I find a lot of what he says to be true. I can see the "voice inside my head" reading the subtitles dictating how I thing they're delivered by the Japanese voice actor. Often times I'm conscious that, because Japanese grammar and senate structure is so different, whatever word that's emphasized by the actors isn't the one I think it was in the subtitles. The emphasized word would have ti be italicized, bold-faced, or in all-caps in order for me to know, and sometimes that just makes it should off when it doesn't match with where the actor emphasized part of his/her dialogue.
That being said, the first time I watch Eva Q was on the Japanese Blu-ray with no English subs or dubs and I still felt that the Japanese voice acting was great. I also watched some of the NGE episodes on the Japanese Blu-ray, which lacks any English translations, and I still feel as though the acting was really good in many places. (The only places I can think to complain about is Kotono Mitsubishi as Misato sounding too much like a sports announcer when she explains the initial attack plan in the beginning of Episode 9, and Yuriko Yamaguchi as Ritsuko crying at the end of Episode 23 sounding a little fake. But even then both will give give an outstanding performance in other parts of the show, more than making up for all of that.)
However, looking back at some of the other anime I've watched, I can't honestly say that I can watch them untranslated and still enjoy the Japanese voice acting.
Angel Beats comes to mind and something there the acting would sound unnatural in many places where it shouldn't (though I do get the stylistic, over-the-top tone the voice acting matches in a lot of other scenes too), and some of the acting in the
Attack on Titan anime still gets on my nerves. Heck, even Anno's earliest
GunBuster OVA sounds way too typically saccharine towards the beginning for it's own good.
There is something to be said about a performance feeling "unnatural" still being "appropriate," though. If the background behind the character becomes magical and sparkly, and the sound begins to reverb with a little glistening sound effect kicking it off, and the character is floating onscreen because he/she is so happy, then I expect the voice-acting to be silly and over-the-top in that moment. Anything else would just be off-putting.
gatotsu911 wrote:Animu voice acting sounds like animu voice acting in any language. This ain't news, especially if you've ever heard an actual Japanese person talk. I can count a very small number of anime where the Japanese voice actors are going for anything resembling realism as opposed to cartoon-style delivery, and
Eva's not among them. (Nor should it be, seeing as the whole thing is basically a po-mo pastiche of Anno's beloved 70s Saturday morning robot sagas anyway.)
In the first half of NGE, I agree with you. Those last 8 or so episodes, on the other hand, feature some of the more natural sounding and authentic performances I've heard from anime in a while. (Misato trying to comfort Shinji after Rei dies in Episode 23 strikes me as particularly authentic.)
