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001: Angel Sanctuary

Hello all, and welcome to the first edition of "The Voice Box"!  My name is Lauren Synger.

Before we start, let me give you some information about myself.  I graduated from Ithaca College with a Bachelor of Music in Voice and an Outside Field in Modern Languages (in particular French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese).  Originally, I wanted to be a singer, but my plans changed. Seeing as how I was unable to support myself with a singing career, I took a voice-acting workshop. While there, I was complimented on my versatility. Deciding to chance it, I made a demo of  character voices, accents, foreign languages, commercials, and singing samples.  After sending out over 400 demos, I have a wide range of vocal work to include:

1. Leading and featured characters for books on tape by Random House.
2. Leading and featured characters for books on tape by Full Cast Audio. 
3. Local commercials on both Television and Radio. 
4. Work as various characters for AnimeKomix
5. Celes for the online audio recording of Final Fantasy (US) 3 or (Japan) 6.

I have always had a strong interest in animation.  After being exposed to Japanese Animation, it quickly became my first love. I hope that one day, I will add "Anime Voice Actress" to my portfolio, more so than any other type of vocal work.

In order to help bring quality anime to the masses I joined the Reviewing Staff of DVD Vision Japan to express my points of view on various series and the voice actors. I hope that you enjoy this new feature, and continue to support our site.

Now, on to the important stuff.

Voice Acting: Thanks to the wonderful extras provided on this DVD I am able to go into the detail I want to in regards to the voice acting.  Each character is broken down by the Japanese actor first, then the English voice second.

Setsuna-

Japanese: Kenji Nojima- Excellent voice quality for Setsuna. His voice is young-sounding, but has a certain deep resonance that reflects his maturity. His emotional range is really quite extensive as well. I felt that he really did a wonderful job in his portrayal of Setsuna.

English: Scott Cargle- Although a good voice actor, I did not feel that he was of the right vocal quality for Setsuna. His voice sounded too old and mature, and completely lacked the young innocent quality that made Setsuna a sympathetic character. He conveyed the emotions, but I would have liked to see him go even farther with it.

Kira-

Japanese: Takehito Koyasu- Alright now. I am going to get a little personal and let you know that I really think this man has an incredibly sexy voice. Its low, deep, and lightly sprinkled with attitude. He was a perfect choice for Kira. At first I thought he sounded too old for the character, but after watching the entire series I felt he was just right.

English: Vinny Penna- Although I could tell by the vocal quality that he was younger than Mr. Scott Cargle, I felt that Mr. Vinny Penna did a really nice job with Kira. His voice was a little bit high in pitch, but he made up for it in attitude. The major criticism I would have for him is that although he got the attitude sometimes it would be a little over the top and he would slip into this Keanu Reeves 'tude. It was a bit much at times, but overall I think this was one of the better casting decisions.

Sara-

Japanese: Ayako Kawasumi- this voice actress was very convincing as the naive younger sister of Setsuna. She had a young, pouty, almost whiny quality to her voice that suited Sara very well, and yet again there was always an underlying level of maturity to her voice that would reveal itself in the more serious sections. Although her voice was pretty generic as far as the young anime female heroine goes she still portrayed a fairly broad emotional range. Sara and Setsuna are both difficult characters to do because although they engage in something so forbidden they are completely innocent about it. I certainly felt sympathy for both of them.

English: Tara Layne- She also did a very nice job overall with Sara. She didn't seem to really get into her character until later on in the series, but her vocal quality and emotions were perfect for the character. Definitely a good choice.

Alexiel-

Japanese: Ai Orikasa- A very good choice for Alexiel. She spoke with a quiet power that would get louder and more resonant whenever Alexiel became more emotional. Even when she spoke quietly you knew she was not one to mess with.

English: Suzy Prue- A very appropriate voice for the character as well, but unlike Ms. Ai Orikasa there was only the anger and vocal power. I felt that she should have been more even-toned throughout; that way when her voice grew in power you would know something important was going to happen. It was just a little too unconvincing.

Arachne-        

Japanese: Mayumi Asano- Although this voice actress wasn't bad at all, I didn't feel she was nearly as fun or convincing as Ms. P.M. Lewis. She had a generically appropriate voice, but wasn't really anything too special otherwise.

English: P.M.Lewis- Probably my favorite English VA in this cast. The delivery was fantastic and her unique voice quality was just too perfect for the kind of character she was playing (I really don't want to let you know about the kind of character she is cause it would ruin a very funny moment in the story) She shows the right kind of emotion when she needs to and adds just a touch of humor to Arachne that I think works very well. Excellent job!

Kurai-

Japanese: Yuko Miyamura- Probably my favorite of the Japanese voice cast, she was a wonderful choice for Kurai. Her youthful voice had just enough gruffness to maintain the character's personality with just a touch of femininity and sensitivity to reflect the inner Kurai that is hidden until she feels she absolutely must express it.

English: B. Simpson- Perfect vocal quality for the character, she also had that young-gruff sound. However, her emotional range was severely lacking. Kurai is probably one of the most emotionally expressive characters in the story and I think that she could have gone a lot farther with it.

Rosiel-

Japanese: Susumu Chiba- Very appropriate for the character. Good emotional range. You can hear Rosiel's descent into insanity.

English: Crispin Freeman-While not typically one of my favorite voice actors I really felt that Mr. Crispin Freeman did a very nice job with Rosiel. I felt that he was the closest equivalent to the Japanese voice, but he added enough flair (or insanity if you will) to make the character his own. He was very appropriate for the character, and I could tell he really liked playing Rosiel.

Katan-

Japanese: Sinichiro Miki- another very sexy Japanese voice; low, deep, smooth, and very fluid. Although there was not much in the way of emotional range it didn't really matter because the character didn't express a great deal of emotion.

English: Jeff Gimble-Again, a very good voice actor and yet inappropriate for the character. I felt that Mr. Jeff Gimble showed too much emotion; it detracted from the times Katan was actually revealing his feelings.

So, there you have it.  While the voice actors in English are not bad at all, I much prefer the Japanese voice cast. The Japanese cast had a stronger delievery and better range.  The English cast, while their voices matched, their intensity in many cases was a little lacking.  You won't go too wrong with either set.

Well, that's it for now.  Catch you on the B-Side.

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