February 22, 2008

Getting Vocal With the Voices of Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Rock Lee
By Louis Bedigian

“I’ve gotten carried away and kicked over mics and punched things.”

The release of Naruto: Ninja Destiny is just around the corner. Having played most of the Naruto video games, I was excited for the chance to speak with some of the game and anime series’ most prominent characters: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Rock Lee.

Maile Flanagan, the one and only voice of Naruto, opened the conversation. “My name’s Maile and I play Naruto. I do a lot of voice-overs, won an Emmy for Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks… Did a lot of pilots you’ve never seen because they never went anywhere.”

Yuri Lowenthal, the voice of Sasuke, spoke up next. “I’ve worked on a lot of games, most notably in my career I did Prince of Persia, the first and the third game. I do a lot of voice-overs for anime titles, X-Men the animated series, live action stuff. TV series here and there.”

Naruto: Ninja Destiny, the series’ first 3D fighter for Nintendo DS.

Brian Donovan, the voice of Rock Lee, started by saying that his past is “sprinkled with lots of things.” “I was a DJ in college so voice was kind of always my first love,” he said. “Through the years I did Digimon and all the announcer stuff for Jetix. Naruto kind of crossed my path because I had worked with some of the same people on Digimon. I was asked to audition for Rock Lee and yeah, it’s been a great, a lot of fun. The games have been a lot of fun.”

Finally we heard from Kate Higgins, the voice of Sakura, who says she has done a lot of games and episodes for the show. “There’s a lot about myself,” she said, “but I’ll just say that I love voice acting.”

The Name Game

Ever wondered what happens when fans refer to the cast of Naruto by their characters’ names?

Maile Flanagan: “It’s probably insulting when Yuri does it. [Laughs] When you’re 10 years old I don’t mind. I don’t really care. I think it’s flattering. I’m actually shocked if they know my name because it’s a cartoon character and people are so passionate… I’m flabbergasted when people actually know what my name is. So you know, it’s fine.

Yuri Lowenthal: “I love it. I love it when I go to conventions. Often times it’ll be the younger fans that’ll do it, and how can you not find that absolutely charming? I remember going to conventions when I was a kid. Every kid that walks up to me, I remember when I was standing in long lines for people’s autographs.”

Brian Donovan: “I don’t have anything to add to that other than that I sometimes wish I were Rock Lee. [Laughs].”

Yuri Lowenthal: “Sasuke is much cooler in real life so I’m okay with it.”

Brian Donovan: “And Rock Lee is even cooler than you!”

You know, these guys should really pick up a DS and settle their differences.

Acting or Actions?

Yuri Lowenthal: “Occasionally, especially on video games and a lot of the fighting stuff, sometimes to get what you feel is a proper sound you have to imitate what you’re doing, and I’ve gotten carried away and kicked over mics and punched things. Then of course you have to do it over again because they can’t use it, ‘cause it sounds like you pushed something over or broke something in the booth.”

Adlibbing: A Ninja’s Destiny

Kate Higgins: “For the video games there is a script, a very specific script. Maybe the only time we do adlibs are if they need some extra screams, you know, or punches or kicks or something like that. Other than that you’re following the script.”

Don’t Get Laryngitis

“[The length of recording sessions] varies on the video game,” Maile revealed. “I usually do two-hour increments for the series and, depending on the length of the episode, I can probably get through…usually one episode maybe, unless it’s long. For the video games I can only do three hours and then my voice gets too fatigued. And it depends on the video game – I know that one of the ones we did recently, and they just changed the title so forgive me if I don’t know it, I think I had close to 800 or 1200 loops, which is an insane amount of loops. I think I did five three-hour [sessions] on that one. It’s hard to remember [exactly], there are a lot of games and a lot of episodes. [For the series], I just recorded episode 156.”

A Match Made In Naruto

During the interview Yuri spoke briefly about his wife, actress Tara Platt. “She plays the character Temari,” he says excitedly, “which is cool because in the beginning when she’s first introduced, she has a crush on Sasuke, which seemed only fitting. Or kind of creepy, depending on how you look at it [laughs].”

Anime Love

Maile Flanagan: “I’m a big fan [of the show]. Not of Yuri, particularly, but of everyone else in the series. [Laughter erupts.] I am horrible at the game but sometimes watch people play it and mutter under my breath, ‘You know I play the character…’ [Laughs] It’s not just a series where I do my job because the people we’re working with our outstanding. It’s kind of taken on a life of its own and has just snowballed, which I didn’t know in the beginning. It’s pretty incredible to watch and see how popular it is in the States and all over the world.”

Yuri Lowenthal: “I grew up watching anime and it’s sort of a dream job to work on the show and on the game. I wish I had time to keep up with the show. I did in the beginning and then I lost track of it. But I do love the show. It’s not just a job for me. It’s a dream come true.”

Brian Donovan: “I stink at the game and I think it’s just a generational thing. I’m in my 40s now and just missed the window. But I’m fortunate to work with a lot of kids and they go nuts – I mean nutty whenever you mention you’re involved with Naruto in any way whatsoever. It’s great. In that way I do follow the show and the games and it success. I had a little of that with Digimon but Naruto is in a whole other league, and it’s pretty fantastic. I’m not above nor have I been doing it too long to appreciate walking down the street and going past a newsstand or gaming mags and seeing Naruto splashed on the front. It’s a blast. I love it!”

Trick or Treat

Maile Flanagan: “I had a kid that came up to my door on Halloween. He was dressed as Naruto. I asked him, ‘Are you Naruto?’ He said yes. I said, ‘You know, I play him on the show.’ He said, ‘No you don’t.’ I said, ‘Seriously, I do.’ So I was like, I’m gonna let this go [Laughs].”

Yuri Lowenthal: “You’ve got to let that go. You know why? Because if you convinced him well enough, your address would be on the Internet.”

Maile is bursting with laughter.

Yuri Lowenthal: “Kids would be visiting you everyday.”

Maile Flanagan: “It’s funny, because I sort of wanted him to know. But it was like... I kind of want you to know because I was thrilled. But then again I was like, what am I doing? [Everyone laughs] I love seeing people. I saw a real hipster family. The guy was in his 30s, had a wife and a baby. I was at a stop light on Burbank Boulevard and I looked over and they all had Naruto headbands on.”

Answer Me This

Is the implementation of voice in the Naruto games different from how you implement your voice in the anime series?

Maile Flanagan: Obviously the voice doesn’t change for me. Once in a while what’s weird is that you have to go back to a time when you’re older or younger, so you have to kind of remember what you were feeling at the moment parallel to the series. But other than that, the video games, you have to do a lot more punches and grunts, landings and fights, so it’s more strenuous on your voice and more repetitive. It’s kind of fun to see them because it’s a different medium, but it’s more, a lot more stuff. Kind of in a way it’s easier because a lot of the stuff you don’t have to sync up. You’re not working on getting that lip smack correct.

Yuri Lowenthal: On one hand when you’re working on the show it’s nice to be able to see what’s going on. You’re sort of working in a vacuum when you’re recording for the video game. But that’s where you have to really trust the director, [who] gives us the background of the scene because we can’t see it. We don’t know what’s going on. Video game sessions are planned out, really high energy. It can be tiring.

Brian Donovan: I’m merely a punctuation point because I’m going third every time. However, I will say this – with an explanation point. I credit Mary Elizabeth McGlynn [voice director and voice of Kurenai], she’s phenomenal. If it wasn’t for her spacing things out, particularly with the games, because they can be as you guys [Maile and Yuri] have already mentioned, they can be a little grueling to the degree that you are yelling and screaming a lot.

Maile – You're known to gamers and anime fans as the voice of Naruto, but you've also had small parts on shows like Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. One solely uses your voice, the other involves physical acting. But other than that, how do the two differ?

Maile Flanagan: They are so different. Artistically it’s sort of like if you were an artist, kind of like sculpting and painting. They’re sort of using the creative part of you but are totally different. I will say that television and film (I’ve done a bunch of film too – I just did a Jim Carrey movie called Yes Man, I think it’ll be out next year), they’re all long days and quite boring when you’re not a lead in a movie or a television show and just come in as a guest star. In a lot of ways it’s not as satisfying as getting to act, which I do in video games and anime.

On the other hand I love doing on-camera stuff. But the good thing is I don’t have to get in costume when I do Naruto. I don’t have to worry about sitting in a makeup trailer.

Yuri – you have a lot of experience acting in video games. How has Naruto differed from some of the others, say, Ace Combat or Full Spectrum Warrior?

Yuri Lowenthal: Coming from the anime world, there’s definitely a specific feel to it. Naruto has its own mythology, and it’s different [from] a lot of stuff that I do, added to the fact that I’ve gotten to really develop this character over time, which you don’t usually get to do in a game. You come in, usually haven’t read anything from the script, they put it in front of you, they give you a couple of key things to hit and you’re off. Then in four hours you’re done and you never see it again. The nice thing about this [Naruto], is that I’ve developed the character and feel a lot closer to him.

It seems like you got into video games before working on Naruto... Did the game industry help you get into anime?

Yuri Lowenthal: Actually I started out with anime. My first real gig was a show called SD Gundam Force, which was on Cartoon Network back in the day. Video games came after that. They work together quite well.

What are video game auditions like? Are they different from anime auditions?

Yuri Lowenthal: I think they’re similar to a certain degree. You never know – the producers are always looking for something specific, and you give them what you think they want. You’re either on or you’re not. You can’t worry about that too much.

Brian – how do you prepare for voicing a character, such as Rock Lee?

Brian Donovan: There were a few specific nuances, Rock Lee nuances, that everybody wanted to hear. Talking very properly, not shortening anything. There was no slang – it was very proper. That was the biggest adjustment I had to make. You do a little warm-up everyday. Your body is your instrument, so general warm-up and prep [are necessary]. One of the nice things about having a huge hit, an episode arch and now video games is you really get to know the character. You can really play with the character. And also fortunately, because the character starts so young, you get to grow him up a little bit.

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