Rambling about AI Voice Acting in Anime

[@CornishCreamtea07]

Bob has become more patches than man.

[@bobsamurai]

licensing company mini rant excludes physical licensing companies who do gods work such as discotek

[@TheBlackOtaku]

@@bobsamurai discotek is the GOAT🔥

[@jessica.bowman]

Hair looking good, Bob! AI voice acting in anime is definitely inevitable if not already happening. I'm not looking forward to it at all. It will likely lack the nuances of human voice acting and even if they can perfect that aspect of it, many current and potential voice actors will be put out of work. I also really enjoy noticing a familiar voice in different shows and looking it up to see where I recognize it from.

[@haileyharmon5298]

I think AI voice acting replacing actual actors is terrifying if you asked me.

[@blakechildress944]

Bob looking drippy as usual. I wouldn't worry about A.I. voice actors it's not going to take over. I'll just stick to my manga if by any chance it does happen but I highly doubt it.

[@kev4378]

I don't like where AI is going, but I've been alive long enough and I've seen history enough to know that we will eventually take this thing to it's logical conclusion where AI will be doing every single thing a human used to do including all forms of art. As a species we just can't help ourselves. Even if we had a crystal ball that told us AI will lead to the total collapse of our nation in the near future, people at the top would sacrifice the future to turn a profit here and now.

[@drax7950]

It's a good thing I posted that link in the discord... Suffah English voice actors. Good video by the way

[@JohnnyBurnes]

How do we know YOU'RE real?!!!

[@bobsamurai]

I’m a ghost trapped within the wired, victim of the conspiracy

[@jonathananderson5990]

​@@bobsamuraipresent day, present time

[@kosmokat111]

Reading these comments idk, I don't see AI as a solution to poor/cynical localization efforts. it just seems like you're cranking more slop into the slop mill at that point. and a quick newsflash for some peeps, Bad localization has *always* been a thing, I highly suggest any of you go check out 1985's Zeta Gundam, I love that show, but the subs are like they're trying to fill out the word count in an essay. Adapting and translating a show is often a lot more complex than a simple 1:1 direct translation, Japanese and English both have quite different sentence structures and general language construction, so a lot of editorializing has to occur. it's been a long running problem in the western anime industry and it goes a lot deeper than Crunchyroll or Netflix. I can't really speak to the whole "Political soapboxing through anime localization" thing (Oh no, a character said non-binary, the west has fallen, billions must die). it's too small of an industry for it to be organized in any fashion, so I can only assume it's mostly creatives inserting a bit of themselves in the localization. It's can be kind of annoying, and I do agree that it's not true to the original art, but it's also like, the smallest possible issue in the anime industry right now. You're looking at an industry where storyboard artists and animators are often working *fucking insane* hours at low pay to produce shows that we in the west either watch for free on crunchyroll or end up Pirating. there's still so much artistry and fantastic stuff on display but the people behind the scenes work extremely hard for shit pay and terrible labor rights, that's where the outrage is for me.

[@elijahguest1885]

Yes but localization and the anime production are two entirely separate things. I agree the actual poor conditions of production in Japan are the bigger issue, but I am completely over people saying that “well this localization is fine because a language is never being directly translated” which is absolute Bullshit in my honest opinion, universal phrases exist, idioms exist, direct translations exist, I literally am holding a massive book containing of the art of war, the Tao te Ching and the Confucian analects, and none of what anime “localizers” claim is essential to the process is there it is all nearly translated directly and the Minamal localizing there is, is to make the sentences flow better in English and not Chinese. That’s why the process was essentially for. There are translators like Ryan holmberg who were born in Japan and are basically scholars of the alternative/gekiga manga movement and he never localizes a lot its actual translation, because he actually speaks it unlike localizers. I’d argue it isn’t a small issue at all, it been happening for nearly 30 years harmony Gold, ghost stories, shin Chan, prison school, the whole dragon maid fiasco are the biggest examples. The observation I have had is Localization issues never happen with japanese novels never with live action films, it is only ever anime and video games. So as I’ve said where is the line drawn sure I get changing slang as cringe as it is, I can understand that argument even if I disagree, but changing entire sentences, and tones of a show for no reason other then one’s personal bias’s, you can’t Call it localization more it is straight up just adaptation. To this day I still defend speed racer, Astro boy, and star blazers, biggest reason is they cared about the orignal work, name changes and old acting aside you can tell they admired the creators. You never ever see it anymore. Seriously go watch an interview with fred ladd and how much he admires tezuka it’s so jarring cause that never happens anymore. I think that’s where some of the issue lies. There’s also the excuse “they need to match lip flaps” so does Japan and every other animated thing in existence.

[@kosmokat111]

@@elijahguest1885 I do defo agree that there's less passion in the industry but I almost don't see how you could be passionate about every show you can work on in the modern anime environment.

[@elijahguest1885]

@@kosmokat111 it’s not an excuse. Employees and discotek say they hate some shows they work on but still give their all to be accurate. Even if some of them are pretty biased. Sub par localization is not what Japanese companies pay for.

[@xxnike0629xx]

Long Hair Bobicus returns! For those in the voice acting industry it definitely is bad. But at the same time you need to consider it as an asset when (for example) it's a situation where the voice actor is deceased or has some sort of medical issue that renders their voice not as available. I do agree that AI voice acting will become more prevalent. Companies will not pay actual voice actors more nor will they lower the price of BluRays/streaming services.

[@equivalentexchangeisalie5726]

The issue with your first paragraph though is that these companies should pay the deceased actors estate for using their voice/likeness. But if you followed the Hollywood strike last year, the companies were pushing to own actors likeness forever without additional payment. They conceded this time. But that's their ultimate goal. And most people like myself vehemently disagree with that.

[@zakariaorzak]

The reason that why it's not done in Japan is three-fold: 1. You can't morally end a whole career or a large number of jobs with no valid reason. (The current cost of living here in the states is too high, which only increases this point.) 2. Japanese Law is different from U.S. Law even though the current times have shown that many changes can be made, as you've explained. 3. When it's done, it's usually done haphazardly and / or immorally.

[@thrashxm]

can you checkout the new nhk rebuild chapter 6 ending and spoil it it’s so much work trying 2 figure out the ending or interpretations online

[@Icarus975]

hey bob i have a question: Since flame of recca is next, do you plan to also review Houshin Engi and Fushigi Yuugi? both are anime's that are based in ancient china which i find interesting.

[@bobsamurai]

checking out some Houshin Engi now, it's so strange but i love the art. Fushigi has also been on my radar for a while but it all comes down to mood and timing

[@Icarus975]

@@bobsamurai definitely give Houshin Engi’s Manga a shot, it sadly never got a full based anime adaptation. And the 2018 reboot anime sadly butchered the adaptation extremely bad. As for Fushigi Yuugi I heard the 90’s anime is a great adaptation compared to the manga so definitely check out the anime and manga for Fushigi if you got the time, it’s one of my favorites!

[@bobsamurai]

@@Icarus975 dude houshin engi gets so much better! i'm about to finish. very tempted to read the manga

[@Icarus975]

@@bobsamurai WAITT you’re watching the 90’s anime and you’re giving it praise? That’s surprising! I’m actually reading the manga first since these days I’ve been too busy for anime But you might make me give the original anime a shot. Again, HUGE SHAME the 2018 reboot was rushed to high oblivion because the studio thought it would be a good idea to adapt A VOLUME per episode.

[@MetallicMutalisk]

There's AI voice actors now in anime? Good thing I only watch retro stuff with og japanese anyways...

[@DaRealCodeNameKitty]

Same brother

[@notproductiveproductions3504]

You need to get swoll so you can call yourself Conan the Bobarian

[@nostalgichours]

AI replacing seiyuu is gonna happen cause the whole industry is moved by money. If it's cheaper the company will do it. For the artistic part idk i feel a lot of people think humans are great or something when in reality it's patterns, and that's what AI is doing trying to imitate those patterns, as we have seen the whole technological advancements never stop, they always improve and that's the point. Someday AI is gonna make a better job than humans, in practically all (Well an AGI). I personally think that's very probable. I think work is something we need to see as a problem, a problem for freedom, something we need to move on from and advance. And that's why I personally don't think AI is bad, it will accomplish this in a future. But I think the process of it will be horrible for human kid, it will not be in an instant that people don't have to work, it will be gradually. And in the process of this a lot of people will not be capable of working (simply because companies will not hire them, hiring people will be like charity), in that moment when work is stil be required all that people that can't work will be screwed. A crazy dilemma that I am too dumb to think haha, we are all ready spectators of how AI is replacing jobs, and this will be harsher from now, but AI probably would create a much better future, idk what to think.

[@infernyll]

Hello Bob, this is your computer. Surrender all of your anime to me. I added those two lines just in case you decided to have an AI read this comment :D I just spent a few hours talking about this with my wife a few days ago, not exactly about anime but about entertainment in general. We both think that in the future, maybe not in our lifetime but for sure our kids', most people will have no jobs, but there will always be a good chunk of the population who will prefer human-made entertainment (be it anime, games, music, novels, movies, etc.) over AI-made entertainment, so I think human creativity will prevail in the end, but the road there will be hard, I'm sure. Have a good one, PatchSamurai.

[@civilwarfare101]

I can't help but think of the Terminator and Matrix movies when it comes to all this, but yeah voice actors I have seen are pretty vocal against AI and I would tell them they are being melodramatic but I have kind of been in their situation before so I kind of get their viewpoint. I'm pretty neutral on AI thus far, with that said, I'm not sure if I want to pay for something made my machines.

[@kosmokat111]

my mantra on AI art is basically "Why should I bother to read something no-one was bothered to write" AI has it's uses, I think in things like mass data sorting etc. but art to me is about a human experience and the expression of the artist.

[@civilwarfare101]

@@kosmokat111 Which is why I don't want to pay for anything by AI, you know a human didn't make it and the fun part is the human interaction.

[@loganlabach4227]

I don’t think you can replace voice actors with ai nobody can match norio Nishikawa at tetsu in chie the brat could ai make a show like chie the brat or Monica rial and Jamie marchi in panty and stocking can an ai be as witty as them or Jessica Cavello in recutie honey she has that cute mom sounding voice I don’t think ai can recreate that. On a side note I want to see an I have no mouth I must scream scenario but instead ai hurting it just puts people in constant gambling situations and speaks to you with a kansai accent. Seriously you could use it as a tool but not everything be ai!

[@rsgxyt]

Can you share the AI reader?

[@bobsamurai]

yea one is Microsoft Edge for PDF or websites/articles. just right click and click "read aloud" then the other one for copy and paste is this www.naturalreaders.com/online/

[@TeamBelmont91]

Well...as disheartening as it is? Localization practices, especially modern localization practices, should be absolutely to blame for AI VAs being used as opposed to VAs and localizers that more or less refuse to do a proper job and instead use foreign properties as their own personal sociopolitical soapboxes while whining about nonexistent "istophobia" when criticized for sabotaging someone else's work from overseas.

[@revolutionarydragon1123]

Do you think it will stop at just anime?

[@TeamBelmont91]

@@revolutionarydragon1123 Oh, I know it won't. AI will be replacing the simplest translation jobs that even someone with the most remote knowledge in Japanese and respect for the source work they were in charge of translating should have done not just in anime, but games, movies, novels...the whole gambit. The only way they can stop AI from taking their jobs is to take the sociopolitical stick outta their butts, and ACTUALLY DO THEIR JOB CORRECTLY. The anime adaptation of Medabots didn't call Takoyaki "Squid donuts", did they?

[@TeamBelmont91]

@@revolutionarydragon1123 No, and I know it will not. Localizers these days have such flagrant disregard for those that pay for their paychecks and also the original studios'/author's work because they feel the unnecessary need to push forth personal sociopolitical ideological messages into EVERYTHING, especially wherever it is unwarranted whether it is in games, in anime, in movies, in tv shows, in books - any form of media they supplant themselves and their mental garbage into. They have no right to complain that AI can and will be taking their jobs because they have nobody to blame but themselves, and even countries like Japan have taken notice and are sick of their nonsense.

[@bubblegumgun3292]

if the new voice actors weren't so cringe it wouldn't be necessary im strictly subs now

[@elijahguest1885]

I use ai for an advertising agency so I’m pro ai to an extent that and I suck at drawing and want more ways to express my ideas, as for ai replacing vas, I don’t think it will, as you said translation and localization most likely, this entire year has been a huge cluster for that industry, I for one, am super critical of it so I’m fine if ai is a tool to remove the bias of localization, And make it closer to Japanese text, for voice acting it can be done, there was a video using eleven labs to dub legend of the galactic heroes and it was amazing and somewhat scary how natural it sounded, but seiyuu wil never be replaced, and the moment a dub tries that they’re gonna get massive backlash anyway, so I highly doubt it’s ever gonna happen, but there needs to be a line drawn at least in my opinion for localization and ai is gonna be that solution people want. The lovely complex fiasco is the best example this year, discotek is relatively great at translating, they subbed angel cop and kept the entire antisemitic rant in the last episode uncensored. But it’s the fact such a huge oversight like that happened when it shouldn’t even have been possible, which pissed people off so much. That and Jamie marchi arguing all of New Year’s Eve about why changing someone else’s art is a good thing. I think their needs to be something done, it’s happened so many times this year and even over the past 15 years, and people on top of biased localization are just tired of hearing the same English vas in every anime. “People like to argue well you don’t care if you hear the same seiyuu in everything” yet people don’t realize some Japan has ten times as many voice actors some of whom have been active since the 60’s and they always add to that. It’s naturally more varied than the same pool of English vas we’ve had since I’d say at least 2008 now. It’s a mess. It is the biggest shame No anime licensing company is immune to bias, even discotek, Justin sevakis I believe stated he’ll never license MD Geist since he hated working on it at Central Park media so much, comparing it to working on scat hentai lmao. in conclusion I love anime and want biased localization to completely stop, if ai wards that out I’m fine, but I don’t think at least any time soon if at all. vas will be replaced by ai. It would be too huge of a risk to take.

[@revolutionarydragon1123]

If it brings labor costs down as close to zero as possible, it would be worth it no matter the backlash because if it is good, ppl won't care. Who says it will stop there ai manga and comics will pop up to

[@gogrrr]

It will happen eventually, but I hope I dont see it in my lifetime. At least for now AI voice and translation is not good enough and can sound weird or produce gibberish.

[@TheKiltedGerman]

I'm blessed to know Japanese, so haven't had to watch a dub in years. But, I don't think a computer simulation will ever be able to match the nuances of human language. Even with master translators/interpretor, perfect 1-to-1 translation is basically impossible if you get deep enough into word meanings, idioms, etc. Another but, most dubbing companies suck, are just straight up awful. It's one of those you don't know what you don't know things. It's almost physically painful to go back to an English dub after I've watched something in Japanese. So much is lost. So much is changed. I get that sometimes it's unavoidable with lips flaps and all that. But, I cannot watch dubbed material on my own anymore, and that goes in both directions. Japanese dubs also suck. The only exception is Ghost Stories for what should be obvious reasons. Don't think this will change much quality wise other than bringing everything closer to the average. What would have been awful dubs will probably get raised up, and what would have been the best dubs will get brought down. Sucks for the guys in the industry. But, it was never that good to begin with.

[@doodlebugfour7070]

If you liked the Ghost Stories dub, you should check out the dub for Project ARMS.

[@Brekner]

Like with most things, if the A.I. can reach the same levels as real VAs, I don't really care about it. Most workers are in danger of being replaced by a machine or an A.I. , why would entertainment be any different?

[@YamiyugiXenith]

I hate it, and I hate ai in general!

[@archangelarielle262]

I have no idea why you think AI voice acting is limited to its current technological capabilities, and will not exponentially advance to a level indistinguishable to any actual human, that can simulate any vocal range, and potential vocal/ acting range. There is nothing special about us apes whose entire product is the result of internal/ external variables determined by prior causes (causal chain), or random (quantum indeterminacy), in which we did not choose. I cannot see why any arrangement of matter following physics could not convergently produce the effect. And why do we always arbitrarily cherry-pick which jobs AI can, and cannot take. It is coming for everything indiscriminately, the arts or not. Yes there will be a rough transition period, but eventually an AGI/ ASI will have almost everything solution. And if you find AI taking arbitrary jobs immoral, what do you think unnecessarily violating the well-being of sentient entities by not being vegan?

[@nogi48]

If an anime has zero chances of getting a dub than AI is the last resort.

[@xpallodoc1147]

The flip side is now you can use the ai voice actors and make your own anime easier and have your dream project come to life and share it

[@bobsamurai]

Yea that is a very good point. But the difference is that these companies can afford to have the real thing while some solo game dev in his bedroom would be totally justified in benefiting from the technology and the audience would be more understanding

[@xpallodoc1147]

@@bobsamurai it doesn’t have to be a solo dev it could be some smaller company. Me and you for example could start a company get some kick starter funding and we don’t have to worry about voice actors now unless we want to.