Voice acting the entirety of Katawa Shoujo?

[Arcinae]

I was curious, it doesn't seemed like people have tried to undertake the task before, is it because 4 Leaf has explicitly stated to keep it as is? Or is it just that people are too lazy

The following of this game feels dedicated enough that if done with volunteers, a fan voice acting doesn't seem out of practicality.

Does anyone know anything about this?

[Dannflor]

There have been various attempts in the past.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8ICJ1 ... KC0GUUkOjA

This is one I know of that is still being worked on, they are currently on Emi's route:

I don't know of anyone who has managed to dub the whole game though. Either the project takes too long, or it's too hard to find quality voice actors, or the project gets stuck in developmental hell. I don't think it's an impossible feat but has it's issues. For one, everyone has a different idea on what the voices should sound like.

It's something I'd like to see done and finished at some point in the future, even if it had subpar acting, just for the novelty.

[Arcinae]

Yeah, whenever reading a book, everyone has different ideas of what the characters sound in their head, like Emi sounds sort of like Taiga in my head.

The episodes of the dub seem to come out sporadically at best however.

[Mirage_GSM]

There are a few projects of the sort, and I even had a look at a few of them out of some kind of morbid curiosity, but I never stuck around longer than two or three minutes...

Never understood the use of such a thing either.

I do get audiobooks - you can listen to them while you're on the road via an MP3-Player - but for a VN you have to be at your computer anyway, so where's the advantage of having someone read the thing to you?

[emmjay]

There are a few projects of the sort, and I even had a look at a few of them out of some kind of morbid curiosity, but I never stuck around longer than two or three minutes...

Never understood the use of such a thing either.

I do get audiobooks - you can listen to them while you're on the road via an MP3-Player - but for a VN you have to be at your computer anyway, so where's the advantage of having someone read the thing to you?

There's also the Shizune issue...

[Oddball]

I find a lot of attempts tend to give Kenji a winey voice too, and that's just not how I pictured him. To me, he sounds like a perfectly average (and maybe even cool) guy until you realize exactly what it is he's talking about.

[Shockproof Jamo]

There's also the Shizune issue...

Echo filters. You know the effect in TV-shows and movies where we can hear a character's thoughts, even though the character actually does not speak? Shizune would still have a voice actress, but add an echo filter to her recordings to indicate that it's actually her thoughts that we're hearing, and not necessarily something that comes trough her lips.

[Dannflor]

I find a lot of attempts tend to give Kenji a winey voice too, and that's just not how I pictured him. To me, he sounds like a perfectly average (and maybe even cool) guy until you realize exactly what it is he's talking about.

That's another problem in general. People are always going to complain about the voice actors chosen even if they are high in quality. When people read through the novel on their own, they come up with their own voices. It's impossible to satisfy what everyone came up with in their head the first time they played the game.

[Oddball]

There's also the Shizune issue...

Echo filters. You know the effect in TV-shows and movies where we can hear a character's thoughts, even though the character actually does not speak? Shizune would still have a voice actress, but add an echo filter to her recordings to indicate that it's actually her thoughts that we're hearing, and not necessarily something that comes trough her lips.

So would you do the same for Hisao when he uses sign?

[Shockproof Jamo]

So would you do the same for Hisao when he uses sign?

Yes. I see no reason why it wouldn't work the same for Hisao as well. We would hear the voice actor's normal, unfiltered voice during his discussions with non-hearing impaired characters. Then, when he starts signing with Shizune, the echo filter would kick in, indicating that he doesn't actually speak out loud, but rather would just be thinking all the things that he wants to sign to her.

It could also work the same way for Misha, where needed.

[emmjay]

Rather than an echo filter (which I would use for Hisao's narration), what I would suggest would be a filter to make signed words sound like a text-to-speech device or program. (You know, like a deaf person might use.)

[Shockproof Jamo]

a text-to-speech device

Ungh. Sounds tacky to me. That would make her sound like a robot. Not to mention the sound effect would hurt the mood of the scene. Now, maybe, if Shizune would actually use a device like that. But she doesn't, so this would really throw off her character.

[Ploggs]

Rather than an echo filter (which I would use for Hisao's narration), what I would suggest would be a filter to make signed words sound like a text-to-speech device or program. (You know, like a deaf person might use.)

I wouldn't be too into that. It makes sense in a way that there isn't as much inflection conveyed through sign language when compared to vocals (then again, I know nothing about sign language). However I think it'd take a lot of the emotion away from her dialogue, most of which can be garnered through context.

Now I'm wondering about Hisao's narration through an echo line. Would it be distracting, given how much he narrates? Is it better/worse than just normal audio?

[emmjay]

Rather than an echo filter (which I would use for Hisao's narration), what I would suggest would be a filter to make signed words sound like a text-to-speech device or program. (You know, like a deaf person might use.)

I wouldn't be too into that. It makes sense in a way that there isn't as much inflection conveyed through sign language when compared to vocals (then again, I know nothing about sign language). However I think it'd take a lot of the emotion away from her dialogue, most of which can be garnered through context.

Now I'm wondering about Hisao's narration through an echo line. Would it be distracting, given how much he narrates? Is it better/worse than just normal audio?

Well, I don't know about you, but I'd want some way to distinguish between when he's thinking and when he's talking out loud.

[Mirage_GSM]

Well, I don't know about you, but I'd want some way to distinguish between when he's thinking and when he's talking out loud.

It's called accentuation, and professional voice actors (ideally) learn to do that.