Monday, August 17, 2015

Introducing Our English Cast

This post has been a long time coming.  The English voiceover project for Rosenkreuzstilette has been in the works since October of 2011. Hundreds of audition and thousands of hours later, we're finally ready to announce our cast.  I know the anime fans among you will be very pleased with some of our choices; more than a few of these names should ring a bell.
  • Spiritia Rosenberg: Emily Koch
  • Lilli: Kira Buckland
  • Freudia Neuwahl: Sarah Wiedenheft
  • Zorne Zeppelin: Amanda Lee
  • Trauare Wrede: Britanny Lauda
  • Luste Teuber: Kira Buckland
  • Grolla Seyfarth: Sarah Blandy
  • Sichte Meister: Natalie Van Sistine
  • Liebea Palesch: Amanda Lee
  • Schwer-Muta Casasola Merkle: Rina Adachi
  • Raimund Seyfarth: Lucas Schuneman
  • Count Michael Zeppelin: Tristan MacAvery
  • Iris Zeppelin: Kira Buckland
  • Strudel: Jennifer Alyx
  • Doris Warmind: Sarah Wiedenheft
  • Pamela Arwig: Skyler Davenport
  • Burkhardt Maid: Amanda Berning
  • Eifer Skute: Sarah Wiedenheft
  • Schirach Fühler: Amber Lee Conners
  • Recht Refraktia: Sarah Blandy
  • Link Refraktia: Sarah Blandy
  • Kahl Palesch: David Hill, Jr.
If you get the chance, please be sure to thank our actors for agreeing to voice some of our favorite characters.  There are six actors who wished to lend their voices to this project, but ultimately could not due to forces outside their control.  To that end, I'd like to extend a very special thank you to Mr. Patrick Seitz, Mr. David Vincent, Ms. Brina Palencia, Ms. Wendee Lee, Ms. Petrea Burchard, and Ms. Cristina Valenzuela.  If circumstances permit, we'd love to have a chance to work with you in the future.

That said, we now have a favor to ask of you, the fans.  We've started a Prefundia page to generate word-of-mouth and help garner support for the official release of Rosenkreuzstilette and RKS Freudenstachel.  Please help us spread the word to as many people as you can, and prove to the video game industry that if they won't support the franchises we grew up loving, we'll just do it ourselves.

Friday, August 14, 2015

We're moving out.

What's this?  A new post?  Yes, indeedy.  And these are going to be getting more and more frequent until we've officially settled in at our new online home.  I won't promise a particular schedule, but I have a very good idea of what I'm going to post (and when) once we get the ball rolling.

These past few months have been incredibly busy for us, and with good reason.  The time isn't right for us to let everything out of the bag just yet, but something so incredibly awesome happened this past weekend that I simply can't keep to myself.

To set the scene, this past weekend was Otakuthon 2015.  This time around, we take full credit for the festivities having a surprise guest.

Now, on a good convention weekend, you might have the chance to meet one of your childhood idols and get a few autographs and/or photo ops.

On a great weekend, you might share a meal with said childhood idol and chat about everything that does on behind the scenes and what they've been doing since the gig that made them famous before moving onto more candid and heartfelt topics that give you a whole new insight into the kind of person that they are.

On a superb weekend, you might get said childhood idol to lend their voice to the pet project you've been trying to get off the ground for the past few years.

This weekend was not a good weekend.  It was not a great weekend.  It wasn't even a superb weekend.  These words are woefully inadequate to describe my version of August 7th through 9th.

How do you describe a weekend in which one of your childhood idols:
- drives all the way from Syracuse, New York, to your place in Canada
- records all of the lines for his character in your home studio, blowing away all expectations and teaching both the producer (you) and director a thing or two in the process
- pulls some strings with the convention staff at the last minute to ensure that you have an official presence at the event
- shares a meal with you not once or twice, but six times over the course of the weekend, with laughs and candor aplenty, plus a few well-deserved jabs
- chills with you on your couch, watching the remake of the title that made him famous (and it's his first time seeing it)
- opens his panel with the full story of the reason why he was a last-minute addition to the con's guest list (i.e.: you)
- follows that up by coming through on a four-year-old promise to publicly pimp your game
- continues the festivities by co-hosting a discussion on the title that made him famous, all the while underscoring your own mastery of the subject matter, putting even the English director of said work to shame
- gives you everything you need to officially close the book on a twenty-year-old mystery
- out-of-the-blue gives you a personalized copy of their (critically well-received) book
- returns home not as an actor or colleague, but as a friend, bear hugs and all
- admits that, from the beginning, he was planning to do all of the above for free, just because you asked.

To call this past weekend fan-fucking-tastic would still be an understatement.  I'm legitimately dumbstruck here.  I've seen actors give back to their fans before, but this?  I really don't know where to begin...

Thank you, Tristan, for going so far out of your way to do so much for us.  It was a pleasure to have you as a guest in our home, and an honor to host a semi-impromptu (if abridged) reprise of Understanding Evangelion with you, and a joy to chill and chat with you, talking about anything and everything for three days straight.  Thank you for making this fanboy's dreams come true.

Yes, this weekend was fucking awesome.  And the takeaway? Aim for the stars; you just might reach them.

Anyway, while I work the giddiness out of my system....

Commence Operation Schwesternschaft.

The curtain has risen.  Who can say what has yet to unfold...?