Otomen Manga Dub
Project Overview
Otomen holds a firm place in my heart as one of my favourite mangas. In my opinion, it was definitely ahead of its time. It broke gender norms and stereotypes, and showed interests are not strict to one gender, as a lot of narrow-minded opinions thought back in that day.
Written in 2006, by Aya Kanno, Otomen follows the life of Asuka Masamune. Asuka is an everyday masculine, tall handsome guy and captain of his kendo team that he excels rapidly at because of ongoing pressure from his mother, as well as judo and karate. Behind closed doors, Asuka loves all things pink, ‘girly’ and flowers. An otomen as you will. When Asuka was young, his father left the family home to pursue his need to become a woman. It left Asuka’s mother devastated. When Asuka was growing up and delving into his feminine interests, due to the PTSD his mother experienced because of her husband leaving, his mother forced him into all things masculine.
Ryo Miyakozuka is a transfer student at Asuka’s high school, whose father is an owner of a highly renowned dojo, and also a highly regarded police officer that is known not to be messed with on top of his very hardened exterior. Ryo likes ‘manly guys’, and cannot cook, sew or do her makeup to save her life and adores fighting. She is a tomboy, and it just so happens that Asuka falls in love with Ryo despite their differences. Asuka has an identity crisis and starts to admit to his friends his interests that he has kept hidden for as long as he can remember, confiding in his best friend, Juta, about his love for Ryo and his love for all things pink. Juta encourages Asuka to just be himself and to admit to each other their interests, but unbeknownst to Asuka, Juta is the author of his favourite shōjo manga going under a pen name! Knowing all along of Asuka’s harboured secret on the down low and basing his manga on him!
The differences aside and opening up to one another is what I loved most about watching this manga unfold, as well as breaking gender stereotypes all those years ago. Fourteen year old me was in love with this manga.
So … I would absolutely love to have this manga come to life. It never had an anime and its live-action was … well … we know how live-actions go.
Therefore, this is where you wonderful voice actors come in!
This will be a manga dub uploaded to YouTube on a chapter by chapter basis.
EXTRA INFORMATION
This manga is 18 volumes long with 72 chapters. Ideally, I would like to complete all of them, but I will just be casting the characters from the first two volumes and the lead roles to get an idea of the general reception. Other roles will be added upon completion of chapters.
As of writing this, I believe there is no fandub for Otomen.
IMPORTANT
This is NOT a paid project for the moment, this is purely for my love of the manga. If I receive revenue at any point while it is ongoing, I will credit my staff and cast accordingly with a % of the earnings, because I couldn’t make it work without you.
You will also be credited however you choose to be. Just let me know how you would prefer!
RULES
For the following manga dub, I would please like you to adhere to the following, as this is something I am very passionate about:
- You MUST be 13+ to audition. Otomen has an age rating of 13+, so I would like to base it off of what its original rating was. There is no profanity, but there is the occasional ‘damn’. There are also some slight suggestive themes, so if you are uncomfortable with this, this manga isn’t for you!
- This manga has LGBTQ+ characters, so if you are uncomfortable, this isn’t for you either!
- You MUST be in the Discord server for your audition to be considered. I want people that are interested in this project too. Passionate people make better results, in my opinion. The link is: https://discord.gg/ycWX7DT72P
- Please have a decent mic, I can edit out so much but I can’t really do anything if there is a lot of background noise, reverb, echo, hard plosives etc.
- Two - three takes per line with different tonalities and intonations each time.
- You don’t need any prior knowledge of Otomen, you don’t even need to have heard of it, but it would help with the context of the project. All I ask for is an interest in the project and building a welcoming community.
AUDITIONS WILL BE OPEN FOR ONE MONTH, DEADLINES COULD BE EXTENDED. NO CASTING WILL HAPPEN BEFORE THE DEADLINE TO GIVE PLENTY OF CHANCE AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES TO EVERYONE
Feel free to ask me for any more information or feedback!
Thank you, take care and good luck!
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Asuka is a very tall, masculine and cool high school boy, but secretly, he loves all things related to ‘girls’ (pink, sparkly and cute stuff, cooking, shojo manga, etc.). This, however, does not stop him from being necessarily tough on occasion - he can defend himself and his friends. When Asuka was young his father left his family because he wanted to become a woman. This affected Asuka's mother severely and when she saw that her son was starting to like ‘girly’ things she forced him to be masculine. Asuka also clearly states that while he likes ‘girly’ things, he does not want to become a woman. When a new girl in school, Ryo Miyakozuka, is being bullied he defends her and later falls in love with her. Among his talents, besides sports, are cooking and sewing. He also enjoys reading the fictional shōjo Love Chick.
I’m looking for a soft, gentle voice.
Medium - medium low range.
Standard North American accent.
Voice inspirations:
1. Ichigo Kurasaki English dub
2. A soft and gentle version of Yuri Lowenthal, Marvel’s Spider-Man (2018) voice
3. Shino from Naruto Shippuden English dub
I’m open to your interpretations too!
[A young lady is being harassed on the street. Asuka encounters this after leaving his kendo training and steps in]. (The following line is said to the thug harassing the girl).
“I apologise, I might’ve accidentally hit you”.
[Guys run away after realising it’s the kendo captain and national champion, and Asuka checks on the young lady]
“Are you hurt? You have to be more careful, these streets are dangerous at this time and it’s getting dark out earlier. Look, I’ll watch you until I see you’ve got a taxi safely”.
[Watched her get in the taxi and feels overwhelming relief]
“(Relieved, small laughter sigh), I can guarantee you’ll still be out at this time again”.
[Inner thoughts to himself while reading a shōjo manga]
“Why is it I always find myself reading shōjo manga when I fall in love?! Why do I do this?! UGH, I have to stop. Besides, I threw all my manga out, why do I keep buying it?! I got rid of it all when my mom told me to … be more like a boy …”
[Asuka closes his book and lies back on his pillow, staring blankly at the ceiling]
“Be more like a boy, huh …? Yeah ... that’s it …”
[Asuka finds an envelope on his classroom desk, unsure and excited]
“What’s this? Surely this can’t be from …” (eyes get brighter)
“Please say it’s from Ryo! Oh god, oh god, oh god!”
[Juta asks what’s going on after entering the classroom and Asuka is made jump, blushing immediately and stumbling over his words]
“Ah ha ha ! Ahhh … ha … ha ha. Nothing … uhhmmmm, you know. It’s that deposit for that school trip that got cancelled. Nothing crazy. Anyway?! Since when do you care about paper?!”
Ryo is a new transfer student at Asuka's school. She lives with her father who is a very tough police officer, and of which owns their family dojo. Even though she is a girl, she cannot sew, cook, bake, make bento or do any other ‘girly’ things with which Asuka helps her. She also likes action movies.
I’m looking for a boisterous, loud, extroverted voice here. Medium - medium high range.Standard North American accent.
Voice inspirations:
1. Tiffany Vollmer - Bulma voice
2. Trina Nishimura - Mikasa voice
I’m open to your interpretations!
[Ryo is dumped in a baking competition against the city’s finest baker]
“Actually? I accept your challenge! I might have to wear this … measly pink apron … and be against the best of the best … but I never back down from a fight, and you know that too, Asuka!”
[Turns around and points at him]
[Taking Asuka back to her dad’s dojo so he can practise privately]
“So this is my dad’s dojo. I don’t know how he’d react if he saw I brought a boy back. I wouldn’t like to be you, let’s put it that way. Although, maybe he’d give you a slide seeing as you’re kendo champion” (small laugh as she nudges him with her elbow)
[Ryo mid-fight with 4 guys]
“Oh you thought I’d be an easy target because I’m a girl?! I think it backfired on you big time!”
[Roundhouse kicks a guy approaching behind]
“You’re WAY too predictable, do you even know how to fight, ya big goon?”
A playboy who befriends Asuka and Ryo, and helps Asuka with his relationship with Ryo. Under the pen name Jewel Sachihana, he is actually the author of Asuka's favourite manga, Love Chick, which runs in the magazine Hana to Mame. He first was inspired to model his Asuka girl character after Masamune when he saw Asuka help out a child with a stuffed animal. As a result, his manga moved up from second place to first place in readership and related awards. Upon getting to know Ryo, he adds her to the manga as a guy, and tries to further their relationship whenever his story bogs down.Juta is the only son and eldest in a family of 11 children. He was inspired to become a manga artist after meeting a girl who let him borrow a shōjo manga. He ended up falling in love with her, only to find out that she was moving away. He promised to see her off, but by the time he got to her house, she was already gone, leaving him heartbroken. He returned home to find the manga she lent him, unread. He had forgotten about it and never gave it back. Juta reads it and falls in love with shōjo manga.
I’m looking for a smooth upbeat voice, with a slight comedic undertone.
Medium range.
Standard North American.
Voice inspirations:
1. Kyoya Otaria - Ouran High School Host Club
2. Gintoki Sakata - Michael Daingerfield, Gintama 2017
I’m open to your interpretations!
[Asuka feeling miserable for fear of rejection from Ryo, ‘attempting’ to reassure him]
“Come on, Asuka. Don’t beat yourself up about it. I mean … yeah she doesn’t like femme guys that much and loves a big butch one. What could go wrong?”
[Frantically drawing his next chapter panel to meet a deadline, throwing papers in the air and shouting out loud to himself]
“Damn it, damn it, damn it! Asuka why couldn’t you have done something exciting for my inspiration? Of course you didn’t know, but, UGH, so selfish! What’s Lady Asuka gonna do now?!”
[Watching Ryo with Asuka have her makeup done for the first time]
“O-oh. She’s … she’s like a different person (nervous laugh). I didn’t know she’d look like THAT”.
An underclassman at Asuka's school, Yamato has a very ‘girly’ appearance, which he hates. He loves martial arts and trains hard to become good at them. He admires manliness and has long delusional fantasies about being ‘manly’. He believes Asuka to be the ideal man and is oblivious to the fact that Asuka is an otomen. He falls in love with many different girls but is unable to get a girlfriend.
This one I’m giving two different approaches to. Ideally, I would like someone non-binary to play this role, or someone that can provide an androgynous voice; however this isn’t mandatory and please audition if you’d like to play him! I’m going to leave two voice inspirations, one male and one female, so you can have fun and find a balance in the middle!
Really childlike, but not baby. Think a teen going through puberty. Slight hoarseness from straining his voice.
Medium - medium high - high range. Yamato is the most flexible voice to audition for.
Standard North American accent.
Voice inspirations:
1. Izuku Midoriya English voice
2. Colleen Clinkenbeard, Teen Gohan voice
I’m open to your interpretations too!
[Admiring Asuka from afar]
“Ohhh, he’s so amazing. My sensei is just like no one before. I wish I was as manly as that. Why why why was I born to look like this?!”
[Getting fraught over Asuka’s presence]
“Ah, Asuka! I didn’t see you there! Ah ha ha … how’s uhm, how’s things with Ryo? You taken her on a date yet?”
[Hyping himself up]
“You know what? I AM going to show them what I’m made off. I might get mistaken for a girl on a daily basis. I may still sound like a kid going through puberty on some days. I may even get asked out on dates by guys here and there, but every single one of you will see one day when I have the greatest glow up of them all! Then who’s gonna be laughing?!”
The captain of Kinbara High School's kendo team, he sees Asuka as his lifelong rival. He is the strong and silent type but is actually an otomen who is good with doing makeup. Similar to Asuka, Tonomine's father told him to give up his ‘girly’ habits, fearing it would interfere with his kendo. Juta calls him a ‘tsun-sama’, a portmanteau of tsundere (cold on the outside, warm on the inside) and ore-sama (self-confident, narcissistic). In one story arc, he and Asuka are recruited to do makeovers for a local television show as masked characters called the Beauty Samurai.
I’m unsure of a British RP accent or standard North American here, so use whichever you’re more comfortable doing/whichever you think best fits. I want confidence erupting from this character, with a slight tone of snobbiness, not too much though.
Medium - medium low range.
Voice inspirations:
1. Greedling, FMA:BH English dub
2. Miles Edgeworth Ace Attorney, Mark Healy voice
I’m open to your interpretations!
[Respectfully clashes his kendo sword against Asuka’s before the beginning of their fight]
“I’ve been waiting for this, Masamune. Three whole years since our last meet, three whole years since my loss to you, and three whole years of living in your shadow ...”
[Flicks his sword aggressively off of Asuka’s, eliminating any ounce of respect]
“That ends today!”
[Absolutely in shock over stumbling upon Asuka in a florist]
“What are you doing here?! No, absolutely not, I was NOT buying these flowers for myself. That wouldn’t be right by any circumstance!”
[Angrily throws bouquet back into the bucket, followed by doing the infamous anime glasses push with his middle finger]
“Good day!”
[Storms out of the florist, blushing]
[Doing a model’s makeup professionally]
“Ahhh, what beauty.”
[Lifts the woman’s head up delicately by her chin]
“Ahhh, what elegance. Look how radiant that metallic eyeshadow shines above those gorgeous sapphire like eyes you have.”
Juta's classmate. He has a mysterious, somewhat threatening appearance thanks to his tall stature and bangs that cover his eyes. With his family running a flower shop, he has been obsessed with the beauty of flowers and covers everything from buildings to people with them. He was in a relationship with a girl but gave it up when she told him he had to choose between her and flowers. He is an otomen who refers to himself as the ‘Flower Evangelist’. Kitora knows Juta's alter-ego as ‘Jewel Sachihana’, but protects it.
I have two ideas for Kitora. Either a mysterious, smooth like butter voice, or a subtle goofy voice. Kinda like an easy-going voice but can be serious when they want/need to.
Low range.
Standard North American accent.
Voice inspirations:
1) Itachi, Shippuden dub voice
2) Chad, Bleach dub
I’m open to your interpretation!
[Juta comes into class with his suspiciously large briefcase]
“Oh ho, I wonder what’s in there, Juta.”
[Winks at him]
“I’m sure it could never be drawing pad after drawing pad of failed (finger air quotes) Asuka doodles.”
[Sat in a café with Juta]
“I don’t think he suspects a thing, you know. He may be all brawn and no brains after all if he still can’t figure out the likeness is uncanny between him and the main character. They literally have the same name with all the same interests, and now suddenly there’s a ‘male’ love interest since Ryo stepped on the scene. How can it be so difficult?”
[With Juta watching Ryo fight in a competition]
“I guess opposites really do attract, right? They couldn’t be any more polar opposite if they tried, but I guess that is the beauty of love”.
[Throws his hands in the air to shrug]
“Then again, they do have that passion for sparring. That’s something, I guess.’”
Asuka's mother. Traumatised by her husband's announcement that he always dreamed of being a woman, she takes many measures to ensure Asuka is very ‘manly’. Asuka worries she’ll faint if he reveals his otomen secret to her.
Looking for a Jekyll and Hyde voice. Super sweet when being lovey to Asuka, but then super fiery if she notices anything suspicious within Asuka’s possessions or doubt for his love of ‘girly’ things.
Medium low range.
Standard North American accent.
Voice inspirations vary because I’m unsure if I want goofy or serious:
1. Chi-chi, Cynthia Cranz Dragon Ball Z English dub
2. Android 18 English dub voice
3. Kurumu Kurono, Rosario + Vampire English dub
I’m open to your interpretation!
[Taking Asuka to his kendo training]
“So when’s the next competition? I bet all the ladies are going to be lining up to watch that. Who wouldn’t love my strong, manly hero of a son. Right, Asuka?”
[Silence from Asuka, not being ignorant but too fixated on his manga to hear her]
“Right … Asuka … RIGHT? My manly son, right ?!”
[Kiyomi is baking cakes and whipping the cake mixture up and Asuka asks to help]
“Of course you can help, sweetie. You do the scary stuff like taking the cakes out of the oven, you know, the big and tough stuff in case you burn yourself. I’ll do all the dainty little decorating. You couldn’t possibly want to do that boring girly stuff”.
[Exaggerated dramatic crying after finding a sewing machine under Asuka’s bed]
“My little boy, he likes girly things! I already had one man in my life leave me for things like this, please don’t take my precious little Asuka as well!”
He’s your big stereotypical protective father, only wanting the best of the best for his daughter, Ryo. He takes an immediate dislike to Asuka upon seeing his ‘girly’ interests and hobbies. Police officer and judo master, he begins to warm to Asuka once Asuka’s baking reminds him of his wife’s, and finally accepts him into the circle once being defeating by him in a judo bout.
I’m looking for a serious yet goofy voice. You should be able to switch between the two easily.
Medium low - low range.
Standard North American accent. Could also sway for a Manhattan accent.
Voice inspirations:
1. Might Guy, Naruto English dub
2. Gundham Tanaka, Danganronpa English dub
I’m open to your interpretation!
[Ryo’s dad walks into his dojo kitchen and sees Asuka, a guy, baking a cake]
“Wha-what?! What’s with this weak looking guy in my dojo?! And he-he’s baking a cake too?!”
“I-I can’t allow this! Ryo?! PLEASE tell me you’re not going out with this sissy?!’
[Ryo’s dad’s birthday, and Asuka was invited by Ryo to make him his birthday meal/cake]
“Ryo?! Why is he here? I thought I told you I despise guys like him. There is NO way I’m eating food that he’s cooked. A man cooking food outside of a professional environment, what nonsense.”
[Challenges Asuka to a judo match]
“Well, yes you may have won me over by your cakes, but I will not respect you until you show me your strength, AS A MAN!”
The young and questioning Asuka. He didn’t know anything as he was too young to understand the situation between his parents, he just knew he liked things the girls in his class liked too.
Age range: 7-9 years old.
I’m looking for a childish voice. He’s not very young to the point you need to squeak, but he’s not hit puberty yet either.
Medium high range.
Standard North American accent.
This one is open to your interpretation!
[Lay on the floor threading a needle and string, smiling to himself]
“All things girls love; cooking, cleaning, baking. There’s nothing wrong with that. I need to see if the latest volume of Love Chick is out-“
[Asuka’s mom comes in, takes one look at what he’s doing and faints]
“MO-MOM A-ARE YOU OKAY?!”
[Asuka overhearing his father coming out to his mother]
“Mom, what does dad mean? I don’t understand why he wants to do that”.
[Asuka being given a pep talk from his mom about not being like his dad]
“But dad didn’t do anything wrong, did he? I am a boy, mom …”
I’ll be needing thugs, martial artists, students, shopkeepers, hairdressers, makeup artists, chefs, you name it! Give me your best shot by improvising some lines! I want to see how well and creative you get!
Demo reels are also accepted for this.
Improvise here! I’d love to see your range, your accents and intonations you have.
I will be able to edit most of the video myself, but with a full-time career and even working through video call after my shift has ended, I might need some (a lot) of assistance. Seeing as this is a manga dub, I’ll mostly only need pans of panels and zoom ins of stills, as well as background music.
Say something you think would fit
This manga already has an ending to its live action adaptation, however, there is no intro.
You can either create an instrumental opening, or one with vocals. The choice is up to you! If you wish for vocals, just let me know and I will open a singer role for audition. The intro is up to your interpretation.
If you have background music too, that would be amazing! I’m looking for not overly romantic, but mostly peaceful and soothing music. There will be times when I need something upbeat for fight scenes too.
Say something you think would fit
I can edit most recordings and sounds on my own, but as of the same reason for work as I stated in my video editor role, it would help me out tremendously if I got a lot of assistance.
It’ll mainly consist of tidying up character lines and maybe choosing background music.
Say something you think would fit
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