Forum - View topicYou ever watch a show mostly for seiyuus/voice actors?
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Darksorrow29
Posts: 412 Location: United States |
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For me when it comes down to deciding what show to watch, one big bonus for me is if it includes seiyuus I like. Ever since I started watching anime a lot and using ANN encyc I've started to recognize and like certain seiyuus, it's pretty much the samething as liking actors in hollywood.
I'm sure most of you all have several criteria for picking a show, but for me this interest has even gotten me to try a show that I may know little about or never even heard of, simply because of who is in it. Usually though in my experience the seiyuus are what I call the "deal sealer". If I'm interested and it has voices I know? Heck i'll give it a try. So the question for all of you is, have you ever been influenced much to watch a show for a seiyuu or dub voice actor? . Do you have any instances where it worked out? How about when it has back fired? My experiences: Working out- Several years ago I was really into Romi Paku and Kugimiya Rie from Full Metal Alchemist. This interest really helped me get into and discover more about shows like NANA, Samurai 7, Familiar of Zero / Shana/ Hayate no Gotoku, and Toradora. -EDIT- Natsume Yujinchou - This series caught my eye because Hiroshi Kamiya won male Seiyuu awards for this. Besides that I've never really heard anyone talk about this, although I've seen season 2 listed in the ANN's top 50 anime. Excellent series. Trying new stuff - After watching Nodame Cantabile I got really into Ayako Kawasumi... ironic because I've been listening to her forever. This notion alone has made me try a show like Piano. In my honest opinion the plot of the show sounds pretty dry... but after knowing the lead voice and the fact that she plays piano in real life for the show made me give it a try. Hilarious Results - Queen's Blade. Yes this one is pretty funny. I will admit somewhere in my heart I have a special place for this kind of genre, kind of like a guilty pleasure. Of course just looking at who was making it and seeing what it was about, it wasn't too hard to see what this show would be like. But what really sealed the deal for me were the seiyuus. Ayako Kawasumi, Kugimiya Rie, and Mamiko Noto really sealed the deal. It's interesting it seems like shows of this genre do not seem to have a hard time getting good voices. Freezing is a good example as well. Not so much - Fairy Tail. Here's an example where my interest was peaked due to the seiyuus. Simon from Gurren Lagann, Hirano Aya, Kugimiya Rie in a shonen anime? Sounds great. Unfortunately for me the quality and story of Fairy Tail at the time had me putting this show on hold indefinitely. Voices can't always save a show. Utter Backfires - Akane-Iro ni Somaru Saka - Hirano Aya AND Kugimiya Rie in a romance/comedy show? How could this go wrong? This show is probably one of the worst back fires i've had. The premise was kind of so so (almost all premises are though too be honest) but the idea of Rie being a tsundere never seems to dull me. Yeah this didn't work out. The way this show played out just didn't do it for me... and was a bit painful at times. I'll avoid going into detail since this just got licensed not too long ago. Dragon Crisis - It doesn't help your case when one of the characters you're interested in has the mental intelligence of a kindergardener. Here's a show I was really on the fence about watching until I saw that Horie Yui and Kugimiya Rie were involved. I honestly tried to like this show but maybe it's just not for me. Despite having 2 of my favorite seiyuus I've had to drop this show. So there you have it. Some of my experiences trying some shows that made it to my "want to see" in part of seiyuus. Do any of you have any interesting experiences? Ever watch a show mostly because of a seiyuu or voice actor? Last edited by Darksorrow29 on Wed Feb 23, 2011 1:43 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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kaiser11492
Posts: 164 |
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I mainly watched Fate/Stay Night because of the dub voice cast. I'm a big Code Geass fan and I was amazed how many of the Code Geass character dub voices were in it:
(C.C., Kaguya/Anya, Clovis, Li Xingke, Charles zi Britannia, Bismark Waldstein, Kallen, Diethard, Lloyd Asplund, Yoshida, Kaname Ohgi, Milly Ashford, etc.) Pretty ok series overall due to its uniqueness. |
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Ranma87
 Posts: 170 |
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Voice actors, especially Japanese voice actors which I can't recognize at all hold no meaning to me in an anime.
I watch it for story, plot and characters. |
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Tris8
 Posts: 2114 Location: Where the rain is. |
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That is exactly how I feel! Up until about a year ago, I didn't pay much attention to voices. I watch subs and dubs pretty equally; I usually listen to the trailers for both and read a review of the dub to decide which I go for. But about a year ago I started recognizing voices in the japanese tracks and also artists who do the sound tracks. I'm a big fan of Yoko Kanno and am willing to see anything she deems worthy to put her beautiful music into. That's actually how I discovered a series called Arjuna, which coupled with Yoko's brilliant music can be soul-stirring. Arjuna comes with a warning though in that it's not for everyone. It's psychological and addresses issues like abortion and such and will offend a lot of people. Anyway, back to seiyuus =P. Im traditionally not a fan of school-romance-comedy anime so I tend to avoid them. Not that I think they're all rubbish, it's just I've lived the angst and the 'growing up' themes get old for me. But when I heard about Toradora I was on the fence since it is so highly rated and truly looked hilarious. One thing that I dreaded though was the girl Taiga is a tsundere..... and a lot of voices they pick for tsundere's are over the top and grate on the ears when their voice goes high-pitched when the character is embarrased. But the voice for Taiga is that of Rie Kugimiya! She's probably my fav voice actress, and she's been in most of my fav anime like Ghost Hunt, Fullmetal Alchemist, Yakitate Japan, and Bleach. So I gave Toradora and try and loved it. BACK-FIRE!!!!!!!!! - I found out about another series Rie Kugimiya was in, called Lovedol ~lovely idol~. You may have heard of it..... as one of the worst things ever to be put to animation. Im serious, go watch the first episode (and maybe the second if you're brain can hold out from melting into mush) just so you can have an idea how lame it is. Anyway, I'll spare you the rant. |
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EmbraceMe
 Posts: 2017 Location: Growing old and jaded. |
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I started out watching Code Geass and really liked Jun Fukuyama's voice for it. I began looking for other series he had voice acted in. It went very well and really got me into anime. After watching several series he dubbed in, I began trying new anime series and enjoyed other seiyuu's performances. I also enjoyed searching what other series those seiyuu performed in and watched those series. After a while, I began watching whatever anime I could find to amuse me.
Now, I'll try and enjoy any series, and if it has seiyuus I enjoy, it's a plus for me. |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7995 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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No, because actors are not an indication of whether the show's storyline will be good or not, and that's all that matters when choosing a series.
Last edited by Kruszer on Wed Feb 23, 2011 5:36 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Mister V
 Posts: 1000 |
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They certainly matter a lot. Even if you don't know any Japanese, following a seiyuu is worth it because, well, it's like listening to songs in foreign languages. No matter what they actually say, if the voice is good, it's pleasant to listen to and follow their work.
In some cases I would go watch a series for the seiyuu, and it delivered - like Tomokazu Sugita in Kanon (I wouldn't watch it otherwise). Then of course, there can be setbacks, and I generally don't force myself to finish something that I don't like even if it has a star cast. However, there are some actors whose appearances never disappointed me. |
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doctordoom85
 Posts: 2094 |
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After hearing that Crispin Freeman was the male lead in Haruhi, I picked it soon after that for mainly that reason. Of course, I now love the Haruhi series for tons of reasons, but Kyon and Crispin Freeman's terrific performance is still definitely a strong factor.
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lilredphoenix
Posts: 156 Location: Honolulu, Hawaii |
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Yes, there have been many times I'll find out a certain seiyuu I like is in a series that I may not have thought to watch/own but they were in and it worked for me.
Anything Takehito Koyasu is in I'm there also Shinichiro Miki. Love their voices I also notice Toshiyuki Morikawa, Sho Hayami (Mirage of the Blaze) and Katsu Konishi's (Blood +) voices as deep and robust. I also Junichi Sawabe (07 Ghost/Blacker Butler) For females Romi Park. She was excellent in Nana but also Bleach and Zega Pain, Princess Princess. |
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HyugaHinata
 Posts: 3505 |
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I do indeed. Mostly Kawakami Tomoko ones (even more wrenching given the recent news) because I love Go.
Also, I love slice-of-life anime as a genre, and so I will watch pretty much any WMT anime. |
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Aylinn
 Posts: 1684 |
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Most of the time, no. I usually have to find something that can appeal to me. Hearing my favourite voice actor is not a good enough recompense for a weak story and uninteresting characters.
But sometimes I give some series a try, because one of my favourite voice actors is there. Working out- Gokudou-kun Manyuuki - Few years ago I watched it, because of Akira Ishida. Nothing ground-breaking. Nevertheless, it is a fairly funny show. Ao no Exorcist - because of Hiroshi Kamiya, who I read, get a role of a sweet troll Mephisto Pheles, since as Izaya Orihara, he was a great sweet troll in Durarara!! it caught my attention. Utter Backfires - Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu - I checked one episode, because of Daisuke One and Jun Fukuyama. Unfortunately, it was a very average and a very boring episode, everything about this series screamed I'M AVERAGE AND BORING, so I dropped it. More than for voice actors I care for directors, for example: Kenji Nakamura (Mononoke, Kuuchuu Buranko, Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror - Bakeneko arc, [C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control), I'm going to watch whatever he will direct. |
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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I have never watched a show for the first time because of an actress. I listen mostly to dubs and I will sometimes watch a show that I have seen before because I feel like listening to a particular actress, usually because I just finished another show that she was in. But when I am deciding if I want to watch a new show I do not give any consideration at all to who is in it. Probably 99% of the time I do not know who is in it until I start watching it. For the Japanese track I just do not pay any attention at all. I could not tell you the name of even one contemporary seiyu. I do know the names of the five main actresses in Sailor Moon, but that is mostly because of their singing. I guess that it does seem strange that I care about the singing but not the acting. I have searched for songs by Rica Fukami (Sailor Venus) and Michie Tomizawa (Sailor Mars) but have never given any thought to what other shows they may have been in. Don't ask me why because I don't know. |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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I can't say I ever have. Which is interesting since in live action I definitely have watched something just for a particular actor but I think that a live action actor has a bit more control over the character and their portrayal. And I still won't watch if the story sounds painfully stupid, as many of them do.
But I agree that a good seiyuu/VA can definitely help make me want to watch more. But for the Japanese ones there aren't enough I can accurately recognize and for the dub, well, I've almost always seen a show in Japanese before I watch the dub so that doesn't really affect things much either. |
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wcsinn
 Posts: 186 |
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An absolute NO - I don't watch films based on actors (many a stellar actor has been in their fair share of real stinkers), and this is even more true in the case of voice actors for anime - Japanese or English. Who is doing the voice simply is not any sort of reliable indicator as to story or quality, the factors that do matter.
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lilredphoenix
Posts: 156 Location: Honolulu, Hawaii |
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Anything done by the foursome of Weiss Kruez Takehito Koyasu, Shinichiro Miki, Tomokazu Seki and Hiro Yuki, these four have done many anime series and I own a lot of them they VA in. Some times I have to check out the credits to find out it was them since they disguised their voices and portrayed characters in funny sounding voices but still I thought their performances were great.
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