Issues such as pronunciation and faithfulness to the original face voice actors and directors. Above is lead character Yuu in Tokyopop’s Marmalade Boy. All Marmalade Boy images © Toei Animation Co. Ltd.

When the first American licensed videos of Japanese animation began appearing in the early 1990s, many of the hardcore fans claimed that American voice dubbing was terrible — that "the only way" to watch anime was with the original Japanese voices and English subtitles. Today that complaint is seldom heard. Were the early fans hypercritical? Or has the quality of voice dubbing genuinely improved over the past decade? We have asked five voice actors and directors with experience in recording for both American and Japanese-imported animation productions for their impressions. Are there really differences between the two? How do they see the dubbing of Japanese animation as having affected their profession?

Bob Bergen wanted to be a cartoon voice actor since he was five years old. In his teens he wrote fan letters to such voice stars as Mel Blanc and Casey Kasem, who gave him professional advice on how to get into the business. He has performed in hundreds of TV and theatrical animation titles, including WB stars Porky Pig, Tweety and Marvin the Martian; and such features as Finding Nemo and The Emperor's New Groove. His roles for Japanese productions started in the late 1980s with Akira and include Lily-C.A.T., Lupin III and Spirited Away.

Crispin Freeman tries to understand the intent of the original Japanese performances before he dubs his parts.

Crispin Freeman got his B.A. in Theater in 1994. He has appeared in Broadway theater (A View From the Bridge), in off Broadway (The Picture of Dorian Gray, Princess Turandot, Dead Reckoning, others), in regional theater across America and on television (The Guiding Light). He has voiced anime characters in The Slayers, The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, Record of Lodoss War and Revolutionary Girl Utena among others.

Michael Lindsay has been a professional actor since age 14. He's appeared at public theater in New York, written three off Broadway shows with the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Rent, Jonathan Larson; written for television, appeared in TV shows and numerous commercials as well as independent films. He recently performed Oswald in the Theatricum Botanicum's King Lear and Cassius in Julius Caesar at the Thousand Oaks Civic Plaza. He began doing voice over about 11 years ago and started dubbing around six years ago. Some of his American animation credits include The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Kids in Room 402 and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Some of his anime credits include Yuu in Marmalade Boy, George Kodama in Kaze No Yojimbo, Joe and Greymon in Digimon and Kioji Mujo in Scryed.

Olivia Venegas has been writing, producing and directing live-action television and animation for more than 10 years. She has directed such notable anime titles as GTO (for "Great Teacher Onizuka"), Reign: The Conqueror and Marmalade Boy.

Jennifer Wagner is creative director at TOKYOPOP, a Los Angeles-based company that specializes in licensing and translating anime and manga into English for the fast-growing American pop-culture market. She is the producer and co-director of Marmalade Boy and has worked on GTO, Brigadoon, Initial D and Reign: The Conqueror.