Voice changes throughout a series?

[Knossos]

I was wondering if any of you guys ever notice changes in certain voices as a series progresses?

In Azumanga Daioh, I've noticed that there is a distinct change in a few character voices in the middle of the series. I wasn't sure if this was an acting decision (since the girls in that show do get older) or just an indication of the actors getting comfortable with their roles, but the voices do sound much more refined later on than in the first couple of episodes.

It sort of makes me wonder if it is common for dubs to have a voice shift or improve as each episode moves along.

[Orihimes_Boyfriend]

Well its not that uncommon for companies to switch actors during a production if a character gets older or during flashbacks. Other times its done due to a change in a actors voice Like when a kid actor hits puberty and there voice naturally changes. An example of this was in the the dub for InuYasha. The actors for both Kohaku and Souta had to be changed late in the series. Death Note also did this with the Sayu Yagami character. But in that case they had to switch actors to refect the gap in time in the storyline.

[Zeether]

I think I mentioned this before but Zelgadis' VA in Slayers was changed part of the way through to the one and only Crispin Freeman

[EmperorBrandon]

Originally Posted by Orihimes_Boyfriend

Well its not that uncommon for companies to switch actors during a production if a character gets older or during flashbacks. Other times its done due to a change in a actors voice Like when a kid actor hits puberty and there voice naturally changes. An example of this was in the the dub for InuYasha. The actors for both Kohaku and Souta had to be changed late in the series. Death Note also did this with the Sayu Yagami character. But in that case they had to switch actors to refect the gap in time in the storyline.

Originally Posted by Zeether

I think I mentioned this before but Zelgadis' VA in Slayers was changed part of the way through to the one and only Crispin Freeman

Read the topic post if you haven't already. Knossos isn't talking about voice actor changes.

I think it's pretty common to take a few episodes before the actors really get into their characters. I don't think I tend to take notice of a shift of voice as I'm watching (even if there is one) since it's usually not abrupt

[Perfect_Cell]

Perhaps the most noticeable and saddest voice change I noticed was in Saber Marionette J with the character Cherry. Erin Fitzgerald gave in alot of fresh energy for her along with her typical anime girl cuteness, it was really good. Course half way through for some reason, Nicole Oliver became the new Cherry and it wasn't the same. She was just too bland to be Cherry, nothing really standing out to be honest. I hardly say it was the worst voice acting ever just not the best replacement for Fitzgerald's work. From that point on, both the series and dub went down hill, it just ended up being a train wreck of a show.

[Orihimes_Boyfriend]

Another one I can think of is Tiffany Grant as Asuka on Evangelion. It seemed she would keep dropping and picking up the German accent throughout the series. As opposed to her dub for Setellia on Chrono Crusade were she kept it the whole series.

[TalonG4]

I can't think of many off the top of my head. I do know shows change dub directors between episodes sometimes, that could cause a voice change.

Okay, one would be Kelly Manison reprising her role as Naga from the Slayers OAV's. She played the character in Slayers:The Motion Picture but there was more than a few years difference between the movie and the OAV's and she never quite sounded the same. (The laugh was never as good.)

John Swasey's Ken from Kaleido Star seemed to sound different in every volume. I figured he might have had a problem finding the right voice for the character, who knows.

Also in Petite Princess Yucie, the VA who voiced Glenda had the cutest scratchiness to her voice in one episode where she fell in love with this prince guy and in the next episode it was totally gone from her voice. Maybe she was slightly losing her voice that one episode?

[Doom85]

IIRC, Nia of Gurren Lagann having a VA change was NOT planned because of the time-skip, but the previous actor actually was unavailable or something and they had to re-cast. Luckily, Bridget Hoffman did just as excellent a job as Hynden Walch, and their voices really matched in a "younger vs. older" way, so I wouldn't have even noticed if I hadn't been informed. So lucky timing the voice change was required just as the time-skip occurred. And I'm glad they didn't change anyone else, Yuri Lowenthal did a natural job of adding 7 years to Simon's voice, as did Johnny Yong Bosch as Rossiu. All the other characters for the most part wouldn't really need a major chance in voice (well, Gimmy and Darry, but you barely hear much from them pre time-skip anyway), so keeping the same VAs worked out fine.

Shino of Naruto had a different VA for the first two episodes, and I'm glad they moved to Stephen Derek Prince, as the first voice felt off. Sadly, I've heard (nothing confirmed, though) they will probably be getting a different voice for Deidara, which is a shame since I thought Quinton Flynn nailed him perfectly in episode 135 of Part 1 (on the other hand, the Akatsuki leader's voice needs to be changed pronto, it's not suited for the sort of character he turns out to be. Nothing against Dave Wittenberg, of course, as he does a stellar Kakashi).

[Suwako Moriya]

I'm too lazy to cite specific examples right now, but it does seem like the voice acting for at least some of the characters becomes better in later episodes of a given series.

It's hard to say how much of it is because of practice leading the V.A. to becoming more "comfortable" with the role vs myself becoming more used to the performance of the sad V.A.

One other thing to keep in mind is that in the case of many shows, you get a change of focus later on in the story. This includes increased roles for certain characters. The stronger their role becomes the more you'll end up noticing their performance. In theory anyway.

Also certain scenes may not come up until later in story. You can't really gauge how powerful the emotional scene in episode 13 is if you've only watched up to episode 2. A scene with a different type of focus can lead to seeing another side of the performance.

Imagine a character that's normally cheerful breaking down in a later episode due to something bad happening. Such as for example a family member gets killed right in front of them. Yeah, I just had go to with the easy example.

[dragoon]

Originally Posted by TalonG4

John Swasey's Ken from Kaleido Star seemed to sound different in every volume. I figured he might have had a problem finding the right voice for the character, who knows.

As much as I love the dub for Kaleido Star and... Swasey in general (since he's almost always awesome)... his voice for Ken just sounded awkward to me, almost sounding too old too (or perhaps I just had a problem with the tone of it, or maybe the combination of several factors). It was one of the weaker aspects of the dub, in my view.