We're finally here, the Hamato brothers have finally been cast after all this time. And the first one we're announcing the voice actor for is Hiroki! The "second eldest" of the four. So honored to get to say that Allen Chan will be providing their talents to bring this Kappa to life! The Hamato were one of the few instances where I actually did have voice tones? In mind, I had ideas of how they should sound in my head. It should come as no shock that those voices were based off Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle voices. But the thing is it wasn't really a particular series, a little fun fact is that for six years I wrote and voiced in a TMNT stop-motion show with my brother who also filmed and directed it. So sometimes it was his say Donatello voice that popped in my head, or my own Michelangelo. Sometimes I thought of the 2003 series which was the one I watched the most. Point is I had an idea. But here's the thing, aside from a few references and surface level quirks, the Hamato really don't have all the much in common with the turtles. I'd imagine the VAs who I've worked with on them would probably agree. One of the biggest things is these characters are Japanese, living in Japan. Yes they speak fluent English, but how each one approaches it is different. In Hiroki's case he uses a lot of Japanese words and phrases, because unlike say Hirohito or Haruki who are very studious, he speaks English because he has to and isn't really actively practicing it. So beyond just sounding like Hiroki whoever was going to voice him had to really be able to nail those pronunciations. And Allen was the only VA who auditioned for Hiroki who did. I could of course have hired anyone and educated them, but for Allen it just sounded so natural. And his voice just really stood out. It doesn't sound like how I imagined Hiroki to sound, but what it sounds like is something that's 100% a better fit for the character. Allen really brings depth to Hiroki with his voice. Listening to him was kind of like a "huh, I suppose that is probably how Hiroki would say that." Or a "huh, yeah I guess that is the sort of intensity he'd bring to that line." It really made me sit and contemplate how Hiroki would sound or just the level of his reaction to things. It's easy to write something on a page and imagine it and then kind of move on. Sometimes if not all the time, I sort of go into autopilot in a way when writing these characters, I kind of just let my I don't know subconscious tell me how these characters speak. I don't usually spend a lot of time analyzing and really considering their word choice or sort of nuance reactions? That's stuff I usually adjust in hindsight, and a lot of stuff that really comes out through the VA. And that really was the situation with Hiroki. I kind of thought I understood Hiroki and his cadence and the way he carried himself. But Allen's performance really made me understand that I don't always have everything as down as I might think. This project is very collaborative in that way, sure I provide words, but it's everyone else that really brings these characters to life and sort of tells me who they are.
Allen's performance really reminded me of that, that while technically these characters belong to me. They really belong to the VA's and the players as well. He really took the information I gave him and said, "okay well this is how Hiroki would say these things." And really aside from a few lines I kind of just had to be like, "yeah you're right, given the material you're absolutely right." Hiroki came out less subdued, a little less reserved, his feelings I think became a lot more tangible through his dialogue. Which, hey maybe some VAs wouldn't have done that, but hearing Allen's take really just cemented why he was my first and only choice for the role. And I can't wait to hear him play off all the other VAs once the Hamato start being integrated into the game. And I'm super excited for you all to hear them because I really do think I got the absolute best actors for the roles. So for now all I'll say is Allen Chan, welcome to Pleasant Sparkle Academy.
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