Kevin Seymour

Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday and RIP Kevin Seymour!

One of the best ADR directors in the history of anime dubbing, he helped create some of the first genuinely good anime dubs, which helped break anime out of the stereotype that it was either poor dubbing, blatant mistranslations, or even both.

Works of him I enjoy include Ninja Scroll, Ghost in the Shell 1995, Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex series, Code Geass Lelouch of the Rebellion seasons 1 & 2, the .hack games, Macross Plus, Armitage III series, Perfect Blue, Metropolis, The Big O series, and Akira (Geneon/Pioneer dub)

While he was not the director of Cowboy Bebop (Mary Elizabeth McGlynn was), he served as the casting director and proved that he can be just as good at casting as he is at directing, creating many of the roles that we have come to know and love with, such as Steve Blum's Spike Spiegel, Beau Billingslea's Jet Black, Wendee Lee's Faye Valentine, and Melissa Fahn's Edward, Skip Stellrecht's Vicious, and even his own Tongpu, and many others.

For a fun fact, he even got Keifer Sutherland and Elizabeth Berkeley to star as the main male and female lead, respectively, in Armitage III: Poly-Matrix. That is something that can only be seen in the dream cast threads of this website's very forum.

In addition to being a good ADR and casting director (albeit seldom-used for the latter), he also made good a voice actor, making good performances as Frieza, Kid Buu, Macross Plus, Inspector Zenigata, Tongpu, and Zangief. It would be really awesome if he got to do more voiceover roles when he was still around but his legendary ADR work more than compensated for that.

It is sad that his studio he founded, Animaze, closed down by 2010, having suffered a slow but eventual decline as it was being displaced by the cheaper and better-affordable Bang Zoom! for the anime dub niche once that studio got its first dub in the form of Rurouni Kenshin from Media Blasters, and other anime companies, such as Bandai and Geneon, followed suit, giving their dubs to Bang Zoom! as well. Just a decade and earlier before, Animaze had been creating many LA anime dubs, and with him at the helm of many of them. It is even sadder that he died in 2014, and Magnitude 8 Post closed down earlier this year, it too having been displaced by other LA anime and J-game dub studios such as the aforementioned Bang Zoom!, and Cup of Tea Productions.

There is no other person in the anime dub industry who is just as multi-talented as Kevin Seymour is. Nevertheless, his legendary English dub work in anime will always live on in the hearts of both current and future generations of fans to love, cherish and enjoy.

As a tribute, I will be playing the song, "Made in Heaven" by Queen, as the song sums him up quite well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PfSBtWFaJ0

Fernie Fernandez
said at 11:54 AM on Fri Jan 15 2016

1 Shout Out!

@Domayv @Domayv Indeed. he was, the greatest voice-director in my youth. For such talents he used for every Union voice actors, especially pre-lay voice actors such as Milton James, Alan Openheimer, Jennifer Hale, Keifer Sutherland, n' Elizabeth Berkeley.

Nowadays, Bang Zoom!, and Cup of Tea Productions overly use new, non-union and FUNimations V.As. that they unfitted their roles such as Laura Bailey and Patrick Seitz. It's a shame, really...! Look what they done to several NAMCO games including Tales series, Dead or Alive 5, Xenoblade Chronicles X!!!

If I was a voice director, I would Studiopolis, Salami studios, or Skylark studios with voice directing teachings from Jack Fletcher, Robert Buchholz, Kris Zimmerman Salter, Ginny McSwain, and Taliesin Jaffe.

I would use several union and pre-lay voice actors such as Quinton Flynn, Justin Gross, Amber Hood, Caitlynne Medrek, Erika Lenhart, Heather Hogan, Natalie Lander, and Scott Menville.

I thank you for your memorial for the late Mr. Seymour, Domayv.

NCZ (Admin)
said at 12:50 PM on Fri Jan 15 2016

1 Shout Out!

@Fernie Fernandez Dead or Alive 5 and Xenoblade Chronicles X aren't Namco games.

Domayv
said at 1:24 PM on Fri Jan 15 2016

1 Shout Out!

@Fernie Fernandez come on, Seitz and Bailey are fine VAs (and Laura's got a good western game portfolio and she even has pre lay on her portfolio). Also, its not really nice to be bashing on Funimation VAs since theyre also fine at their roles. If Funimation didnt exist then we wouldnt have the likes of Troy Baker, Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey appear in games and prelay.

on a minor note, Taliesin Jaffe works at New Generation Pictures (which also uses nonunion and Funimation VAs)

Domayv
said at 1:30 PM on Fri Jan 15 2016

1 Shout Out!

@Fernie Fernandez further adding is that Bandai Namco and the JGame companies cant lavishly spend as much as they did in the past since the anime recession so they had to use cheaper equivalents. Also, you dont need to use all-union VAs to make a good cast. Look at SMITE (done by the Dallas-based Okratron 5000) and Skullgirls (done in LA but uses nonunion talent). Those two games are nonunion and still deliver an overall good performance (if anything Im actually advocating for Texas to get more western games on its table given that its cheaper than LA and they would help flesh out the VAs' ranges further)

Fernie Fernandez
said at 3:19 PM on Fri Jan 15 2016

1 Shout Out!

@Domayv Sorry, but...I can't explain this because I'm not sure if my message will be a "shoot the messenger" type...!

I don't want to explain my type of nostalgia on older, veteran voice actors, and even if I did, you would be angry at me...! :(

P.S. to NCZ, if you're reading this, sorry about the argument about Xenoblade Chronicle X that we had into months ago...! :'(

Fernie Fernandez
said at 10:41 AM on Wed Jan 20 2016

@Domayv So...Do you want to know my answer on veteran voice actors, especially unions and pre-lays...!?

I'll be waiting for you...!

Domayv
said at 11:23 AM on Wed Jan 20 2016

@Fernie Fernandez you can PM me it but not publicly. Dont take thia to heart though

Fernie Fernandez
said at 1:36 PM on Thu Jan 21 2016

@Domayv Sorry, but I'm having problems finding the actual PM option in BTVA. Help me, Please...!

Domayv
said at 1:28 AM on Fri Jan 22 2016

@Fernie Fernandez go to your account via the forum. click on an arrow next to "view notifications". click on "unread private messages". then click on "send new message" in the private messages section

Sk8erPrince
said at 5:33 AM on Thu Oct 27 2016

1 Shout Out!

@Fernie Fernandez

I don't care that this was posted around 9 months ago. Do you even realize that your post is flame bait? Do you even watch Funimation dubs? My guess is that you did not, for the most part. Funimation is at the top of the dubbing industry - and for a damn good reason, too. Your generalization of non-union VAs and Funimation VAs being subpar at their job is more than irritating, to say the least. Worst still, you used Patrick and Laura as examples to illustrate your point. You're so ignorant that you've let me completely speechless. I don't think you have any idea at all how well known those two VAs are. You also don't seem to understand that union VAs can't really participate in a lot of anime due to most of them being non-union projects. Lots of JP games are like that, too. Just accept the fact that VAs can do well at their job regardless of whether or not they're union. Or else, take your ignorance elsewhere.

Sk8erPrince
said at 5:34 AM on Thu Oct 27 2016

*left me

Fernie Fernandez
said at 12:37 PM on Thu Oct 27 2016

@Sk8erPrince I under-stand since Domayv and I have talked though mail, I didn't want to cause flame-bait, I was just...largely sad that he left us too soon...!

Domayv
said at 12:17 AM on Sun Dec 25 2016

1 Shout Out!

This month, I watched the dubs of The Big O series and Code Geass R1 & R2. Even after all these years, these dubs still hold up well. If he was still around today, he would still produce phenomenal dubs to this day. Nonetheless, Kevin's left a long-lasting legacy that will last through this generation of fans and future generations.

Anyways Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday and RIP Kevin Seymour

Autovolt
said at 2:29 PM on Fri Dec 25 2015

4 Shout Outs!

Happy Birthday and RIP Kevin Seymour!

He had to be one of the best ADR directors in all of anime dubbing history. He actually founded Animaze.Inc and during the height of Animaze's success in the late 90's and early 2000's he was directing some of the best dubs in and for that era.

I absolutely loved the English dubs for Ghost In The Shell, Ghost In The Shell: Standalone Complex and Code Geass: Lelouch of The Rebellion R1 and R2 and while he didn't direct the dub for Cowboy Bebop, he was the casting director and gave us so many of the now classic dub performances we came to know and love like Steve Blum as Spike Spiegel among many others.

I especially consider the original Ghost In The Shell movie to be one of the first really top notch English dubs ever made, especially with the godly performance of Tom Wyner as Puppet Master.

He also made for a solid VA too having done the voices of Mad Perriot Tongpu, Inspector Koichi Zenigata, Zangief, Frieza and Kid Buu. I wish he did a bit more voice work in the dubs he directed but what he did was good for the most part.

While Animaze closed up shop a long time, its recording studio Magnitude 8 shut down earlier this year and Kevin Seymour's sudden passing back in 2014, one thing remains that his English dub work in anime will always live on in our hearts and for future generations of fans to love and enjoy.

Metabad
said at 3:27 PM on Sat Feb 8 2014

5 Shout Outs!

He did an admirable job directing Akira, and I've heard nothing but good things about Ghost in the Shell and Perfect Blue.

A phenomenal voice director, Kevin Seymour will be missed. R.I.P.

Fulgore2005
said at 3:09 PM on Sat Feb 8 2014

4 Shout Outs!

A true legend in voice directing IMO. I enjoyed the voice work from the likes of Perfect Blue, Akira, GitS, Code Geass and the first Xenosaga game. He will truly be missed.

Karen Strassman talks a bit about Kevin's way of directing here:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=577787118970361&set=a.133388230076921.35895.122644081151336&type=1&theater

Skullgrin140
said at 2:18 PM on Fri Feb 7 2014

3 Shout Outs!

You voice were a great voice director who helped be a part of some great gems of my childhood, Thanks for the memories Kevin. Rest easily.