England's Voice Actor and 2 Seconds of America

[americanheroal.livejournal.com]

So Scott Freeman landed the role of Arthur Kirkland. This is Scott's first major roll and has been working as a background voice actor for a while with Funimation.

Youtube and FB is buzzing with comments and opinions and so it's our turn. What do you think of the English voice for England? (Or "Bri'en" as America seems to call him)

By the way, if you enjoy watching Hetalia online then I suggest you get the DVDs. It chalk full of extras including interviews with the Japanese voice actors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR6gyYMUESE

Comments

[ekazoo.livejournal.com]

ngl, I wish they had used England instead of Britain because the whole UK/Britain/England thing isn't interchangeable really :/ Even though Igirisu does mean U.K/britain, there are separate katakana words for Scotland and Wales. Even the official merchandise seems to switch between UK/England/Britain all the time... but they always use the Union Jack D: YEAH it's a big mess, but he'll always be just England to me. Oh and, they call him Britain and yet they are using an ENGLISH accent? British accents don't exist because the other parts of Britain have completely different accents lol.

I do however LOVE his voice to pieces XD I'm English and yeah it's not an accurate accent, but it's a stereotypical accent and that's what Hetalia is all about. I am so glad that they made him sound camp. So glad.

America's voice sounds perfect so far :O And it sounds nothing like Vic tbh :/ I can't wait to hear all the America/England scenes in English! *-*

[haro.livejournal.com]

To someone not from the UK, generally the stereotypes that comes to mind when someone says 'British' are 'English' ones. It's the predominant culture associated with the UK amongst non-Brits for the most part. Say Scottish and they'll imagine kilts for example, but if you say Britain, the first thing to come to mind for a lot of non-Brits (and certainly Americans) is generally going to be London, Big Ben, etc. So since the series is about international stereotypes, even when calling him Britain, it kind of makes sense that they'd go for an English accent. And as you said above, England the character is definitely a stereotype of an Englishman, not a Scotsman or a Welshman.

[ekazoo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you're right. I think the issue I have is that when referring to the character as Britain and acknowledging that the characters represent countries.... he should really be England. Then calling him Britain and giving him an English accent, it's just not accurate. But like you said, people who are not from the UK will automatically think of London etc when they hear the word Britain, so in that case it does make sense because of international stereotypes.

I still think that it would have been much easier and just as accurate to use England instead of Britain, but oh well XD

[kuromitsu.livejournal.com]

There are separate Japanese words for England as well, though. :) If Himaruya wanted him to be only England he would've used one of those. (And it wouldn't make sense, anyway, given that the UK acts as a single entity in international matters, like wars and whatnot.)

As for the accent, there is a stereotypical "British" accent that's actually English - blame it on English historical/cultural dominance. ^^;;

[ekazoo.livejournal.com]

I know, but according to official merch etc igirisu can mean England as well. I've seen stuff where they use the Union Jack, 'igirisu' and then England written in English :/ Which is completely inaccurate. And potentially offensive to people from Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Himaruya also refers to him as England on a number or occasions and in the England vs Liechtenstein strip he is wearing the England football kit and there are England flags in the background.

Even if he acts as the UK/represents it doesn't mean that he is the UK.

Yes, there is a stereotypical one, and yes it is exactly the same as a stereotypical English accent XD In reality there is no such thing, though.

[kuromitsu.livejournal.com]

Igirisu means England the way England means Britain. ^^;; People may use it as a shorthand for England, or because they don't know that England =/= Britain, but it officially refers to the UK. (It would be more of a confusion if he was called Eikoku, since in my experience that word is often used to mean England in popular language, not officially, though.)

I don't recall any official merchandise that calls him England, but there are several mistakes in other languages in volume 3: he's called "United Kingdom" in English, Japanese, Chinese, Polish, Lithuanian and Hungarian, but "England" in other languages. (Btw, America is "America" in every language except for Chinese, obviously, and Spanish in which it's United States... o_o ) All of the "England" words mean, of course, England, but can refer colloquially (and incorrectly) to the UK. So basically, from what I see, this is a mistake that Himaruya keeps making.

As for football, there's no British national football team, so obviously, in such occasions he just represents England and his brothers probably represent their own national teams. (In football the English team is referred to as Ingurando (England) not Igirisu, but even in those strips Himaruya called him Igirisu. I suppose he just calls him that for simplicity's sake, even in situations when he is just England.)

[ekazoo.livejournal.com]

If he's called Britain than that can't be right because he is confirmed to be one of four brothers, i.e Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and then himself. Britain however is only Scotland, Wales and England. What about Northern Ireland? UK =/= Britain.

This is the thread with pictures here. (http://community.livejournal.com/hetalia/8108374.html?thread=147693142#t147693142) Note how they say igirisu but then England in English? If the Japanese think it's okay to use England alongside igirisu then that's that. They might not have been mistakes though, some languages won't have a word for the UK but will only have one for the actual countries involved.

Also, for the majority of his life he would be known as England. The vast majority of other characters would have called him England for years. When the UK was eventually formed, I doubt that they would suddenly change to UK or Britain. And he would have found America before he started to represent the UK, so America should be calling him England to be honest.

In the strip he called him Ingurando. I think he overall calls him igirisu for simplicity's sake too, but there is going to be a backlash when his brothers are introduced properly.

[kuromitsu.livejournal.com]

Er... Unless everything I've read and heard so far was wrong, including The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/b) and the Foreign Office (http://digitaldiplomacy.fco.gov.uk/en/guidance/content/editorial/style/uk-britain), "Britain" is synonymous with the UK as a political unit. (Which is why Northern Ireland residents are officially British - whether that title is appropriate or not is a different issue.) I'm not British so I might be wrong, but I'm not going to argue with the UK Foreign Office.

Nevertheless: Igirisu = a popular, sort of informal shorthand for "United Kingdom" = Britain. (The formal/official shorthand is Eikoku, which is used by the British Embassy, but at Wikipedia even Eikoku redirects to Igirisu.) Himaruya said that he was the UK/Britain (pick one). In the manga all characters call him Igirisu, all the time, even Sealand. Even in early medieval times when he's just England. As well as simplicity, I think this also has to do with his historical strips being the history of the UK and not just England, but my understanding of the Japanese treatment of UK history is shaky to say the least so I'm not sure about this. (However, don't forget that when he first meets little America, he's already England and Wales, called England because Wales was regarded as a part of the Kingdom of England after England conquered it in the late 13th century, which is why it's not represented on the Union Flag. So...)

Yes, those pictures say "England," but they also depict him with the Union Flag. Himaruya always depicts him with the Union Flag, too, except for the football strip and the one where he destroys Spain's Armada - both for obvious reasons. And seeing how many people say "England" when referring to the UK, either because they don't know that it's incorrect or because they're lazy and think it's okay because it's informal usage... well, yeah. Btw, to my best knowledge most languages have a word for the UK - French, Russian, Spanish, German and Italian definitely do, and yet in volume 3 they said England while other languages said UK. (I actually laughed at Hungarian, of all languages, being correct because in Hungary "Great Britain" is the most widely used term for the entire UK, even though we have a term for "United Kingdom." It just sounds way too formal.)

Anyway, I'm not trying to say he's not England, he obviously is. I'm trying to argue that going by canon and Word of Himaruya, he is also Britain/the UK (pick one) by virtue of him representing the entire state, even during various stages of its development, and as such, the translator was right to call him Britain. The backlash is inevitable, anyway - "Britain" will have backlash in historical strips, but "England" would have backlash in strips set after the Act of Union.

[ekazoo.livejournal.com]

Well it's just that when people say Britain, they mean Great Britain and therefore the island that contains England, Scotland and Wales. When people say UK they mean The United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Though I myself am not 100% sure, if it's true that it's synonymous then it's probably because it's simpler that way. Because at the end of the day, Britain will always be one island and Ireland is a separate one. In my experience I have never heard an Irish person refer to themselves as British though... I'll have to find out more. Come to think of it, we never actually use Britain that much here. On the BBC news they say the 'UK news' and then later it splits off into the actual countries. I never hear people say 'I'm from Britain', because we would always say either England, Scotland or Wales. I think that this is why it sounded so odd to me, we just don't say it here.

According to my kanji dictionary, 英国 means England but also UK and Great Britain. My japanese teacher told me that if I said I was from igirisu or that I was igirisujin, then people would think I was English, not British, Scottish or Welsh. If I wanted to say these things I would have to use the separate katakana for Scotland etc. I think it's for simplicity, but you do realise that England fought with his brothers back then though? Even if it hasn't been shown, it still happened so it's impossible to show the history of the UK via one character. This issue really needs to be addressed in a lot of languages and countries really. When Himaruya introduces England's brothers then he's going to have a bit of a problem on his hands, but oh well. (Technically yes. But Wales won't cease to exist will he? They'll still beEngland and Wales, but England will represent them both. We know this through canon that the brothers exist whenever the UK does or not, but England is always the one taking the burden of representing them.)

The reason being that he is representing the UK to others. I do wonder why they didn't just use UK though? It's still Igirisu in Japanese, and yet they changed it to England for these pieces or merch. I does annoy me when people use England and then the Union Jack. I am not bothered if they call him UK and then use the Union Jack, but calling him England when using it? lol, it's offensive. I heard a rumour that Himaruya will be releasing designs for the UK brothers by the end of the year, so this may push people in the right direction of using the English flag when calling him England. (Hm that is actually really odd. Part of me thinks that it wasn't a mistake, and that there is an actual reason that we don't know about for it. Oh well, who knows XD)

There wouldn't be a backlash if he was always called England though. Even after the Union, England still exists and is it's own country. Therefore Arthur would still 'be' England, but then take on the responsibility of representing the UK for his brothers. Fandom knows this because of the notes. People don't get stressed about calling him England in canon even though at the meeting he has the Union Jack, because they know that he's representing it to the others thanks to the notes (but it must say UK under it in this situation).