Click Here for the first part of the Naruto Voice Actor Interview.
Click Here for the second part of the Naruto Voice Actor Interview.
Click Here for the third part of the Naruto Voice Actor Interview.
Announcer: I have a couple specific questions for Yuri and Brian, can I ask them now?
Yuri & Brian: Sure.
Announcer: Yuri, you have all that experience acting in video games. How does Naruto differ from other say Ace Combat or Full Spectrum Warrior?
Yuri: Coming from the anime world, there's definitely a specific feel to it. Naruto has its own mythology and vibe, which is different from a lot of stuff that I do. Added to the fact that I've gotten to really develop this character over time which you don't really get to do in other games. You come in, usually you haven't read anything from the script, they put it in front of you, give you a couple of key things to hit and you're off. Then in four hours you're done and you never see them again. But, the nice thing about this is that the character's had time to develop, I feel a lot closer to him.
Announcer: Did the game industry help you get into anime later on?
Yuri: Actually I started out with anime. My first real gig was a show called SD Gundam Force which aired on Cartoon Network back in the day. It was actually video games came after that, but they work together quite well.
Announcer: And are video game auditions different from anime auditions?
Yuri: I think they're similar to a certain degree. You know, the producer is always looking for something specific and you give them what you think they want. And you're either on or you're not. Sometimes it's hard but you can't worry about that too much.
Announcer: With your martial arts background which video game character do you think has the best moves?
*laughter* Yuri: I'm not just saying this because he's on the line, but um... Well, my answer would of course be "Well, duh, Sasuke!" I mean, Rock Lee's got the real moves.
Brian: Yes!
*laughter*
Yuri: Sasuke, he's got a lot of Jutsu and he's got a lot of magic that he can work but Rock Lee can actually do everything.
Brian: Thank you, thank you very much...
*laughing*
Yuri: So, I'm going to have to go with Rock Lee.
Brian: Oh man, dude, I am gonna kiss you hard when I see you!
*laughter*
Brian: I'm gonna show you my best softest spine.
Yuri: Lion's Barrage. I want to see your Lion's Barrage!
*laughter*
Announcer: I think that's all the questions we have for Yuri... that were specific for you.
Yuri: Well, thank you for having me in today.
Announcer: Thanks so much Yuri, thank you. Bye Yuri.
Yuri: Bye everyone.
*DING Yuri Leaves*
Announcer: Ok, cool. Well, how long do we have you online Brian?
Brian: Just a few more minutes I could probably stretch it to five if you need me to hang in there.
Announcer: Ok, I have just one specific question. I'm not quite sure if you answered this earlier or not but someone asked you specifically how you prepared for voicing Rock Lee, if there's anything specific you've done?
Brian: Yeah, I guess I did answer it mainly to the extend that there were a few very specific Rock Lee nuances and thing that everybody wanted to hear or was requested. I'm not exactly sure if it was specific from the Japanese or not. But, it was again talking very properly and not shortening anything and no slang - it was all very proper with Rock Lee. That was probably the biggest adjustment I had to make with Rock Lee. And voice in general, as I think everyone will attest, you do your own little warm-up every day. *laughs* You know, as a voice actor again your body is your instrument so there's a general warm-up and prep for everything I do.
Yeah, Rock Lee's been fun and Yuri hit on it a little but one of the nice things about having a huge hit and having an extended episode and now video game arc is that you really get to know the character and you can play with the character. And, fortunately because the character starts so young they do grow up and you get to grow up a little bit with them.
Announcer: And this is for everyone else in the group. If you could do a voice for a different character in the video game, which one would you like to try?
*laughter*
Maile: Hmm... I'd try Choji.*laughs* He looks like a lot of fun. It's not a very complicated answer!
Kate: I'd probably want to try something totally different, like... Lady Tsunade or something.
Maile: Oooh... yeah.
Brian: Oh nice. I would want to do Guy, or Gaara who kicked my butt. *laughs* I'd love to do both and play with something like that.
Announcer: Brian, if you need to leave we totally understand.
Brian: Yeah, I do unfortunately. But I'd like to thank everybody that's on the line and yahoo for the issue later this month.
Announcer: Thank you Brian!
Kate: Bye Brian!
Announcer: So we have a quick question for Maile. You're known to gamers and anime fans as the voice of Naruto but you have a lot of small parts, like the housewife in Grey's Anatomy. One fully uses your voice and the other involves physical acting. But, other than that, how do the two differ?
Maile: Hmmm... They're so different but, I guess artistically it's like sculpting and painting. They're sort of using the creative part of you but they're totally different. I will say that doing television and film, I've done a bunch of films too, I just did a Jim Carrey movie called Yes Man that will be out next year. They're just long, long days and often quite boring when you're not a lead in the movie or television show. So, in a lot of ways it's not as satisfying as actually getting to act more, which I do in Naruto and cartoons and animation in general. But, on the other hand, I love doing on-camera stuff. I've done a lot of it and I audition for a lot of it. They're so completely different! It's almost like two completely different things except for having to act. But, the good thing is, I don't have to get in costume when I do Naruto - I don't have to worry about sitting in a makeup chair.
Announcer: Do you prefer playing Naruto or Nine-Tailed Naruto?
Maile: Definitely Naruto! *laughs* Nine-Tails is very growly, very low, very taxing and it takes a lot of energy. The way I look at it, it might be different for other people, but I look at as having moments. SO, if in the moment the Nine-Tailed Fox is going to say "I'm going to kill you." You kinda have to pull that out of somewhere. It's an emotion behind it and the Nine-Tailed Fox is very, very intense. It's fun to do but it's very taxing, you feel kind of exhausted at the end. You come out and you're "*phew...* Wow, I was just electrocuted."
Announcer: We have a question for both of you, Kate and Maile. Do you relate to your characters and how does that affect your performance? Kate?
Kate: I relate to my character a lot. Mostly in the sense that she's in love with Sasuke.
*laughter*
Kate: Because I've lived that, gone after the guy who is cold and detached. So I relate to her yearning in that aspect. I relate to her wanting to better herself, sort of a perfectionist, not wanting to fail. I feel very close to her so it helps.
Maile: As far as I go, I love that Naruto is so spirited and he never gives up on things. I can relate to that. And he's emotional, I'm pretty emotional - if I weren't I wouldn't be an actor! I think that he likes a challenge and that he tries to do right by all his friends who are kind of like his family. I share some of that with my friends, I have a lot of good friends. I have a great family too! I like his enthusiasm for life.
Announcer: Kate, how do enjoy playing one of the most characters in anime?
Kate: I like it of course! Like Maile said, when I auditioned for it I had no idea it was going to be as big as it is and that it was as big as it was already in Japan. I get a lot of fan email and lots of middle-school age girls that write me that they admire me and stuff that's very flattering. I sometimes write back and say "You know, I'm not really as great as that. But, thank you!" I've been invited to schools by kids to talk. It's nice to know that you have impacted people's lives really.
Announcer: We're going to ask the three questions that were submitted specifically for Tomy and then we're going to open the call up for open questions from the people who are actually joined with us online.
Quick question from Steven from MyGamer: How much of a role does the voice-acting in the Japanese series play when doing the voices for the American dubbed versions?
Glen: Well, obviously there's a lot that goes into the voicing that comes from the Japanese. Especially intonations and emotional impace. Japanese voices have a lot of emotion behind them, either anger or sympathy or happiness or anything like that and we try to take that into account when we write up the script.
Announcer: Did you record any new Jutsu names for this game?
Glen: No, these are all the tried and true Naruto jutsu.
Announcer: Did any of the lines from the show get changed for the video game?
Glen: The lines from the show are normally used in the story mode and those aren't voiced in Ninja Destiny. So, as far as they're typed, yes they're normally changed and tweaked just a little bit. We try to keep the most noticeable lines the same and then we have to take into account the size of the actual physical area we have for the text for the video game. For Ninja Destiny specifically, most of the lines were maybe shortened down a little bit to fit the screen.
Announcer: So that's the last of the questions. Thank you so much for participating!
Maile: Thank you very much!
Kate: Thank you for having us.
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