The Official Voice Actor Discussion Thread

[sonickenshin]

Yozora sounds like someone completely new. He sounds really cool though. Really smooth, and deep, but still young.

Aerith is sounds like an older Andrea Bowen. So it's probably an older Andrea Bowen

 

[blank points]

This is a bit random, but after seeing the trailer the other day, I had a dream last night that Kevin Spacey was confirmed to be voicing Yozora. Don't know where that came from, but I can't help but laugh a bit.

 

[rokudamia2]

So based on the Japanese trailer Yozora isn’t voiced by Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Noctis’ jp VA) Japanese fans are saying it’s Tasuku Hatanaka.

 

[Sign]

Yozora sounds like someone completely new. He sounds really cool though. Really smooth, and deep, but still young.

Aerith is sounds like an older Andrea Bowen. So it's probably an older Andrea Bowen

I agree. If you compare to her performance from FF Mobius, it sounds exactly the same.

 

[sonickenshin]

I agree. If you compare to her performance from FF Mobius, it sounds exactly the same.

Oh yeah, then that's definitely her.

 

[DizneyXBirds95]

Oh yeah, then that's definitely her.

Yeah it's definitely Andrea Bowen, so case is closed and EVERYONE won't have to worry about Mena Suvari voicing her again.

Now all that remains if Yuffie and wether Mae Whitman will return to voice her again, cause the last time Mae voiced Yuffie was in the Dirge of Cerberus game. Looking forward to January.

 

[Launchpad]

God Riku sounds bad in KH3. What happened? Is it the script? Direction? David Gallagher sabotaging Riku????

What's even weirder is that he does so much better as Dark Riku. When he's voicing the petulant brat, I can totally buy it, but when he's the older and more mature Riku, he just sounds like a lame robot

 

[2 quid is good]

God Riku sounds bad in KH3. What happened? Is it the script? Direction? David Gallagher sabotaging Riku????

What's even weirder is that he does so much better as Dark Riku. When he's voicing the petulant brat, I can totally buy it, but when he's the older and more mature Riku, he just sounds like a lame robot

Alyson Stoner sounded like she was phoning it in for Kairi too :/

I agree. If you compare to her performance from FF Mobius, it sounds exactly the same.

Thanks for this! I was trying to find some newer voice footage from Andrea Bowen to compare but could only find crisis core, which still sounded quite a bit like her but enough to make me unsure.

Now for figuring out Yozora XD

 

[Amadeus]

God Riku sounds bad in KH3. What happened? Is it the script? Direction? David Gallagher sabotaging Riku????

What's even weirder is that he does so much better as Dark Riku. When he's voicing the petulant brat, I can totally buy it, but when he's the older and more mature Riku, he just sounds like a lame robot

Alyson Stoner sounded like she was phoning it in for Kairi too :/

Agreed on all points. I think it's the voice director, because for some reason every character REALLY overarticulated each and every sound in their words. That's not naturally a part of the typical Hollywood American English accent; listen to Sora's lines from the opening movie. It sounds like this:

They can take your world.
They can take your heart.
Cut you loose from all you know.
But if it's your fate—
Then every step forward will always be a step closer to home.

The /t/ and /d/ dental consonant sounds are not always super articulated in Hollywood American English when at the ends of words. As a result, the dialogue in KH3 sounded unnatural in part because of the overarticulation of consonants, or at least it did to me.

Interestingly, in Sora's opening monologue, "to" in "step closer to home" comes out more naturally, sounding more like "duh" (with the d sound being between a d and a t, I think y'all know what I mean). For people who can read IPA, it sounds reduced to [ɾə].

Tl;dr the KH3 characters were too articulate, and we all know that isn't natural so they sound robotic and stiff when we hear them.

EDIT: Terminology adjusted to be more linguistically accurate.

 

[FudgemintGuardian]

Tl;dr the KH3 characters were too articulate, and we all know that isn't natural so they sound robotic and stiff when we hear them.

Why the ding dang diddly would the actors even be directed this way? No good voice director would hear that and think it sounds right.

 

[Amadeus]

Why the ding dang diddly would the actors even be directed this way? No good voice director would hear that and think it sounds right.

Take what I'm about to say with a shaker full of salt, because this is hearsay of hearsay. I have tried to find the original source of this information in the past and now, and I can't.

I once saw someone say (maybe here on KHI? I can't remember) that JP staff listens in on KH voice recording sessions; however, they don't have the level of English language expertise needed to direct voice actors (because even for native speakers, you need to know a LOT about language in order to make recordings sound convincing). As a result, they are largely working by ear, off of the rhythm and tone of the performances. This approach results in the stiff and/or awkward deliveries we hear in the final game.

This is just my opinion, but I think the original characters suffered the most from the voice direction (DEAR GOD, Vanitas, WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOUR VOICE). For the most part, the Disney characters didn't have it too bad, even if they were a little wobbly at times. It could be that Disney was maybe really heavy-handed with the voice direction for KH3, the way they were for other aspects of the game? That wouldn't explain why, of all characters, MICKEY MOUSE was a mess, but then again I never thought Bret Iwan bought into the role enough to make his performances feel authentic. He literally sounds fine in all other media as Mickey, it's just KH where he falters for me.... But I digress.

On a note that isn't pure conjecture, one confirmed reason for those awkward pauses characters sometimes take in between lines is because of the length of the Japanese lines compared to the English ones. Main installments may get re-animated lip movements, but the scenes themselves don't change. As a result, the timing is always better suited to the Japanese lines, and in instances where the English line is noticeably/significantly shorter (ie, in KH3D, the "All for one, and one for all" scene) we get the awkward pauses.

 

[OrionGold]

Take what I'm about to say with a shaker full of salt, because this is hearsay of hearsay. I have tried to find the original source of this information in the past and now, and I can't.

I once saw someone say (maybe here on KHI? I can't remember) that JP staff listens in on KH voice recording sessions; however, they don't have the level of English language expertise needed to direct voice actors (because even for native speakers, you need to know a LOT about language in order to make recordings sound convincing). As a result, they are largely working by ear, off of the rhythm and tone of the performances. This approach results in the stiff and/or awkward deliveries we hear in the final game.

This is just my opinion, but I think the original characters suffered the most from the voice direction (DEAR GOD, Vanitas, WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOUR VOICE). For the most part, the Disney characters didn't have it too bad, even if they were a little wobbly at times. It could be that Disney was maybe really heavy-handed with the voice direction for KH3, the way they were for other aspects of the game? That wouldn't explain why, of all characters, MICKEY MOUSE was a mess, but then again I never thought Bret Iwan bought into the role enough to make his performances feel authentic. He literally sounds fine in all other media as Mickey, it's just KH where he falters for me.... But I digress.

On a note that isn't pure conjecture, one confirmed reason for those awkward pauses characters sometimes take in between lines is because of the length of the Japanese lines compared to the English ones. Main installments may get re-animated lip movements, but the scenes themselves don't change. As a result, the timing is always better suited to the Japanese lines, and in instances where the English line is noticeably/significantly shorter (ie, in KH3D, the "All for one, and one for all" scene) we get the awkward pauses.

Then they need an actual professional English speaker to be the voice directer for the English dub.

EDIT: It's funny how the English dub for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake has much better voice direction.

I think they should try doing something similar to how the Devil May Cry's development team did the voice direction. Do the English version first and then the Japanese.

 

[Amadeus]

Then they need an actual professional English speaker to be the voice directer for the English dub.

I said the JP staff reportedly listens in on/supervises recording sessions, not that the voice director is Japanese.

I found three voice directors in KH3's credits: under the Disney Character Voices category, Creative Directors Renée Johnson and Ben Hoppe are credited, and at the end of the category Bob Buchholz is credited for Additional Dialogue Directon. Please note that "<Spliced Bread Productions>" is under his name in fine print, and that Buchholz owns SBP; I'm not 100% certain what that means, so if anyone has an idea, let me know.

Buchholz's name is what you'll most commonly find cited when looking for a voice director for the KH series; he's been stated by many sources to have directed KH2, Re:CoM, and other games, but I could only verify the following:

- 358/2 Days (HD version, presumably original as well)
- 3D (HD as well, see above)
- Re:coded (HD, ditto)
- BBS
- 0.2
- Back Cover

Buchholz is always credited as "Additional Voice Director," except in KH3.

Johnson and Hoppe are often found credited together as "Creative Directors" or similar, including in some games Buchholz is not credited in (ie KH2, Re:CoM). The one exception is KH1, where they, along with several others, are found under "Disney Character Voices" under the broader Sound Department category.

Tl;dr the above is a very roundabout way of saying that KH does, indeed, have professional English-speaking voice directors, but there's a lot of them, so we can't be certain who exactly is responsible for the awkward performances, if any of them even are. Maybe it's not any of them! Maybe it's the higher-ups directing the directors! The plot thickens, ESPECIALLY with the amount of meddling that we know went on behind the scenes in KH3.

 

[DizneyXBirds95]

I said the JP staff reportedly listens in on/supervises recording sessions, not that the voice director is Japanese.

I found three voice directors in KH3's credits: under the Disney Character Voices category, Creative Directors Renée Johnson and Ben Hoppe are credited, and at the end of the category Bob Buchholz is credited for Additional Dialogue Directon. Please note that "<Spliced Bread Productions>" is under his name in fine print, and that Buchholz owns SBP; I'm not 100% certain what that means, so if anyone has an idea, let me know.

Buchholz's name is what you'll most commonly find cited when looking for a voice director for the KH series; he's been stated by many sources to have directed KH2, Re:CoM, and other games, but I could only verify the following:

Buchholz is always credited as "Additional Voice Director," except in KH3.

Johnson and Hoppe are often found credited together as "Creative Directors" or similar, including in some games Buchholz is not credited in (ie KH2, Re:CoM). The one exception is KH1, where they, along with several others, are found under "Disney Character Voices" under the broader Sound Department category.

Tl;dr the above is a very roundabout way of saying that KH does, indeed, have professional English-speaking voice directors, but there's a lot of them, so we can't be certain who exactly is responsible for the awkward performances, if any of them even are. Maybe it's not any of them! Maybe it's the higher-ups directing the directors! The plot thickens, ESPECIALLY with the amount of meddling that we know went on behind the scenes in KH3.

Also in the first KH game, the voice direction was done by Ned Lott, but starting in KH2 onwards Bob Buchholz became the main voice director, of course this is subjective as he's usually credited under "Additional voice/Dialogue direction"

Regarding the Final Fantasy games they also vary from recording studio, cause we got multiple different Studios recording the Final Fantasy games in Los Angeles from Studiopolis (FFX games, FFXIII, FFXIII-2), to Rocket Sound (Lightning Returns, FFXV), and Skylark Sound Studios/Spliced Bread Prod. (FF Dissidia, World of Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy Type-0)

 

[Sign]

^ Might have been me who made those comments about the voice direction. That info is a compilation of comments made by numerous voice actors over the years. Of course there's also a team of directors and recording staff to help the VAs in person, but having the Japanese staff on call at all and allowing them to make judgement calls is certainly going to hindering the performance.

The Japanese cast also has the benefit of having Nomura attend recording sessions to explain what's going on and how characters should be feeling. Whoever is doing that for the English sessions is, well, they're trying their best.

 

[Sign]

I'll take this as a confirmation then

https://twitter.com/x/status/1206618607356006403

 

[Mirby]

Now we just need confirmation on the others. Great to see Doug was brought back again though. Consistency in VA is always great.

 

[Zettaflare]

I'll take this as a confirmation then

https://twitter.com/x/status/1206618607356006403

Is Leon actually going to take back his old name?

 

[Sign]

Is Leon actually going to take back his old name?

Who knows? I think Doug is just being playful though.

 

[Zettaflare]

Who knows? I think Doug is just being playful though.

I feel like Leon going by Squall again should be a decision he makes in front of Sora. So I'm hoping they hold that off when Sora returns to Radiant Garden in the future