Crunchyroll announced its English-language voice cast on Wednesday, but the controversy surrounding Suletta’s role has reignited discussions about the company’s move to live dubbing in Texas and representation within the industry.
Dub premieres Sunday on streaming service Jill Harris as Suletta and Natalie Van Sistine as Miorine. Casting references were made indirectly on Twitter by voice actors in the anime world, including actor Nazeeh Tarsha in Lauda series.
Tarsha wrote: “It pains me to write this on a day that should be filled with celebration and admiration for my peers. Feels like a corporate flyer A risk assessment assessment of how much you can get away with before getting unduly downvoted. We can sit here arguing about the merits of “fitting the role” vs “automatically casting because of race”, but let’s also not pretend that minority actors deliver less quality than The quality of peers. Inclusion allows us to tell the stories of our backgrounds.” Tarsha goes on to refer to “character coding,” which is used when the story does not directly refer to a character’s minority background but the context within the narrative points to a character’s minority status terms of.
In the case of the Witch from Mercury Next, the audience shared that Suletta is the Middle East or North Africa code [MENA]. This explanation is based on the anime’s “prologue” episode, in which Eri (presumably a young Suletta) and her parents are first introduced. Eri’s father is Nadim Samaya, a name of Arabic, Hebrew and Hindi origin.
Several anime voice actors shared Tarsha’s Twitter post. In a now-deleted Twitter post yesterday, Anairis Quiñones ( Sword Art Online The Movie – Progressive, ) writes, “It is very disappointing that despite all publicly available sources Diverse talent can be found, and minority voice actors still don’t have the opportunity to represent themselves as (extremely rare/groundbreaking!!) minority protagonists in anime. Especially MENA gay protagonists.” Quiñones has since deleted her twitter and Facebook account.
Discussions about resources and representation peaked last year as
Crunchyroll Moved back to Texas studio for live dub recording. After producing dozens of dubs remotely, many using talent from across the country, Crunchyroll at 5 Monthly confirmed 12 that they have moved back to bring Texas talent into the studio. ANN confirmed to multiple industry sources familiar with
Crunchyroll’s dub program that the company will not only bring Texas Talent brought in -house, but focused on casting Texas-based talent in its dub. Crunchyroll representatives did not confirm that the company had informed
. This is partly due to the greater use of the Texas ADR director compared to the previous season. More, but even for shows airing outside of Texas, there are far fewer remote actors than Winter.
In public Twitter threads and private conversations at the time, actors complained about roles being recast from remote actors to actors in Texas, reportedly in some cases The next director was told not to cast Texas outside. ANN did not find anyone willing to go on the record with specific examples, and many performers feared retaliation for speaking out. It’s worth noting that Texas is a right-to-work state, meaning state laws restricting unions could make it harder for organizational participants to demand contracts.
While discussions about Suletta’s casting took center stage, that doesn’t mean the anime’s cast is lacking in representation. Alejandro Saab will voice Shaddiq and let his fans know he is one of the two actors in MENA Dub. The list of voice actors also includes actors of Caribbean, African and South Asian heritage.
As one of two MENA actors in the cast so far,
I am happy to announce that I voiced Shaddiq Zenneli in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury voiced by @Crunchyroll
Thanks for making me @HEYSUEZO part! Been a fan since G-Gundam! can you blame me
ITS DBZ+GUNDAM🤩 pic.twitter.com/umREH2S3n5
— Alejandro Saab=Cyno (@KaggyFilms) 2 March 1, 2022
Voice actors and fans were quick to point out the decision not to hire MENA The voice actor seems like a missed opportunity in this role which is rarely seen in anime. However, most of the comments on the situation are veiled, without directly mentioning Suleta’s role or hinting at the ongoing unionization debate.
Congratulations to the new Gundam cast. Neither I nor @nyav_post participated. I also want to remind everyone that our last 2 Gundam voice actors have TX actors in the leading roles 😉.
— Stephanie Sheh (@stephaniesheh) February 2, 2022
- Natalie Van Sistine as Miorine Elizabeth Maxwell as Prospera
-
Christopher R. Sabat as Vim
- Sara Ragsdale as Lilique
- Ian Sinclair As Rajan
- Jerry Jewel l as Haro
Lord Jason and Assistant Director Aaron Roberts co-directs the English dub. Noah Whitehead is
The cast announced for the animation is:
Bradley Gareth as Guel
- Aaron Dismuke as Elan Brittany Karbowski as Chutury
Bryn April as Nika
- Alejandro Saab as Shaddiq Jabu Kunda as Dell
Angstrom Rick Weir as Nuno
- Nazitasha as Lauda
Kimberly Grace as Petra
Alexis Tipton as Felsi
Mike Smith as Sarius
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