Spoilers ► What's wrong with Riku's Voice actor?

[Scoobert_Doobert]

This is something I started to notice since KH3's release, but I've seen a lot more discussion about it since Re: mind and MoM came out.

People keep trashing Riku's voice actor for his recent performances, but I honestly don't hear what's so bad about it. I mean, He's definitely not giving Oscar worthy line reads, but he doesn't seem to be any better or worse than he's ever been.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I've always felt like RIku lost a lot of his personality after KH1 and COM. Ever since KH2 his whole personality has just been sad, broody, and bland to me. He might have been a selfish jerk in KH1, but at least he had some edge to him back then.

IDK if that plays into why I don't really notice his VA giving poor performances, but can someone explain to me why so many people are unimpressed with Riku's VA?

 

[Cumguardian69]

Nothing is wrong with the voice actor. It's voice direction. They want KH3 Riku to be reserved and stoic, just like Lightning and Cloud. Dark Riku sounds as fantastic as KH1/RECoM Riku did.

 

[Scoobert_Doobert]

Nothing is wrong with the voice actor. It's voice direction. They want KH3 Riku to be reserved and stoic, just like Lightning and Cloud. Dark Riku sounds as fantastic as KH1/RECoM Riku did.

Bad voice direction makes a lot more sense, and I think that's a problem with a lot of other characters as well, but I've seen people specifically say that they don't like how David Gallagher is delivering the lines.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

It's definitely the voice direction. David's been fantastic in every other game before KH3, and even in KH3 when he voiced Repliku and Evil Repliku, he sounds great.

Riku––normal Riku––sounds wooden and a bit like David was just told to read his lines as "matter of fact"-like as possible.

And it is always confusing because Bob Bucholz is not a bad director and Kirk Thornton who directed for MOM is not bad either. Who knows what is going on...

 

[Launchpad]

It's definitely the voice direction. David's been fantastic in every other game before KH3, and even in KH3 when he voiced Repliku and Evil Repliku, he sounds great.

Riku––normal Riku––sounds wooden and a bit like David was just told to read his lines as "matter of fact"-like as possible.

And it is always confusing because Bob Bucholz is not a bad director and Kirk Thornton who directed for MOM is not bad either. Who knows what is going on...

He sounded a shred more casual and human in MoM compared to 3RM. Riku's definitely got a huge dilemma going on, especially if Nomura wants to posture him as the secondary protagonist moving forward. It's not enough to look cool and be competent, not in this series. Riku needs a hell of a lot more snark and youth, primarily, if he's going to lead another KH game. Stoic and cool isn't going to work.

 

[palizinhas]

I think they want Riku to sound "mature", which I feel is a lot of the problem with Aqua too, both their VAs sound kinda boring because they just aren't given anything to really act with. Kairi is similar, but it's harder to tell with her due to the VA changing.

It's problematic with Riku because he's meant to be such an important character, and then he says "Sora's missing" like he doesn't care whether or not his best friend is missing. I think he actually sounds fine in his scene in Ansem's lab, but the Final World scene just feels wooden again. The difference is the tone in the scene - Riku and Kairi are happy to talk to each other then, so they sound excited, but you get into the main plot scene and they both revert back to sounding serious and mature and both their VAs suddenly don't feel like they're acting anymore.

It feels like they just can't nail making the characters sound mature without them just reading lines with no inflection.

 

[Elysium]

I haven't played MoM yet, but I do think he sounded a little weird in 3. I lean towards the voice directing rather than the fact that the character isn't struggling with darkness anymore, because Gallagher sounded perfect in 3D when the character had already left the darkness plot behind and had become mostly serious and reserved.

 

[KeybladeLordSora]

It's definitely the voice direction. David's been fantastic in every other game before KH3, and even in KH3 when he voiced Repliku and Evil Repliku, he sounds great.

Riku––normal Riku––sounds wooden and a bit like David was just told to read his lines as "matter of fact"-like as possible.

And it is always confusing because Bob Bucholz is not a bad director and Kirk Thornton who directed for MOM is not bad either. Who knows what is going on...

It's the most mindboggling thing, and this is the guy whose voice barely changed at all ever since 2002.


...i wonder what would happen if they tell him to "just talk like Riku"

 

[Face My Fears]

I don't like the direction that they're going with Riku being "mature". He's only like 2 years older than he was in KH1. I wish they would let his character go back to being a little cockier, like how he was in KH1. It's kind of like Riku has no personality now. KH1-KH3D he was going through stuff, so he had a range of emotions, but after his arc was completed, it's like Riku says everything matter-of-factly without a care in the world. The only time he sounded good in recent games was when he gave Sora that pep talk in the Keyblade Graveyard before he got killed and when he screamed "Xehanort!"

 

[Cumguardian69]

Thats exactly it though. They didnt give kh3 riku a character. He doesn't act as a guidepost for Sora to follow nor does he act as clean-up crew for Sora's mistakes. He doesn't tutor Kairi OR Sora. He doesn't do actual detective work with Mickey - he just lazily recaps previous events that we the players likely already knew. He doesn't help Terra with his Xehanort struggle. He doesn't try to talk Aqua out of her fears and darkness-phobia. I don't think he exchanges a single word with Ventus (or Roxas for that matter). Nothing that would give KH3 Riku a sense of superiority, levity, anguish, any real emotion. He's kinda just *there*, and that fact is NOMURA and the writing team's fault.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

It's definitely a sound mixing and voice direction issue. Dark Riku sounded great.

 

[AdrianXXII]

I don't really get why the VAs are being directed to speak so monotonous. This seems to be an issue with a lot of the original characters.

 

[Katsagu]

I actually thought he was, a bit, better in MoM. A lot better than that god awfull Re:Mind cutscene with the FF gang.

This is kind of weird, because Sora's voice in KH3 is probably one of my favorite apart from the 1st one.

 

[Elysium]

I don't really get why the VAs are being directed to speak so monotonous. This seems to be an issue with a lot of the original characters.

I agree, that's what the real problem is, since it affects the vast majority of characters. Despite all this bitching about Gallagher (and about Osment before that), I don't want either character re-cast. On their worst day, they'll still be worlds better than whoever they would get to replace them if Ansem SOD's and Kairi's replacements are anything to go by.

 

[astertide]

BRINGBACKBILLYZANEANDHAYDENPANETTIERE

 

[Cumguardian69]

Blacklisted and no thanks she costs way too much money for what Kairi is worth

 

[palizinhas]

I feel like with Hayden it was less "she costs too much" and more that she refused to come back at least twice (Re:CoM and Days), but probably three or four times (Days movie, 0.2) and they prioritized going with the one who consistently said yes.

 

[Zettaflare]

Honestly I wasn't too bothered David's performance. Compared to Brent Iwan's performance as Mickey he sounded fine in comparison. That's the only voice I couldn't stand

 

[Raz]

I think there is also a writing issue here. Boring lines beget boring delivery. Riku needs some motivations of his own - separate from Sora - to be a truly engaging character again.

 

[Cumguardian69]

I think there is also a writing issue here. Boring lines beget boring delivery. Riku needs some motivations of his own - separate from Sora - to be a truly engaging character again.

His motivations for an engaging character were already there:

•Save Aqua to repay his debt to her
•Save Terra to keep his promise to him
•Expel Xehanort to prove his worth as a Keyblade Master
•Guide Sora his boyfriend to reclaiming the PoW
•Communicate with Kairi to prep her for the upcoming Keyblade War