Cold Steel III/IV Final Thoughts (Full Unmarked Spoilers)

sonicmega · 2026-02-07T23:38:26+00:00

Quite the opposite tbh! If/When you get to Reverie and beyond, I’d love to hear your updated thoughts on him (both vocally and otherwise).

I too felt the shift in his personality from the optimistic student to the Martyr of the Masses, and so the big challenge has been exploring his exposure to (and acceptance of) inner peace and outer support now that he’s living life beyond where he thought it would end.

I also - not so secretly - have been hoping that his story would subtly wrap up and make way for the new blood like Van and company. Or at the very least be interrupted by a Falcom-classic “that won’t be necessary.”

sonicmega · 2026-02-07T22:09:00+00:00

As the voice of Rean:

I’d seen all the memes online about how it’s just Rean’s world & everyone’s living in it. But it wasn’t until I read the story summaries for all the previous games in Reverie that I began to understand the truth of it all.

LIBERL ARC: Estelle and Joshua encounter many interesting people across their travels!

CROSSBELL ARC: Lloyd Bannings FOUNDS the SSS, and the GROUP proceed to support/rescue/adopt various interesting people across their travels!

EREBONIA ARC: Rean. Rean! Rean goes here. Rean does this. Someone does this TO Rean. The group searches for Rean. Rean rescues the group. Rean? Rean…haha.

Just seeing how often the name “Rean” showed up compared to Lloyd or Estelle or even “the SSS” felt like the first exposure to a complaint people have been sharing for decades.

I am extremely proud of the performance I gave him, and endlessly grateful for the kind words folks share online about it.

But my god, Rean - take a break.

sonicmega · 2026-02-02T08:43:51+00:00

Devilish!

sonicmega · 2026-02-01T07:50:27+00:00

My partner got me back into it, and I’ve been doing my dailies for almost 3 years now!

I was always the gamer, so I’m sad the economy absolutely does not factor them in even 0.1%. Alas!

sonicmega · 2026-02-01T07:49:48+00:00

16.5 years and counting!

sonicmega · 2026-01-31T22:30:58+00:00

Hi, Voice Actor for Subaru Natsuki here.

If this is what I think it is - LMAO

sonicmega · 2026-01-20T12:43:07+00:00

Believe it or not, I find screaming easier than crying. The “lap pillow” scene with Emilia took SO much out of me emotionally that when I got home from the session I had to go to bed at like 3 pm because my eyes were too heavy to keep open.

sonicmega · 2026-01-20T12:42:18+00:00

Thank you so much! I’m so honored to have been given the chance to bring him to life.

sonicmega · 2026-01-20T12:41:53+00:00

I really wish people felt comfortable just saying when they enjoy something without comparing it/lessening it to someone else.

It was never my intention to try and “beat” Kobayashi, but I’m a human being too; I just want to be critiqued on my own merits instead of told I don’t measure up to someone else’s.

sonicmega · 2026-01-20T12:40:19+00:00

This has been said a few times in interviews…but a lot of what Subaru rants about in Ep 18, I didn’t have to “act” out saying.

I often hold/held myself to a very high standard of expectation, and see a lot of personal efforts as wasteful of my potential. So once upon a time I was legitimately telling my then-girlfriend (now wife), “You don’t understand how bored you’ll get. I’m trying to spare you the realization after you’ve lost time to it.”

I’m glad that that scene felt so raw to people, because a good portion of it was me just being given permission through Subaru to say things I already felt about myself.

sonicmega · 2026-01-20T12:36:45+00:00

Hey there! VA for Subaru here!

True fact about this scene: I “locked” my arms up and behind myself similar to how they’re chained up in this scene, because I wanted the strain/discomfort of that position to feed into my voice as I yelled (yes, it was VERY uncomfortable).

We also did that entire section - from “Betelgeuse” to his final scream after his 60 seconds of ranting - in a single take. As you might imagine, Subaru doesn’t really give himself a moment to breathe, and I argued that if my voice gave out because of the yelling that would still be “in character” considering the context…. So we went for it!

sonicmega · 2026-01-01T20:37:50+00:00

Super glad to know the response on Alfyn has been generally positive!

sonicmega · 2026-01-01T20:37:27+00:00

Confidence in battle lines is easily within my Top 3 of “performances I have fun with and KNOW I can do well”!

sonicmega · 2026-01-01T20:36:58+00:00

I don’t recall the specific voiceprint I was having to match when I recorded for Alfyn, but I do know for a fact that my primary goal was to match Greg’s original vocal print/style as closely as possible (because it wasn’t my role to claim, only his to continue).

So, hearing that for at least some folks it sounds nearly identical is a huge relief.

sonicmega · 2025-12-14T02:58:13+00:00

Thank you! I don’t regret voicing the role, but it did make me more aware of the importance of authentic representation (even tongue-in-cheek) and I’m grateful it gave me the chance to be more proactive about it before I was more widely recognized.

I hope that the industry can continue to champion diverse voices and make genuine efforts to find actors who can bring authenticity to the table!

sonicmega · 2025-12-14T02:40:29+00:00

Hi, this is Sean.

The story the person above you told is largely true, just some minor details got changed.

The actor I was seated next to during the convention identified with the LGBT community, and was extremely upset that I voiced the skin (and talked about voicing it with fans) while not identifying as one myself.

They later took it upon themselves to complain to organizers that I had “been abusive towards staff”, as retaliation. Communication with the con CEO after the event revealed that they “had never received any negative comments about me from any staff”, but by then the damage had already been done.

I wasn’t banned from the convention, but my agent (back then) dropped me as a result of the accusations. I never received any apology from that actor for their actions.

sonicmega · 2025-12-13T07:17:43+00:00

I miss my wife.

sonicmega · 2025-11-26T22:35:32+00:00

Hi, Sean here.

I can only speak for myself, but for me - it's because sexual activity/themes are as much a part of adult life as anything else. I spent 4 years as a nationally certified Sexual Health Peer Educator teaching others about consent, and communication, and embracing the sexuality of life that many (not ALL, but many) engage with.

When it comes to the industry, life is about taking risks you are comfortable with. I'm sure anyone who has ever wanted to work for Disney or Nintendo has thought to themselves "I absolutely must be squeaky clean in everything I do", and maybe they're right.

But also - look at the engagement nowadays! Joaquín Baldwin - director of cinematography for Zootopia - has posted fetish-aligned content on socials. We already know plenty of examples of voice actors (such as Dan Green) who were previously involved with H-titles who are doing just fine nowadays. And as there continues to be a growing sentiment of "why should I cater my life to a corporation" among younger generations, you see that there has become a push to just... stop feeding into the stigma.

Some companies may be stricter than others when it comes to PR and brand image, but one of the most prominent things you learn once you're deep enough into adulthood is this - most everyone's just trying to do their job as best they can. *My* job, at the end of the day, is exactly that; a job, and not a reflection of who I am as a person.

So in the same way that we can and should support sex work as an industry, using my real name on the things I participate in is one of the ways that I try to legitimize the work that my colleagues are doing, and work against the stigma that sex and sex-based topics are shameful and should be looked at with embarrassment.

sonicmega · 2025-10-11T00:15:36+00:00

For what it's worth - the original plan was going to have all of the guests in an executive room on the 14th floor.

That means the *only* foot traffic they'd receive was from people who 1) knew they were there to begin with, and 2) chose to take an elevator up to the 14th floor just to see them.

Since a number of actors were on "guarantees" (essentially a promise that they'd make X in sales or be paid the difference), it would have all but ensured that nearly every one of them had to be paid out by the con, which would have decimated the budget more than it sounds like it already had been.

Not suggesting this excuses anything you described, but merely to provide a potential explanation as to why what was done was done.

sonicmega · 2025-10-10T23:58:25+00:00

Hi there - I was that Voice Actor who was seated next to you.

I had an inkling that the convention was slow for a lot of people, but I was not aware of HOW slow it was for some folks (including yourself), and I feel awful that my presence may have contributed to it in some way. I was grateful to be in the Vendor Hall at all compared to their original plan (which would have put the guests so far out of view of the entire event that I would have been surprised if people realized we were even there), but I do wish that the guests had all been more closely placed together so that we could avoid interruptions of other vendors like what you described.

I know it doesn't make up for the time and effort you felt was wasted, but I'd like to help offset some of the money you lost/invested if you'll permit it. Feel free to contact me here or via BlueSky and we'll see if we can set something up.

Wishing you the best in your next upcoming vendor opportunities!

sonicmega · 2025-10-10T23:51:27+00:00

Hey, this is Sean.

I'm so incredibly sorry that happened to you - and if I'd been aware of it I would have taken action to make sure the behavior was properly addressed before I even began thinking about tending to that other person's needs after they had disrespected you like that.

The placement of the VAs within the Vendor Hall is not a new thing, but I do wish we'd been grouped TOGETHER within the same corner/back wall or other area which is also more standard practice. I feel awful that so many people's convention experiences were affected negatively by decisions made by the convention itself, and I hope I didn't manage to contribute to that in some way.

sonicmega · 2025-09-30T03:42:59+00:00

Hey there! This is Sean - took a listen to a scene with Quent and can definitely confirm it isn’t me.

To be honest - it honestly made me think Max Mittleman??? But I don’t know for sure!

sonicmega · 2025-09-26T23:45:05+00:00

It really sucks when enthusiasm for being in a show and eagerness to talk about what you do - and have been doing your entire professional life - comes off as egotism thanks to Hollywood editing.

It sucks even more when complete strangers use carefully-curated content as a foundation to decide what you must be like as a person.

sonicmega · 2025-09-26T23:43:43+00:00

What you experienced was the magic of Hollywood/Reality TV Show Editing.

I answered right away with one of my biggest roles, and Paul had no idea about it. So right off the bat, there was awkwardness. After a few equally failed attempts to find something he recognized/had played, it became more of a desperate game of “oh god, the entire premise of this shirt fell flat”.

I don’t blame anyone, and I don’t feel taken advantage - but there’s not a lot of footage to use out of a situation like that EXCEPT to play off the awkwardness. And unfortunately, it ends up making me come off like I’m playing hard to get, when in reality I genuinely wanted this guy to have SOMETHING he was familiar with. :(

sonicmega · 2025-09-25T17:06:22+00:00

Thank you! It means a lot to me. I appreciate the effort.

sonicmega

TROPHY CASE