AstroBoy Online Forums

While some may have seen these pictures before, I thought it might be interesting to compare the American cast with their Japanese counterparts.
First let me list the American cast along w/ the Japanese cast:

Astro Boy--Billie Lou Watt
Atom--Mari Shimizu

Dr. Elefun--Ray Owens
Dr. Ochanomizu--Hisashi Kasuta (pictured far right)

Mr. Pompous--Gil Mack
HiigeOyaji--Kazuaki Yajima (pictured in the middle)
(One source lists his name as Masaaki Yajima.)

It is interesting to note that while the American cast had actors doing several parts; for ex. Billie Lou Watt also voiced Astro Girl, the Japanese had Uran-chan voiced by actress Yoko Mizugaki and did not have actors playing multiple parts.

(Ray Owens also voiced Dr. Boynton as well as the show's narrator.)

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I think this difference in voice actors derives from the cultural differences, or perhaps, the production ideas, theories, etc., though I had assumed that some minor characters shared a voice with Ochanomizu, for instance. Yet, the U.S. animated cartoons employed many voiced talents such as Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, & Paul Frees, so, it may have been assumed that, that was the way to go with dubbing imported animated cartoons. Of course it was also a matter of necessity, with a limited budget, but for all the $ problems the dubbing guys had, Mushi Co. had those & even more.

I was also under the impression that the main voice actors had to play multiple characters and had to do the entire show all on their own more or less...

Gil Mac even looks a bit like Mr. Pompous!

"jeffbert" wrote:I think this difference in voice actors derives from the cultural differences, or perhaps, the production ideas, theories, etc., though I had assumed that some minor characters shared a voice with Ochanomizu, for instance. Yet, the U.S. animated cartoons employed many voiced talents such as Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, & Paul Frees, so, it may have been assumed that, that was the way to go with dubbing imported animated cartoons. Of course it was also a matter of necessity, with a limited budget, but for all the $ problems the dubbing guys had, Mushi Co. had those & even more.

You bring up some very interesting points. Yes, in the US most cartoons had a few characters being voiced by one actor, for ex. the great Mel Blanc who practically voiced so many Warner Bros. characters that a film of him in the studio would seem like he was talking to himself. But this is also the way some radio shows were recorded. This was a cost cutting measure.
Then it would seem that in Japan, at that time, voice actors weren't paid much because cast lists for the Mighty Atom shows show a regular cast who voiced recurring roles, but then a different actor for a particular character and that actor would not appear again in the show as another character.

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I agree; I think it is a matter of the different philosophy, or, perhaps I should say, the way they approached the task.

I didn't know Astro Girl was voiced by Billie Lou Watt. Though, I was always wondering why they kinda sounded alike. In the very first few episodes of Astro boy, His voice was a bit light. But when it got into the later episodes, it got a little bit deeper tone. I never really understood why, though my guesses are that it was a different VA or just because it was Billie's first role ever. Though, She was really pretty. It's very sad to hear that she died from Lung Cancer in 2001 leaving her children and husband behind. Almost cried when I heard that. . Hopefully it wasn't from smoking. It is said that 90% of people die from lung cancer because of smoking.

"tailz" wrote:I didn't know Astro Girl was voiced by Billie Lou Watt. Though, I was always wondering why they kinda sounded alike. In the very first few episodes of Astro boy, His voice was a bit light. But when it got into the later episodes, it got a little bit deeper tone. I never really understood why, though my guesses are that it was a different VA or just because it was Billie's first role ever. Though, She was really pretty. It's very sad to hear that she died from Lung Cancer in 2001 leaving her children and husband behind. Almost cried when I heard that. . Hopefully it wasn't from smoking. It is said that 90% of people die from lung cancer because of smoking.

In an interview, Billie Lou revealed that her director told her to make the voice sound a little deeper in tone by in his direction to her "to add more 'balls' to her performance.
Yes it is a sad fact that many cigarette smokers eventually do contract lung cancer. Although when I met her at a convention she did not appear to be a smoker (or have that heavy tobacco smell of a smoker). She was a very pleasant lady and it was such a thrill for me to hear that voice that was so familiar to me in person!

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"ASTROBUDDY" wrote:[QUOTE=tailz;216806]I didn't know Astro Girl was voiced by Billie Lou Watt. Though, I was always wondering why they kinda sounded alike. In the very first few episodes of Astro boy, His voice was a bit light. But when it got into the later episodes, it got a little bit deeper tone. I never really understood why, though my guesses are that it was a different VA or just because it was Billie's first role ever. Though, She was really pretty. It's very sad to hear that she died from Lung Cancer in 2001 leaving her children and husband behind. Almost cried when I heard that. . Hopefully it wasn't from smoking. It is said that 90% of people die from lung cancer because of smoking.

In an interview, Billie Lou revealed that her director told her to make the voice sound a little deeper in tone by in his direction to her "to add more 'balls' to her performance.
Yes it is a sad fact that many cigarette smokers eventually do contract lung cancer. Although when I met her at a convention she did not appear to be a smoker (or have that heavy tobacco smell of a smoker). She was a very pleasant lady and it was such a thrill for me to hear that voice that was so familiar to me in person!

I [/QUOTE]

Wow! You met her in person! That's Awesome! It's a nice thing to know that she wasn't a smoker. What kind of convention did you meet her at? Anime convention?

"tailz" wrote:[QUOTE=ASTROBUDDY;216815][QUOTE=tailz;216806]I didn't know Astro Girl was voiced by Billie Lou Watt. Though, I was always wondering why they kinda sounded alike. In the very first few episodes of Astro boy, His voice was a bit light. But when it got into the later episodes, it got a little bit deeper tone. I never really understood why, though my guesses are that it was a different VA or just because it was Billie's first role ever. Though, She was really pretty. It's very sad to hear that she died from Lung Cancer in 2001 leaving her children and husband behind. Almost cried when I heard that. . Hopefully it wasn't from smoking. It is said that 90% of people die from lung cancer because of smoking.

In an interview, Billie Lou revealed that her director told her to make the voice sound a little deeper in tone by in his direction to her "to add more 'balls' to her performance.
Yes it is a sad fact that many cigarette smokers eventually do contract lung cancer. Although when I met her at a convention she did not appear to be a smoker (or have that heavy tobacco smell of a smoker). She was a very pleasant lady and it was such a thrill for me to hear that voice that was so familiar to me in person!

I [/QUOTE]

Wow! You met her in person! That's Awesome! It's a nice thing to know that she wasn't a smoker. What kind of convention did you meet her at? Anime convention?[/QUOTE]

I didn't say she wasn't a smoker, I said she did not appear to be a smoker and yes it was at anime convention. She and Corinne Orr were two of the guests from the first wave of anime asked to the show. She was scheduled to have taken part in a panel discussion about the old days of TV animation, but had arrived to the convention too late for the discussion. As fortune would have it, so did I: thus I was able to speak to her up close having been in the same elevator as she and Corrine Orr were. When I heard her speaking, the voice hit me as something familiar. I almost could not believe that I was standing so near to the person who spoke that voice. Hearing that voice, I was a kid again.

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