Square Enix’s new action-RPG Forspoken takes a lot of inspiration from Isekai anime, but one area where the game differs from that anime genre is with its protagonist Alfre “Frey” Holland. A cynical New Yorker and orphan who was bounced around foster homes, Frey’s arrival in the fantasy land of Athia has been a running joke online, with many out-of-context examples of her interactions giving the game a somewhat cringey atmosphere. Frey’s voice actress Ella Balinska has seen all the discourse circulating online, and she’s not bothered by it, having instead embraced the varying reactions to her spell-slinger.
“There are things that we all do that might be eyebrow-raising to other people,” Balinska said to The Verge. “I think people always have a positive or negative response to something they’re not used to seeing, and that’s completely okay because that’s the way we incite change.”
Balinska added that she thinks of her eight-year-old self when she talks of projects that she’s proud of doing, and the idea of playing a game in which she’s essentially the main character, has left her speechless. “I just never would have thought me playing games downstairs with my mom’s hairdresser’s son while she was getting her hair done,” Balinska said. “Now, to think that he can pick up this game and play as me, it’s just unbelievable. And I hope it inspires other people to realize that if you commit to the bit hard enough, something really crazy can happen.”
