2022 has been a big year for Kazakhstan’s voice-over industry. This is not including the commotion around getting Hollywood blockbusters like the Marvel franchise dubbed (in Russian) in our very own studios. The real surprise came when TV channel providers announced the addition of channels that air popular kids' shows and cartoons voiced in the Kazakh language.
Speaking of animation, did you know we have a voice-over team that dubs anime in Kazakh? Anime lovers now get to watch their favorite characters from series like "Naruto", "Tokyo Revengers" and "Attack on Titans" converse in the native tongue - all thanks to Dopamine Voice.
Yesterday happens to be the release date of the voice-over team's most recent project, the charming "Howl's Moving Castle" directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
Last year, Steppe published an interview with an introduction to the team where the members - dubbing actors, translators and editors - were revealed to be young school and college students, aged 16-25. The teammates found each other through social media and now work together on dubbing projects while located in different cities.
The projects are all pretty well-known among those who have even the slightest interest in anime. But Dopamine Voice said that when choosing which anime to voice over, they do not always go with the trend. They noted that the new and upcoming "Tokyo Revengers" did not do as well as the classic "Naruto" series, which is familiar to non-anime fans. The preferences of their audience is what matters the most.
Adil Zhumadilov, video editor and translator from Nur-Sultan, described the dubbing process.
"The first step is editing which takes one or two hours. Recordings take place on the same day or the day after the translation. TikTok clips can take from a few minutes to two-three hours. [For example] the voice-over for "Your Name" takes several hours."
So far, Dopamine Voice's website has fully dubbed episodes for the Season 1 of "Attack on Titans", as well as movie dubs for "Your name" and "Howl's Moving Castle". But the team regularly posts short scenes from various anime series that are currently popular.
Since the projects are independent, the team members have to manage their time to be able to juggle their studies while keeping up with the recording schedules.
The voice of Reiner from "Attack on Titans" and Takemichi from "Tokyo Revengers", Marlen Binazar, noted that the team rely on crowdfunding to invest in better sound equipment and keep the project going. "We don't force anyone to donate - it's all done out of the goodwill of our audience," Marlen said. "We record each patron in our book and remember their name."
"Howl's Moving Castle" in the Kazakh dub can be viewed on Dopamine Voice's official website.
