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On October 26th Ponca City will bear witness to its annual PonCon at City Central, a convention for fans and enthusiasts of anime, a Japanese style of animation that has exploded in popularity over the last ten years. Cons such as these feature all different sorts of merchandise and keepsakes, as well as convention goers dressing up as their favorite characters, and appearances and panels done by the actors of well known character franchises. This year the Con will host one of the most enduring and well-known stars in the business: R Bruce Elliot. Bruce has been an actor for over fifty years and in addition to his screen work on the film JFK and television show Barney and Friends, has done voices for characters in some of the largest franchises in the history of anime, such as: Dragonball, One Piece, Fairy Tail, and Attack on Titan, one of the largest and most viewed television franchises of the last ten years. Knowing he would be here in October, Bruce was kind enough to sit down and talk with me about his experience in the business before the event.
Anime has been a niche format for decades what do you attribute to its rise and popularity and what do you think about its current state of popularity, and do you see any negatives rising from it?
It had started a little bit in the 70s certainly 80s with stuff like Cowboy Bebop and things like that but it’s certainly as gained and popularity over the years, and seems to have been pretty steadily climbing. You know when I started 20 years ago I was it was pretty darn popular and then the last 20 years it’s just exploded. Just the amount of product out there is just staggering. I can’t even imagine how many different anime shows and series and movies even exist right now.
For a lot of people this is their life, right? This is what keeps them going. I’ve had people almost tears, saying this particular show got me through a really tough time. So the content goes from really intelligent, adult, incisive, and smartly thought out and well-written: So you know, just casual fun
You’ve been in a number of stage productions films and shows what is your favorite style of acting and what are some of the differences that stand out most of you between the styles?
I don’t think in terms of styles of acting, I think it is different mediums. Even with the 20 years I’ve been doing anime I still have a lot more stage experience. I was mostly a stage actor from high school until about ten years ago. I’ve always thought of myself as a stage actor.
There’s a big difference between stage and an anime voice acting, which is that you have weeks of rehearsal, and stage shows you have a chance to spend a lot of time getting into the character and finding out who the character is, you know letting the character kind of grow on you. And I like doing other things. I got to do some very small parts in some pretty decent movies probably the best known one being JFK. I’ve done a half dozen films in some small roles. So I kind of miss being on stage, but I do find that acting in front of a microphone is still still satisfying to me. I get a lot of praise and a lot of a lot of support for what I do.
Are there some tips that you have for people wanting to get into voice acting?
You have got to live in a town where there is an anime voice studio, and there are precious few towns like that. Have an agent that sends you to auditions and then be really good. Well, you have to be a good actor, really. Seriously, number one is you’ve got to be an actor. You know every other kid these days who watches anime thinks, “I can do that. How do I do that?” The answer is to start with being an actor get some experience. I had decades as an actor on stage and a little bit of TV and stuff like that. The more experience you have as an actor, by far, the better.
Who is your favorite character to play and what has been your favorite line that you’ve delivered?
Well, my answer is I don’t really have a favorite character. I have a lot of characters that I’m quite fond of and they tend to be characters in shows that I have worked on for a long time:Master Makarov In Fairy Tail is one of them. I love that character. Another is Whitebeard. I suppose Whitebeard is probably my best-known character in the show One Piece. I have also played five other characters, but nobody really knows that remember because they were all fairly minor, so I don’t have a particular favorite. Whitebeard kind of became the best known because he has one line that goes like this: I’ve got to clear my throat and we’ve got to pitch our voice down, then Whitebeard says “The one piece, THE ONE PIECE IS REEEEAAALL!!” And then he dies. I love the line “The one piece is real” because it has brought a lot of attention my way and I sign a lot of autographs in large part because of it, but just thinking back over my 20 years in anime, I remember very, very few lines.
PonCon thanks Deb and Carroll Rue for introducing R. Bruce to Ponca City and inviting him to participate. R. Bruce Elliot will be signing memorabilia and be available for pictures at PonCon on Saturday, October 26th, and participating in a panel on breaking into voice/character work. Entry to PonCon is free. Find all the activities, vendors and more at PCPonCon.com and follow on Facebook at PONCON. Interested vendors, authors and artists can scan the QR code to sign up. Tables are $25 each with a maximum of five (5) tables to each vendor. Space is limited.
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