NOTE: This commentary is a companion piece to The Drums of Heaven and may not make complete sense unless you've read chapter 8 of that story.
Duo: This time around, we're going to discuss why people always think rule number one of the Gundam Wing epic is that Heero Has No Feelings.
Heero: I do too have feelings.
Quatre: Heero, have a banana.
Heero: What?
Duo: Heero talks a lot about following his emotions in the story.
Trowa: And Catherine still hates him for it, too, I think.
Heero: Hey, I'm not the one who decided to be an idiot. I warned you.
Trowa: Fair enough.
Wufei: And Heero also did all that yelling when he was trying to decide whether to kill Relena.
Quatre: Technically anger is an emotion, too.
Heero: I think people are just mad I could beat them at poker.
Duo: You could, until you met up with Trowa.
Hilde: Poker face extraordinaire.
Trowa: Thanks.
Heero: So why do the fans think I have no feelings?
Quatre: Blame Canada.
Zefyr: No, blame your voice actor.
Duo: Our voice actors were tops.
Zefyr: The original voices, yes. But the American ones are handicapped when it comes to doing voice-overs.
Quatre: Handicapped?
Wufei: I never listen to the dub.
Duo: Subtitle snob.
Zefyr: See, in Japan, when recording the voices for an anime, everyone who's in a scene gathers in the same room and carries on the conversation while it's recorded. In other words, they're able to interpret the action on the scene and at the same time react to the other actors.
Quatre: And they don't do that in America?
Zefyr: That's right. Every voice actor is stuck in a little box. American studios are so fixed on the importance of making the words match the mouth movements that they willingly sacrifice the interaction between the characters. I imagine it'd be hard, trying to both interact with another person and also make sure you're speaking at the same time as the lip flaps.
Wufei: Which, incidentally, never match up anyway if you watch the original versions.
Zefyr: That's right. The lipflaps are done separate from the voices in anime, which has a lower budget. So making them match is secondary.
Heero: Which means...
Zefyr: That your voice actor, while very good, comes across as flat. He probably would've done a lot better if he'd had some idea of interaction, because then he'd have been able to inflect as needed instead of trying to imagine it. Some actors need a live audience, just like some voice actors need another person to play off of.
Quatre: In movies and television, when an actor is supposed to be on the phone, there's always someone on the other end feeding them lines and responses even if we never hear it on our end.
Zefyr: Right. That adds a level of realism, because you don't say, "Yeah, yeah, unh-hunh, g'bye" without pause. You'd wait, and react facially, then respond, etc. So I don't know why they don't do this for the American dubs.
Quatre: That would explain why my American voice actor always sounds like he's emphasizing every single word.
Duo: Because he didn't have my voice actor's lines to react to, so couldn't gauge the feeling of the scene. Which mean he didn't know which word was the most important in a statement.
Zefyr: Something like that.
Heero: And the grand result is that a whole generation of non-Japanese speaking fangirls think I'm an automaton.
Zefyr: If it makes you feel any better, I think they love you even more for it.
Duo: What about you, Zef?
Zefyr: I watch both. I watch in the original, then back it up and watch it in the dub. Just to note any nuances in the translations and delivery. And there are some voices I prefer in English.
Quatre: Like who?
Zefyr: The women's voices, for one. Relena's Japanese voice actor is good, but the rest all sound the same to me. I prefer the slightly deeper timbre of the American female voice actors. Especially Noin's and Hilde's. They both have a sardonic tone in their delivery, even they're also a little on the flat side due to the limitations I just explained.
Duo: So shouldn't we talk about the chapter?
Wufei: It boils down to Heero getting in touch with his feelings and then getting busy.
Heero: Busy sounding like I'm making moves on Hilde, is what.
Duo: Sounds better be the operative word.
Zefyr: Oh, man, do not start that again!
Duo: At least I've turned out to be a good cook.
Trowa: This is true.
Heero: See, you have some redeeming qualities.
Duo: I'll show you redeeming qualities, mister.
Heero: Oh yeah?
Quatre: Oh, man, more bloodshed. Someone do something!
Hilde: Duo, look at this!
Wufei: What the hell is that?
Duo: Oooh... Coooooooooool...
Wufei: What is it?
Hilde: I don't know. I borrowed it from Largo, over at MegaTokyo.
Quatre: You actually talk to that guy?
Hilde: I wouldn't call it that. I give him beer and he makes my system l33t.
Duo: Shiny!
Wufei: What's l33t?
Hilde: I'm not sure, but it got me something to distract Duo.
Heero: I am surrounded by idiots.
End Part 8
(:./sol/behind8)
