Some Facts about Seiyuu

Hello, come back again to my post about Japan. Today my writing is about one of the famous professions in Japan “Seiyu”. So if  you want to know let’s read this blog ^^

Seiyuu or called by the voice actor, is one of the professions that cannot be separated from the entertainment industry in Japan. Yup, from anime to games, Seiyuu always plays an important role to give "life" to characters, both 2D and 3D that appear in the entertainment media. A Seiyuu often sings his own songs from the anime he plays. Some of them released albums as J-pop singers, became radio broadcasters, or drama actors on stage. So these are some facts about Seiyuu:

1.      Education

In Japan, who want to become seiyuu can take courses in drama majors held by colleges, universities, or vocational schools (senmon gakkō). In accredited formal education institutions, the length of education is at least more than one year (at least 800 hours of study). One generation of Seiyuu in the academy or vocational school is required to have a minimum of 40 students. Curriculum in vocational schools is more general, ranging from the basics of acting to practice. Not only in vocational schools with special voice casts, seiyuu candidates can also study in the seiyuu department of general vocational schools which also educate narrators, broadcasters, electronic media staff, and anime production staff.

2.      Job

While playing anime, the seiyuu must be able to portray characters of various ages, men or women, babies, children, elderly people, to animal sounds and machines. The voice of a male character (especially if the character is young) is often filled by female seiyuu. Conversely, the voice of women's roles is almost never filled with men.

 The process of charging anime is called afureko (after recording). Dialogs are recorded while viewing conversation characters on the screen. But now, seiyuu often have to record sounds in front of a blank screen or sketch images from the anime being produced. This process is called puresuko (pre-scoring). Seiyuu appropriates the dialogue to follow the actor's lips on the screen. Records for a two-hour story film usually take about 7 to 8 hours. In contrast to anime or film, the sound recordings of video game characters are recorded sequentially according to the course of the game. A seiyuu even has to fill a voice of his own without the presence of an opponent in dialogue

3.      Salary

Yep, that's a fact that exists in the Japanese entertainment industry. Seiyuu is one of the highest-paying people in a work. Seiyuu's income every year is very large, it can even close to Rp1 billion. Much bigger than animators, who in fact have the lowest income in an animation work. If Seiyuu pocketed a salary of up to hundreds of millions of rupiah in a year, voice cast in Indonesia on the contrary. They are only paid a little, even lower than the salaries of the animators. Except, the voice actor is also an actor who already has a big name from the films he has starred in.

4.      How Seiyuu is treated by Japanese people?

If in Japan Seiyuu is revered like a celebrity, it is often the "selling point" of a work, so it is not in Indonesia. Not many voice actors are known in Indonesia. In fact, perhaps the voice in Indonesia is only considered as a "complement", so that the characters can speak out and bring the story. In fact, sometimes voice actor in Indonesia also as actors, or actors who are "borrowed" only to fill the voice. Unlike Japan, which is where Seiyuu has become a major profession, so they don’t need to be an actor too.

5.      Media Exposes

Seiyuu gained a lot of support and was exposed to the media. For those who like watching anime or playing Japanese games, you must know names like Daisuke Namikawa (Prison School), Yoshimaya Hosoya (Haikyuu) And Mamoru Miyano (One Punch Man). This makes Seiyuu better known than the animator.

Keep reading my blog on every week to have a new information and knowledge. Thanks 😊