WEBVTT

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- So you've had a long, storied career,

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and obviously in the
voice acting industry.

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And especially when it
comes to "Yu Yu Hakusho,"

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and how popular that is
amongst the anime community.

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So I wanted to ask you if
you can walk me through

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what it was like when you first auditioned

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for "Yu Yu Hakusho" as Yusuke.

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- Absolutely.

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We were actually auditioning
actors for the whole show.

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And skating through,

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trying to figure out who
was gonna be voicing who,

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listening to all the different auditions.

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Really kind of had it figured out

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for most of the characters.

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But Yusuke was an absolute mystery.

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We had no idea who was going to end up

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kind of doing this voice.

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And we had some contenders.

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And it was the producer at the time

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who asked if I would hop into
the booth and give it a shot.

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And so, I did.

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And then that kind of ousted
me from the casting process.

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So now I'm kind of out
working on a different job,

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or whatever it was, responsibility

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I was managing at that particular time.

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Waiting kind of for the
answer to come back.

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And it was towards the end of the day

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that the producer rolled back in

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and let me know that they
had decided to go with me.

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And so I kind of tried
to act real nonchalant,

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and cool, and appreciate
it, and say thank you.

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By the time I got home, though,

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I was running around the
block nearly three times

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I was so excited about this.

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So it was just an absolute
incredible opportunity

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to kind of, I guess to some degree,

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feel like it landed in my lap.

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It was probably the next
day that the stress of,

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gee, I hope it's good,
started to occur to me.

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- For sure, for sure.

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I think it's safe to say, you nailed it.

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- May I have my ball, please?

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- Listen kid, that's dangerous!

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There are cars going by

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that will splatter you into the pavement.

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- Well, another thing I wanted to ask you,

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when it came to your audition for it,

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what did you do to try to sort of

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bring your performance as
Yusuke to the forefront?

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Was there any specific cues
or anything that kind of

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informed how you approached
performing the character?

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- I had watched the whole
series ahead of time,

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to associate myself with the show,

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to be able to have intellect
in regards to casting it,

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knowing who these characters were.

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Knowing who was gonna
be coming on the show.

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I'd say the biggest mystery
that revealed itself

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from having watched it beforehand

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was discovering that in episode 111,

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it's revealed that the
narrator for the entire series

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is actually a character that has also been

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throughout the entire series.

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So that was good to have learned.

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Otherwise that could've been a mistake.

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- Not even the supposedly
wise Koenma could know that.

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- I won't give you the
narrator job if you annoy me.

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- I think it was watching everything,

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and I kind of had started figuring out

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this character of Yusuke.

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What made him tick, what
were his motivations.

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The way that he monitored and
maintained his relationships

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with different individuals.

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And so, kind of getting my head around it

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from the perspective
of voice directing it,

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I think probably had a
great deal to do with

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at least how my approach to the character

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in the audition most likely came up.

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Outside of that, it was
just using the animation

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to kind of lead me, guide
me to the way Yusuke is.

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- The famous spirit gun.

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- That was a warning shot
for the human inside you.

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Next time I won't miss.

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- Anime communities have
had a lot of protagonists

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come and go over the years,

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but Yusuke kind of still
remains a household name

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among fans who kind of grew
up with the Toonami stuff.

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Even there's fan created stuff,

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like RDCWorld who will make
Yusuke as their main guy,

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and part of the crew,
when there's like Ichigo,

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or there's like Luffy, or
there's Goku and stuff.

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- Goku is always starting (beeps).

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I really think he has a problem.

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He always trying to fight.

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We know you the strongest in Anime House.

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So what!

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- I wanna ask you,

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why do you think Yu Yu
Hakusho's popularity

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has remained so steadfast
over the last 30 years?

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- It's just a unique show.

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It didn't overtell its story, right?

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It was 112 episodes and then out.

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So they, no fight tended to
go on for eight episodes,

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or something to that effect.

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(dynamic music)

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- Frieza?
- What?

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- I'd rather be a brainless
beast than a heartless monster.

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- So it just, it felt to me
like it was a fast moving story.

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And the characters are so
relatable, really, all of them.

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And I think there's just a,

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there is a very identifiable
level of humanity

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with that show, and
ultimately it's message.

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And I think that made it
into the hearts of people.

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- And so "Yu Yu Hakusho"
also, as you know,

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is gonna be getting its own

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live adaptation treatment with Netflix.

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So I wanted to ask you,

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are you planning on watching it at all?

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- Absolutely.

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Absolutely.

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I'm so excited that, again,

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something like "Yu Yu Hakusho"
has kind of struck a chord

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in the hearts of the
fans that are out there,

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that they want this.

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I think that's great.

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- Last but not least, I wanted to ask you

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what's your favorite line
or scene from the show

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that has kind of been the most fun for you

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to reminisce about acting about?

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- Ah, that's so tough for me.

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Because each scene, each
moment, each character,

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really, I mean, I loved
working on this show.

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It meant so much to me at the time

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of being able to work on it,

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and then just being able
to have been a part of it.

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So it's hard for me to
kind of pick, I like this,

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to cherry pick the character or a scene.

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I like this better than that.

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I could certainly though
relay some pretty fun stories.

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Let's see, the Toguro fight.

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We used to record in rather
small recording booths

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called Whisper Rooms.

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And they're usually foam covered
on the inside and whatnot.

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By the time I finished
those three episodes

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my knuckles had become so raw

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from having punched the inside
of the booth so many times,

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just because of the level
of energy and intensity

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of which we were trying
to bring to that show.

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So that was pretty entertaining.

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A pretty youthful way
to approach anything.

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I certainly wouldn't ask anyone

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to do that at all, these days.

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So I think that's
probably one of the things

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that "Yu Yu Hakusho" had
going for it as well was,

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it had a lot of people who felt
like we were trying to prove

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that we could do good dubs,
that we could make a program.

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It didn't have to just be "Dragon Ball Z."

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And youth, a lot of energy.

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- Let's see who could
take a bigger ass-kicking.

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(dramatic music)

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Spirit gun!

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(explosion booming)