2012-02-15, 09:18 PM
American voice actors for American made cartoons are just fine. The problem most people have with Japanese vs English voice acting is when it comes to dubbed anime, in which the English versions tend to be pretty lame.
To my understanding (and I could be totally wrong), a studio will record the script first, and then make the animation afterwards so it matches how the voice actor speaks. It's gotta be a hell of a lot more awkward to have an animation already made, and then try to match a voice to it while making sure it still flows naturally... I don't really think its an issue of "bad voice acting."
And you really can't compare voice actors in American cartoons to voice actors in Japanese anime. Dubbed and American anime, fine... But Spongebob? I'm sorry, but our American cartoons reflect American culture and sense of humor--and American voice actors get it. A lot of what (most) of our society finds amusing about our cartoons would be lost by outsourcing the voice acting to another country.
To my understanding (and I could be totally wrong), a studio will record the script first, and then make the animation afterwards so it matches how the voice actor speaks. It's gotta be a hell of a lot more awkward to have an animation already made, and then try to match a voice to it while making sure it still flows naturally... I don't really think its an issue of "bad voice acting."
And you really can't compare voice actors in American cartoons to voice actors in Japanese anime. Dubbed and American anime, fine... But Spongebob? I'm sorry, but our American cartoons reflect American culture and sense of humor--and American voice actors get it. A lot of what (most) of our society finds amusing about our cartoons would be lost by outsourcing the voice acting to another country.