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Released by A. D. Vision
 English language version
 

"My Life in the Turtle's Shadow"
By Tiffany Grant

    Yes, that's right.  An ADV voice actor is reviewing a film she was actually in, but I hope you'll stick with me for a bit.
First I should admit that it is impossible for me to write this review with complete objectivity, but I will make a concerted
effort.  You will probably notice that this review mainly focuses on the voice acting.  You've heard the saying "write what
you know"?  Well, that's just what I did.  I should also add that I could not have written this article without the help and
advice of ADV's Matt Greenfield.

    As I'm sure most of you will already know, Gamera is a live action Japanese monster movie in the classic tradition of
monster movies.  Okay, it's still a cheesy monster flick with a guy in a 5'6" turtle suit stomping on models, but this is the new
and much improved version.  The inematography is great.  The models are amazing. Not to mention some very fine acting and
direction on the part of the original Japanese cast... And the critters are pretty darn good, too.

    A plutonium transport ship, the Kairyu Maru, headed for Japan runs into a mysterious moving atoll.  The escort boat's
young, dedicated navigator, Yoshinara Yonemori,  takes it as a personal defeat for the Kairyu Maru to have hit even a fish,
much less an atoll considering the transport's volatile cargo.  When the shipment has finally reached its destination safely,
Yonemori begs the leader of the investigation, Mr. Kusanagi, to allow him to assist him in the search for this elusive atoll.
When they find a large moving object in the Pacific Ocean - the "atoll" - they realize it's headed right for Japan!

    Meanwhile... After Dr. Hirata (and all the other inhabitants) mysteriously disappears from an expedition on Himekami
Island, the authorities, in the person of Inspector Osako, plead for the assistance of the only qualified person they can find -
Dr. Nagamine.  An ornithologist at a local zoo and friend of Dr. Hirata's, Nagamine reluctantly joins the hunt for the giant
birds that have supposedly destroyed the island and its residents.  The young doctor knows that no ordinary birds could have
caused so much annihilation, and is led to a horrific discovery.

    Soon the discoveries of both Nagamine and Yonemori lead them to join forces in their fight to save mankind from its
deadliest foes ever.  But who is the greater enemy?  The "birds", or the "turtle"?  When the pterodactyl-like man-eating Gayos
creatures awaken, Gamera returns from a centuries-long sleep to save mankind, and therein lies our tale.  But it is only with
the help of Asagi Kusanagi, Investigator Kusanagi's teenaged daughter, that Gamera is able to garner his strength to fight the
flying carnivorous beasties.

    Now I want to tell you WHY you should watch it. The performances of both the Japanese cast and the American voice
actors make this a truly memorable experience as far as English dubbed films are concerned.  This film served as a catapult
to fame for most of its stars in Japan, and they do deliver some fine work.  If you don't speak Japanese however, you will
require subtitles or an English language cast to deliver the story to you.  Since this film is not available subtitled, I would like
to boldly suggest that you watch it anyway.

    This wonderful adapted script, written and directed beautifully by Matt Greenfield is brought to life by a very well cast
group of actors.  So much attention was paid to the detail of the lip sync, that many people have mistakenly believed that the
film was partially filmed in English.  I have personally watched the film three times, and am sure to watch it again because I
am so amazed by the near flawless quality of this dubbing job.  I have shown this film to many friends and family members,
all of whom have enjoyed it tremendously.  A showbiz friend of mine agreed with me that the dub is well done enough that
you actually forget these people are NOT speaking English.

    Gamera is beyond a doubt the most difficult A. D. R. work (additional dialogue recording - "dubbing") I have ever done,
and it has profoundly affected all the work I have done since.  Why's that you ask?  Well, after three and a half years (we
recorded in May of 1997) of giving voices to many animated characters, I was most daunted by the thought of putting my
voice in someone else's mouth.  Would it look right?  Would people want to watch it?  The only dubbed films I'd ever seen
were those 70's Kung Fu movies where the lip-sync was so bad, you couldn't do anything but laugh.  I knew that Gamera was
a good enough film to merit watching in Japanese, and I hoped our efforts would produce that result in my own language.
And when I refer to "our" efforts, I feel I must make a special mention to the man with the magic, Charles Campbell.  Charlie,
our sound engineer, made us all look even better than we really were by making sure all those wonderful words were in just
the right place.

    How was this different from anime?  Well, as some of you may or may not know, anime was never meant to be synced.
We just get as close as we can, and it's usually good enough for animation.  In real life however, people notice.  Matt worked
tirelessly on the script for many months, checking each syllable. Avoiding "hard consonants" which the Japanese don't use.
Every breath and lip smack was carefully put in exactly the right place.  Most of those "little touches" aren't even audible or
noticeable to the general public, but we wanted everything to be perfect.  Every line was done as many times as necessary to
get proper fit.  I might mention that it's technologically possible to alter the pitch and speed of actors' voices with
computerized recording equipment, but that was not done at all.  Period.  I just want you to know that this film was truly a
labor of love for all of us involved.

    I do not wish to use this forum as a platform to toot my own horn - I was the English voice of the lead actor Shinobu
Nakayama (Dr. Nagamine, the ornithologist) - but rather as an arena to express my feelings about my favorite piece of work
from ADV Films. I would like to take this opportunity, however, to tip my hat to my fellow VA's: Aaron Krohn, Tristan
MacAvery, Amanda Winn, Paul Sidello and the entire supporting cast - all of whom were perfectly cast and skillfully
directed.

    Regular viewers of ADV dubbed anime will recognize Krohn in a leading role, giving voice to Tsuyosi Ihara (as the brave
young naval officer Yonemori).  I was completely blown away by Aaron's flawless vocal performance in this film even
having been already well acquainted with his work in such projects as Blue Seed (Murakumo), Suikoden (Miyuki), Super
Atragon (Go), Ellcia (Elluri), the ever popular Kaji from Neon Genesis Evangelion and many more.  Aaron's delivery and
inflections gave this performance exactly what it needed to be believable and make you forget this was a dubbed film.  Mr.
Krohn, a veteran (and well-respected) Houston stage actor is truly magnificent in "Gamera."

    Tristan MacAvery, long-time ADV voice actor and now writer/director, does a marvelous job bringing English to the lips
of Akira Onodera (as maritime investigator Kusanagi).  Some of Mr. MacAvery's outstanding previous voice work includes
Amamoto in Suikoden, King Nabosu (Ellcia), Vector (Battle Angel), Batros (Sol Bianca), Gendo Ikari (Neon Genesis
Evangelion), and a multitude of other bad guys.  Well, for those of you who DON'T know, Tristan is my favorite VA. He has
an amazing range and incredible talent, which he brings to each and every role he tackles.  I think this performance truly rates
as one of his best.

    And who can forget the "queen" of ADV herself, popular voice actor Amanda Winn Lee, who turns in a totally awesome
performance as perky teenager Asagi Kusanagi - Steven Seagal's real-life daughter, Ayako Fujitano. Asagi is the one who
"communicates" with Gamera to help save mankind from total destruction.  Unless you've been 1)living in a box OR 2)not
watching dubbed anime - you will surely recognize the versatile Ms. Winn Lee from roles such as Momiji (Blue Seed), Rally
Vincent (Gunsmith Cats), Yohko (Devil Hunter Yohko), Gally (Battle Angel), Rei Ayanami (Neon Genesis Evangelion), and
too many more to name here.  A successful camera and stage performer, Amanda turned in yet another well-rounded and
heart-felt performance as Kusanagi's brave young daughter that really helped pull the whole film together.

    So who's this Paul Sidello guy?  Well, newcomer Sidello was "discovered" by the director at a theatrical performance Mr.
Greenfield attended in which Paul had a leading role.   I must say that Paul did a fabulous job articulating the comic facial
expressions and gestures so adeptly portrayed by Yukijiro Hotaro (as Inspector Osako).  Most of his scenes were with my
character, and he really stole them away from me!  Paul really had me laughing out loud.  Mr. Sidello has an extensive stage
& commercial résumé, and has since worked on ADV's Sol Bianca and Dirty Pair Flash.  I hope to be working with him
again very soon!

    Other notable performances are delivered in supporting roles by established AD Vision voice actors: Kim Sevier (Yuri of
Dirty Pair Flash) as Nagamine's assistant & a girl on a bus, Spike Spencer (EVA's Shinji Ikari) as a scientist who helps solve
the mystery of the Gayos, Marcy Rae (Takeuchi of Blue Seed) as a delightful shop-keeper, Rob Mungle (Kunikida of Blue
Seed) as the impressive General Satake, Rick Peebles (Chief Black from Gunsmith Cats) who turns in some of his finest
work ever as Commissioner Saito, and the ever present Doug Smith (Golden Boy's Kintaro Oe) as an eerily familiar reporter.

    Other things to watch for...  In the background on Himekami Island when Nagamine and Osako are in the foreground
discussing the mass havoc, are several uniformed officers.  You can clearly hear them calling to possible survivors :"Is
anybody here?  We have food - coffee and doughnuts!" Credit Matt Greenfield who uses every possible opportunity to sneak
this joke into any scene with cops in it.  Also, the screaming woman on the bridge sound familiar to you?  That's Neon
Genesis Evangelion's Dr, Ritsuko Akagi - Sue Ulu.  Boy I wish we could have saved the outtakes for this show!

    When my character meets Aaron's for the first time, he rushes in to tell us about this giant object headed toward Japan.
Instead of the line YOU will hear - "Just how big is this thing?" -  I said, "Just how big is your thing?".  Aaron's response had
already been recorded: "It's over sixty meters long!"  We kept playing that in the studio until our sides hurt!

    Thanks for taking the time to share my "tales of the turtle".  Maybe, just maybe, you will enjoy it as much as I do.  I hope
so.

If you want more information, you can check out Gamera's site at
www.advfilms.com/gamera.

GAMERA: THE GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE is currently available for sale or rent
on video only.  It is also currently running on SHOWTIME, CINEMAX, THE MOVIE
CHANNEL, PAY PER VIEW and (coming soon) HBO.  Enjoy! Lee Hambly