Late last year, members of the Fighting Game Community nominated Steven Mane as an unsung hero. Arguably the world’s foremost expert on Street Fighter lore, Mane writes a long-running blog on which he explores the inspirations behind the series’s characters and the meanings behind its plotlines. But he doesn’t do this work alone. From time to time, he interviews people within the fighting game industry and asks them for their take on the franchise, as he did in 2018 with Daniel Lindholm, the composer who wrote G’s theme. He recently did the same thing with two more Street Fighter voice artists, Jessica Straus (the voice of Juri) and Richard Epcar (Akuma).
As you might expect, both actors have interesting takes on their characters. In her interview, Straus talks about how “empowering” it is to play someone who’s “fearless in a fight,” and Epcar suggests that Akuma’s “idea of heaven is very different than pretty much anyone else’s.” While both Juri and Akuma are much less mysterious than G, these interviews give fans a sense of how voice actors can help to shape a character and how, conversely, a character can affect their actor. Moreover, just by agreeing to participate, Straus and Epcar prove that fighting games have a special ability to bring people together. After all, not all video game fans would get such eager responses from the actors who play their favorite characters.
So head on over to Mane Street to read the interviews with Straus, Epcar, and (if you missed it the first time) Lindholm. Then follow Mane on Twitter to see if he’ll interview your character’s voice actor next!
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