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Voice actor casting choices that you were surprised to learn

Last posted Jun 17, 2020 at 10:29PM EDT. Added Jun 14, 2020 at 08:55PM EDT
9 posts from 8 users

One recent example for me is with the English dub of Beastars. When I was watching some clips of it before watching the show proper I thought to myself "hold on, Haru sounds really familiar…" Looked it up and found out Haru is voiced by Lara Jill Miller, who I know best as the voice of Kari in the English dub of Digimon Adventures, a show I loved as a kid. Also interesting to note is Beastars is Miller's first anime dubbing role in a decade, turns out that before Beastars the last anime dub she did was back in 2010. Just really surprised me a voice I recognized so well from my childhood suddenly came back in my adulthood.

Also anime related but an older example, anyone remember Zatch Bell? (Or "Gash Bell," I recall hearing the reason why the dub changed the name is because "gash" means something very different in English speaking countries, which depending on where you are either means "a gaping wound" or "a vagina") I remember being surprised to learn that two voice actors mostly known for only doing voices in American made cartoons also lent their voices to this dub. One big example is the title character Zatch is voiced by Debi Derryberry, best known for voicing characters like Jimmy Neutron and Coco Bandicoot. Another one is a character named Kanchome was first voiced by Richard Horvitz, best known for roles like Zim in Invader Zim, Billy in Billy and Mandy, and Raz in Psychonauts.

And now another example of "Western cartoon VAs making the transition to anime dubbing," Ben Diskin, who is probably best known for voicing Numbah 1 on Codename: Kids Next Door, has been showing up in a decent amount of anime this past decade. Some of his most notable anime roles include Sai in Naruto and Boruto, Haida in Aggrestsuko, Joseph Joestar in Jojo, and Jack in Beastars.

Last edited Jun 14, 2020 at 08:59PM EDT

Related to American voice actors you mainly see in cartoons. Tom Kenny had actually did do some voicework for some anime dubs. Mainly IGPX and Rave Master as Benjamin Bright and Griff respectively.

Another one is sort of an inversion where it’s a voice actor who’s mainly done work for anime dubs and video games but I was surprised to learn that Bryce Papenbrook (The voice of Kirito, Makoto Naegi, Eren Yaeger, and Inosuke Hashibara) was the english voice actor for Chat Noir in Miraculous Ladybug (Which is a French cartoon)

Another one is how Steve Blum voiced Guilmon in Digimon Tamers. Considering Steve Blum also plays Spike Spiegel, it’s shocking to see him voice a character as childlike as Guilmon (Who I feel his voice reminds me of Meatwad for some reason).

IfYaKnowWhatIMeme wrote:

Dee Bradley Baker who does all kinds of creatures in just about every cartoon

Oh in a similar vein, Mike Patton of Mr. Bungle and Faith No More fame also famously has a very wide range and is sometimes hired to do voice acting that involves ranges you don't hear as often. For example he voiced the title character in The Darkness 1 and 2 video games, and he was hired by Valve to do most if not all of the screams and growls done by the Infected in Left 4 Dead and provide similar growls for the Anger Sphere in the final boss fight in Portal 1.

There were numerous voice actors I was surprised to recognize in Fire Emblem: Three Houses, such as the already-mentioned Ben Diskin as Caspar and Lorenz, Tara Platt as Edelgard, David Lodge as Jeralt and the Narrator, and most surprisingly, Veronica Taylor (a.k.a. the 4Kids dub voice of Ash Ketchum) as Manuela.

Also ever since I learned Yuri Lowenthal voices the titular character in PS4 Spider-Man, I haven't been able to unhear "Spider-Sasuke".

Skeletor-sm

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