If you’re a fan of animation, you’ve definitely heard Stephanie Sheh’s voice. In addition to dubbing voices in animes like Bleach, Naruto, Little Witch Academia, and countless more, Sheh’s also lent her voice to shows like The Legend of Korra and DC SuperHero Girls, as well as several video games. In the hallucinogenic Masaaki Yuasa film Lu Over the Wall, Sheh voices Yūho, the daughter of the mayor in a small fishing village and lead singer of the high school band SEIRÈN. When band member Kai encounters a mermaid named Lu with a talent for singing, excitement and mayhem ensues. Over email, Sheh told me about what it was like to voice Yūho, her love for the film’s merdoggies, and Lu‘s incredibly fun music.
A little spoiled, but kind and passionate about her rock band her friends Kai and Kuino, Yūho is what Sheh calls “a tricky character.” “She’s definitely a flawed girl”, explains Sheh, “But aren’t we all flawed.”
A less interesting movie might’ve made Yūho into a stereotype, the obvious antagonist who’s jealous of the adorable and magical mermaid who can sing. Lu, however, is more interested in the realities of being a teenager. “She’s not a terrible person, but she’s been pampered, so she’s a bit selfish”, Sheh explains. “She technically is the cause of a lot of problems in the film. We needed to make sure she was inherently likable though. I basically took the approach that she was a teenager and she wanted to be liked, and she had dreams like any teenager does, but she was never taught sacrifice, or even to think about others since she was babied and pampered.”
The voice actress made sure Yūho was “spunky and fun” vocally, as she “needed to be charming so that you forgave her if she was a bit self-absorbed. It was a fine line to navigate…When push comes to shove though, she cares about others. She cares about her friends and her village. She’s going to do what’s right when given the choice”, writes Sheh.
Lu Over the Wall is an incredibly musical movie, if not an outright musical. Sheh, a singer herself, had a great deal of fun re-recording the songs in English. The music “makes you tap your feet and smile”, she writes. (It’s not hard to find some overlap between Yūho and Yui Hirasawa whom Sheh voice in the English dub of K-On!) “And I’ve done quite a few songs before. So being able to work on these songs were such an honor”, she says, “It was also a bit of pressure because we wanted the songs to feel like they belonged in English. Especially Kai’s song at the end of the movie. It’s important to the story and his emotional growth. So you really needed to be moved as an audience member. And Michael [Sinterniklaas] didn’t only have to sing and hit those high notes, he had to sound emotional doing it.”
When I mention that there’s a mermaid Renaissance of movies recently, including the Chinese epic Big Fish & Begonia which Sheh worked on, the actress reveals she’s a bit afraid of water. “I would love to scuba dive, and I tried to get certified”, she admits, “but I couldn’t pass the test, and I get a bit of a panic attack when I think about drowning.” She can definitely see the appeal though, saying, “I think though, people are drawn to other worlds. And the underwater world like outer space is fascinating because we don’t get to explore and live in those spaces. They are the last places within our grasp that we haven’t fully explored.”
Lu Over the Wall is absolutely a Masaaki Yuasa film, which to Sheh means, “It’s non-conformist. But not for non-conformity’s sake.”
“I think what I love about what I’ve seen of Yuasa’s stories is that I’m always surprised by something,” she writes, “It’s creative in a way that I get the sense it’s coming from a unique mind who is doing what he wants to see, instead of making and creating from the point of view of trying to make what the industry or audience expects.”
One of these surprising and creative moments comes with the adorable merdoggies in the film. (Side note: if MER-DOGS aren’t enough to convince you to see this film, I really don’t know what to tell you.) “Yuasa told me that he added the bits with the merdoggies because he wanted to highlight that mutts and rescues are good dogs”, writes Sheh, “There is a stigma in Japan where most people prefer purebreds and tend to give up their dogs if they are mixed breeds to shelters”. Not to get into spoilers, but Lu’s merdoggies are given a wonderful, sweet, and heartwarming story of their own.
Lu Over the Wall is out now! Why should you see it? Sheh says, “To be honest, I just hope audiences go watch it and have a good time. It’s about accepting different types of people, and about embracing your life. Lu is the first perfect escapism film for today’s time. You feel good about yourself and your fellow man after seeing it.”
(image: GKIDS)
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Published: May 24, 2018 06:31 am