Rachael Lillis

Rachael Lillis, the former American voice of Misty from the Pokemon Anime series, has just died this week at only 55. Cartoon-nostalgia fan and a good friend of mine Stéphane Dumas has made a simple drawing tribute to her passing. The fanart was using on this blog with his own permission.

Apart of the said character, Lillis seems to appear at the right place and the right time on what was otherwise the latest animated phenomenon in history. (Laurent Faust's My Little Pony, eat your heart out!)

I haven't seen the classic series for a good twenty years. But back to my awkward world of adolescence, Pokemon was a unique challenge. The show's was okay, but not so the craze that was literally about. It do took me around one-two years after all the whole thing put out of my mind. Misty in particular, was easily the one character whom I got a soft spot with. And reason why I watched the original Anime at first place.

Lillis given her such of a very serviceable performance through her short-lasting career. For such of a very short-tempered pre-teen girl, the voice-actress never make her like a mere trope. She given many distinctive personality that made her original enough (Such a feat for an antagonist character) by switch her lots of moods from compassionnate to over-the-top although that she didn't made the original Misty's voice. Younger people who are 25 to 40 today who, at young, watched the original series back it was new may noticing how far removed the character was when she started to make screentime cameos on the later, modern-day seasons, Pre-Horizons time. But why get rid of her if it's just for returning in the show as she never grow up herself?

Unfortunately, voice-actors and actresses like Lillis, whom with such form of appeal and sense of spelling are now a rare thing. Troubled by the Artificial Intelligence (It's "AI" for short) which it stealing effortlessly their jobs (and also, voices) and could easily mimic human voices without an actual human being voicing the characters or actors we seen in screen. Already, the job of dubbing voices are not the most respected in all the industry, the inclusion of "AI" tools only made much worse the future of dubbing characters voices, notably those who worked out on Anime for a living.

My condoleances for Rachael and her family. She may not have the same cult-status as June Foray or Bea Benaderet (The original voice of Betty Rubble) whom have mostly started their careers by radio, but for classic Pokemon fans, she is mostly one of the key people who carrying the horrid 4kids alterations of the Anime at the height of its career. (And sure, some foreign fans would be disagree) And to say nothing that Misty's companion boy Ash was actually voiced... by another female voice-actress as well! (Veronica Taylor at its heydays) 

For us, at nostalgic fans, a moment of silence is well deserved.