Kojima Hideo talks about seiyuu
Metal Gear Solid series creator Kojima Hideo had made a long post about how he loves seiyuu on the Kojima Productions blog.
I love seiyuu.
I respect their work from my heart, and I am always looking forward to working with them every time.I love seiyuu.
Without them, my game will not be completed, and without them, I believe the games I’ve made would not have been as well received around the world as it is now.I love seiyuu.
That is why I call them “seiyuu-san”
Of course, their jobs are not always voice related.
They have also studied and trained in acting, and are also involved in TV, stage acts, movies etc, work that need more than just voice alone.I love seiyuu.
So what is the difference between a seiyuu and an actor?
I honestly can’t give a good answer to this question.I love seiyuu.
As a child, I have been raised watching all the movies and cartoons from around the world. TV broadcasts at that time were not done by subtitles, most of them were dubbed over. Seiyuu have taught me about the different countries across the world, the different eras in history, and the world in the ancient past or the far future. Seiyuu have been the “bridge” between me and the different worlds.I love seiyuu.
Inside me, Steve McQueen (Miyabe Akio), Charles Bronson (Ootsuka Chikao), Sean Connery (Wakayama Genzou), Lindsay Wagner (Dajima Reiko) are all people that speak in Japanese. That is why even as a child I could accept this world without rejecting any of it.I love seiyuu.
That is why I don’t like the current trend in the industry where they will use popular TV personalities or comedians as seiyuu. Of course, in foreign CG movies or cartoons, they usually do not use professional voice actors, but instead hire famous Hollywood actors for the voice cast. And even in Japan there are cases where this method of using famous actors can sometimes create a perfect fit for the casting.
But I just don’t agree with it.I love seiyuu.
In Japan, there are a lot of people with this wonderful talent where they can “voice a character” or “breathe life into it”. In Japan, the culture of voice acting even has a history spanning half a century.I love seiyuu.
That is why I want to borrow the fortune that these people have protected all this time, and create works using it. I want to spend time with these people, and I want to leave the future to them.I love seiyuu.
The casting for Peace Walker this time has, even in my experience, some rarely seen members. Their voice will add depth to the characters and make the story magnificent. The end product will have an amount of substance that the world would not have possibly expected.I love seiyuu.
That is why even when others tell me that my way of doing things is getting old, I will continue to make my games with seiyuu.
And that is why we will have a good time during the voice recording today.
Also he mentioned Ootsuka Chikao in the post, and the voice for Solid Snake is Ootsuka Akio, Ootsuka Chikao’s son.
October 11th, 2009 at 4:20 am
“Inside me, Steve McQueen (Miyabe Akio), Charles Bronson (Ootsuka Chikao), Sean Connery (Wakayama Genzou), Lindsay Wagner (Dajima Reiko) are all people that speak in Japanese. That is why even as a child I could accept this world without rejecting any of it.”
So, basically, the only way foreign actors are worth “not rejecting” is if they are dubbed by a Japanese?
Jeez, sure are xenophobic children in Japan.
October 11th, 2009 at 4:51 am
They need it dubbed in Japanese because they don’t understand English.
October 11th, 2009 at 5:16 am
This allllllllllmost connects to otaku culture. But they are likely viewed differently.
I love them anyway. Eroge seiyuu are great.
October 11th, 2009 at 6:18 am
I love seiyuu.
October 11th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Fuck yeah, Kojima. He wants to make his games sound as good the movies he watched as a kid.
Too bad someone like Miyazaki hates seiyuus and uses stupid live actors and his buddies for voices in his movies. Which is why his 2000’s movies have had completely shitty acting.
Despite replacing everyone for very classic characters, something like the new Fist of the North Star movies were completely okay except for Raoh and Kenshiro who were voiced by some lame live actors. Toki wo kakeru shoujo worked despite the live actors. The only recent anime movie I remember for the voices is Kon’s Paprika, incidentally because it had Ootsuka, Hayashibara and Furuya.
I think eroge voices are currently the best, simply because idol qualities mean zilch in such a secretive industry, Yui Sakakibara being the sole exception. Only talent matters, leading of course to a situation where you have some 25 voices doing all the notable work.
October 11th, 2009 at 8:57 am
I like how Hideo Kojima uses boku.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:16 am
“Inside me, Steve McQueen (Miyabe Akio), Charles Bronson (Ootsuka Chikao), Sean Connery (Wakayama Genzou), Lindsay Wagner (Dajima Reiko) are all people that speak in Japanese. That is why even as a child I could accept this world without rejecting any of it.”
Actually, this says a lot about the way Kojima produces Metal Gear. In the world of Metal gear, everyone speaks the same language, and even though he spends all this time breaking the fourth wall, it’s one fact that is never ever called into question. It’s just a given that in Soviet Russia, the Middle East, and pretty much everywhere else in the world, everyone speaks the same language you do and gets along fine.
As an aside, it’s also the one series that to my knowledge no one ever calls for the original Japanese voice acting. I wonder how Kojima feels about the American voice team, I’m told he works closely with the localizers for his games.
October 11th, 2009 at 11:12 am
I have a funny feeling that Kojima loves seiyuus, but I just can’t figure out how I know that…
October 11th, 2009 at 11:35 am
Gah, just stop with the nihonjiron, Kojima.
October 11th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Gah, just stop with the nihonjiron, Kojima. <- LOOL!
And now, Mr. Kojima, please make up for the disaster of a story that was Metal Gear Solid 4. At least I couldn’t stop laughin’ for 2 hours while playing the end of MGS2. Thank you.
October 11th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
So…….he is somewhat fond of seiyu?
Moriken: Ok good, Im not the only one who thought the story was a disaster.
October 11th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
I’m pretty sure I knew this after listening to the 30 minutes cutscenes in MGS4 where all they did was talk while showing you a computer screen with pictures.
Yes… Yes, you love seiyuu…
October 13th, 2009 at 1:11 am
“Actually, this says a lot about the way Kojima produces Metal Gear. In the world of Metal gear, everyone speaks the same language, and even though he spends all this time breaking the fourth wall, it’s one fact that is never ever called into question.”
That isnt really true.
At the beginning of MGS3 when freeing the professor he compliments Snake on his perfect russian so either they use a different language ingame without actually speaking it out or this is at last the proof that there are other languages in the MGS-universe.
Maybe nano-machines did the translation later on? >.>
October 13th, 2009 at 4:39 am
That stuff is nothing but (warning: site known to have addictive properties)
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TranslationConvention
October 21st, 2009 at 9:58 am
Wow, Koijima. Wow.
October 30th, 2009 at 3:55 am
@First comment,
I hope you are totally wrong. If I understood Kojima right, he meant he could understand a game where Americans, Soviets, etc go around speaking in Japanese because all those classic heroes from the West were dubbed in Japanese when he saw them in their respective movies. For me, I am totally used to seeing Hollywood stars speaking in English and hearing them dubbed in my native language makes me want to puke. Same with English dub of most Japanese anime though there are exceptions.