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Answerman - Why Aren't There Japanese Voice Actor Bloopers?

I can think of one example of an original Japanese blooper: the recording booth segment from episode 2 of Pop Team Epic! (2nd half of the episode).

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Most actual dubbing screw-ups aren't all that amusing to listen to. Occasionally an actor gets tongue-tied and might mutter, "aah, ****, let me start again." A handful of actors who are really quick-witted might spin a screw-up into a funny one-liner or something. But at least 90% of most dub "blooper reels" are actually staged antics.

So long as I can continue to believe that voice actors are exactly like the characters they portray in real life, I am fine with this revelation.

I recall a past Answerman explaining that English releases don't have gag reels on disc anymore because the Japanese companies find them shameful and don't allow it. That why they only get shown at cons.

I imagine most good bloopers tend to occur during group va settings, likely more for American animation projects where they might pre dub before final animation to animatics and then tailor the animation to the performance of the actors, some whom might be hired specifically for being comedians and the director gives them room to play around for a funny scene and use the best/appropriate takes for the final. Given most American animation is largely comedic and CG, this likely makes it easier for bloopers to occur in the sound booth. Though most might just naturally come about from scripts with a more open dialogue approach allowing the actors to come up with off the cuff jokes on their own.

Ain't no shame in making mistakes. We're only human. However, considering the prices of anime sets, especially in Japan, one expects a work of art. Would you rather have good packaging and playback, or some thrown-together extras? Many western releases are stuck in the early-2000s with the latter model, although it might be justified when we don't have the promotional events Japan does where you get to actually see the VAs, as Justin said.

I think this approach - actually animating the characters goofing up, like what Pixar and Disney did for certain films - would be the best way to do outtakes for anime. Hearing voice actors flub a few lines is okay, but seeing the whole goof-up take place "on set", with characters falling out of character, is much funnier in a surreal sort of way, playing around with the show's sense of reality.
Of course, animating a full blooper reel is probably not an expense most projects can afford (or would want to?).

Also it only ever seemed like certain Anime Works/Media Blasters titles like Berserk, The Gokusen for instance had dub blooper reels on them.