Working in Anime is phenomenal. Bang Zoom! Studios are located in Burbank, California, and we are a production/audio-post company specializing in anime, animation, and video games. My name is Mami Okada, and I’m originally from Japan, but I have been living in Los Angeles for over half my life. I’m in charge of casting and supervising overall production at Bang Zoom! Studios. We work on a variety of projects throughout, but especially when it comes to anime, we understand the culture and expectations of the fans and strive to deliver faithful adaptations to the fans across English-speaking territories.
What is Anime?
Anime offers unique visuals and storytelling, and it has many different genres within itself. Being animation/cartoon, people who don’t know anime may think it’s for kids – but that’s not the case at all. Of course, there is a lot of great kids’ content, but what makes anime different from other forms of media is that often the stories can get dark and deep. It can deal with situations like life and death, Family, friendship, being in love, struggles with loneliness, and overcoming fear… I’m sure you can find anime titles that relate to you in some way.
Anime Actors and Versatility
For actors looking to break into the anime world, you must understand the type of genre you are auditioning for. You will need to bring in a certain type of energy to your performance. The ability to turn it on and off as necessary is essential. For action, you’ll need all the energy you can muster. For cinematic drama, you want to let it go so you can be more natural. Sometimes the two extremes will happen in the same episode in anime. You’ll need to be open-minded and versatile.
Working in Anime Voiceover
When auditioning, you should pay close attention to what’s happening in the video clips you will receive. Place yourself in the scene, and use everything you see and hear as a guide to build your performance. The scenery or the room that the character is in, the distance of the person your character is speaking to, what’s happening in the music and soundtrack, and so on… you should be able to get a clue and use it as your direction to better understand the character and make it your own. You should never “sound” like the character in the original language, you’ll always need to “be” one.
Working in Anime by Mami Okada – Head of Casting at Bang Zoom! Studios.
