Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS
Welcome to first and long-delayed episode from A-Kon 27 from Dallas, Texas!
David Vincent
We first met David Vincent way back at Anime Banzai in 2012. While we’ve seen David a few other times since then, we’ve not been able to set down with him again for an interview so we were excited to catch up!
When we first interviewed David Vincent, his biggest roles in the anime world were as Grimmjow Jeagerjaques from Bleach and Van in Gun X Sword. Since then he’s added a lot more anime and video games to his résumé! David has been the voice of Archer/Gilgamesh in Fate/Zero, the all important talking piece of clothing Senketsu from Kill la Kill, Anonydeath from Hyperdimension Neptunia (in the game AND the anime and is one of the on only cast members to be on both releases), Jin Kisaragi from BlazBlue (both the anime and the game), Zebrin in Aldnoah.Zero, Robin from Fire Emblem, and just recently announced as Naze from Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans that just started to air on Toonami!
Be sure to check out David Vincent’s IMDB page and Wikipedia page for more info on his roles. You can connect with David on his Facebook Fan page run by Michelle Tan Facebook, his fan club page run by Michelle Tan, and on Twitter.
We’re always excited to have David on the show and we hope to meet up with him again soon!
Transcript
My Geek Confessions: Alright, we are here at AKon 27, and we are here with our first guest with David Vincent, so thanks for returning to interview with us.
David Vincent: Hey, absolutely! It’s a pleasure to see you again, and-
MGC: It’s been like four years at this point?
DV: Yeah, yeah, that’s right. No, I’m excited to be here and it’s always good to see you guys.
MGC: Yeah I mean, we’ve seen you around, we just haven’t been able to interview at this point, so we’re just kinda glad to officially (for sure).
DV: Nail me down!
MGC: Yeah, exactly!
MGC: So it has been about four years since we’ve seen you last, so what have you been up to lately? New projects, new anime?
DV: Oh gosh, since the last time?
MGC: What do you want to promote? (Yeah, new stuff you can promote, I mean?)
DV: Stuff that I can promote, uh, when is this going on, by the way?
MGC: Probably either this week or the next.
DV: Okay good, then I probably should be safe to announce the latest is Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans. I do the voice of Naze, who is a very lucky guy. He has a harem of his own. Which that’s a fantastic show. That’s gonna be airing on Toonami, starting tomorrow night, Saturday. It premieres tomorrow night. So that’s exciting. Since you and I have last interviewed, oh gosh, I’ve had a lot of stuff come out. I’ve had a series called Kill la Kill. I do the voice of a sentient talking sailor uniform named Senketsu.
MGC: Did very well with that by the way.
DV: A two-time run on Toonami as well, so that one was very well received. I was very proud of that, happy to be a part of it. Also, another big one would be Smash Brothers.
MGC: Oh yes, for sure.
DV: I do the voice of Robin from the series Fire Emblem: Awakening.
MGC: I know that’s a perennial favorite for a lot of people.
DV: Yeah, yeah, so I was lucky to be a part of that, and very happy to be a part of Smash Bros. I had to sit on that one for a year.
MGC: Wow!
DV: I recorded, I couldn’t tell anybody about it. They would ask me, “Do you have anything cool coming up?” And I would be like, “Mmm, yes! But I can’t tell you!”
MGC: Those pesky NDAs. (Non-disclosure Agreements)
DV: Yeah, and so now I’m excited that I can talk about that, that it’s been out, and it’s been a runaway hit, so thrilled to be a part of it.
MGC: Well, definitely congratulations. You’ve been very busy and everything, and that kind of leads to our next question, which is: since our last time we’ve interviewed, you’ve done a lot more cons, and been able to go around all these different places. Do like going to the cons?
DV: I love them.
MGC: Do you have any interesting stories from your adventures now?
DV: You know, I’ve lots and lots of interesting stories. No, but do I like going to cons? I love going to cons. I think they’re so much fun. You know it’s so funny, I was just talking with somebody earlier about how much I enjoy the fact we can all get together in a venue over the weekend. I saw two grown men doing their own skit, just impromptu skit, play fighting. And to me, I’m like gosh, what a wonderful experience for us to all be able to go and just be kids again, and to just enjoy each other’s company, enjoy what we’re all interested in, and enjoy the process. It’s just a fantastic thing, so I love going to conventions. I love the cosplay, it’s one of my favorite things. And, for me, I love meeting the fans. For me, that’s honestly icing on the cake for what I do for a living.
MGC: Any other interesting stories that you want to share?
DV: Interesting stories that I want to share… Gosh, you know, I had a… Okay, you know this is going to be a little more on the serious side, but it was something that meant a lot to me, and it was, a person had approached me who was going through a very difficult time, and at this point in time was considering suicide.
MGC: Oh no! Oh!
DV: Yeah, and had approached me and had just said that, “Hey, one of the characters that you had voiced in that series really helped me through that period of time.”
MGC: Well that’s good!
DV: And so that, to me, is just like, gosh, you know, what an amazing thing to be a part of, that somebody can move and inspire somebody to move past a difficult point in their life.
MGC: Yeah, you never know what kind of effect you have on a character.
DV: Yeah, exactly. And so that type of thing to me is just really powerful and very meaningful to me, and it’s something that I’m very proud that I was able to help somebody in that way. And then, to me, sort of just meeting the fans. I mean, gosh, you know, it’s so much fun to sit and talk, and like, “Wow!” you know, “I loved you in this!” And I’ll tell you what, I’ve been getting a lot lately which is making me feel very old is, “Mr. Vincent! Mr. Vincent! You are such a part of my childhood!”
MGC: Oh no!
DV: I know, I’m like, “Wait, what?”
MGC: It’s like, “How old are you?” (I know, I don’t like to talk about that, either, because
then I feel old!)
DV: I know, but, no, it’s still so much fun, man. It’s a blast.
MGC: You’ve been travelling both to FUNimation here and Dallas. Are there any differences between FUNimation and Aniplex that you can share? (Not just Aniplex, I know there’s other studios.) Oh yes, other studios between the west coast and middle coast.
DV: There’s not really that much of a difference. They’re both. FUNimation I’ve worked with. They’re just amazing people, so much fun to work with. And they put out amazing work. Aniplex, Viz Media, and all the other studios I work with in Los Angeles, same thing. They’re just wonderful people, and it’s a privilege to me to get to work with them and call them colleagues. So, there’s not much of a difference, other than when you’re working with FUNimation especially for actors like me who live in Los Angeles if we’re out in Dallas to work with them on a project, their sessions will last a little bit longer than in Los Angeles. Los Angeles, they tend to limit your sessions to two hours. And then, at times, four hours, max. As opposed to FUNimation, if you’re working on a series, you may, you know, do the whole thing. You of course have breaks and lunch, and all that stuff, but you will, in fact, be in the studio for the entire day.
MGC: Because you did Hyperdimension Neptunia that way, correct?
DV: Hyperdimension Neptunia, yes, where I play Anonydeath, who’s a fabulous robot.
MGC: So, in that case, you were there in the booth a lot longer to be able to kinda finish your character.
DV: Well yeah, yeah, just geography dictates that, you know. I live in Los Angeles, and I’m in Dallas for a limited amount of time. They obviously want to utilize our time together as much as possible.
MGC: Right. Well, and we’ve heard some stories that like, I guess some Sentai doesn’t use, like, the beeps, like the three beeps?
DV: You know, I haven’t worked with Sentai yet. That’s Chris Sabat, right?
MGC: No, that’s the one down in Houston.
DV: Oh, sorry, which Sentai’s in Houston?
MGC: Yes.
DV: Okay, sorry, I guess I got mixed up. I have not worked with Sentai, so I’m not familiar with how they…
MGC: So still does everybody you work with used the three beeps?
DV: Yes, yeah. Everybody that I’ve worked with, they do use the three beep system.
MGC: Okay. Now, the other thing is, that you’ve also been part of kind of the “simuldub movement,” more on the Aniplex side.
DV: With Durarara!!, yeah.
MGC: How is that different from like a normal dubbing session, then?
DV: Well, to be honest with you, the dubbing session’s the same. There’s no real difference when you’re actually in there recording. The difference is, is the turnaround time. You need to be able to, uh, you gotta be available to go into the studio, you have to be really flexible with your schedule and make sure that you’re available. And two, is the deadlines are very quick. I’d say it affects the directors and the producers more than it affects the actors, just because they’ve got super tight deadlines especially if it’s a broadcast dub. But, like, for Durarara!! for instance. You know, it was kind of surprising to me is I’d go in and record, and then literally two days later, you know I’m getting a message on Facebook, “Hey! I just saw you on Durarara!!”
MGC: Oh really! (That fast! They mix that quick!)
DV: Yeah!
MGC: Just to follow up on that, as far as.. is it still like you’re two hours in the booth, or are you having less time when you’re doing the simuldub set?
DV: The simuldubs, it’s mainly two hours. You know, unless, again it just depends. If the character that I was doing in Durarara!! was Seiji Yagiri, so there wasn’t a tremendous amount of dialogue for that. So, yeah, two hour max. If it’s a character where there’s a lot of dialogue that needs to be done, then they will go up to four hours in Los Angeles.
MGC: Another thing, too, is, I don’t know if it’s still the case, because you’ve been so busy, but you’ve been teaching a lot recently, as well. Is there any common things people need to work on, or that people have been good at that you’ve noticed as a trend across the country, or anything?
DV: Here’s a onepointer that I can give: slow down your read. When people get either copy or they get a script in front of them, they tend to race through it as quickly as possible, because they see that dialogue; it’s a natural inclination to race through it, to get through it before you mess it up. One thing that I constantly tell people is take your time with your copies. Be it a script or be it an advertising copy, take your time with it.
MGC: Is it also because of nervousness, then?
DV: Yeah, especially when I get up on stage in front of a crowd of people, then yes, nerves have a lot to do with it.
MGC: Alright, we’ve got one more question for you, and it’s always the one we like to end on. You’ve already answered it, but do you have any updated life advice for us? Anything you’ve learned in the last four years?
DV: You know what, I would say, honestly, to the folks listening to this is don’t let the little things get you down. Just live life every day as it comes, and that’s what I would say. You know, be glad that you’re here. Be glad that we’re all here. But life advice, that’s my philosophical answer. But otherwise, as a message to your listeners, what I would say is just thank you so much guys for all of your support. It means the world to us. You know, this is a very fun career, but it’s also very challenging. You guys make it all worth it. So thank you for what you do; thank you for watching, and thank you for playing. And we appreciate your support. So thank you for your support. Stay tuned, because I do have something that I am working on. It’s not a show or a game, but it is a business that I am launching that is going to be applicable to everyone who listens to this. So please stay tuned. And once I am able to actually make the announcement, I will very excitably make the announcement, because it’s going to be really cool, and I think it’s going to make a lot of people happy.
MGC: Well we’re definitely going to be very interested to hear what you have planned going on.
DV: And real quick, I just wanna give my social media, is that okay?
MGC: Yeah, sure! (Go ahead! Use whatever plug you want.)
DV: Yes, I would like to also plug my social media. You can follow me on Twitter at just simply at @davidvincentva (for voice actor) @davidvincentva. Same for Facebook, you can send me a Facebook request. Facebook.com/davidvincentva (for voice actor). I’ve got a fan club that is run by Michelle Tan, who’s a good friend of mine, and probably the best club president a guy could ask for, and that is The Wind Roars Panthers, which you can find from my page. Give my Offical David Vincent fan page a like, I’d appreciate it, and thank you guys again. I really appreciate all of your support. I love ya.
MGC: Well and thank you. You know, it’s been a while since we’ve been able to officially interview again, but we’ve enjoyed being able to talk to you all this time, and still let us know when you are able to announce your new project, and we’ll keep seeing you around!
DV: Alright, sounds good, man. Always, always good seeing you. Thank you.
MGC: Good seeing you, too.
Be sure to subscribe to us in iTunes, and give us a review. Comment here to show us you care! And by all means, feel free to donate to us!
“My Geek Confessions – Watching Bad Movies, So You Don’t Have To!”
There is one comment