Interview With Patrick Seitz

It Is He, Dio!

Whether it’s helping to craft beautiful adaptations as a director or just letting loose in the recording booth, this man has cemented himself as a modern anime and gaming icon.

From the wrathful specter Scorpion to the meme-creating nemesis of the Joestars, there are no shortage of crazy characters in Patrick Seitz’s vocal repertoire.

Lucky for us, he was willing to share a few of them as well as some industry insight during an awesome interview!

Starting off behind the scenes, youâ€™ve worked as an ADR script writer and director on a number of anime and video games. Can you talk about some of the more memorable experiences?

“I’ve been doing this sort of work for about 15 years now, and I’ve been really, really fortunate to work on a slew of great titles with a slew of great people. I feel like my getting into specifics would invariably just end up being a list from me of all the stuff I love, and I’d accidentally leave something out and feel bad about it. :p”

Would you say that your work as a writer/director has influenced your acting in some way?

“I hope so! I think that doing any of the three has to influence your work in the others, somehow.Â Putting a lot of attention and focus and energy into any one facet can’t help but teach you things about how to improve the other two.”

Was there ever a time you had to direct a really awkward scene in a game or an anime?

“There have been plenty of instances over the years, but directing the VO for a little game called Conception 2 has to have been the moment in time when the awkwardness was at its most potent and concentrated. The gist is that the students at this special school create these energy babies to fight off monsters who are encroaching upon the world. As the tabula-rasa protagonist dude, it’s up to you to bolster the ranks for the war effort. It’s technically all very magical and chaste, but eveeeeery possible double-entendre is rolled out over the course of this thing. Also, the game was made for touch-screen devices, so make whatever you may of that. The chaste baby-making was called classmating, which was clever as all hell, I thought–and even included a guy-guy variant, called classmanting.”

Youâ€™ve breathed new life into these two revenge-fueled badasses, but who would you say is the more physically demanding role? Ragna the Bloodedge or Scorpion?

“Ragna’s more physically demanding, but with so much more dialogue than Scorpion, that’s to be expected. I remember going in for my first BlazBlue session years ago and seeing the thick three-ring binder on the music stand, and feeling incredulous that *that* was going to be our script. The last fighting game I had done before BlazBlue was a Tekken game, and I think my session for that one was all of 40 minutes, so BlazBlue was definitely a shock (but a good one)…!”

Can you explain the plot of BlazBlue for newcomers?

“In a word, no! But putting aside my inability to do so, I wouldn’t want to deprive them of the chance to unwrap that crazy onion of a plot, layer by layer, on their own. ;p”

When did you discover you had a talent for a German accent and did you expect it would open so many doors for you?

“I feel like my experience with the German accent was typical of my finding most voices–less of a confident epiphany, and more of a, ‘Oh, well…I’ll try this out and see if it sticks.’ Thankfully, it has!”

Do you feel like Hellsingâ€™s Luke Valentine got the short end of the stick?

“He got a slightly longer end of the stick in Hellsing: Ultimate, at least, which made all of his smack-talk not quite so incongruous, but still…yeah. Pretty short. Also, it’s a bit of a tangent, but it’s worth mentioning how tough it is to make it sound like you’re in agonizing pain having gotten a leg shot off–but still leaving yourself somewhere bigger to go, pain-wise, when the other one gets taken off shortly thereafter!”

Have you become desensitized to One Pieceâ€™s Franky by this point or do his antics still manage to make you do a double take every now and again?

“I haven’t become desensitized to Franky yet, and I hope that I never do! It’s a testament to Oda’s creative genius that, all this time that I’ve been playing Franky, I still have to shake my head and laugh and his antics with each new session. :D”

Gamagoori, Laxus, Uvogin. Three of animeâ€™s most bulky and destructive individuals. Deep down who do you think is the biggest teddy bear and why?

“Of the three, I definitely think it’s a toss-up between Gamagoori and Laxus; Uvogin doesn’t seem to have much of a hidden soft side. We get to see more character development with Laxus from jackass into someone who cares (albeit begrudgingly) for his guild, so he’s got a bit of an advantage just based on time spent with him, and the time he’s given to grow. Not sure if I can pick one of the two, definitively! Too much of a cop-out to call it a tie…?”

Speaking of Gamagoori. On behalf of all Kill la Kill fans, thank you for inadvertently making he and Mako an official couple!

“Hey, I had to go with my heart, right? And there *is* that still-shot of him hiding around a corner with flowers, waiting to spring some sort of statement of interest upon Mako. Who can say if she’d reciprocate, but that’s enough for me to state that interest on one side is canonically established, at least. :D”

How many times have you been asked to yell out â€œIT WAS I, DIO!â€

“How many breads have you eaten in your life? :p”

You recently adapted and directed the English dubbed version of Anohana. How special was this project for you and why do you think itâ€™s a story worth telling?

“This was, quite literally, a dream project for me. Since it had already come out subbed in North America back in 2012, I figured there was no chance anybody would ever get to dub it, much less me! It’s a beautiful story, and I hope fans of the series as well as new folks will both give it a chance when it comes out this October. I couldn’t be prouder of the cast, and between Anohana and Your Lie In April (which I also adapted/directed, and which hits a lot of the same notes, emotionally), I feel very fortunate and fulfilled.”

As fans well-know there are more than a few tear-filled moments in Anohana. Were there any days where you or the rest of the cast just couldnâ€™t hold back the waterworks?

“There were many days–and as we all got closer and closer to the end of the show, those days increased in frequency.Â Anohana hits you right in the feels from the first episode, but as things progress, they just keep upping the ante.Â There’s a reason Aniplex gave out promo tissues at Anime Expo when they premiered the first dubbed episode!Â I don’t think any of the main cast emerged from the overall recording process dry-eyed, and I was a wobbly-chinned mess really early on…”