Hello, Students
Today I am so very excited to announce the voice actor for the Kappa, Haruki Hamato is none other than Ray O'Hare! Whom you may recognize as another amphibian, Ranno from Rivals of Aether! Ray is an incredibly talented VA, and I am honored to have him as a member of the cast.
I think my getting to work with Ray is sort of a testament to the notion of "good things come to those who wait." When Ray reached out to me about being a part of PSA, at the time the only roles I had left were that of the Hamato brothers. Which up until that point had garnered zero, and I mean zero attention from anyone. It wasn't until there were no other options anyone at all began auditioning for them. So initially I was kind of like, "I don't really for see this person being all that into any of these characters, but I'll share him the casting page anyways." But wouldn't you know it Ray is a fellow TMNT fan and we specifically got to talking about the first three live action films (the first being one of my favorite movies of all time) and I knew this was going to work.
With the Hamato being clear homages to the turtles, there's a very easy sort of jumping off point for a VA. If you know TMNT you can basically instantaneously know the Hamato. Yes they are very different outside the basic archetypes they each represent, but that's really all one needs. So it really was no surprise to me that there was one that fit Ray's talents. And it's weird because I didn't particularly have voices in mind for the brothers, I kind of always imagined the voices as those my brother and I did for six years on his stop-motion TMNT series. And those voices were homages to the voices of the turtles from the 80s, but my brother and I grew up with the series that air in '03. So when I think of them those are the voices that immediately come to mind in most cases. So there was this weird sort of amalgamation in my mind that I think all TMNT fans have. And when Ray did his audition his voice felt so familiar and yet not quite like anything we've heard in the TMNT franchise. So it has this great quality to it that sort of reinforces that "yes these characters to a degree are a nice nod, but also they very much are not the same characters." Ray's voice really makes Haruki's personality come alive, his delivery adds so much to the dialogue. It's kind of hard to explain, there's character in his words that I couldn't capture on the page, at least not within the constraints this project as given me. You immediately grasp the subtleties of the character when you hear him speak; there's no need for me explain it, or reference it. You just know, it paints a clear picture. You can imagine his posture, his mannerisms, his facial expressions. There really is no one better suited to play this character than Ray. I think the casting of Ray and the sequential completing of Haruki was sort of a full circle moment for me. Kind of unlike most of the cast the Hamato all feel like my children and it sort of almost feels preordained. I started as a fan of TMNT, imitated their content as a form of flattery, and then created my own thing through my experience with their brand. Like every little piece of my I guess- fandom for another IP is ultimately what led to the creation of my own creation I love just as much. It was easy to write the Hamato because in a way I had already done it for six years for my brother. And Ray's talents were the final piece of that, his performance his addition was the cherry on top, that final touch that said, "this is officially something original." I love Haruki and I've loved my time with the Hamato, but Ray's performance really sort of solidified those feelings, and really felt like a sort of validation. I did my best to make them feel like their own thing, because they are when you really break it down. But I don't think I ever really believed that until I heard Ray's performance; it was like then I was able to fully take ownership of these characters and be like, "no these are my characters and I did a pretty decent job and I dare say they're arguably just as good as their inspirations." Unfortunately the way the Hamato are woven into the story means you'll have to wait to hear Ray's stellar performance until the audiobook comes. But I am convinced his work and his contribution to this character will make you love him just as much as I do. I am so incredibly grateful to have gotten to work with Ray and it is an experience I will surely treasure. So now all there's left to do is to say, "Ray, welcome to Pleasant Sparkle Academy."
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