For example, if I was voice director on a project that features characters from feudal Japan, I would probably not cast white actors. Not that white actors are bad, but I wouldn't consider them a good fit. I would prefer to hire native Japanese actors, as that would give a more authentic sound to the voices in my opinion. Or, if I was making a new Silent Hill, I would prefer American actors (for characters that arent specifically a certain nationality) over other nationalities. It would give a more authentic sound as compared to hiring actors that sound "non-American."

At the same time, if I was casting characters for something like Sword Art Online, I wouldn't really care much about who the actors are. The premise of people being transported into an MMORPG lends itself to having a varied voice cast. So I would simply pick voices that I feel best sound like what I hear from the character in my mind.

In any of those cases, the choice should be left to the voice director/caster. They know the project and have conversed with the producers, artists, and other creatives on the project. No project should be required to include or not include races of people. If it is what the creatives want, thats what should be done.

[–] lukas@lemmy.haigner.me 5 points 1 year ago

This sounds good in theory until you meet foreigners that speak a language better than the natives.

[–] stardust@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

For me there's stuff like Samurai Jack which isnt voiced by a Japanese person, and that voice to me never left me feeling it would have been better voiced by someone else. I just heard and saw the animated character of Jack.

Same goes for many younger male characters voiced by females that I never found myself wishing it was voiced by a male like voices of Bart Simpson and Timmy Turner.

To me it sounds like you are more speaking of native language voices? Like if a character speaks English you want it to be voiced by someone who speaks like a native speaker, or Japanese you want someone who speaks like a native speaker and so on. That I do agree with. You want someone who can deliver the performance of native speaker regardless of race. So you wouldn't want like Mark Hamill doing a Japanese dub of the Joker.

Like an example I think of is Vinland Saga voiced by Japanese for the Japanese language. I don't think the performance would be better replacing them with white Japanese speakers to deliver the performance in Japanese if their performance isn't as good. And for English I'd apply the same where the delivery is more important like how it wasn't important that House for example was a British actor delivering the performance of an American doctor.

I like animation to be a place where anyone can voice anyone if their performance is good and none of their other traits matter. But only voice performance. Like how orchestras may hire based on auditions with the performance being done behind a curtain.

[–] RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I am saying let the voice director/caster decide who plays the voice. If they want a person with an Asian accent playing a white character, then thats what they want. If they want a person with an European accent playing an African character or vice versa, then that's what they want. Let them pick. They know about the project and usually the intention behind it. They will know the sound they want.

Im not saying they should pick based solely off of skin color. Pick based off of voice sound. Sometimes someone will say they want a specific race but what they really mean is that they want a particular accent common to that race or nationality.

[–] stardust@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

I'm not deciding for them. I'm explaining why I don't find physical or background traits to be something I find important for voice acting.