I'm a huge fan of the Naruto series and have probably played almost every game that has come out in the States. The next Naruto game to come out is Naruto: Ninja Destiny for the DS, and we were lucky enough to be a part of a conference call for the upcoming game. Oh, but this wasn't just any conference call, but one with the actual voice actors from the series! If you want to talk about an otaku being in heaven look no further than right here. Actors Maile Flanagan (Naruto), Kate Higgins (Sakura), Yuri Lowenthal (Sasuke), and Brian Donovan (Rock Lee) were all on the call to talk about the game and what it has been like voicing these characters. We're happy to present to you not just a transcribe of the call, but the actual call so you can download and listen to the actors yourself.

Question: How much of a fan are you of the Naruto series and do you have to watch the latest episodes and play the newest games as soon as they are out, or is it just a series you do for your job.

Maile: I'm a big fan…not of Yuri particularly, but of everyone else, except for Yuri in the series. I'm horrible at the game, but I sometimes watch people play the game and mutter under my breath, 'You know I play the character,' but no one listens. It's not just a series where I do my job, because the people we are working with are outstanding. It's kind of taken on a life of its own and snowballed, which I didn't know in the beginning, and it's pretty incredible to watch it and see how popular it is in the States and all over the world.

Yuri: I grew up watching Japanese anime and it's sort of a dream job to work in the field on the show and in the game. I wish I had time to keep up with the show – I did in the beginning but it became so all encompassing I lost track of it – but I do love the show, it's not just a job for me, because it's part of a dream come true. As far as the games I can't keep up with the games either. I've actually taken to watching friends of mine play the game because they are a lot faster, and I don't have to work with a learning curve of beating this or that, I just watch people who are really good at it.

Brian: My answer is short and sweet – I stink at the game and I wish I had the forte, but I think it's just a generational thing, I mean I'm in my 40s now and I think I just missed a window and so I'm just fortunate to work with a lot of kids and they go nutty whenever you mention you're involved with Naruto in any way. It's great and so in that way I follow the show and the game and its successes for that matter, and I had a little of that with Digimon but Naruto's in a whole other league and it's pretty fantastic and I'm not above appreciating walking down the street and going past a newsstand or gaming mags and seeing Naruto splashed across the front. I love it.

Question: How do you guys feel about being referred to by your character's name rather than your own at anime conventions?

Maile: Well it's really insulting when Yuri does it, but if you're ten-years-old and do it I don't mind. I don't really care – I think it's flattering. I'm actually shocked if they know my name, because it's a cartoon character and people are so passionate. I mean I'm flabbergasted when people actually know what my name is, so I'm fine.

Yuri: I love it when I go to conventions and often it's the younger kids that will refer to us by our character names, and how can you not find that absolutely charming. I remember when I use to go to conventions when I was a kid and every kid who walks up to me I remember when I would stand in long lines to get people's autographs, so I love it.

Brian: I don't have anything to add other than sometimes I wish I was Rock Lee.

Yuri: I know, Sasuke's much cooler than I am in real life so I'm okay with it.

Brian: And Rock Lee is even cooler than you.

Yuri: Wow, between you and Maile I'm going to get slammed today!

Question: What's the difference between when you go into voice acting the Naruto anime versus the Naruto videogames? Does it change at all?

Maile: Obviously the voices don't change for me, but the arcs, once in a while you have to go back to when you were younger or older, so you have to remember what you were feeling at that moment as it parallels the series. Other than that the videogames you have to do a lot more hits and punches and grunts and landings and fights, so it's more strenuous on your voice and more repetitive. It's kind of fun to see them because they are a different medium, but it's just more – a lot more stuff – and in some ways it's easier because a lot of the stuff you don't have to synch up – you aren't working on getting that lip lock correct.

Yuri: On one hand when you're working on the show it's nice to be able to see what is going on, but when you're sort of in a vacuum when you're working on the videogame, but that's where you sort of have to trust the director. She gives us the background we need because we can't see it, we don't know what the context is or what's going on. But yeah, the videogame sessions are really sort of "slam bang" and high energy and can be tiring.

Brian: I'm merely a punctuation point because I'm going third every time, but I will say this with an exclamation point, the director is phenomenal and if it wasn't for her truly spacing things out – particularly with the videogames since, as you already mentioned, they can be pretty grueling to the degree that you are yelling and screaming a bunch – but one of the things she does is save a lot of the "hiyas" and the yelling and screaming until the end of the session, so it saves us a bit. She is also instrumental in directing the context. I don't know, the pros and cons are that with the series you get more of a storyarc and act a little bit more in the storyarc, while the games are riddled with energy and these very short punctuative yelling and screaming statements, etc.

Continue On Page Two