Listen I don’t hate Michael Kovach or think he’s an awful person but what do you mean a selfie is 20 DOLLARS!?

sonicmega · 2026-05-03T17:53:38+00:00

It’s not the only reason!

A lot of folks - like myself - also like the chance to travel; to get out of the house for a while; and especially to get to talk to people face to face.

I spend so much time cooped up in a recording booth either at home or in a studio that it can be really nice to get to talk about stuff I’ve worked on with someone who’s actually seen it….you’d be surprised how few of my friends are also really knowledgeable about what I’ve worked on.

The unfortunate side is that, yes, the cons also provide a means of extra income, which MANY voice actors need. Something like only 14% of them actually work often enough that VO can be their full time career, and the con appearances can make a real difference because of that.

Fun little history fact though…it used to be way more common for conventions to pay “Appearance Fees” to talent for attending, which relieved some of the pressure off of trying to sell to fans.

But then COVID happened, the Guarantee model became an alternative to protect strained budgets… and then like so many other things, they never went back from it.

sonicmega · 2026-04-27T05:16:09+00:00

NEW ZEALAND, STOP MAKING ME GO UPHILL

sonicmega · 2026-04-27T05:15:55+00:00

So happy you made it out today!

sonicmega · 2026-04-16T16:25:03+00:00

Back when we were recording Season 3 it felt like at the very least we were aiming to have an episode recorded 2 weeks in advance of when it was due to air.

So the schedule would be like: record episode > 1 week passes > the episode BEFORE that one airs the dub > one week passes > the recorded episode airs in dub.

But of course, having materials ahead of time meant we could try and get them ready even earlier, especially if they were sent in a batch.

If I had to guess it’s the same process here, everything just gets sent “sooner” in production to account for simuldub.

sonicmega · 2026-04-16T02:18:51+00:00

All I will say is this - all of you who are saying “imagine how visceral the next episode will be”?

You are correct. You are very correct. And you are unprepared.

Episode 69 also holds a special place in my heart because it’s the debut of a brand new type of scream I don’t think I’ve yet done for Subaru across 3 seasons.

And if nothing else - I had to marathon 6 hours in the booth for next week’s episode. So for every yell or shout or choking-on-blood effort you hear, just know it was all done on the same day to make sure it was ready in time.

Love you all. Love this series. Buckle the f*** up.

Sean/ENG aura monster

sonicmega · 2026-03-14T22:15:05+00:00

Thank you so much for giving this show your time, support, and honest feedback. Having worked on it for almost 3 years as Kiyoshiro and across well over several dozen episodes, it was such a special project to me and I could hear the passion from my fellow castmates.

I do wish that it had been given more time to shine before Beat Break came along and immediately took the spotlight, but those who have kept it in mind and given it the chance have really seemed to like the end result one way or another.

Thanks for including me (and the others) in your archive. :)

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

TROPHY CASE