Forum - View topicVoice actor typecasting in anime -- thoughts?
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Dark Paladin X
 Posts: 268 |
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I was wondering, since typecasting seems to be a common practice in anime voice acting (or "pigeonholed voice acting" according to TV Tropes), What are your thoughts and/or opinions?
When I mean by I voice actor/seiyuu who is typecasted, it means that the voice actor/seiyuu is well known for a particular voice, characteristic, or personality of the character. The directors often typecasts a voice actor for a particular character mainly due to the type of voice or the personality of the character that the voice actor does. Here are two examples on typecasting. A hypothetical example of typecasting would be me wanting to have Yuri Lowenthal to voice Hayate Ayasaki from Hayate the Combat Butler because of he is well known to voice kid hero roles (while I personally think Yuri Lowenthal is the most appropriate choice to voice this character, he did voice other characters that are NOT kid heroes if you do further research). A real life example of typecasting is Rie Kugimiya, who is well known for tsundere roles like Nagi from Hayate the Combat Butler, Shana from Shakugan no Shana, and Louise from The Familiar of Zero. Comparing English voice actors and Japanese seiyuus, I could say the Japanese seiyuus are usually more typecasted than the English voice actors, but I'm not sure why nor I could confirm this kind of statement. Not to mention, I can't really think of the English dub equivalent to Rie Kugimiya, as I got multiple answers from Kate Higgins and Hilary Haag to Tabitha St. Germain and Cristina Valenzuela. In my opinion, I don't like the practice of typecasting voice actors in anime. This is mainly because typecasting is limits the voice actor's flexibility on voice acting. I find flexibility to be very important in anime voice acting because voice actor can have a wide variety of voice acting. Apparently, this is one of the main reasons why I think James Arnold Taylor should have more anime voice acting roles. He isn't typecasted in any form or any way and have a lot of voice acting flexibility in his hands. However, many would argue that flexibility in voice acting doesn't really matter when it comes to English dubs because it is always "post-lay" work (where the voice acting is done after the animation). From the English voice actors I've heard in my life, I would say Johnny Yong Bosch is the most flexible one. |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8511 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Typecasting can be a positive thing at times. If a particular voice actor/actress is extremely good at portraying a type of character, then it makes that character that more believable. The problem is, of course, that this can lead to certain voice talents to get all of one particular type of role and less roles become available for other talents, but that's a matter for the people who cast the roles.
I have a feeling a lot of what goes through the minds of the casting directors/AD directors is cost and celebrity. A teenage girl role can be filled by a little-known voice actress or by Wendee Lee. Wendee Lee may attract fans to the role just by being Wendee Lee (though I think at this point, she's probably a little too old to competently portray teens, and I hope she doesn't e-mail me in a month to complain about this comment). A lot of roles in English dubs are filled by the same people because it's simply cost effective. Like when Funimation first started dubbing anime in house, they only had a handful of voice talents, so you would here Chris Sabat in nearly everything, often in several roles at once. Now that they have several more voice talents than what they began with, you get less of that, even though Sabat is often portraying the same type of gruff character. I was pleasantly surprised, however, when Viz's Death Note dub, done by Ocean, featured some newbie voice talents, and ended up being the finest Ocean dub ever made. |
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EricDent
 Posts: 997 Location: Georgetown, TX |
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Basically it is similar to regular actors roles. For example some actors always play the "bad guy", some actors are always "goofy", etc.
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BunnyCupCakes
 Posts: 224 Location: The Sunshine State |
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I don't like it all that much.
I don't care how popular or loved a voice actor is. I feel like typecasting makes the VAs alittle too safe in their comfort zone and stumps them in potential growth. I can understand the logical & reasonable side of typecasting but I still hold down onto my opinion. I would have more respect towards someone who can be very flexible in any given role instead of a person who does the same kind of boring character-type ALL the time (or most) |
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Dark Paladin X
Posts: 268 |
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Well, you did made a few valid points and there are a few typecasted that turned out well. As I mentioned before, I think Yuri Lowenthal is the most appropriate choice for voice Hayate Ayasaki from Hayate the Combat Butler due to his "kid hero" roles like Simon from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Ben Tennyson from Ben 10. I find Jessica Boone to be the optimal choice for cute young girl roles in anime mainly because of her voice acting of Chiyo-chan from Azumanga Daioh (along with Hynden Walch as number two). The problem with typecasting voice actors (in both Japanese and English) is that it limits their flexibility in their abilities. While it is true that it is cost effective to have one guy voice different characters, this technique is mostly useful if you are planning to have someone voice very minor characters (like a security guard that have a small speaking part before he gets his head chopped off 10 seconds later). I find flexibility to be very important to English dub voice acting because the voice actor can voice characters that s/he wants as well as voicing different kinds of characters from plan out villains to heroes larger than life. Going back to the Yuri Lowenthal example, he also voiced Sasuke from Naruto and Suzaku Kururugi from Code Geass, and these two characters are clearly not kid hero roles (which is another reason why I think Yuri Lowenthal should voice Japan from Axis Powers Hetalia if Funimation picks it up). The main reason why I think James Arnold Taylor should voice more anime roles is his great flexibility and how he isn't typecasted in some form in some way. As this video shows, it is clear that Mr. Taylor isn't typecasted, as he voiced from villains to anti-heros and from comical characters to those who are mentally unstable. Apparently, you should listen to his voice acting to believe it. Bear in note that none of his voice acting and clips in the videos I linked are Japanese anime, but mostly western cartoons and video games. This is mainly because James Arnold Taylor is part of SAG and AFTRA and anime industry tends to be "non-union" mainly because they can't afford to be unionized like Hollywood. I mentioned this before in my thread about the issue of labor unions. |
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ArsenicSteel
 Posts: 2370 |
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If a voice actor fits a type well, then they can provide a good performance for anime viewers to enjoy.
When my favorite seiyuus get in roles that are types they normally play it pleases me because chances are the performances will be good. Do I tire of hearing them in similar roles? No, rarely are they typecast in more then 1 or 2 anime per season and the roles they are in are come across different from one another. Another reason I don't tire of it is because there is another anime in Japanese that hearing the same seiyuu in multiple anime doesn't become detracting for me. |
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