This week The Dot and Line is looking back at Trigun. Check out our retrospective essay on the show and read our interview with Vash the Stampede’s voice actor Johnny Yong Bosch after you digest this conversation with Dorothy Elias-Fahn, who played Meryl Stryfe.
The Dot and Line: Your role as Meryl Stryfe is one of your most well-known among many in your career. At the same time, some fans see Meryl as a you-love-her-or-you-hate-her character. How do you feel about Meryl these days?
Dorothy Elias-Fahn: Well, first off — I love Meryl! She’s very good at her job and takes pride in a job well done. However, she can also be a teensy bit ditsy now and then, which is something that she’s not proud of — and out of embarrassment can react even slightly wackier! And I love this about her — she kind of wears her emotions on her sleeve, but deep down, wishes she was better able to control that. I also enjoyed how her attitude towards Vash changed throughout the series — I don’t think she was ever actually “in love” with him, even when it was clear she was trying to sort out her feelings. But I do think she ended up with a deep affection and respect for him.
Can you describe the recording process for Trigun? Was it in any way different from other roles you’d had up to that point?
It was, and is, the same as 99% of all recording for anime: the actors don’t record all together in a big room on multiple mics like in original animation. When you dub anime into English, it’s just you alone in the booth, with a mic, a script and the Japanese version on the monitor, and you can see the director and engineer through a glass window, and hear the director and the “three beeps” in your headphones. It’s so lonely! :)~ You get used to it though. If you’re lucky, the actor who’s character is in the scene with you has already recorded, so you have their performance to act with. If you’re the first one to record your role in the scene, you and the director set the tone for all the other actors in that scene to play off of.
You had been doing voice work for anime dubs for several years prior to playing Meryl. Were you aware of Trigun or a fan of the series before becoming involved? Did you ever meet its creators or your Japanese counterparts?
I knew absolutely nothing! I had been working a lot at a studio called Magnitude 8, which sadly just closed about a year ago. I didn’t even audition for Meryl — they knew my voice and thought I’d be right to play her. (Yay!) I had never heard of Trigun! Never met any of the Japanese voice actors, but it would’ve been fun!
Did your work on Trigun lead to lasting relationships with any of the other cast members?
Actually, yes — we still see Jeff Nimoy who played Wolfwood, usually to go out to lunch or something. And we’ve also kept in touch with Lia Sargent, who played Millie, and directed, although we don’t get to see her very often. Interestingly, I don’t think I actually met Johnny Yong Bosch until several years after we wrapped recording! Which is pretty common since, unless your session runs right up to the next actor’s session, you may never see each other! We got to work together on an original, multi-mic project recently, so that was pretty fun!
Meryl plays an interesting part in Trigun; she takes turns as something of a mother-figure to Vash, or sometimes as a nuisance, while at others she’s just as goofy as he is. Were there specific choices you made to tease out her many facets? Do you see any similarities with others you’ve played, such as Kamiya Kaoru in Rurouni Kenshin?
At times she was somewhat like Kaoru, but Meryl’s relationship didn’t go quite the way Kaoru and Kenshin’s did. And the thing about making choices is that with anime there’s a lot less freedom than original animation. Since the character is already animated, you have to make your performance conform logically with what’s on the screen. So it’s more challenging to “make it your own” while staying true to the characters’ onscreen performance. I relish that challenge! And I especially like it when you have to go from serious, to your wacky place out of the blue!
What was your favorite line to read, or the line that resonated most with you?
I gotta say, I can’t remember specific lines after all these years — but I do remember a quiet little scene with Meryl and Vash where he’s sitting on a hill, singing a little song. And Meryl joins him, finishing the song. And it’s just a lovely little scene they have under the stars! …Also “love and peace” and the donuts! 😉
Like many anime, Trigun has a large cast of characters, including those that appear only once or twice. Do you have a personal favorite, aside from Meryl?
Yes, there were many, many one-time/few-times roles — none of which I remember specifically. (Twenty years!) But so many amazing VO peeps were on it, including Steve Blum, Bryce Pappenbrook, Sandy Fox — the list goes on and on! Even my hubby Tom Fahn (the voice of Agumon in Digimon!) was on it once or twice! And again, going back to the solitary actor in the booth — you only hear the other actors in your scene. Someone might have an awesome scene in a different part of the episode that you don’t know because you only hear the scenes your character is in!
Meryl defends Vash on multiple occasions throughout the series, and her feelings about him change over time. What do you think drove Meryl to follow Vash around in the desert?
I think part of her fascination with Vash was that she didn’t quite know what to make of him. He didn’t fit in one specific cubbyhole, and had more layers and depth than she expected. And I think that fascination led her to question herself, and what exactly her feelings were for him. Her quest to figure him out and figure out her emotions were, I think, a large part of why she followed him.
Meryl and Millie are nearly inseparable and behave almost like sisters, with Meryl usually taking on the “big sister” role. Do you have siblings? Was their dynamic in Trigun at all relatable to your own experiences?
My own sister was much older than me and was already out of the house when I was very little. But I had some close friendships in school that were very Meryl/Millie-ish. And being a person of diminutive stature, most of my best friends growing up towered over me like Millie!
By the way, I don’t know if you know this, but Lia Sargent is a very petite gal, so I thought it was fantastic that she’d be playing big Millie — with that cute little voice!
Do fans contact you often about Meryl, and what’s the best piece of mail you’ve received?
I don’t get a ton of fan mail, mainly because until the last couple years I didn’t have a website — I know, get with the program! But I do get a good amount of Trigun stuff to autograph at conventions. It was really cool at one convention a guy was cosplaying as Vash, and he had me sign his red coat — awesome!
Finally, what are you up to currently? What do you want fans to know about projects you’re involved in now, and how can they best learn about your work?
Well, as always, there’s a bunch of stuff I can’t specifically talk about, but I’m in a game that’s coming out late summer or early fall that I’m really looking forward to! And a second season of a show that I didn’t think would get a second season! And, let’s see — my teacher character Miss Bustier from Miraculous Ladybug recently had an episode all about her, that was fun!
You can follow Dorothy Elias-Fahn on Instagram and Twitter.
You can follow Wyatt Erchak on Instagram.
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