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As a departure from our usual random question Q and A, the editors at Akadot want to offer an in-depth interview with a working anime voice actor about the business and impressions of the industry.
Voice actor Tara Jayne, who has just moved to Los Angeles from New York, has performed the English versions of Solude from "Maze," Aun from "Photon," and, most famously, Bulbasaur from "Pokémon." Akadot catches up with Jayne at The Cat and Fiddle pub/restaurant in Hollywood, over a typical Southern California lunch of veggie burgers and grilled vegetables, to chat about the voice acting process, making the move from New York to LA, and the discrepancies between anime success and its predominantly non-union status. How did you get into the business? TJ: I got a call one day from Taj productions, and I didn't know how they got my tape, but they asked "Would you
like to audition for a new project called 'Pokémon?'" and I said, "OK." I got a small part on "Pokémon" the day that I was there,
a character named Bulbasaur. I went in a couple of times and then all of a sudden I started seeing "Pokémon" all over the streets.
We didn't know anything about it, how big it was going to be. I'd still like to thank whoever got me the audition. I don't even
know. So, "Pokémon" was my first voice-acting job. I was very lucky.
Did you get more work from your exposure on "Pokémon?" TJ: I met more people who knew the right people. Once I learned how to dub, I thought that this was a cool skill;
I might as well try to make more money.
How did you take to the skill? TJ: : I seemed to be good at it, and I guess some people are not. If I worked quickly, they kept using me over
and over. There are people that have great voices, but they don't get the dubbing technique.
What prompted the move to Los Angeles? TJ: There's more work out here. And Nickelodeon and Disney operate out of LA, whose animation works the opposite
way as anime. When you do anime you're restricted by the lip flaps, having to get the timing right. It's more rewarding to be
creating your character than be restricted by, "ok, his mouth move six times. Make the line make sense that way."
Where is the creativity in dubs then? TJ: It's more about the voice itself. Often I don't think dubs are good because of that. I think that's why
they get a bad wrap. You're restricted. And a director is often more concerned about getting the lines to fit. Some of the
reviews I've read say, "It doesn't sound like that in the original." And, most of the time, we never really even talk about
the original.
Would you like directors to talk about the original voices more? TJ: I love when they get into the original. I've worked with some terrible anime directors. Sometimes
they'll use a first take in which my reading doesn't even make sense and they'll be happy with it.
What do the good dub directors do? TJ: They'll actually give you direction. There are many directors that are actually technicians for whom the
goal is about fitting the mouth flaps. I've worked with some great directors on "Pokémon" who would have me do a line five
times. Sometimes my character wouldn't be consistent, I'll do three voices in a day running around to different studios, and
I'll do lines that don't match up with the voice I used before. The good directors will catch it. Other times I'm shocked
they didn't notice it.
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