Akadot: What are you offering in terms of script?

Amanda: We've become very adept at writing in character. So the lines are still true to the Japanese intent (we don't want to add things to the text, explain things that were originally not explained, etc.) but ... for example in "Burn Up W," these are characters that we both know and love so we can bring a good flavor to them. Yûgisays to Rio at one point, "Hey, calm down." We said, "Hey, don't get your panties in a wad." It's the same intent, but the snideness that the script calls for is represented in the words.

Jason: We engage in script doctoring. We re-write a character in a way that opens up his/her behavioral dynamic into a more believable and more engaging realm. There's no way a mass audience is going to watch a script for which the words are literally translated from the Japanese and delivered with falseness.

Amanda: Part of good script writing is being able to create a strong character. If you know this character is stuck up, part of the writers' job is to pepper his/her lines with snobbish language.

Jason: Take Amanda's character, Rio. Just cleaning up the dialogue doesn't really give that character the juice. Her character is obnoxious. She's always broke. If we translated the dialogue literally it would just be her whining about money all the time. That's not really what she's about. It's "panties in a wad"- type dialogue that'll flesh out her character.

Akadot: Who does the translations for you?

Jason: The company has it done. Someone said that they had two different translators on "Burn Up W." There's a distinctly different feel through the first four episodes than the rest of the series. Without someone like us coming in and cleaning it up, you're going to have two different stories going on. There are times we've called friends of ours who speak Japanese to clarify what a translator was going for. We're striving to keep the essence so last thing we want to do is guess at what they say.

Akadot: Does ADV have a final say in the script?

Jason: In the past we've done work like this in-house at ADV so it really never became an issue. This is the first time we've done something outside of ADV.

Amanda: Let's just put it this way. They weren't saying 'we want to approve the scripts before you go into the studio.'

Jason: If they knew this was something that was going to go on TV they would let us know that this is something for kids.

Amanda: But even the stuff we did, even though it isn't going to go on television, we still worded it so that even the worst of it is still something you would hear on prime time. Like 'bitch.' I think I used 'ass@#*!' a couple of times but it's stuff you would hear on television.

Akadot: What about sound engineering?

Amanda: Sound engineering is an absolute art form. It is vital to have a good sound engineer. A lot of the Japanese sound effects suck. The sound engineer has to balance the voices and alter or replace some of the laughably bad sound effects. Our sound engineer is Keith Arem who owns PCB Productions. He is a brilliant sound engineer. He's worked on "The Emperor's New Groove," done a lot of stuff at Warner Brothers and Disney. Warner Brothers wanted to hire him full time but he didn't want to go back to working for somebody anymore. So he built a studio in his house. I can't even count how many projects we've done with him. When a sound engineer is bad, it drives me up the wall. You have to work with someone you enjoy spending time with, that you enjoy spending 12 to 14 hours a day with.

Akadot: So you offer an artistic package to the anime community.

Amanda: Mainly what we offer is the transition from small direct-to-video companies to possibly, bigger and better things.

Jason and Amanda's voices will be featured on the big screen in ADV's "Spriggan" slated for early spring. Amanda stars in the Bungie game "Oni" being released on January 29th of this year. And the two regularly appear as part of the Second City comedy troupe at the Improv in Hollywood.