Anime Interview: Colleen Clinkenbeard on the Anime Industry's Growth and Female Empowerment

Women's History Month is almost over, but work continues well beyond this month for each woman in the world. For entertainers, many have found themselves in an uphill battle as they do their best to break into an industry that's all too often male-dominated. But after chatting with anime veteran Colleen Clinkenbeard, ComicBook is here to give actors an idea of how the industry is changing.

You can find our full discussion with Clinkenbeard below. And of course, you can find the actress over on Twitter here to get a behind-the-scenes look at her work.

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Question: First, thanks for taking the time to chat about Women's History Month and anime. It is hard to think of a more prolific talent in the anime industry stateside than yourself, Colleen! Can you explain how you first got into the industry and what you knew of anime then? 

Colleen Clinkenbeard: Oh, goodness. Thank YOU. I got into the industry around 2003 when my best friend (Laura Bailey of DBZ and Critical Role fame) pulled me into the studio to try to get me in the door, for which I am eternally grateful. I didn't know anything about anime at the time, it's not something I grew up watching or had any knowledge of, and my first experiences with anime were huddling together with Laura in our apartment, binge watching Fruits Basket and Kodocha.

Q: Did you face any challenges in your early career as a woman working in anime? How have you seen that shift over the years as anime has grown? As a woman covering anime journalism, I can only thank you and everyone else who has made the industry more accessible! 

Clinkenbeard: I had the immense good fortune to have Justin Cook as a mentor at Funimation. He is the person who gave me my first acting and directing roles, and has been a huge driver in furthering the female voice in Texas anime dubs. There was a definite feeling of breaking into a male-dominated industry because when I first started directing I was the only female director at Funimation (there had been one before me for a short stint, but none currently employed, and none with much consistency), so I got to kind of watch the studio come to terms with what that meant. Justin was fantastic as a Producer at ensuring that I was not immediately tied to all shojo anime while the male directors got to direct the more popular shonen and sci-fi shows. I was never constrained in that way, and I think it could easily have happened. But there were certainly new interpersonal relations that we all had to feel out as we grew together into a co-ed studio.

Q: When it comes to the roles you've done, the list goes on and on. One thing I find interesting amongst audiences who are unfamiliar with anime is how often women play male leads in anime. Obviously, you voice Luffy in One Piece and nail each line. Do you have to go into a different mindset when preparing to play Luffy as opposed to any women you've played? Has voicing Luffy ever presented you with a challenge because he's a boy? 

Clinkenbeard: It's interesting. Luffy is one of the "free-est" roles I play. When I drop into his voice and start dubbing an episode it feels very loose and uninhibited, and I rarely question my reads or choices. I'm not entirely sure if that's because of how long I've voiced him (in the beginning I did a lot of questioning myself) or if it's because he's a male character and therefore less restricted than a typical female character. Probably some mix of both. I long for the day when female characters with that sort of unrestrained, carefree nature are more prevalent as lead characters in anime.

Q: Shonen anime is hugely popular in the United States, but the medium has stories for everyone. Women have their voices and interests expressed in tons of shojo/josei series. Do you feel the anime does a better job catering to the demographic than, say, television stateside? How do you think the anime industry could do better? 

Clinkenbeard: I think in more recent years the studios creating anime have done a better job incorporating female voices in the shonen anime and allowing shojo series to appeal to all viewers. That should be the direction we're aiming for, I think. Not "Male anime" and "Female anime," but anime with different flavors for every palette. The one thing I'd like to see change even more is the treatment of female characters in anime of all genres. Female characters are too often driven by their desire to appeal to men or support men, and too infrequently by their own motives and storylines. They also tend to end up in the background, waiting to be rescued or fixed in some way. I'd like to see more strength in the female characters we see in anime so both girls and boys watching anime as they grow up can find things to admire in those characters, rather than looking to the male leads for inspiration. Obviously, there are exceptions to that rule!

Q: Obviously, you do tons of work on anime behind the scenes as an ADR Director and such. How has your experience been shifting between work in the recording booth to the soundboard? Would you say this side of the industry is also embracing female talent and growth? 

Clinkenbeard:I started directing as I entered my 16th episode of acting in anime. And I started writing as I entered my second series. I grew up in this industry doing all of the jobs at once, rather than spending years as an actor and then breaking into production slowly. So as a whole, I feel like my experience with the various production roles is fairly seamless. I don't differentiate very much. It's just a day in the life! I think the industry has embraced the feminine voice and female leadership with open arms over the last decade or so, and I've never felt much pushback as more and more women take on roles in production or become household names in dubbing. It's been less whole-hearted in the fandom, unfortunately. There are some holdouts in the anime fandom community who would like to keep anime a male-dominated genre, made by and for men. I find it's often the male voice actors/directors/producers/writers who push back and make way for the women they work with. We have some amazing advocates among our coworkers and castmates. Hopefully as that mindset grows it will start to flow into the social media consciousness and become a way of life, rather than a topic for debate.

Q: What is one of the most empowering things for women you've found in anime and/or its community? 

Clinkenbeard Female directors in media are absolutely what has shifted this tide the most. There's something about seeing a woman in charge of an IP you love that immediately forces you to respect her voice in a way you didn't have to if she was just one of the cast. The slowest aspect of change in the industry was in seeing women as a voice of authority: the idea that women can be experts in a field and established voices of knowledge about any given topic. That has taken some time, and I still see a lot of deferring to the male opinion as the definitive. Directors like Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Wendee Lee, and film directors like Katheryn Bigelow and Patty Jenkins have paved the way for change.

Q: Do you have a female role model in the anime industry? Whether it be a character or colleague? 

Clinkenbeard: Many! Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Luci Christian, Laura Bailey, and fictional characters like Hana in Wolf Children.

Q: If you could suggest some female anime characters to look up to, who would you pick? 

Clinkenbeard: Sailor Mars is still at the top of my list. Again, Hana in Wolf Children, Erza Scarlet in Fairy Tail, Tohru Honda in Fruits Basket, there are countless role models you can find, depending on what inspires you.

Q: And finally, do you have any advice for young women who are wanting to work in the anime industry? 

Clinkenbeard: Don't pigeonhole yourself by saying you want to work in the anime industry! If you want to be an actor, act in anything you can find to act in! If you want to be in production, look for PA roles in every avenue of media! If you want to create, create your own content and find places to share it and people to create with! We're all here to tell stories and help others get their stories told. There are hundreds of ways to be a part of that, either at Crunchyroll or elsewhere

Which role from Clinkenbeard is your favorite? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below!