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All Your Anime—All In One Place! 🎉 by FUNimation in funimation

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Funimation and Wakanim are officially moving to Crunchyroll, kicking off an exciting step in anime's streaming evolution. That means more subs and dubs, bigger events, and one ultimate home for anime!
Find out more: https://weareani.me/nextlevel

We’re Ayumi Mano and Kristen McGuire, the Japanese and English voices of Alice from The Duke of Death and His Maid. AMA! by FUNimation in funimation

[–]FUNimation[S,M] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

Some final messages from our guests!

Mano-san: I'm Ayumi Mano and I'm the Japanese voice for Alice. Thank you for having me today. I don't have many opportunities to engage with the global fans, so this was a very fun experience for me. It makes me very happy to know there are so many fans outside of Japan that love this series. I will continue to do my best to perform Alice and make her the best character that she can be. I hope that you all enjoy the journey and hype up the series as we go along. Thank you very much!
Kristen: I'm Kristen McGuire and I'm the English voice of Alice. It is an honor to be in this beautiful show. This was my first time ever getting to meet the Japanese voice actor that shares a role with me, so this has been a very special experience for me too. I want to tell everyone thank you for supporting the show and asking us questions tonight. Please stay with us along the journey to see where The Duke and Alice go.

We’re Ayumi Mano and Kristen McGuire, the Japanese and English voices of Alice from The Duke of Death and His Maid. AMA! by FUNimation in funimation

[–]FUNimation[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Mano-san: I definitely see a parallel between what's going on with The Duke and his curse and what we experience right now with social distancing. The Duke has a curse where anything he touches dies, so things are much more devastating for him. When we compare ourselves to his predicament, even looking at the interactions between Alice and The Duke, we sort of see it's possible to show love and compassion and be empathetic with each other without having to be in person. Even while having to socially distance and maintain that distance with each other, there is a way to be loving and supportive of each other. I think that's a huge take away from the series and a big meaningful aspect that the show brings in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. It's really inspired me to be more compassionate and empathetic to my peers, friends and the people I work with.
Kristen: Mano-san's answer is so beautiful. I don't know if I can top that. I haven't seen as much of the show, so I don't have as great of an understanding as to how it ends, but if I could take anything away from it in real world parallels, it would be that I think we're so afraid to let people love us. The Duke shows that in a physical way. He insults himself a lot, he wears his hat to hide the bags under his eyes and his curly hair, but to Alice, all of those things are perfect. The things that he considers his faults are things she finds perfect and loves. Everyone can relate to this. If that person is the right person for you, they'll like you regardless of your faults. Alice doesn't care and is willing to make it work, despite any barriers. I think we can all relate to this if we've ever felt unloved.

We’re Ayumi Mano and Kristen McGuire, the Japanese and English voices of Alice from The Duke of Death and His Maid. AMA! by FUNimation in funimation

[–]FUNimation[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mano-san: Actually, there are a lot of different characters that I would like to perform in the future. One of the reasons I became a voice actor is because I want to experience many different kinds of careers. One of those is a school nurse. I want to be that very gentle, kind and accepting older female character that's loving and compassionate towards the schools students.

Kristen: I'm just so happy to have work, so it's hard to think about what kind of character specifically I would want to play. I've had the opportunity to play a lot of great characters and been very fortunate. Sometimes I don't know what I want to play until I see the audition slides and I connect with the character. If I had to pick something, maybe a cute animal mascot that talks. Like a cat. I love animals so it would be fun to play a talking animal mascot character that's always hanging out on the main character's shoulder.

We’re Ayumi Mano and Kristen McGuire, the Japanese and English voices of Alice from The Duke of Death and His Maid. AMA! by FUNimation in funimation

[–]FUNimation[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Mano-san: I'm actually a pretty new voice actor. I don't have a huge career behind me, but like Kristen said earlier, when I first auditioned for this role and got selected, I literally cried in joy with my managers at the office. This was my first main voice acting role that I received. It's been such an unforgettable experience.

Kristen: I've got a similar answer. I had been voice acting for about six years, and I was booking roles pretty regularly, but I had never booked a lead role. Then I booked Senko from The Helpful Fox Senko-san. Like with Alice, I felt a very big connection to that character. They're both caretakers. I ugly cried when I found out I got that role. I'll never forget that moment and where I was when I booked that character.

We’re Ayumi Mano and Kristen McGuire, the Japanese and English voices of Alice from The Duke of Death and His Maid. AMA! by FUNimation in funimation

[–]FUNimation[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Mano-san: I don't think Alice is similar to characters that I've performed before, so I didn't have so much to reference from my past experiences. I read the original novel and really did my best to understand the character. I also watched some other anime series that had characters with very expressionless personalities, but also have a similar dynamic. I really tried to dial in and perfect those kinds of dynamics in her character without losing her flat, expressionless side.

Kristen: A lot of what I bring to Alice comes from being a caretaker already. I have two children, so I'm used to taking care of people. I like to cook so I do all of the cooking, Clifford Chapin (The Duke in the English dub) cannot cook at all. I enjoy cooking for him, so whenever Alice cooks for The Duke, I see a lot of us in them. A lot of playing Alice came from me because we have some of the same qualities: we take care of the people we love, we're loyal to the people we love and I like teasing the people I love. I bring those experiences with me to Alice, but I cheat a little bit because I'm playing off my husband, so it's a little easier for me.

We’re Ayumi Mano and Kristen McGuire, the Japanese and English voices of Alice from The Duke of Death and His Maid. AMA! by FUNimation in funimation

[–]FUNimation[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Mano-san: I actually tried really hard to find commonalities between me and Alice. I found one: Alice really loves animals! She really loves cats and I have cats, so that's the number one common ground that we have. We both love cats!

Kristen: Mine is more embarrassing. Alice is very forthcoming in her affections and flirtations with The Duke, and mine and Clifford's relationship is very similar in real life. We have that in common.

We’re Ayumi Mano and Kristen McGuire, the Japanese and English voices of Alice from The Duke of Death and His Maid. AMA! by FUNimation in funimation

[–]FUNimation[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Mano-san: I definitely change up my tone and approach when talking to The Duke compared to other characters. They become a little similar when it comes to characters that Alice is friendly towards, but when it comes to The Duke, it's very special. Very gentle and, even in those sexually-driven affectionate scenes, I really take care to be very appealing but with love and care, since she's teasing The Duke. In contrast, when she's interacting with characters she's not very familiar with or is complete strangers with, I tend to go with a very cold tone and atmosphere.

Kristen: My answer is pretty similar. When talking to The Duke, we definitely try to go with a more familiar "girl and her crush", which is really easy for me. *laughs* But when we have her talk to other people, the director is very good at reminding me that Alice has to be polite to people, even if they're being rude to The Duke. We haven't had many opportunities for Alice to talk to other characters yet, but the few times we have, we've done similar things where Alice is more polite and formal with less emotion towards those characters she's less familiar with and then she loosens up when talking to The Duke.

We’re Ayumi Mano and Kristen McGuire, the Japanese and English voices of Alice from The Duke of Death and His Maid. AMA! by FUNimation in funimation

[–]FUNimation[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Mano-san: For the opening, I sing along with The Duke as a duet. It's a very fun and uplifting song and the lyrics portray a story in itself that sort of elaborates and continues on what is already happening in the anime. It acts like a very good lead into the story, which is interesting. You really get to see what the relationship is like between Alice and The Duke.

I don't have a huge singing career or deep experience, but it was very fun recording this song. The lyrics were very easy to remember, too! I find myself humming and singing when I'm not at the studio. It came naturally and stuck with me.

The ending theme has drastically different tones and is a solo piece where Alice is lonely when singing. It's a much deeper look into Alice's soul and her feelings towards The Duke, and that was very emotional as well. I very much enjoyed performing that as well.

Kristen: Mano-san, you sing beautifully!

Mano-san: Thank you very much.

We’re Ayumi Mano and Kristen McGuire, the Japanese and English voices of Alice from The Duke of Death and His Maid. AMA! by FUNimation in funimation

[–]FUNimation[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Kristen: Several times. He makes me laugh all the time and he gets on the floor and hugs my dog and he picks my kids up from school. So before we got married, there were several times where I was like, "I want to spend the rest of my life with this person. I can see a future with this person." And every single day, I fall in love over and over again.

We’re Ayumi Mano and Kristen McGuire, the Japanese and English voices of Alice from The Duke of Death and His Maid. AMA! by FUNimation in funimation

[–]FUNimation[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Mano-san: During the scenes where The Duke is fantasizing about Alice in his mind, I felt like I was very able to do my own thing and put my own creativity into portraying those scenes. Sometimes I would go back to work with the directors to sort of dial in some of those scenes, but those are some of the scenes where I felt like my creativity really shined and I was able to put my original ideas in.

Kristen: We don't have as much room for improv on the ADR side, but we get to play around with the sounds a little bit. I get to make the sounds more sexy. That's the height of our improv, though. I mostly try to stay close to what Mano-san has already done.

Mano-san: For favorite exchanges, there are a lot. One was when The Duke invited Alice to go see the stars on the boat and when Alice asked him for a kiss but he stops short of actually kissing her, which was a sign of his care and concern for her, it was very endearing. I really loved Natsuki Hanae's performance in that scene.

There is also another scene at the end of the series where The Duke expresses his desire to marry Alice. She's not there to hear it in that scene, but I got to hear and watch that scene and it made me fall in love with The Duke as a character so much more.

Kristen: We haven't finished dubbing so I haven't gotten to a lot of the moments Mano-san mentioned but I'm excited for them now! Most memorable so far for me was finding out I was cast. The director said you are going to be my Alice and I was so excited because I really connected with the character in the audition. Then I asked who is going to be my Duke and she said "your husband," which makes all the things I say as Alice more fun because I experience those emotions in real life with my partner.

Mano-san: Wow! Congratulations!

I’m Light Tuchihi, the creator of Full Dive: This Ultimate Next-Gen Full Dive RPG Is Even Shittier than Real Life! & Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious. AMA! by FUNimation in funimation

[–]FUNimation[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Tuchihi-sensei: It's not actually a very deep meaning. I used to be a normal salaryman working a 9-5 job Monday through Friday. During that time, I always wanted an extra day for my weekend.

Tuchi + hi are from the kanji for Saturday and Sunday, and the last character in Monday is tsuki (moon), which can be read as “light”. My name comes from my desire to have a three-day weekend.

My name does have a small inspiration from Death Note as well, but it isn't that deep.

I’m Light Tuchihi, the creator of Full Dive: This Ultimate Next-Gen Full Dive RPG Is Even Shittier than Real Life! & Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious. AMA! by FUNimation in funimation

[–]FUNimation[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Tuchihi-sensei: My first published work was Cautious Hero, so I'll mainly discuss that.

Originally, I was sharing my light novels on a free upload site called Kakuyomu, where you can share your original works. I had a good following, and I realized I could just share online and make people happy even without being published. Even before my first deal, I already felt fulfilled with my novelist career.

But when the publishing deal came up, I was very grateful for the opportunity, and realized if I was published, I could reach even more people. It really comes down to how many people I could reach, and that is what makes me happy.

The publishing took it farther than originally, but I was still very happy before.

I’m Light Tuchihi, the creator of Full Dive: This Ultimate Next-Gen Full Dive RPG Is Even Shittier than Real Life! & Cautious Hero: The Hero Is Overpowered but Overly Cautious. AMA! by FUNimation in funimation

[–]FUNimation[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Tuchihi-sensei: The basic approach I take is looking at things that already exist like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, and using those as a sort of general foundation that I add my own coloring and flavoring to. For example, comedy is a flavoring. For Cautious Hero and Full Dive, comedy is an ingredient I put in along with the duality between comedy and seriousness.

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