[00:00:00] Speaker A: Welcome to the Cosmic, the companion podcast to the Cosmiccircus.com. I'm editor in chief Lizzie Hill. Recently I had the chance to speak to voice artists from the delightful hit anime Spy Family, Megan Shipman and Natalie van Sistine to talk about their new movie Spy Family Code White. Megan and Natalie are the english dub artists for Anya and your forger in the popular anime. In this interview, I speak to Megan.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: And Natalie about forger family dynamics, what.
[00:00:27] Speaker A: It was like being cast on the hit anime series, and what their favorite dessert is. Listen in to learn more about the.
[00:00:33] Speaker B: Stars of Spy Family, Code White and.
[00:00:36] Speaker A: Spy Family in this next episode of Cosmic Cafe.
[00:00:47] Speaker C: Morning.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: Good morning.
I love Spy Family. A friend of mine put me onto it, saying it was sort of, sort of more wholesome than of the other animes on Crunchyroll and things. And it's really one of my favorites. And I've already seen Code White twice. So was very excited when I heard I had a chance to talk to you guys for a few minutes. Did you ever expect that spy family would become such a global phenomenon when you started it?
[00:01:14] Speaker D: You know, we, it was, it's, you always like, think, oh, well, maybe, maybe this one might kind of be a big deal, like we were anticipating, but you can never anticipate, like, how big something's gonna be.
So it was, it was really something to kind of watch it go from, like, okay, maybe like a bunch of anime fans will like this a lot too now. It's kind of exploded into where it's a lot of people's first anime they've ever watched. And, um, so, yeah, it's been really special to just kind of see it explode and, and, you know, a lot of people just connect with it and watch something for the first time that they've never watched before, like anime. So, yeah, it's been really fun to see it kind of just boom.
[00:02:08] Speaker C: Yeah, it's something you kind of hope might happen, especially if you're like, oh, I've been working on this project for a while and fell in love with it, and now you're like, oh, I want everyone else to love it as much as I do. And that very rarely happens. Not because stuff is good, but just because, you know, sometimes it, you know, there's, it just has to kind of be the perfect storm of things. And that's not always anything you can predict, and you can kind of hope for it. So I was talking with someone at a convention yesterday about how kind of the Aha moment for me especially was, I mean, the manga I had read ahead of time and was already really good.
But the proposal scene, like, seeing that animated and seeing how good that was in episode two, I was like, this is so special. This is really going to be something special. I didn't know what that meant yet, and it's still exceeded my expectations. But, yeah, I think there was some early indicators and you always hope, but I'm glad it worked out.
[00:03:16] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:03:17] Speaker B: It wasn't my first anime, but my hero, academia was my first one. And then my friend put me onto this one, which I absolutely love.
And, you know, one of my favorite things about it is the family dynamics and how they're all sort of growing together. I think it makes it really what makes it accessible to people. Also, there's lots of, you know, badass action and fun stuff like political intrigue and all this other stuff, which is a little bit more adult, but, and of course, Anya is so, so adorable. But I wonder, what do you think about the family dynamics? What about the family dynamics do you think work so well about this, this group of people?
[00:03:57] Speaker D: It's really such a good, I guess, found family dynamic. Like you were saying, it's, it's really sweet to kind of watch people who don't really have anyone else kind of find a place with each other. And even though it's done under the guise of, oh, I need a fake family or I need this so that I don't look suspicious, it becomes something I think that they need, like, especially for the adults. Like for your employed, it's more of a, oh, I need this to maintain. You know, I don't know what's the word I'm looking for, but you know what I mean? But, yeah, it's more out of accessibility for them. And then for Anya, it's more of like, well, I hope this works out.
[00:04:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:04:56] Speaker D: You know, and so, and it does. And I think it's really sweet how they kind of, kind of just, without them realizing it, they all kind of, for lack of a better term, they all just kind of fall in love with each other unbeknowingly. Like, they don't realize it yet, but they all really love being together and just spending time together.
And I think that's really special. So I love that, you know, what started as something out of a need or to not raise suspicion has become this very, very sweet dynamic.
[00:05:40] Speaker C: Yeah, I think a big thing, all of that. Absolutely.
And what also comes to mind, too, is there's a lot of communication that's really good, too. And even though they're all kind of hiding their big secret, like, about kind of who they really are in a certain way when it comes to the family dynamic. And honestly, the things that really matter in terms of them being able to function as a family, they're very communicative. So even when there are misunderstandings, it's a really good template and an odd way to talk through, like, oh, I misunderstood this. Like, that even happens in the movie where your thinks something. And I love how Lloyd is always so quick to reassure her. Or how when Lloyd is working with Anya at school, he's quick to realize, okay, I might be going over the top. I might be forcing this in a wrong way. And even though I'm doing this for the mission, I also don't want to exhaust her. Maybe I'm expecting too much out of a child. And he and your brainstorming ways to approach, like, Anya's education differently. And just that that communication dynamic is a theme through the show where they are all problem solving together and where they are all, you know, sometimes they have, like, the preconceived notion of what normal is and what a family is supposed to look like, but they're really, overall, they come to understand, okay, well, maybe that's not always the case. And sometimes us doing things our own unique way can still be just as successful and valid. And often when they kind of make that admission to, I love how a lot of the periphery characters are like, you guys are such a cute family. You're so, you're so amazing. So I think that that's a big thing that I love about the show.
[00:07:37] Speaker B: Yeah, I was going to, I was going to say, I want not to spoil anything, but there's a moment in the Ferris wheel and the movie that I knew. I knew it was coming. I knew it was going to happen, but I still laughed uproariously when it happened. That's just so perfect that she did that.
I love your. I was so excited when I heard I could maybe get to interview two of you because I love both of you in this show.
With the movie in mind, I really had to ask you, what is your favorite dessert?
[00:08:09] Speaker D: Ooh, I love anything with chocolate.
[00:08:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:13] Speaker D: So, I mean, it's. I usually like, like, chocolate mousse or chocolate cakes or so anything with chocolate, because that's easy for me.
[00:08:27] Speaker C: I'm a big fan of a, like, a good german bakery desserts especially. My great grandma had an amazing recipe for Kringle, which is kind of like a flaky pastry with, like, a fruit filling and a light glaze over the top, which is really good.
So stuff that's not like super, super sweet, but it's nice and rich. Love that. That's great.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: What was your experience of getting cast and did you audition for anything else in the series that you might have almost had?
[00:09:04] Speaker D: Yeah, we auditioned for the show and initially it was just, I think the only characters you can audition for were Twilight, Yor and Anya. So I sent in auditions for your and Anya, but I definitely was more comfortable in Anya's range.
And so I kind of spent a lot of time, I spent a little bit of time kind of watching trailers and seeing what Anya was about.
And I very quickly was able to see, like, she's the funny one, she's the comedic one. So I made everything super over the top and, yeah, it was, it was, it was great. And just kind of sent it off and said, well, I hope that happens. So when we got cast, it was a, it was a really nice surprise because I really enjoyed doing the audition.
[00:09:56] Speaker C: So I, yeah, we got those three auditions and I, I did the same where I watched some of the trailers because I wanted to get a sense of what they all sounded like. And I ran into the fact that your is not in any of the trailers. So I was like, oh, no, I got a pivot here. But also I realized pretty quickly, I was like, okay, anya is probably not in a range of something where I have a really strong chance at.
I don't tend to play younger children, characters that young especially. So I was like, okay, I think I'm going to focus on your. And when I first read the copy, I could, I was kind of thinking like, your was just very confident, like total, like, definition, just assassin. I was just totally thinking assassin. And I was kind of having a little, I was like, I could tell I was still, like trying to grasp the full breadth of her character and there was like a nuance there that I still wasn't totally connecting with. And I got really lucky that we did have a copy of the first volume of the manga that we picked up at some point in the house. And I went, you know what? I'm gonna, this, I think, is gonna be a big enough show that I should take some time and I'm gonna go read the manga and go see kind of what it's about and maybe see if that helps me understand your character a lot better. And that was like the big eye opening moment where I realized how much like her civilian Persona and her anxiety and how much she struggles with her confidence just in her day to day life was really a big factor and how much of a dichotomy she had between that and her assassin Persona. And so that really helped that when I went back and started recording my lines for the audition, I could really have that context in mind and try to start focusing on that. And then when I actually was cast and we got in the booth, we played with that even more and we brought that out even more. And I'm really happy with where that ended up. As a result.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: I think I'm about end of time. But I was curious if you guys listen to the japanese versions of the episodes before you go in to try to get anything from those voice artists at all.
[00:12:04] Speaker D: We do. We we get to watch the Japanese before every single line and every scene we do. So it's always super nice to have context of, like, timing and energy, and we get to base it off of what they do. And they're so talented and wonderful.
And I always am just laughing at Anya and then I go, oh, no, I have to be that funny.
So it's always really fun to hear them and see what they've done because it's such a treat, because we want to make it as true to the original as possible. And so it's always great to see them. See them and hear them.
[00:12:53] Speaker C: Yeah.
Every single anime, we're always referencing every single line, every single performance, we always hear exactly what they've done immediately before we record. And so that definitely informs a lot of our decisions and is really helpful for us to match and hopefully stay true to that.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: Okay, well, thank you so much for talking to me. I don't want to take up too much more of your time. It was really lovely to talk to you and I'm really looking forward to season three for a spy family coming out.
[00:13:23] Speaker D: Thank you so much. Thank you.
[00:13:26] Speaker A: Thank you for listening. You can find the companion article for this
[email protected], where we cover films, television, live shows, books, comics, and all things nerdy in the cosmos. Have a great day.
