I was poking around this Gurren Lagann LJ community not long ago, and there was a post that compared the dub to sub. To my surprise, the voice actor for Kamina actually commented on the post, and said something that really changed my outlook on American voice acting.
The post is here: http://community.livejournal.com/gurren_lagann/285416.html. You might have to dig around a bit, so I'll just post what I liked best. (I'm not sure if there is any objectionable content in the post, per se, but the community might, lol.)
I think a common misconception is that the voice actor is "to blame" for a voice or scripting changes. Definitely NOT the case. Its our job to give the directors/producers what they are looking for. In auditions, we are given info about a character and our first take is our initial impression of what the character would sound like. A second take is done after the director asks the actors to make various adjustments. Dialog is not changed with reckless abandon. The writers spend hours per episode crafting English equivalent dialog that fits the lip synch, but sometimes a line or two falls through the cracks. The actor, director, or both may improvise a quick fix or alternate line (again, Japanese have final approval).
I understand the plight of the fans, as they are immediately biased by what they hear first, and any deviation is met with extreme disdain. But hopefully, my explanation will reach a few people so they can at least be somewhat enlightened to the process. There have been times when I've given characters voices that I felt didn't suit the character, but that's not my call to make.
I generally don't like dubbing, but now I will no longer blame the voice actors, ha ha. I just thought I'd enlighten others as well, though I know many of you like dubbing anyway.
