Founded in 1992, New Generation Pictures only recently got into producing anime dubs, namely for anime distributor Pioneer - though the company has translated and subtitled over 150 anime titles. But now, anime dubbing is the centerpiece of their operation. Their products have garnered mixed opinions throughout the anime community, perhaps reserving judgment in the nascent stage of the company's foray into anime. However, the upcoming "NieA_7" from Pioneer, New Generation's fourth major anime dub, is such an anticipated project that much attention in the anime community is focused on the final product. Akadot was able to speak with New Generation vice president and co-owner Jonathan Klein and director/voice actor Taliesin Jaffe ("Amazing Nurse Nanako," "Nazca" and the aforementioned "NieA_7") about the dub for "3 X 3 Eyes," a project for which they pulled in "Gargoyles" producer/writer Greg Weisman to direct. Using "Eyes" (originally dubbed by Streamline Pictures several years ago) as a starting point, we engage in a discussion about the philosophy of dub production.

So what were the weak points of the Streamline dub of "3x3 Eyes" that you tried to avoid?

Jonathan Klein: By their own admission, they spent about a day per episode recording. And due to that I felt that they really didn't capture the core of what this show is about. There's this love story deep at the heart of it. But also there's these two people plugged into this bizarre world. Yet they're both trying to reach normality.

Taliesin Jaffe: Streamline did good and bad work. I felt that 3x3 isn't one of their best, nor is it the worst. It was sort of midrange.

JK: The thing that bothered me most about the Streamline version was that they cast two different actors to play the characters of Pai and the Sanjiyan that possesses Pai. We wanted to match it more to the original version. So we actually had to go and find someone that could do both voices.

Whom did you cast?

JK: Brigitte Bako.

TJ: Our director, Greg Weisman, wanted to avoid the Streamline version entirely, he didn't want to be influenced by it.

You mentioned before that the Streamline dub either wasn't consistent with name pronunciation or Americanized the names of key characters in an attempt to make the piece more accessible. Now when you guys put together your dub, did you try and regularize the names?

TJ: We made rules and we stuck with them. We researched, asked people that were in the know and had done the research. "How do you say this properly?" And they would say that you say it in Japanese this way, but in Chinese you say it this way.

JK: So we did regularize the names, kept them the same throughout, and avoided Americanizing the names.