Machiavellian ruthless plotter…that’s not really what the original Japanese performance is like.  In the original Japanese, he’s a bit more world-weary, wry, and sardonic, and your performance was actually closer to that.  [he’s not melodramatic in every single line he says, he’s a human being on some level, who lost his wife and it utterly broke him]

Yes I like him to have a more human side.  If it is always melodramatic then it is predictable and boring.

*Do you feel that Gendo was not too different from Shinji once?  In the flashback episode #21 (particularly with the added director’s cut scenes), Gendo as a young man seemed a lot like a slightly older, somewhat more cynical Shinji (he even looks like a slightly older Shinji).  He casually waves off getting into a barfight because he feels he’s “used to people’s hatred”…sort of like how Shinji just thinks the world is a scary place out to get him.  Is it possible that Gendo sort of represents what Shinji will become if he keeps making all the wrong choices in his life, doesn’t reach out to other people, and gradually gets really embittered?  Sort of like how “Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader” is this echo of the danger that Luke Skywalker faces if he takes the wrong path to the dark side?  (he cuts away his mask in the dream in Empire, and sees himself, etc.)

[ see our analysis video here:  http://revolutionofevangelion.org/gendo-is-an-adult-shinji/ ]

We were just recording some Gendo the other day at Funi and I really was into the parallel of Shinji and Gendo to Luke and Darth.  He is a flawed human who has made choices…some good some bad.  He know there are consequences and is prepared to deal with them.

*How can Shinji be anything *but* this whiny introverted whimp, when he’s got Gendo as a “role model”?  Not even that, Gendo abandoned him when he was 3 years old.  Yet why does he still yearn for Gendo’s acceptance through the first half of the series?  [talk at length; Shinji desperately tries to get Gendo’s approval in the first half of the series and the first two Rebuild films, even though he’s this emotionally distant absent father who ignores him, just because its ingrained him him that he has no self esteem without his father’s approval, etc.]

Well a boy longs for approval of his father.  Sometimes the further the father becomes, the more the son seeks approval and will do whatever it takes to get it.  Plus that is the way the writer wrote the characters.

*The director’s cut episodes 21-24, contain about 20 minutes of new scenes (an entire episode’s worth, spread across four episodes).  And they’d been released in Japan since 1998.  Not just you, but how much did everyone at ADV…know about the Director’s Cut episodes?  Was it just rumors, or had people actually seen them?  I mean did they manage to obtain imported copies? (this would be complicated by the fact that it would need a Region 2 DVD player).  The director’s cuts contain so many answers to other things (such as that Gendo has Adam implanted in his hand).

Could not tell you.  VA’s are not really privy to info like that.

*We heard there was some sort of bidding war with Gainax and things fell apart, resulting in the director’s cut episodes not getting licensed for 6 years.  Do you know what made them come around eventually?  (We kind of think Manga Entertainment’s mishandling of End of Eva made them warm up again to ADV).

Again just a voice actor here.  Not privy to company business.

The Anime Industry Between 2004 and 2010

*We the fans on the other side of the TV monitor only have bits and pieces of information to go on; we can only partially piece together “the collapse of the anime industry” from 2005 onwards.  I’ve got a longer writeup of this up my website; http://revolutionofevangelion.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page#Rebuild_of_Evangelion.27s_North_American_English_dub_release is that more or less what happened?  Rampant overexpansion led to a bubble burst, and internet downloading hurt things?  When did you start to notice a downturn at ADV and with other companies?

I started as a voice actor in 1998 (I think).  For years I saw the industry which I knew nothing about grow.  I was blown away by this new (to me) industry.  Then in 2004 while ADV was clearly Goliath I started directing.  I got laid off 6 months later and then worked on and off.  We all thought Sojitz was going to be the life blood we needed.  I do not really know all the details so I do want to speak out of line.  But I will say that overall, overexpansion and too rapid a growth helped to burst the bubble.  Your analysis is very much on the money.

*What was your reaction when you heard that Geneon collapsed in September 2007? (that’s the point when we couldn’t deny there was a problem anymore) Or should we have noticed earlier, when Musicland shut down?

I had already been layed off and had quit asking how things were going.  I just took work as it came and prayed for the best.  I did think that when you thin out the herd a little, it strengthens the others.  I guess I was wrong.

*When did you notice FUNimation really starting to edge out the other companies?  Was it one specific thing or was it all kind of a blur? [for us, it was January 1^st 2009 when FUNimation announced they won the bidding war over ADV to get Rebuild of Eva]

BINGO!

*This is a sensitive question, but what are your thoughts on what happened with ADV?  Some people are callously critical about all of this, and hindsight is 20/20.  Yes, there was a lot of overspeculation going on, but *everyone* was doing it.  Seems like in 2008, all anyone could talk about was taking a jab at ADV…even though Geneon and other companies had overexpanded just as much.

ADV was king.  It is not uncommon for the other companies to want to see it topple so they can have a shot at it.  I think ADV was leading the way in Dubs and helping to forge a new market.  Fans were craving new stuff and ADV was putting it out as fast as they could.  The market was growing by leaps and bounds and I think ADV just speculated to much.  They rolled the dice and they came up snake eyes.

*More than any other Eva cast member, you’ve been heavily working with ADV since their early days, then with FUNimation when they gained prominence, and now you’ve been working extensively with the new “Section 23” label which handles ADV’s old assets as well as “Seraphim Studios” which got the Amusement Park Media dubbing studios.  So you have a unique inside perspective on what happened:

Tiffany Grant told us that there was a stretch from Novemberish 2008 to Mayish 2009 when there simply was no dubbing work happening in Houston, the longest time anyone had ever been without work.  Then around late 2009, we were pleasantly surprised to hear that Seraphim Studios was making the English dub for Halo: Legends, which you performed in.  What was the shift to Seraphim like for Halo Legends?

It was weird working there after the shift.  Everyone is understandably tight lipped.  But you could see the physical downsizing of office space and studio space.  It was not the once grand 5 studio facility of the early and mid 2000’s. Only Matt Greenfield and Steven Foster are directing.  Work is very sparce.

We also see that you’re currently working on a lot of new English dubs for Section 23/Seraphim, like Ghost Hound, Blue Drop, and Tears to Tiara (with Matt and Tiffany again).  What’s it like working for Section 23 these days? (Please, tell us “an atmosphere of hopeful optimisim”!….)

Well it is always good to work.  I was working earlier this year with Matt and Steven on a weekly basis and I thought Wow, you are coming back.  Then the shows ended and the work stopped again. I auditioned for Steven a while back but have not heard anything.

*Unlike the Geneon crowd, and the problems Bandai is having…a large number of the people who used to work for ADV have since been working at the other companies there assets were sold to, and to our happy surprise, have recovered enough that they’re producing English dubs again.  If 2008 was filled with news of the fall of ADV, 2009 and 2010 keep bringing little bits of news here and there of recovery.  Its not much, but frankly…they are still “releasing anime” on some level even though the “ADV” brand name is sadly gone.  And not every other company from 2004 can still say that.  Your thoughts?

I hope they can come back but they will never be the Behemoth they once were.

*By the way, we can expect to see you soon in FUNimation titles like Soul Eater as Lord Death, and in Black Butler as the Undertaker; how are those going?

Great.  I am very excited about these roles and titles.  Funi is my new ADV.

*If you think about it, you’ve been Asuka’s father, Shinji’s father Gendo, Lord Death in Soul Eater, Yoshiji Koyama in Shin Chan…do you worry that get typecast as “the father figure”?

Not at all.  As long as I am cast I am happy. Crocodile is not a father, nor is Undertaker.  But even as Ed’s father I am lucky to have the work.  I will voice whatever I am asked to voice.

Rebuild of Evangelion

*How did you first hear about “Rebuild of Evangelion”?  Given that the original series had a kill’em all ending, the sort that really makes it impossible to make any kind of continuation, what was your reaction to the announcement that they were making “new Eva movies” that were a remake/alternate continuity?

To be honest, I did not give it much thought.  I was glad to have the work and glad Gendo was back. I first heard when Mike McFarland told me about it.

*Were you surprised to hear that FUNimation got the license?

A little, but given the way things were going for ADV, it seemed par for the course.  Although that could have been the spark ADV needed to re-ignite itself.  I just think ADV brand had become tainted too much.  It is one reason I am sure they changed their name.

*You occupy the distinct position of being the only voice actor reprising your role from the director’s cut episodes, so while you weren’t in the original run you also aren’t entirely new to this like how Brina Palencia had never even seen the show before.  What difficulties/advantages did this present?

None whatsoever. I just listen to my director and off we go.

*How did you get the role of Gendo in Rebuild of Eva? Was there an audition, or did they come to you?

Matt Greenfield cast me years ago to replace Tristan.  Mike McFarland wanted me to reprise the role.  So there was no audition needed.

*Having played Gendo before, did FUNimation ever turn to you when questions came up about how to play certain lines?

No, the director know what he wants and is far more familiar with all of it.

*What kind of instructions and coaching did ADR director Mike McFarland give?  What was it like working on the project?

Well I love working with Mike.  He is a very good director.  He let’s you explore a little but know what he wants.  It is my job to give it to him.  He makes my job easy.  Hopefully I make his easy as well.

*How do you feel your perception and performance of Gendo has changed since the director’s cuts, given the five years which passed since your last work on the role?

It hasn’t really.  I do feel and see that Gendo does have a more human side.  That is refreshing.

*Why does Shinji call Gendo “dad” now?  Seems kind of warm; it used to be just the more formal “father”.

Maybe trying to bring out the human side of Gendo.  I don’t know.

*Given the amount of time that has passed since working on the director’s cuts…how had your own experience as a father, informed your portrayal of the extremely flawed relationship between Shinji and Gendo? [TALK AT LENGTH]

Sorry but it doesn’t come into play.  That is not the way I work as a voice actor.

*Did you ever encounter any of the other voice actors, or do you guys come in and record your lines separately?

I know plenty of VA’s but we work separately in the booth

*About 3 minutes worth of dialogue-heavy scenes were added to “Eva 1.11 Blu Ray version” that weren’t in the original Eva 1.0 (or 1.01) versions.  How were the “new scenes” for Eva 1.11 recorded?  Any differently, or did you just record all of them in one sitting as if they were a normal part of the whole movie?

All in one sitting

*Are you looking forward to Rebuild of Eva 2.0 : You Can (Not) Advance?  Have you seen it yet, and now that FUNimation has announced that it has the license, when do you think you’ll be heading back to dub the second movie?

Yes and I just finished a week ago.

*Are you trying to treat “Rebuild-Gendo” as separate from Gendo in the original continuity?  This will get complicated as Rebuild of Eva 2.0 starts drastically diverging from the original series.

No I just play Gendo like Gendo needs to be played.  I really try and match what the Japanese have done.  They created him.  I am just giving him an English voice.

*When they were recording the original series versions of episodes 1-6, the actors didn’t know that Gendo and Ritsuko were secretly having a sexual affair off-camera, that was revealed in later episodes which no one had seen yet.  Knowing what you know now, did you try to convey this nuance at all in the scenes between Gendo and Ritsuko?  Or, while aware of it, do we also have to keep in mind that Gendo and Ritsuko are doing a very good job of hiding it? (its not like they’re going to be using flirtatious tones while in Misato’s presence).

Ya know that info can be helpful but I did not really even think about it.  Sometimes voice acting is like playing golf.  If you over think it you can mess your whole game up. Maybe best to just hit the ball.

*Do you find it difficult that a lot of Gendo’s important dialogue is stuff he cryptically murmurs back and forth with Fuyutsuki?

NO…wait yes…I mean…I don’t know.

*Do you feel that they’ve added enough new dialogue to Rebuild to make the plot mechanics a bit easier to follow?  I.e. there are new lines in the first 5 minutes where Gendo and Fuyutsuki flat out explain, “Angels have the Fruit of Life, we have the Fruit of Knowledge” etc. etc.

I have not read whole script.  So I do not know the answer.

*One of the biggest differences in the first Rebuild of Eva movie, is that Misato knows about Lilith from the start now, and she showed Shinji. In the original series, Misato didn’t know about the Angel being held in Terminal Dogma, then when she did find out about it, she was mistaken and thought it was Adam when it was really Lilith – so she got tricked twice.  In Rebuild, she just takes Shinji down there and says “this is Lilith”.  I realize you don’t write this, but in your personal opinion, is this supposed to be a hint that Misato is actually *wrong* in Rebuild, and that isn’t really “Lilith”…because that thing on the Moon in the end looked like original-Lilith.

*What do you make of the fan theories circulating around, based on the Moon Giant and Kaworu’s lines about how “Shinji hasn’t changed”, that “Rebuild of Evangelion” is really a *sequel* to the original series?  (sort of like what happened in Wolf’s Rain or Turn-A Gundam) (watch this video it explains: http://www.youtube.com/user/ReVolutionOfEva#p/c/84014DB3B7483783/3/qWpThptiagM )

I really did not give it any thought.  You must understand something and I hope this does not make you think less of me.  I work on may many show and do tons of characters.  Doing Gendo is one those many characters.  While I am grateful for the work and love the character, I just do not give it as much thought as you might think.  I go in and do my lines the way the director wants them done.  I do not have the luxury of playing out a character like in live action.  Seeing the character arc run it’s full course and playing off other characters.  The story was conceived, written, produced, and voiced in Japan.  We are just dubbing in English.  Our goal…my goal anyway is to stay true to the Japanese original and to the director’s vision.

*Ultimately, do you see Gendo as this evil mad scientist antagonist, or tragically flawed, Captain Ahab like figure?  Can we truly fault a guy who’s last lines are “Please forgive me Shinji”? (“Its nothing the God of Bio-mechanics wouldn’t let him into heaven for”)

Tragically flawed…nice way to put it.

*Some people say Evangelion was “about” fight scenes, or random religious symbols, etc. but most of the people I’ve run into are so drawn to it for the psychological character drama.  What do you think?  The “Hedgehog’s dilemma” scene actually presents this pretty succinctly, I’m surprised people didn’t think the “message” was clear.  It’s a character drama.

I don’t really have an opinion on that. Sorry.

*Overall, what were the scenes from Rebuild of Eva 1 that you enjoy the most?

The first and the last.

*If Rebuild of Eva gets to be a big success, do you hope that “fans on the street” will stop just referring to you as “Director’s Cut Gendo” but another take on “Gendo” in your own right?

I don’t really have an opinion on that. Sorry.

*Do you enjoy Doritos?

I do.  But only nacho cheese.

*Do you think a live-action Evangelion movie, produced by Weta Workshop, could succeed in telling the story?  I mean that it is *theoretically* possible to make them, if the right director and actors are in place?  That its not “unfilmable”?  Even good ideas for movie adaptations can get ruined if crazy people are in charge (i.e. M. Night Bialystock’s hack job on Last Airbender).

Hollywood can do anything now. I mean in a technical sense.  So it is up to who get’s cast and who directs.  But I think it could certainly work.  However I also think no matter how good it is, how true it stays to original, it will piss off and disappoint some fans.  You just can’t please everyone.

*God’s in his heaven?

ALL’S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD

–>Discuss this interview in the forum

*General background introduction: how did you first get into voice acting and what were big steps along the way?

I started working for FUNimation in January of 2004 after an impromptu audition while on a tour of the studio. I was months away from finishing my degree in theatre and had been acting from a very young age. For a few months I just did bit parts until I was cast as Hiyono in Spiral. From there I went on to play Winry in FMA, Triela in Gunslinger Girls and Takane in Burst Angel.

*Are you a freelancer or does your contract tie you to FUNimation?

I am technically freelance. I sign a new contract yearly with FUNimation, but it doesn’t bind me to work with them solely. The contract just covers things like wages and confidentiality.

*String of related questions: The big thing we’re really concerned about is that you moved to Madrid, Spain; how does living in Europe affect your work schedule for FUNimation? Are you still an active voice actor, or are you just finishing up the roles you originated as special cases? (i.e. FMA: Brotherhood, the next Gunslinger Girl, but not starting any new projects?) Have you “effectively retired”? Will you still go to anime conventions? Is it true that you have a home studio for recording? Did this significantly complicate your ability to record for Maya in Rebuild of Eva 1 (and 2)?

Since moving to Spain, my voice work at FUNimation and elsewhere has in essence stopped. Not permanently though, so I guess it’s more like a hiatus. Before I left last February we recorded everything we possibly could on Brotherhood and then planned to use my home studio for the rest. It worked out that I came back to the States last summer for some conventions so we didn’t have to use my studio. I was able to complete Brotherhood while I was home, and before everyone else! In the fall I made another trip back, again for conventions and was able to get Eva 2.0 recorded. So no, I haven’t retired, really. I’ll continue to maintain any current roles that may pop up in sequels and things, and I won’t be living abroad forever! I’m definitely still available for conventions, if the con doesn’t mind flying me from Madrid!

*Why did you move to Europe, and what have you been up to?

My husband and I moved to Europe because we wanted to travel and decided that teaching English would be the best way to do that and sustain ourselves, too. We came to Madrid in March to take a certification course. We only planned to stay for the month of the course, but fell in love with Spain, so we stayed! Eventually we’d like to teach and live in other countries as well.

*What is the anime scene like in Spain? (do they dub that much stuff into Spanish/Catalan that people on the street know what “anime” series you work on are, comparable to the level here, or is it practically nonexistent?)

There is anime in Spain! We don’t have TV at home, so I don’t know what exactly is on, but I do know that it is in Spanish, certainly. When I talk to my young students about my other job as a “dobladora” they always know what Dragonball Z is but that’s about it. Young kids here watch Bakugan a lot, and play Pokemon. I think they watch Powerpuff Girls Z also. There is an anime culture and even conventions, but I usually don’t find out about them until after the fact. I saw a kid with a One Piece backpack once, and another guy with a Naruto headband on- in the Metro no less! Manga is popular also. I have a feeling that a lot of anime watching is done illegally online (just like in the U.S.!) since a lot of media is watched that way here.

*How did you get the part of Maya Ibuki? What was your audition like?

I don’t really remember! I’m not sure I auditioned at all, I may have just been cast cold.

*One of our friends was at Animazement 2009 in North Carolina, and they said you literally got a text-message in the middle of your panel (at the same time the English dub cast was being announced the same weekend at Anime Boston) saying that you were cast as Maya, and it seemed like you weren’t really sure who that was; how did this work out exactly? I.e. did you read off some audition lines earlier, but weren’t sure who Maya was, then later they said you got the part?

I’d seen the original Eva before, but it had been many years earlier, so I just couldn’t recall the character. Once we got started and I saw her on screen, I remembered. As far as the casting goes, you’d have to ask the director, Mike McFarland. Sometimes with supporting roles, a director can cast an actor based on their previous work, which must have been the case here.

*Had already you seen the original series at any point between when it came out in 1997 and when work on Rebuild started?

Yes, I’d seen the series in the early 2000’s sometime.

*How did you first hear about Rebuild of Evangelion?

Um… I don’t remember. I may have read about it online or in a magazine with regards to it in Japan. As far as FUNimation’s involvement, I think McFarland told me.

*What kind of instructions and coaching did ADR director Mike McFarland give? What was it like working on the project?

Usually I had to sound military and intense, and whatever I thought intense was, Mike needed it 3 times that! It was really cool to be a part of a show so legendary though. I loved working on it. Mike let me hear what the other actors were sounding like- Spike, Alison, etc. We were kind of geeking out about it all.

*How did you prepare for the role? That is, did FUNimation make you sit down and watch the original series (if you hadn’t already)? If they did, were the instructions to also watch the aptly named finale movie, “The End of Evangelion”? (Maya gets a lot to do in that)

As voice actors, we are generally told not to watch any preexisting material, be it in English or Japanese. Because everything we do is timing-related, it is important that we don’t begin “deciding” in our mind how we want to deliver a line. Watching material ahead of recording can cause an actor to get in a rut, unable to move out of the delivery they first imagined and into what the director wants and what will fit the flaps. Luckily for me, it had been some years since I’d first seen Eva, and I didn’t know at the time I’d be playing Maya in the future, so I hadn’t been practicing!

*Brina Palencia said that she had never seen the original Evangelion series when she was cast, so while she did sit down and marathon the original series subtitled, she made it a point to never watch the original series’ English dub: the reasoning being that as opposed to trying to match the original, they were trying to do an independent take on their own. Did you also do this?

Nope! I’m not surprised that Brina did a marathon watch though, despite my answer to the previous question regarding this. She had to take over a very important character of a very well known and loved series, so the pressure was on!

*Conversely, if you already just happened to have seen the original dub in the past 15 years, how did you try to handle stepping into a previously established role?

I didn’t worry about it too much. Like Brina mentioned, we weren’t trying to recreate. And I had faith that if the director chose me, he must think I’ll be able to pull it off.

*The problem with playing Maya Ibuki is that by Rebuild, she’s basically Evangelion’s “Other Darren” – the character that gets recast all the time, and each of them had significant screentime
– a few Eva roles got recast once or twice, or someone new read lines in a compilation movie, but Rebuild-Maya is now the fourth major iteration of Maya (the others were Kendra Benham in the TV series, Amy Seeley in End of Evangelion, and Monica Rial in the director’s cut episodes). How did you approach playing a character who has had so many alternate English voices before? (of course, if you’ve intentionally never seen the English dub in any form, this is a moot point).

I didn’t realize Monica had played Maya as well! How cool! Again though, I didn’t worry at all about what Maya used to sound like. We were starting from scratch with her, as far as I was concerned.

*We were very impressed with how you had Maya’s tone drastically shift between public and private settings; i.e. when only Misato and Ritsuko are around and they’re not in front of the full command crew Maya suddenly starts showing a lot more emotion and concern (when Shinji is in VR training and she’s worried about him, when they’re surveying the damage from a plane and she says it reminds her of Second Impact). What kind of thought went into this, and will we see more of this in Rebuild 2?

Well, she is a person, not a machine! Also, there is only so much the audience can take of those super-intense reads. But the decision wasn’t really mine. I take my acting cues from the animation itself, the Japanese voice actress and my director.

*One of the things I personally regret is that a lot of the material that was covered in the middle arc of the original series had to be cut for time from Rebuild 2. I agree that it helped the flow but a large amount of the character development for the secondary characters happened in those more standalone episodes. Maya’s bigger episodes were 11, 13, and 14. Do you still try to “keep in mind” material from these episodes that got cut? I.e. that Maya likes reading light novels, hangs around with the other technicians, is awe-struck with how they’re “living in the city science built!”, and how she morally disagrees with what Ritsuko is doing but can’t bring herself to outright refusing to carry out Ritsuko’s orders? How are you dealing with that quite a few of Maya’s character building moments from this part of the series had to be cut for time?

Honestly, it was so long ago that I saw the original, I didn’t even remember that stuff until I read it just now. I hope that doesn’t break your heart! But really, I’m just happy to bring the character to life in whatever scenes I’m given. Who knows, maybe some of that other stuff will get worked into the newer rebuild movies.

*In the original series Maya never exactly walked around holding a sign announcing this (who does?) but Maya is actually a lesbian, and has an unrequited crush on Ritsuko. Have you kept this in mind or tried to convey in some way that when Maya is talking to Ritsuko she is “in awe” of her?

Maya’s “awe” of Ritsuko is pretty obvious to me, regardless of her sexual persuasion, so it definitely plays a part in bringing her to life.

*Would you say that Maya is the Smithers to Ritsuko’s Mr. Burns?

Haha!! Pretty funny… but no,

*If you actually break down the amount of dialogue each character gets in Evangelion, Maya actually gets something in the area of a fifth of all of the speaking lines…its just that a lot of them are “technobabble” things heard in the background. How much time did you have to spend recording? How did you handle all of the convoluted technobabble lines? (did you ever trip up?) Was it ever difficult to “sell” some of the technobabble lines emotionally? i.e. to shout “The Eva’s AT Field just fell 15%!!!” and sound genuinely scared? Or have you had experience selling the urgency of wacky lines before in past series you worked on?

Some of the lines are a little convoluted, sure, but it’s quite fun to shout them! The nice thing is that while there are a lot of those lines, many of them don’t have lip flaps to match, so the recording time is shorter.

*As you’re one of the FUNimation regulars, do you encounter the other Rebuild of Evangelion voice actors often, at the office or on the convention circuit? (well, when you’re visiting the United States to work at FUNimation HQ).

When I was still in the states, I would see many of them everyday, if I was directing. Others, not as frequently because they didn’t live in Dallas, like Spike for example.

*Overall, what were the scenes from Rebuild of Evangelion that you enjoy the most?

Do you mean my scenes? Because I haven’t had a chance to watch my dvd of 1.0 yet, and I obviously haven’t seen 2.0. I really do like yelling technobabble… so that is like, 90% of each movie!

*Do you enjoy Doritos?

You know what, I do, but since moving to Spain we’ve become addicted to ham flavored potato chips. Ham is big here. Sorry, Doritos.

*God’s in his heaven?

Which means he must be in Texas! (and all is right with the world

Thanks for answering our questions

thank you!

–>Discuss this interview in the forum

(this post is a placeholder, until I can load up more pictures;  please check back  soon).

The bad news is that it actually said nothing particular about Rebuild of Eva 3.

The good news is that it was starting to give more info on the day-to-day inner workings and staff of relatively new anime studio, Khara.  We haven’t really heard much about what its like to be in there before, so this was a set of interviews we really needed.

Further, its got a picture of Asuka from Rebuild of Eva 3.0 on the cover page!

(this post is a placeholder while I load pictures, please check back soon)

Some of the older physical book volumes were getting harder to find;  particularly Volume 9.  The initial run was a big burst of the first nine in 2004, followed by one every year and a half or so.  They usually print less as a longrunning series goes on (you make a disproportionate amount of “Volume 1″ because people sample those), so Volume 9 isn’t very common (I doubt I’ve ever seen one on a store shelf).

Further, what with the decline of bookstores the past few years in general, and the recent shutdown of Borders in particular, it was getting harder to find physical manga volumes.

So not only is this convenient, they cost $0.99 a chapter.  Viz calls them “chapters” but the English translation they’ve used before is “Stages” (whatever, people know what “chapter” means…).  Given that there are over 80 chapters now that might seem a bit steep….but keep in mind that there are currently 12 physical book volumes, at $10 each, so 120-80 you actually save a good $40 by getting the digital downloads.

The only snag is that they’re incrementally releasing them one at a time on a weekly basis, and as of October they’re only up to chapter #8 or so.

Still, this is great news.

(this post is a placeholder until I can load up more pictures, please check back soon).

This leaves Barnes & Noble as the only major book chain in the USA (oh come on, the next one down was even smaller) and particularly, the only one in the New York City area.  They used to have 8 stores on Manhattan but the one in the upper west side closed two years ago:  but I’ve confirmed that the other seven locations are still open.

(This post is a placeholder until I can format it better/add pictures we took.  Please check back soon).

The panel was headed by Gaynor79 (one of the regulars from the [adult swim] Eva threads), and co-hosted by General Iowa (aka IowaCubsFan), the founder of the [adult swim] Eva Nerds Club way back when.  The core of ReVA sort of started out as the folks who posted on the [adult swim] forums when the series ran on [adult swim] from 2005 to 2007.  I’m really happy that things are expanding beyond what just I, “V”, do on the east coast.  As you may remember, I was actually really sick with pneumonia earlier this year, so I wasn’t really able to help them out by trading notes over the internet.

Nonetheless, these guys were able to put together this entire panel and get it accepted to this big con, and it seems like it was really productive.  Gaynor79 practiced in advance by doing a “dry run” of the panel at a small local convention, Karoshi-con (at North Illinois University, total attendance 310 people).  I really think that’s the right way to get Eva panels submitted to major conventions:  running Evangelion panels at smaller local cons, and working your way up the food chain.  I’ve never seen much sense in alternative methods, like when the guy who ran a Miyazaki panel a previous year feels this is actual proof that he is particularly knowledgeable about Evangelion.

ACen gave them a great position, too:  Saturday May 21st, in Panels Room 1 (which is a big 400 seat room).  Further, they actually got to run a *2 hour long panel*, because the Evangelion panel that had been scheduled to go after them cancelled at the last minute, so they covered for them.

As Gayno79 explains,

WE KICKED SO MUCH ASS!!!!  Here’s how it went. Originally we had been slotted for an hour long panel. However, the panel after ours, “Evangelion is Serious Business”, never checked into the convention. So we were asked if we had enough material to do a 2 hour long panel. We used up every last minute of it. There was so much awesome discussion. We had a very well sized audience that was very knowledgable about Evangelion. That made me so happy. There were very few empty seats and people seemed really excited afterwards. I met some wonderful fans and had an awesome time. Also, big props to all of the ACen staff. They went through some hard times over this weekend and they worked really hard to make the convention a success.

General Iowa also said, “We should totally do another Eva panel for next year, especially because it is exposure once again not to mention we can do some digging around and if any news on Q breaks out between now and then we totally have more to talk about!”

Video:  http://www.veoh.com/watch/v211708682XSRjP8C
Head Panelist: Me(Gaynor79), Co-Panelists: IowaCubs_Fan, Dek111