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cl-shojo
Joined: 04 Sep 2011
Posts: 70
Location: New York
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 Posted: Wed May 25, 2016 2:13 pm
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I wish they would translate and post the other voice actresses interviews, especially Kikuko Inoue's. Although I've always felt Megumi Hayashibara was overrated (and that she was cast in Cowboy Bebop more because of her popularity at the time rather than because she was a perfect match for Faye), I respect her success and her knowledge of the industry. I've always loved the actors from the 90s seiyuu boom, and she's right that there's something about today's industry that leaves seiyuu easily replaced, whereas I still have a love for actors like Ai Orikasa and Ryutaro Okiayu.
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enurtsol
Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14766
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Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 5:44 am
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More info:
- Looking back, Hayashibara marks the 1990s as being a turning point for voice actors. Prior to that, the nature of their work kept them largely out of the public eye, but the ‘90s were the start of a boom in voice actress name recognition and fandom. This period saw an increasing number of magazine spreads filled with glossy photos of voice actresses, something Hayashibara at first felt puzzled and apprehensive about. “What’s going to happen when people see how different their faces are from the characters they’re voicing?” she remembers wondering.
But once Hayashibara saw how photogenic the featured voice actresses were, the logic clicked for her. Stemming from their newfound fame as individuals, the distinction between voice actress and character began to blur, a path that would eventually lead to the current state of affairs in which anime’s top voice actresses are also expected to make live appearances where they sing, dance, and communicate with fans. Hayashibara’s career itself could be seen as an early prototype of this style
However, this increased focus on the performer’s persona carries the risk of lessening the importance of his or her acting capabilities in terms of being chosen for roles. In her interview, Hayashibara expresses a fear that voice acting, which she used to believe was a long-term career, now includes elements for which a performer will only be considered “in-season” for so long. It seems like a valid concern, After all, if people are lining up to buy anime Blu-rays and CDs because they think the fresh-faced young voice actresses are pretty, will they still feel the same way in five, ten, or twenty years, especially if new waves of perky young replacements are coming in all the time?
Hayashibara doesn’t appear to have much faith in production agency’s sticking with talent once that shelf life is up, either, saying: “Because of the fast pace of the industry, it’s common to fill voice actors schedules with as much work as possible, get them up on stage, and build up all the buzz you can. That’ll make you feel like you’re an absolutely essential individual, but in just three years all that could change. I don’t want companies to go chasing after small yet quick and easy, profits, but they don’t really have any intention of developing voice actors long-term.”
Still, Hayashibara doesn’t ultimately judge such practices as good or bad. Instead, she views the increasingly rapid changeover of one generation of voice actors to the next as merely the inevitable result of companies frantically searching for the next smash hit series or mega-star performer.
Short-term profits over long-term goals
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leafy sea dragon
Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
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Posted: Fri May 27, 2016 1:36 pm
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And to a smaller extent, looks over talent. Sounds like they'll only hire a voice actress in Japan if she's good-looking.
It happens in other countries too, to some extent, but at least you got stuff like the English voice of Naruto being a middle-aged woman who looks like she could be a math teacher or bakes apple pies.
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omoikane
Joined: 03 Oct 2005
Posts: 494
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 3:41 pm
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| cl-shojo wrote: | | I wish they would translate and post the other voice actresses interviews, especially Kikuko Inoue's. Although I've always felt Megumi Hayashibara was overrated (and that she was cast in Cowboy Bebop more because of her popularity at the time rather than because she was a perfect match for Faye), I respect her success and her knowledge of the industry. I've always loved the actors from the 90s seiyuu boom, and she's right that there's something about today's industry that leaves seiyuu easily replaced, whereas I still have a love for actors like Ai Orikasa and Ryutaro Okiayu. |
Frankly to understand everything what Hayashibara is saying you also need to be aware of what the (voice acting and overall) industry was like then and now, and how the otaku boom in Japan changed things. A lot of the stuff she was saying makes sense in that context, but just as a source of opinion I feel she's as biased as anybody given her style and the type of work she does.
https://seiyuuplus.wordpress.com/2016/05/26/seiyuu-premium-1-hayashibara-megumi/ has a full translation, good seiyuu info site too, if you read all the back translations.
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