Interview: The Great Ace Attorney voice actors for Ryunosuke, Susato

Chronicles of The Great Ace Attorney shows the main characters Ryunosuke Naruhodo and Susato Mikotoba getting off at a train station in London. Rina Takasaki, the voice behind Susato on the game’s English voice track, says she could relate to her character’s journey through that moment. “I was also a teenager when I first landed in Britain, full of ambition, determination and admiration for foreign culture,” she reminds me by email.

Takasaki still vividly remembers the time she arrived in the UK, although for her it was via Heathrow Airport rather than Victorian-era King’s Cross Station. After getting into her shiny black cab feeling ecstatic, she saw the vast capital as they drove her through the city, just as Susato rode a horse-drawn vehicle to the Whitehall High Court in the game.

“I instantly loved the music and images that have a 19th century feel that portray a beautiful collaboration of the Japanese and Western worlds of the time,” Takasaki says of The great Ace Attorney Chronicles. She was excited when she was offered the role; He says he could almost smell the steamship’s fumes, the leather smell of old furniture, and burning candles.

Mark Takeshi Ota, Ryunosuke’s English dubbing actor, relates to his character for being a foreigner. Ota is Japanese-German and has lived in Great Britain for the past nine years. He tells me in an email: “Before coming to the UK, I lived for one year in the United States, six years in the Netherlands and one year in Japan.” Similar to Ryunosuke’s character, Ota thinks there is a lot of excitement in discovering new things and meeting different people. He remembers feeling this way every time he moved to a new place.

“Every little thing is just exciting, because it’s so different from what you’re used to,” he says. “There is a certain innocence in that, which I suppose leaves you after a while, but I suppose I had a chance to rediscover it a bit through Ryunosuke.”

Both voice actors were new to the Ace Attorney series. Ota played a couple of games in the series to get an idea of ​​what kind of game it was. He also looked The great ace lawyerJapanese cut scenes prior to recording, so he was able to hear his Japanese voice track counterpart, Hiro Shimono. Since the two games in Chronicles He’s been in Japan on Nintendo 3DS for a few years, he was able to research Ryunosuke’s character to help him interpret him.

“He’s a little younger than me, a little more insecure at first,” says Ota. “He takes a little trip throughout the game to be more confident in what he’s doing, especially after he’s arrived in a new country.” Ota has lived in five different countries, and through his experiences, he easily connected with Ryunosuke.

Takasaki, on the other hand, never played any of the games in the series, but he knew about the franchise and how popular it was. After reserving her role as Susato, she searched for the Japanese version of the game. He tried not to search for too much information about Susato; He wanted to start filming with a fresh mind, receive guidance and bring a bit of his own personality.

Both actors shared similarities with their characters. In addition to living in England, they share the Japanese heritage and language that they, publisher Capcom, and audio services company SIDE UK found it important to bring in the English voices of the game’s main characters.

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“I think it was a deliberate choice to broadcast and film the game in London given its setting,” explains SIDE UK casting director Martin Vaughan by email. He believes Capcom wanted the London of the game to feel as authentic as possible, so it made sense to record the voiceover in English in London as well.

Takasaki had already worked with SIDE several times for other productions. He was actually filming something else for the company when he got a phone call from his agent about Chronicles of The Great Ace Attorney. “When I was gathering options to present to Capcom, along with my assistant Jessica, I knew I wanted Rina to be in the mix,” says Vaughan. He previously cast Takasaki as a character named Noda in the first-person shooter game. Warface. When he saw Susato’s description, he immediately thought of Takasaki.

“To be able to understand [Susato’s] personality and thought process, it is very helpful that you fully understand the Japanese language and culture, ”says Takasaki. She was born and raised in Japan, so not only does she understand the language, but she also knows a lot about Japanese culture, gestures and ways of speaking that allow her to bring nuance to her role.

In the game, Susato is an extremely educated, humble, and well-educated Japanese woman. He has a strong posture and makes sure to show respect to others by adding certain words, such as the suffix “-sama”, which is the Japanese equivalent of “sir” or “madam”.

Also, Susato wears traditional Japanese clothing in the game, which Takasaki says he loves to make for work and real life occasions. She feels that she is representing the culture when she does so, and the same is true when the character Takasaki is portraying wears traditional clothing.

“In fact, I like all the traditional outfits in the world. I think everyone is beautiful in a special way. Correct my posture every time I wear traditional Japanese clothing, ”he says.

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During the close of last year, Ota hosted a Zoom meeting where he answered questions about getting into motion capture work. Through that, he got in touch with Chris Hopkins, producer at SIDE UK. A few months later, Hopkins asked him to submit a voice sample for a job that, at the time, only had a codename.

The job specifically sought voice actors of Japanese descent. Vaughan explains: “Although we had not worked with [Ota] Before, his voice sounded so natural to Ryunosuke that, again, it was clear that it would be a great option to suggest to Capcom. “

Viewing the Japanese versions of The great ace lawyerThe cutscenes were helpful in giving Ota an idea of ​​the mood of the game and what kind of character Ryunosuke was. Ota says you can learn a lot just by listening to another voice actor’s audio, even if you don’t speak the same language. In his case, it certainly didn’t hurt that he spoke Japanese, which meant he was sure to discuss the pronunciation of Japanese names with localization director Janet Hsu and voice director Matthew Delemere.

“When I speak English, I automatically make my Japanese surname and surname a bit anglicised,” Ota explains. He and Hsu agreed that the same approach of anglicizing the character names would be appropriate for the game. Instead of pronouncing “Ryunosuke Naruhodo” or other names with a Japanese accent, he enunciated them as a primarily English speaker would.

Ota adds: “I was also very interested in not necessarily ‘putting on’ a strong Japanese accent for [Ryunosuke], and I was very happy that this was not expected of me here. “He says that there is often an expectation that people whose second language is English will speak with a strong accent. Sometimes that is true and sometimes it is not. Right or wrong, it’s just that people are different.

“[Ryunosuke] He came to London and wanted to be able to speak “correct” English and be able to speak it very well to be considered an equal. At least that’s how I approached it, ”says Ota. On reflection, she loves that her natural accent reflects all the places she’s been, with a little German here, an Americanism there, and a Dutch flavor along with a hint of Japanese. Now, there are also a lot of British people, because of where they currently live.

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Chronicles of The Great Ace Attorney It is one of the notable projects in which both Ota and Takasaki have participated. “It was an honor to play the role of Susato. I’ve been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to play tough female characters, which I especially enjoy, ”says Takasaki. While Susato may not seem tough given her sweet and feminine appearance, she is an incredibly independent and determined woman. Susato is definitely one of Takasaki’s favorite characters to express so far.

“I’ve done hundreds of auditions in the past and I fully understand how difficult it is to get a job, so I was incredibly grateful and grateful,” she continues. “I’ve always really enjoyed working with SIDE, so I couldn’t be happier to collaborate with them again!”

Ota was unlucky enough to have torn his meniscus the same day he was asked to send in his sample for the game. The next day, she recorded her sample lying on the bed under her duvet, unable to walk. Due to his injury, he had to turn down the motion capture job, but was ecstatic when he received the email that he had reserved Ryunosuke’s voice.

“The timing was right though, as I was able to walk quite well when the recording was done,” says Ota. “I’d like to think I had a bit of good karma going my way because I offered to help people with that initial Zoom and ended up working that way, although it wasn’t something I expected from him.”

Ota says it’s great that Capcom tried to find Japanese actors for the main characters in Chronicles of The Great Ace Attorney‘English dubbing. Vaughan says, “Games have come a long way in this regard in recent years, and it’s great to provide opportunities for talents like Rina and Mark when characters like this show up. Each of them brings something special to their roles that I think wouldn’t be there if we hadn’t authentically chosen the roles. ”