The Lovepon Award for Voice Actor Commitment
One of these days, I hope to talk about the craft of voice acting more. Namely my hesitance stems from the face, through a language I do not know, because I am unsure yet whether I can gauge a great Japanese language performance fully yet. Sadly, whenever I have had only the English dub available, I have encountered many which were terrible or bland, hence why I became a "purist" and watched the Japanese language versions. That is not to say there have never been great English dubs, but the reason switched to the other side was never purism, but quality.
But, let us have one award, originally for an entirely different type of category when I joked of it for The Lost Village (2016), which is now an award for two halves. For those in voice acting who work so professionally with very dubious material, this shall be a reminder that voice acting in Japan and the West is still a job for pay, where I nod to those who still gave their best even with material of questionable origins. For those in voice acting as well, in great material, who yet have to stretch themselves to absurd lengths, a dexterity when even in a good anime you encounter bizarre content.
A) Commitment to the Dubious
3) And yet we will start with an English dub, despite my negative comments earlier, because Brad Bradford for Mr. Mystery in Arcade Fighter Fubuki (2002-3) was one of the few striking virtues, playing a masked hero and mentor to the main female character with all the exaggerated bombast you would hope for in such a character in a comedy. Yes, Mr. Mystery was sadly still fixated on her "passion panties", but we also had someone who acted like a theatre performer to the backseats, and had to be stoic as one of the few characters who, if he was hurt or jumped through a glass window, actually felt the pain and injuries. I have found English dubs, returning to them, excessively broad for me for the most part, with this an exception where, if you are going for this tone, a silly comedy is perfect for it.
2) Speaking of dubious, Ahegao W Peace Sensei from My Sister The Writer (2018) could have been a very transgressive and fascinating character, a female erotic artist whose tastes however are for material which is still very uncomfortable and difficult for many in terms of eroticised degradation and dark fantasies. However you can only think for actress Chinatsu Akasaki, for a show clearly catering for male heterosexual viewers. That as well as having a day job where you have to star in this incest romance, one line is literally her character saying "I like degrading rape porn" cosplaying in a bikini as casually as possible like regular human conversation. Bless Akasaki, even if that is uncomfortable for most viewers, the bubbliness of the performance, for a stereotypical big breasted and blonde character with an added lack of censorship in discussing fetishes and sex, nearly soften the experience.
1) But, the award stems from Lovepon from The Lost Village, a bizarre show where I am unsure whether it was intentionally a parody or the production drove its bus off the road immediately. The Crunchyroll comments section added so much perverse entertainment to my viewing, although the vitriol to one character, Lovepon, was so severe it might have led to this fascination with the character, even empathy for a fictional creation, and creating a gag blog post section here. Eventually revealed to be a very psychologically damaged teen girl, she is also however already visible deranged in a cartoonish way in the first episode, before the tour bus ever gets to the titular village, and has voice actress Ai Kakuma screaming "Execute!" over and over again per episode.
And Kakuma commits to this. This side of the imaginary award is a recognition that voice actors - like the animators - have to work and they have to continue regardless of the quality of the final creation. So this joke merely to amuse myself comes with empathy that helps grow my appreciation of Japanese animation much more.
b) Commitment to the Virtuous
3) When it comes to great work, any production from gdgd Fairies alumni usually means heavy improvisation and expecting the unexpected each week as a performer. For Himote House (2018), whilst it has major flaws, you have the female cast - Satomi Akesaka, Suzuko Mimori, Sumire Uesaka, Kaoru Mizuhara, Tae Hongou and Asuka Nishi as their talking cat Enishi - having to be on the ball for improvised sketches to acting out even a card game. Like gdgd Fairie, everyone looks a greater performer as a result, a great form of acting training just to be in these quirky micro series that became popular in the 2010s of characters just conversing about weird things.
2) The stereotypical tsundere, common in anime and manga, is the character (usually female) who is stand offing and cold, only to show a warmer side as they are comfortable with another character. In broader comedy, that can include beating the main male character up. It is a role that could just be generic, but Satsuki Yukino as Kaname Chidori, in Full Metal Panic Fumoffu (2003), shows how it is a great character type for comedy. Even if the animators at Kyoto Animation were not as on top as they were, managing to bring in facial ticks and body language in for the punch lines, Yukino committed to the role beautifully.
1) A lot of figures from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (2010) could have been on this list. Particularly Arisa Ogasawara as Panty as, sadly not acting as much as Mariya Ise (Stocking) has, she has to play the most abrasive of the titular duo and stands out, also probably one of the few Japanese voice performers who can credibly make English cussing work. But, what is true actor commitment to a production than to play the comedic mascot, who is maimed, run over, diced into cubes, and treated like a joke whilst only being able to say his name? Hence, Takashi Nakamura as Chuck gets the prize. The irony is that, whilst not a slight to anyone at, all, Nakamura has no other credits unless it is Takashi Nakamura the animator/animation director/director, a veteran who has been working since at least the seventies on shows like Yatterman (1977) which, if the same person, adds a greater sense of humour.
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The CGI Bus Award for Strangest Moments
Another indulgent award, but with a spoiler warning, as this reflects on all the bizarre sequence I have witnessed and titbits I have encountered. I've decided not to include the ending of Adolescence of Utena (1999) as, whilst exceptionally strange, it is also exceptional. This is for all the weird moments which, good or bad, are definitely memorable. A reminder that the least expected should be appreciated as they are the scenes (or episodes) which linger for you.
Someone turning into a bowl of ramen in Aragami SS (2010) is a great example, unexpected especially for a realistic romantic comedy/drama, even if it has parallel realities as a gimmick, this was never signposted beforehand. The Lost Village in general - because abrupt plot shifts, weird CGI penguin monsters and the CGI bus which christened this award are just among the many curious moments which could have been chosen. How death by toilet transpires in Calamity of a Zombie Girl (2018), or that the protagonist of Mad Bull 34 (1990) coming to a night-time sting operation with grenades tied to his pubic hair in his trousers. Yuri Seijin Naoko-san's end credits, for the 2010 anime, where being on a train in the countryside manages to make an already bizarre six minutes weirder, and the two avant-garde episodes of Serial Experiments Lain (1998) make an already more esoteric show, including a cameo by a little grey man, more unconventional than it already was.
All honourable mentions alongside times where a show can deliberately catch you off-guard, such as the Gainax ending to Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt that concludes the series on a cliffhanger and an abrupt heel turn. Some of you will be aware of the "Gainax Ending", where Gainax productions suddenly change tone drastically or end curiosity, though this one after the end credits on the final episode was clearly a mean and funny joke. Especially as, barring in comic book form, we never got a second season. Sometimes it is something that makes a show better, such as Sarazanmai's obsession with butts, which is funnier knowing a) in Japanese mythology, kappas actually eat a person's soul by sucking it out of the anus, and b) Kunihiko Ikuhara snuck it past the producers without them realising. Sometimes it does not work but you cannot help but think about it, such as sexy versions of Die Hard (1988) and Saw (2004)? Yeap, the final OVA for My Sister, The Writer felt bombs that had to be disarmed by incestuous arousal and being locked in the same grimy bathroom of the first Saw film were sexy.
5) Starting off with a mildly odd sequence however, but perfect as it helped a show gain personality, is when Lunar Legend Tsukihime (2003) not only asks the question of how an immortal female vampire has money to hide in human society, but shows that she has being counterfeiting it much to the male protagonist's surprise, an amusing joke that really helped soften a show that really had flaws
4) Gun x Sword's swimsuit episode, in which a matriarchal town still demands its all female residents to wear ultra skimpy swim wear, is abrupt, only managing to work because the episode is both ludicrous and hilariously is needed for the whole series' plot. That there is a TV cut, despite the uncensored version still being tame, really adds to the strangeness.
3) The penultimate episode of Key the Metal Idol (1994-7) is a strange experience, which could accidentally undermine a great series for a viewer. It is a feature length exposition dump, much needed and surreal by the end, but even if it is compelling, it comes out of nowhere in what has to be explained.
2) La Blue Girl Returns (2001-2) has a sequence where, to be blunt, two female characters apply magic lotion to each other by tribbing. Yes, the sensual act, thus having lead to the scene being permanently fixed in my mind over the years, even from a butchered version of the OVA, for how weird it is. Especially because of how casually it transpires and is not even the focus of the scene, or an elaborate hentai sex, just happening in an exposition scene just because.
1) But, undoubtedly, and the reason behind the spoiler warning, is for the shock of how Arcade Gamer Fubuki ends, managing to make an entry on the Disappointing list still compelling. For the most part this was a dull show, only for the villain to be revealed to be a game developer mortified that his tech was being used for military purposes. Suddenly a problematic OVA series, which was on the worst list, has a flashback to him in a Middle Eastern desert using his martial arts strength to stop a ballistic missile in the air with his bare hands, as if the protagonist to an insane "jigoku" manga. It is dumbfounding but what you remember, for good and for bad should have the random impact and unpredictability of such a scene. Also considering this OVA has a velociraptor who could play videogames, even this title has a few aspects which could qualify as weird.
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