When it comes to the differences between anime and animation from the rest of the world, I’m always startled at how different the various processes can be. Easily one of the more unusual is the process of recording Japanese voice acting for anime. Considering how different it can be compared to other forms of animation, I thought it might be worth examining this process and learning why it’s done this way in Japan.
First, I should probably explain the standard outside of Japan. In Western animation, and most of the world, the voice actors are provided the script, deliver their lines and the animation is later animated. There are numerous reasons why this is done but a sample would include being able to use the performance to inform the way the character moves and emotes and to lip synch the dialogue to the character’s mouth. If you have ever watched a Disney animated movie, a Dreamworks animated movie etc., this process is how those films were produced.
You would think this process also applied to anime but that’s not the case. Instead, the animation for the show or movie is done first and voice actors are later brought in to provide voices. This is quite similar to dubbing since the voice actors watch the animation play out in front of them and do their best to match the mouth movements. In a sense, you could say that almost all anime are dubbed even in Japanese!
There aren’t many definitive answers why this process was developed in contrast to the rest of the world. However, Justin Sevakis of Anime News Network theorises that it developed in the 1960s due to the need to quickly release content for television. By animating first, anime could be quickly dubbed for Japanese and released in a much shorter timeframe than other forms of animation.
Understandably, there are quite a few flaws with this process. The animators are unable to base their animation on the performance of the voice actors while the voice actors themselves must deliver their lines quickly enough to try to match the animation, sometimes resulting in a stiff or rushed performance. Anime has also been quite infamous for poor lip-synching and, while it’s more common in older anime series, this issue is directly tied to this method of production.
However, I would argue that an unexpected side-effect of this process, which keep in mind was developed in the 1960s primarily for Japanese television, is that anime is relatively easy to dub into other languages. Since anime is inherently designed to be dubbed, anime dubs in languages other than Japanese quite often look more convincing and better lip-synched than non-anime animation being dubbed into languages besides the original.
The process of Japanese voice acting can be quite unusual and bizarre, particularly when compared to the way voice acting is handled throughout the rest of the world, but I still find it to be quite fascinating and I truly believe that this method has proven advantageous when it comes to exporting anime to other countries. Let me know your thoughts on Japanese voice acting for anime, whether you also consider the process to be unusual, the advantages and disadvantages you associate with this method and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!