Tekko 2022 is finally over. Despite a chaotic weekend, it was nice to meet new people while reuniting with old friends. Sadly, during the convention, we were unable to interview the special guest voice actors; however, because of that, we were reminded of one special guest at Ohayocon whose interview we forgot to share with you. Yes, they may not be a name recognized voice actor, but they have been working in the industry for years. We’d like to introduce you to Emily DeJesus.
Introduction
Emily – Hi, I’m Emily DeJesus from Studio Capsule. We are an independent studio that makes art animations. We do video game design and I also helped with Ohayocon.
Matt – So you said you work with animation. Have you gotten to voice act before?
Emily – Actually, we’ve been primarily artists and we do like little independent animations and we’ve done a little bit of voice acting. But when we’re on the con circuit you meet a lot of voice actors. So I’ve been to ADB, when it was called ADB, and now it’s Sentai Filmworks; they let us do WaWA inside the booth and it was a lot of fun and really cool. It’s a neat perspective to see something else like that, since we’re on the art side.
Getting Started
Matt – So what originally got you into animation?
Emily – I always wanted to be in comics when I was a kid; I always loved Speed Racer. So I wanted to be Chim-Chim or Fujiko from Lupin III. I never thought I could be in comics and then I met my business partner, Robert, at a show and we clicked and we started our company. We were married and now we’re divorced, but we’re still friends. So he taught me a lot. I knew about design and some art. We took our money from when got married and started our company.
Matt – Is he one of the Robs in the pop culture sphere or just named Robert?
Emily – Oh, it’s Robert DeJesus. He is one of the first Latinos to do manga and anime in the US and to be recognized for it by the Japanese. He’s won the Tezuka Award and he was out there, Adam Warren. Like, when nobody was doing anime, Robert started doing anime. He’s worked for Marvel and PlayStation, and Way Forward, which does video games for Nintendo DS.
Matt – I know of them.
What is one character you’d like to voice?
Matt – So if you were going to do voice acting, other than Wawa, what is one role you’d like to do?
Emily – Oh! I would like to do….that’s a good one. Out of all the animes… (Pondering)
Matt – It could even be a cartoon or you know how the webcomics are getting dubbed now?
Emily – Yes. Yes. Yes, I would like to be…That’s such a good question. I will say this right now, it’s a hard question. I will say, Speed Racer. I love Speed Racer. He was my favorite. I actually met Peter Fernandez, who voiced Speed Racer, and when I met him at a show in Atlanta and heard his voice and it was like listening to Speed Racer. I was introduced to him, and he goes “Hi. I’m Peter Fernandez”, and I said, sir, you don’t have to tell me who you are. I know who you are and he’s like it’s very nice to meet you. And oh, yeah, that’s who I’d be.
Who is someone in the industry that you look up to?
Matt – Who’s one person in the industry that you look up to? And it can’t be Robert.
Emily – I think Monica Rial, she’s a boss. She’s a really good lady. She knows her stuff. She has commanded her own ship for a long time. She’s very talented, very sweet, and she knows adversity, and she’s a powerful lady. That’s who I’d like to be.
Matt – So a quick funny story. You know that game Cards Against Humanity, obviously. She and Caitlin Glass were hosting a panel for it and you know Ouran Highschool Host Club, we played a card involving the twins and something very raunchy. So she died of laughing.
Emily – That’s awesome. She’s a wonderful lady. She’s one of my best friends actually.
Matt – I appreciate her a lot.
Obscure Fact
Matt – Can you provide us with a random obscure fact about you that no one else would know?
Emily – I played Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I also found out that Greg Ayers also played Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And I did the movie one, where we did it in the theater, and but he did the stage one where he did it in like a real theater, you know, and yep. I played Frank-N-Furter, that was my first thing into like art and kind of like, find out who I am and kind of be on stage and stuff like that.
Matt – It still takes courage and comfort to do that!
Emily – And I was trying out for Columbia. I didn’t even want that part, but the lady loved how my face was and how my facials were and I learned a lot.
Recreational Activities
Matt – Favorite recreational activities?
Emily – Drinking. No just kidding. (Laughing)
Matt – I mean… within moderation.
Emily – I play a lot of video games. I have a little boy, he’s 11, so we’re very active and his dad’s an artist, so I try to draw with him a lot. And reading, I love reading. Manga is my favorite, manga beats comic books to me and I like both, but manga always wins.
Favorite Game
Matt – What is your favorite video game franchise?
Emily – Oh, The Legend of Zelda is my favorite.
Matt – Which one?
Emily – The first one. The first one is classic.
Matt – Is that the NES one?
Emily – Yeah! Because like I was a little kid and it was funny that we would have to replay that game all the time. Because it would die right at the end right when we got to the boss. But Breath of the Wild, that’s a good one. I just started that one. I’m behind.
Who would you like to work with?
Matt – So you said working with the studio you get to work with different voice actors? Who is one you would like to work with that you haven’t got to?
Emily – Well, our studio is like really tiny. So if we could do a project with someone, I would like to do it with Michael Sinterniklaas. He’s the sweetest person ever.
Matt – Is he the one dating Tatum?
Emily – No, no, Michael Sinterniklaas is Dean Venture, from Venture Brothers. That’s Brandon. But yeah, our studio is so tiny that we do, like little shorts and animations. We do like Ricky and Tabby from Studio Tabby Cat. They had a little comic that we animated. And we did the rest for that, those are cats being out in outer space.
Cats or Dogs
Matt – Cats or dogs?
Emily – Dogs.
Favorite Pokemon
Matt – Who’s your favorite starter Pokemon? And you can say your sons.
Emily – I don’t know. I guess I’m just a Pikachu fan. I like the classic. I like, I’m old I guess, I’m showing my age.
Matt – It was the yellow starter.
Emily- Yeah. He’s just so endearing and adorable.
Matt – Is that your overall favorite Pokemon?
Emily – I think, I think so. I think he is. Classic. I mean, it’s that classic Ash and Pikachu bond.
Matt – Did you get to read the Pokemon manga?
Emily – No, I didn’t know of that.
Matt – They have the main trainer Red, who also has a Pikachu but their adventure is a bit different than Ash’s.
Emily – I actually have to look that up. I’ll have to look that up for my kiddo.
Animal Crossing
Matt – Who is your favorite Animal Crossing villager? I’m guessing you’ve played some Animal Crossing.
Emily – Oh that, oh, I don’t know. That’s a good question. Isn’t Pearl the little cat, one of the cats? She’s like the sassy little white cat and she always disses you. Ever seen that one? She’s in my village right now. She makes me kinda angry.
Cohost – My cat is Cat. Her name is Katt. She’s the sister type. She was one of my first. So you start with a jock and you start with a sister type. So I got her. She’s pretty cool. That’s cool. I like cats. I want to own an all cat Island. I think.
Emily – Oh, I know some people try to do that.
Matt – Just not the Egyptian one.
Emily – That one’s mean!
Matt – Well, we’ll talk about that off-camera. I can’t get the memes out of my head.
Favorite Con Experience
Matt – Favorite con experience? I know the roasts are some of your favorite.
Emily – Yes. Those are fun.
Matt – I remember the Tatum one, and I think the Aaron one.
Emily – I think. Yeah, Tatum’s was really good. I think. Oh, well, my favorite con experience was when I met Jonah Vasquez at Anime Central. Ricky of Ricky and Tabby is Ricky Simons, who is also the voice of Gir in Invaders Zim. Jonah was living in Chicago. He decided to leave LA for a little while and lived in Chicago, and we were there for Anime Central and I got to meet him there. That was pretty cool. He is a really neat creator and a really neat artist.
Matt – I think we had Zim and Gir here the one year.
Emily – Yes. Yes. I brought Richard out and we brought Ricky out. Ricky’s one of our really good friends. Very sweet. Always very kind.
Favorite Voice Actor
Matt – So outside of Monica, who’s your favorite voice actor? It can’t be Justin.
Emily – and Justin. That’s what makes me laugh. Some hard questions. I feel like this is a test.
Matt -That’s the point we want something outside the box.
Emily – Um, I think Caitlyn Glass. She’s really nice. I met her mom before at shows because we used to do like 45 conventions in a year. So out of 52 weeks in a year, that’s one like almost every week and I like Caitlin Glass and her mom and she had just started. Her husband’s really sweet and that whole family is just really nice people.
Socials
Matt – That’s all the questions I have for you today. Are there any socials you want to plug?
Emily – Uh, no. I’m really tired.
Matt – Or you could say a website.
Emily – Oh! The Art of Robert DeJesus on Facebook; that is our page where we’re kind of doing art right now. And on Twitter, it’s Bond Chan or Robert DeJesus and you can find them there.
We want to thank Emily DeJesus for her time. Also, we want to apologize to her that this interview fell to the wayside. We look forward to seeing her at next years Ohayocon. Check out additional interviews by clicking this link, Interviews.
