Whenever you go to an anime convention, the first thing you look for is which voice actor(s) will be on the guest list. It’s always an awesome feeling when you get the chance to meet the man or woman, behind your favorite characters on your favorite shows. Whenever they have a panel the number one question voice actors get is, “How do I become a Voice Actor?”

You guys and gals wanna know a secret about that particular question? It’s this; they HATE it! The only reason for this is that they’ve been asked it so many times at so many conventions – usually by the same people who ask the question. Doing impressions is nice and cool, but ‘one-trick ponies’ don’t get booked for VA gigs. The sad truth about voice acting is that not everybody is cut out for it, but for those who are serious about it, you must learn the fundamentals of A-C-T-I-N-G first!

Being a voice actor does not happen overnight (and the veteran VA’s will tell you the same), this type of career is a marathon – not a sprint. You have to be open to hearing the word ‘No’ more often than ‘Yes’, and you have to be able to handle constructive criticism. If you want to know the true about being a voice actor, here’s seven myths about being an anime VA from the guys at D&A!

1. Just Do Impressions!

As we mentioned before; impressions are nice and cool, but all they’ll do is land you a spot on ‘Amateur Nite’ at the comedy club – unless you’re a professional impressionist. (Yes, that is a real thing!) When it comes to voice acting, a lot of voice actors put a little more of themselves into whatever character they’re playing, in order to bring out the raw emotion within their character’s personality. You’ll have a better shot at getting VA gigs by coming up with your own original voice(s), or even putting your own spin to an exiting voice – like an accent.

2. The Pay Is Great!

Yeah, we’re gonna have to stop you right there. We’ve been to several conventions where we’ve learned the truth about how much voice actors get paid – and it’s not a lot! In fact, it’s $5-$10K less than what the average person makes a year on a full-time job. VA jobs are more contractual than constant, so maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea to quit that 9-5 just yet (unless you’re in IT).

3. It’s Easy To Do, and Not Stressful At All!

Tell that to the guy who voiced Courage on Courage the Cowardly Dog. Yelling through a mic for five minutes is peanuts compared to doing it for three hours! There’s a lot that one must take into account if one makes a statement such as this, and if you though doing a war cry into a mic for three hours is bad, imagine the mental, emotional, and physical toll it takes on your body. You have to know your limits before you make the decision to become one with the character you voice.

4. It’s Done In One Shot!

No, not even close. In every anime title you’ve watched there’s at least one blooper reel included in the DVD or Blu-Ray copy. In the Panty & Stocking blooper reel one VA said that he went over the same line eight times before he got it right. So yeah, perfection in the voice acting world is not done in one take.

3. You’re a One-Man Band!

Flying solo may be good for some things in life, but not everything. The same can be said about voice acting; you can’t make it on your own without the proper guidance, people, and skill set. Every VA we know is signed to an agency, has their own social media accounts, and has both a physical and digital presence on the web, and at conventions. There’s a lot you can learn from the pros and other people who’ve been in the business for decades, so don’t sell yourself short on those types of opportunities.

2. The Character You Play is Who You Are!

When you see a sexy female character in an anime title and hear her voice, you automatically assume that the voice actor playing that role, acts like that in real life. Many of us have heard beloved voice actress Monica Rial play a few dark roles in her career, but when you meet her in person, she’s the most down-to-earth, creative, and funniest lady you’ll ever met – in life! Remember that in voice acting, it’s who they are on the inside that really counts!

1. It’s NOT Real Acting!

This is the one that voice actors hate the most, and is still a prevalent stigma to this very day; especially in Hollywood. The cardinal rule of acting is making what you’re conveying believable to your audience, and like it or not voice acting IS acting! (Only with your voice!) Enough said.

And with that, these seven voice acting myths are BUSTED!

See you guys next post! 🙂

Some time ago we did a post about the ten things that you didn’t know about DBZ’s Vegeta. If you haven’t already heard the news, the name of the new Dragon Ball Super movie is entitled Dragon Ball Super: Broly! To celebrate the new dub and sub release of this awesome movie (coming January 2019), we’ve got seven things about this guy that you probably may not know – or even be aware of. If you are, that’s okay! 🙂

Number 7: His Power Is More Of a Curse than a Blessing!

Many saiyans would kill (hypothetically speaking) to have the kind of power the Legendary Super Saiyan (LSS) has, but the fact of the matter is; it’s more of a burden that whomever possesses it, has it for the rest of their life. In the Dragon Ball world Ki is an essential part of the entire series, and just about everyone in the series possesses it – except the Androids and some humans. In Broly’s case as the LSS, his Ki is more of a power source than a ‘battery’, so he has to constantly expel it or otherwise his own body won’t be able to contain it. So be careful what you ‘wish’ for…

Number 6: The Day He Was Born, Was the Day Planet Vegeta ‘Died’!

Broly’s birth is rather significant in the Dragon Ball Universe, because the day he was born, was the very same day the evil tyrant we ALL KNOW as Frieza, sent Planet Vegeta to its doom! Goku and Vegeta’s fathers were both killed in the mist of the destruction, nevertheless Broly’s birthday symbolizes the day all but a handful of saiyans and Planet Vegeta, fell to Frieza and his power.

Number 5: Broly Had Serious Rage Issues as a Teen!

Talk about mood swings! Many of us have them when we reach our teen years as we make the transition from boys to men, or girls to women. As for Broly, his fits of rage and mood swings started at a rather young age; and only got worse after he knocked his own father’s eye out of its socket (which is why he has only one eye in the movie). This was also the moment that lead his father to create a device to control Broly’s rage.

Number 4: Did We Mention He HATES Goku…A Lot?

Many of us know this from the movie, but Goku was a rather fussy child when he was born. We know how much a crying baby can get on someone’s nerves, but when you add Goku’s relentless wining with Broly’s traumatic childhood, that added fuel to the fire of his already deteriorating mental state. As the movie progressed Broly’s mental illness got to the point where he blamed everything on Goku; his childhood trauma, his fits of rage, everything! May be in a different time in a different universe, these two saiyans could’ve been friends.

Number 3: He’s One Of The Most Popular/Feared Villains in DB History!

From games to fan art there isn’t a single place in Dragon Ball history where Broly’s name won’t be seen, or heard. He’s the only villain to have three movies about him (four if you count the upcoming one), and in the latest DBS he has a female counterpart inspired by him named Kale. If you were to head to Youtube right now, you’ll find hundreds of videos about the Legendary Super Saiyan.

Number 2: Broly Has Enough Power to Destroy Galaxies!

That’s scary and unreal, even by Dragon Ball standards! Broly is indeed the only villain who can wipe out galaxies with little to no effort, and that says a lot about his character and how much of a threat he poses to anyone, and anything that stands in his way!

Number 1: He Could’ve Been a Z Fighter Had It Not Been For His Father!

Broly could’ve been a great warrior (and perhaps a member of the Z Fighters) had it not been for the ill-conceived actions of his father, Paragus. He never instilled any type of civility or maturity within the LSS, and unfortunately for us…we’ll never truly know.

That will do it for this filler post for tonight, but as always, there’s more to come later on this week! Be sure to check out the new dub trailer for the new Broly movie coming next year in January – we sure will! 😉

In case you haven’t seen the sun in a month or have been living under a rock for the same length of time, 2018 is the year of the Reboot. If you’re an 80’s or 90’s kid like ourselves, then you remember all-if-not-most of the TV shows and cartoons that had your eyes glued to the screen every weekday, and every weekend. The way shows are produced and made in the modern era is different compared how it was done back in the day, and yes, we know we sound old for saying that!

Somewhere along the line we’ve all heard the old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” The same could be said about the very shows we watched as kids, as many of our favorite childhood shows are getting that ‘post-9/11 generation’ update; 80’s and 90’s anime included. ‘Everything old becomes new again’ is the slogan behind the modern day rebooting age, but when it comes to rebooting a classic, there are a few cardinal rules to follow. Just to let you know; this filler post is NOT meant to bash the concept and meaning behind reboots, it is to help educate and give you a general idea of what can come about when a classic show gets rebooted.

The Good:

There’s nothing like a classic TV show or anime title, right? The show/animation budget was reasonable, the style was hand-drawn, the dialogue wasn’t half bad, and the CGI was pretty low maintenance and not as flashy as it is today. Classics are great if you were a kid and lived around during that decade or era of time, however today’s kids are on a whole other level in terms of what shows they watch compared to their 80’s and 90’s generational counterparts.

Having a show rebooted will actually give modern day kids and teens the opportunity to experience that same joy that older millennials had, when they were their age. DBZ Kai is an example of this; even though we miss the long dragged-out dialogue and had to wait 3-6 episodes before a fight happens, Kai was a true-to-the-manga reboot that exposed younger anime fans to one of the greatest anime titles or our generation. If you’re going to reboot a classic show or program from the past decade, you must keep its original core concept and idea intact. (By this we mean the one thing that made us want to watch the show in the first place!)

The Bad:

There are certain elements in TV shows and anime that make them great, and if you’re going to reboot them, they must be handled with love and care. Nowadays if one is not careful, he or she can damage the reputation of the classic series that they’re trying to reboot. We’re not the kind of guys who will drop names of certain reboots, but let us just say we’ve had our fair share of some that made us feel…different. (And we’re pretty sure you’ve seen some reboots that made you feel ‘different’ too.) Taking a new approach to an old classic is fine, just as long as you keep its core concept, objective, and elements intact. (Like we said, we’re not naming shows!)

The Overall:

Reboots aren’t a bad thing, in fact they give the younger generation a chance to experience the type of shows that the older generation used to love. It can be a fun and exciting experience for both sides as it may even help reinvigorate the show’s fandom. If a show has a dedicated following and it gains a reboot, that may expand the overall fandom as well as the love for the series. The same could be said with classic anime titles like Dragon Ball Z, although we wouldn’t mind seeing a Yu Yu Hakasho reboot – just putting it out there.

There are some shows out there that are so good, they don’t even need a reboot. The overall point to this filler post is; if you’re going to reboot a classic show from our childhood, fell free to make all the updates you want, but remember to keep its core concept intact, and don’t do anything that’s going to damage its reputation.

That’s all we’ve got for this post, but there’s more on the way! 🙂