Forum - View topicHow Many Black Guests Are There at Anime Conventions?
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fuuma_monou
 Posts: 1817 Location: Quezon City, Philippines |
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ISTR that English dub voice actors are some of the most popular guests at North American anime cons. |
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AzureWaterDragon
Posts: 5 |
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They're generally the most popular of the "Western" guests, but they tend to pale in comparison to any noteworthy Japanese Seiyuu. Having said that, they're more common because they're easier to book, and more versatile (they can lead a panel, do a Q&A, whereas many Japanese guests are restricted by language ability) |
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Cutiebunny
 Posts: 1747 |
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Depends on where the convention is in the US. My experience has been that, at West Coast conventions, only the most well known US VAs are popular. For the most part, US VAs are ignored in lieu of Japanese guests. The only ones that ever seem to draw a crowd at conventions like AX were people like Vic. That man always had a crowd. I remember when Akemi Takada visited many years ago that she was enraged that he had such a huge line while no one was lining up for her...staff had to go find people willing to stand in her line. On the East Coast, particularly in the South, US VAs are far more popular. I recall the year that Animazement brought in both the Japanese and US voice actors. Consistently, the US VAs always had the most people waiting for them and it seemed like the only people waiting for the Japanese seiyuu either were doing it because they thought it would be a nifty souvenir to have the Japanese guests also sign their prized DVD set. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18185 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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I can only speak on Midwestern 'cons on this, but at the ones I have attended, both Japanese and English guests get healthy draws. Japanese guests may get a bit more, but how much less commonly you see them at North American 'cons is a big factor there; a seiyuu, director, or singer who may only be making one American appearance the whole year will often get more concentrated attention than most popular American artists who might hit several 'cons over the course of a year. For instance, I'll always remember when Kalafina came to Anime Central a few years back. Demand was so high for their performance that they had to move their show to a nearby concert venue. But IIRC that was either their first time performing in the States or their first time in years. As a general thought about the article this thread is responding to, I have to think that the dearth of ethnic roles in anime titles is also a big contributing factor to the problem. I wouldn't be surprised if a thorough examination of 2019 titles showed that Carole & Tuesday had as many or more black/multiethnic characters with speaking roles than all of the other 2019 titles combined. |
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TexZero
Posts: 583 |
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This was largely the conclusion i arrived at as well. Doing so led me to further ask why and i think it's a complex topic that stems from years of a fragmented Dub community where in friends get friends jobs and that many people of color don't go into the arts field specifically acting/voice acting due to cultural stigma's or being forced to play roles that are demeaning or insulting. Edit: Furthermore the US dub industry as a whole puts the spotlight on the total product and less so the individual pieces. It's kinda got the opposite approach hollywood does. Where hollywood markets the actors, anime tends to want to highlight the story. |
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Freyanne
 Posts: 216 |
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Which is why I'm both confused and amused whenever I'd come across anime fans who state how much they dislike dub VAs, "JPN VA are so much better", ect, ....but they get very excited when they find out [insert dub voice actor/actress here] is going to be at a nearby convention, and try to be first ones in line to meet the dub VA, get their autograph, ect. Quite a few of my IRL friends were like this, heh. On a related note, San Japan is pretty much the main con I go to each year, and usually within a week or two after the con ends, they always put up a "Who do you want as a guest for next year?" post in their Facebook group. Excluding the requests of [insert mega popular YouTube/Twitch streamer and or group here], the US VAs are definitely the most requested guests I would see in that post. As far as JPN guests go, they don't request the JPN VAs nearly as much by comparison, even less for the ones that worked on the actual anime/manga itself (director, writer, creator, ect). and I'm more likely to come across someone requesting a J-Pop or J-Rock group. |
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Iron Maw
Posts: 489 |
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While don't quite agree with your first 2 paragraphs since I think there is more nuance there, everything else is spot with my view. I don't think the exclusion is intentional or voluntary at all if based notoriety. Its a depressingly sound reasoning brought about the industry overall failures to cultivate and seek more black talent in production positions.The lack of black characters in anime in general certainly doesn't help. Conventions who live and die on who they book can only do so much to address it. Its ultimately up anime localization companies to highlight these talents by giving these people more visible roles. Its only when that starts shifting can we see a stronger spillover effect into the convention scene. Now I'm not saying they still shouldn't try, but there does seems to a tightrope organizers have to walk. Otherwise I feel like it reflecting the industry trends as whole. Things do seem like they are getting better with more POC being part of process at these events tho. |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14761 |
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As been mentioned in that other thread, black talents tend to gravitate more towards their local industries due to representation. That shrinks the available talent pool, and only the top few become popular enough to be well-known.
In the early days of anime cons, that was certainly the case. But has since then been reversing. The reasons are simple enough: it's cheaper, easier to contact/book/fit into their work schedule/fly/get visa, and attract a local talent to your little corner of the world than a foreigner from halfway around the globe. Even small cons (of which there are many more than the large cons) can manage For every foreign guest a con invites, there's usually triple the local guests they also invite that could fit into their budgets and resources. And then it becomes a self-perpetuating circular motion - the more local guests get invited, the more of their fans go to the cons. The more of their fans go to the cons, the more the local guests get invited. Not to mention that local guests tend to interact with their local fans more frequently thru social media, than a foreign guest would. That acts as a promotion that attracts even more of their fans to the cons. Foreign guests tend to be always just the rare top ones - after all, if a con is going to all that trouble, might as well go for the very best. And since they're the best and that it may be the only time one may ever meet such a foreign guest in their lifetime, it becomes a priority for many fans, especially those who don't usually go to cons. So they get and deserve special promotion |
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Яeverse
 Posts: 1140 Location: Indianapolis |
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Those numbers are pretty sad, but not uncommon that people dont realize such a problem exists until you look back at your guest lineup and go "Oh noes, why are we not really diverse"
In the larger context, this is what happens on hiring committees and the like. I feel people at some colleges and universities may have seen things like this with new professor seminars for hires and going at the end "well none of these positions had a single black candidate, how strange" Hope con-organizers pay attention and make changes |
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5823 Location: Virginia, United States |
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Perhaps, ANN's contributors could write, who exactly they would like to see as regular con guests, and who's panels they would like to attend at a convention. In the spirit of the topic.
Personally, there are only four Japanese guests that I would attend a convention specifically for. Masamune Shirow, Kenichi Sonoda, Johji Manabe, and Gen Urobuchi. Not really much of a VA person. |
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Яeverse
Posts: 1140 Location: Indianapolis |
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Colorblind/Culture blind Discredits the contributions, perspectives, and experiences people of different upbringings have experienced. For humanity to do as you say-we wouldn't have anime/manga/light novels of some of the more interesting experiences of same-sex/trans sex relations, stories focused on older adults, coming-of age stories, stories featuring indigenous peoples in JPN, appreciation of jazz and other musics, stories showing people from war-torn areas, so on and so forth. Ones station in life as it comes to race/religion/gender/orientation/disability affects ones way of thinking, outlook on society, and ways they deal with situations. It is the beauty of storytelling that gives outsiders a view into these peoples experiences. Rather than humanity being colorblind and ignoring these aspects to people, they need to be appreciated. For the article at hand, it seems strange for people to have such extreme response, when just 1% of invited guests are BIPOC Is it truly that hard to say, "oh it is just 1%, let us hope that we can increase the percentage in the coming years" I for one would love to have guests there say -What it is like being a BIPOC as an animator/etc in JPN -What is it like having your BIPOC music in an anime -Is the representation of your BIPOC heritage portrayed in anime well |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 2944 Location: Email for assistance only |
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Any of these folks would be great. http://4NN.cx/.159958 |
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AzureWaterDragon
Posts: 5 |
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Those are literally all dubbers. Half the otaku fandom wouldn't walk across the street to see any English language dubber. For the other half that would, by all means get the people on this list into as many con schedules as possible. But even if you fill every English VA guest slot with a black person, voice actors are only a small part of the guest lineup. The fact remains that the overwhelming majority of people who work in the anime industry are Japanese. No amount of political correctness can erase this fact. |
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor
Posts: 2944 Location: Email for assistance only |
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JFC "political correctness" has nothing to do with it. I've sat in a ton of panel rooms as part of my job for the last 10 years. This might be news to you but regardless of the "sub vs dub" debate that rages on the internet, English VAs fill panel rooms. Japanese guests typically don't.
Myself and other industry folks that cover these events have lamented this for awhile. Not because the English VAs don't deserve an audience but unless you're Studio Trigger and filling one of the biggest rooms at AX OR there's a prominent anime franchise screening attached to the panel, Japanese panel rooms are usually very far from full. This is not the 50/50 split you're making it out to be, and that's frankly incredibly uniformed about the realities of what guests and content are draws at North American conventions. The list of Black VAs I listed above was to prove a point: there are a ton of Black people working in this industry with roles just as notable as their non-Black counterparts but they are not on convention guest lists and are not getting the same marketing attention for their notable roles. |
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Kougeru
 Posts: 5527 |
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What cons have you been going to? Midwest, Eastcoast, and a lot of Northern Westcoast conventions barely have JP guests to begin with from what I've seen. And when they do is often seiyuu that haven't had a big role in nearly a decade. So there's probably a lot of factors as to why they don't fill rooms more than just "people like English VAs more" (Which is factually untrue with the most hardcore anime fans - the type that are more likely to pay money for these panels) At major cons like AX and others around the world, especially in Asia, JP guests are all that matter |
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