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At Aka Kon 2000 in Vancouver, Akadot caught up with "Ranma 1/2" producer/anime fan Toshifumi Yoshida and two of his favorite voice actors on the show, Richard Ian Cox (male Ranma) and Paul Dobson (Happosai), just coming out of a Viz panel. Delightfully, this trio riffed off one another in classic tongue-in-cheek fashion. So much so that many of their most hilarious vocal nuances are lost in this transcription. But glimpse at least the wit and wisdom born from the "Ranma 1/2" collaboration. Boxers or briefs? Paul: Commando.
Richard: Exactly. Who the hell wears anything, come on.
Paul: I got everything. Sometimes its nothing, sometimes it's a G-string.
Richard: But you are able to pull that off, that's the thing about you.
Toshi: Boxers.
Richard: It depends. Boxer-briefs, generally. You don't always have to wear underwear, but it isn't wise not to.
Is there a feminist defense for panty shots in anime? Paul: Well, look at the Japanese culture. Many Japanese men like looking at women's underwear. Does it really need a defense. The way I look at it, if you like something, you watch it- if you don't, don't watch.
Toshi: Well, I'll have to take the corporate position. In this industry you have to factor down to the lowest common denominator. When it comes to anime fans, that denominator can be pretty freaking low. So, low-ball humor, panty shots, it sells. So, in defense, if it sells, you got to do more of it.
Richard: Is there a feminist defense ... I don't think so, to be honest. But it's a cartoon for god's sakes. It's funny. At least in Ranma, they're always used for humor and it's not a serious bent and, like Paul says, if you don't like it, don't watch it. I'm not saying don't buy the tape. Yeah, buy the tape and fast forward through the panty shots if you don't like it ... is what I'm saying.
Toshi: What do you think we're trying to do, please Blockbuster?
Do you have any piercings or tattoos? Paul: Just the ears.
Toshi: None whatsoever.
Richard: I have many piercings and a tattoo. The tattoo is of a Welsh dragon holding an English flag.
If you had a secret code name as part of a secret government organization, what would that code name be? Richard: Tweezle. No, I have no idea.
Paul: Just call me Russ Meyer.
Toshi: Mr. Yo.
Richard: I don't know. I have never had use for a code name. My nickname on chat rooms, I always go with Frenum.
Toshi: I don't want to know, let's move on.
What's your earliest memory? Paul: Aggggh (re-enacting the birth moment with a clever use of his hands as the birth canal)
Toshi: Traumatically, I remember being mugged by deer in Nara.
Paul: That brings to mind a really horrible visual.
Toshi: The temple of Nara, it's a famous temple grounds. And you buy these crackers. And the deer are so used to people feeding them that they'll come right up to you. I was three years old, I had crackers in my hand. I looked up and saw a whole circle of deer around me. (by this time Richard, Paul and myself are in fits of laughter)
Richard: Earliest memory? About twenty minutes ago. I just woke up from a very long coma right in the middle of a panel discussion. No, earliest memory? I guess playing in the snow in Ontario with my dog after we moved over from Britain. I was probably two years old.
What's your most embarrassing convention moment? Paul: (with satirical reverie) I remember showing up and I had forgotten to wear clothes? There you go, a man not afraid to show his shortcomings.
Toshi: At one convention, he (Paul) almost got us into a fist fight after we had got done drinking.
Paul: Well hey, he wanted me out of the cab, I wasn't going to go. My cab, I got it first, I'm taking it. There were like eleven of them, 'Get out of he cab.'
Toshi: Most embarrassing convention moment? There have been so many.
Richard: Introducing a panel today with us on it?
Toshi: I've been doing conventions as a translator since '89. So the most embarrassing moments are like flubbing a translation really badly. Like using the word for 'smuggling' instead of 'export.' Yeah, that was pretty funny.
Richard: This is my first convention so I have nothing embarrassing to report. I don't get embarrassed terribly easily. I'm normally the one embarrassing people. I don't know, were you embarrassed by me today Toshi?
Toshi: (Pinter-esque pause) No.
What is your favorite band? Paul: I like standards. Pearl Jam, STP.
Richard: Wait, those guys are standards?
Toshi: I always liked Floyd. They got me through high school. Techno-wise I like Fluke a lot. I also try to listen to whatever the top forty J-pop is just to keep on top of things.
Paul: All that and porno soundtracks.
Richard: I have so many favorite bands, I love music. In my five-disk there is the new Outkast, Lenny Kravitz Greatest Hits. The brand new Nelly Fortado kicks ass. I love Morcheba, Massive Attack, Moby, ah, whatever, everything. Eminem is all right, but I hate him as an individual. I think he's a punk and the only reason he's selling so may albums is because Dre is his producer.
What's your favorite movie? Paul: X-rated? Oh, I don't know. I could go anywhere. I don't really have a favorite. 'Diddler of the Roof?' Try someone else?
Toshi: Well, I love a lot of the old Raymond Chandler type of film-noir. "The Big Sleep," "The Maltese Falcon," and, of course, "Casablanca." And I'm a big Bond-phile. The last few have bit but I have to collect them because I love Bond movies.(at this point, Paul delivers one of the best Sean Connery impressions around. If you happen to catch him at a convention, most likely one in Canada, ask him to knock off a few lines from "Thunderball.")
Richard: I love movies, I watch tons of them.
Toshi: He's a recluse.
Richard: But, in terms of great, all-time movies for me, "Godfather" both one and two ... not three. One of the most impressionable movies on my life has to be "Le Femme Nikita," directed by Luc Besson. It is how an action film should be shot, or an action/mystery/suspense film should be shot. I like epic things like "Lawrence of Arabia." I like how they used to do epics, not how they've tried to do epics like "Titanic," which is a piece of s***. And if you want to CC this to Mr. James Cameron, that's fine with me.
What's your favorite Bond line? Richard: Anything to do with Moneypenny.
Toshi: That Bond delivers or any line from any Bond film?
Paul: "Do you expect me to talk?"
Everybody: "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die."
Toshi: I always like, "I'm Plenty. Plenty O'Toole."
Everybody: "Well, of course you are."
Toshi: "I'm Pussy Galore."
Everybody: "I must be dreaming."
Richard: I'll have to go with the famous martini line.
Everybody: "Shaken, not stirred."
Richard: And, "I thought Christmas only came once a year."
Toshi: (pause) That was so cheap.
Do you dream in color? Paul: Yes, Technicolor.
Toshi: I never really thought about it. I think in images, to which I attribute different colors so even if I dream in black and white, I understand what colors should be there.
Richard: Is it ever a simple answer with you.
Recently Richard Ian Cox has appeared in "Runaway Virus," "Stargate SG-1" and "My 5 Wives." The ubiquitous Paul Dobson has voiced roles for popular anime series such as "Dragonball Z" and "Gundam Wing." Toshifumi Yoshida is a producer and translator with Viz Video, responsible for, among other series, "Ranma 1/2."
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