Forum - View topicAre anime shows in Japan promoted using well-known seiyuu?
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DragonsRevenge
 Posts: 1150 |
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If a high-profile seiyuu just came off of a high profile role playing a high profile character; Let's say Romi Park and Rie Kugumiya post-FMA or FMA Brotherhood, and an upcoming series in which either one of them had prominent roles is in the works. Is that show promoted something along the lines of "AND FEATURING HAGANE NO RENKENJUTSUSHI'S RIE KUGUMIYA!" Or something like that?
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Tony K.
 SubscriberModerator  Posts: 11405 Location: Frisco, TX |
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I'd say that's probably a good case to make for any kind of medium. Just look at how the Hollywood tries to promote stuff:
"Peter Jackson presents a Neill Blomkamp film..." "From the director of Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction..." "From the guys who created The Matrix..." "From the best-selling author of The DaVinci Code..." "[such and such uninspiring movie title] starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, and Tom Hanks..." It's all about name-association and the amount of respect built by those names, so I wouldn't doubt for a second that anime would do the same with high-profile seiyuu. |
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DragonsRevenge
Posts: 1150 |
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Well you don't see that with animation in the US. It's not like the new season of Ben 10 is hyped with "featuring legendary voice actor Frank Welker (hypothetically speaking)." It just goes to show how much more respected (that doesn't sound grammatically correct...) seiyuu are in Japan than VAs are here. On the other hand, it's obvious that animated entertainment isn't mutually exclusive from any other form of popular entertainment over there, where here it's still pigeonholed to specific audiences, so that could also be why the Seiyuu are probably as huge as they are with mainstream Japanese audiences than your Frank Welkers and Jim Cummings are here. |
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Haterater
 Posts: 1727 |
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I would say VAs for animated movies in theaters are promoted more than regular animation on TV. Especially if its made in-house here and really big name stars.
I just think Hollywood and entertainment here favor live-action more than animation in this department. |
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larinon
 Posts: 992 Location: Midland, TX |
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While that may be true about American television animation, the same is not true about feature length animation. Those seem to be all about the big names. Mike Myers as Shrek, etc. Even in Disney's dubs of Miyazaki's films they went out of their way to hire well known Hollywood talent, e.g. Kirsten Dunst as Kiki. Also don't forget (or it's probably best if you did) the Armitage the 3rd movie dub that featured Kiefer Sutherland and Elizabeth Berkley. And I remember ADV screaming to anyone who would listen that they hired Claudia Black (of Farscape...whee) to do a voice for Steel Angel Kurumi. Karas had some recognizable B-list talent doing some of its main voices as well. It would not surprise me in the least if Japan promoted their titles the same way. I would think most/all significant voice actresses have fan clubs or fan sites where they actively push their projects, and it's likely the studios do the same. As far as I'm concerned, Frank Welker is a legendary voice actor. But in the US, that plus three bucks will get you a cup of coffee. |
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Wu Ming
Posts: 113 |
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Given the short runs on Japanese dramas, lasting up to only 12 episodes sometimes, there's a tendency to give a good actor/actress top billing as in "________ is (Fill in Role)" to draw in people who saw their last 12 episode exploit.
I'm pretty sure its the same way in anime. |
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DragonsRevenge
Posts: 1150 |
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That's the only obvious exception, if they use big name hollywood stars for big name hollywood animated films. Im comparing regular TV animated voice actors here. I'm under the impression that Seiyuu have near hollywood status in Japan, as like I said, anime is roughly on the same level as other forms of entertainment, where as here it's different. |
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Paploo
Posts: 1875 |
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I figure anime companies in Japan do whatever they can to promote their product- Voice Actors with singing careers are pretty common, and if you get one who's well known for both in fan circles [like say Megumi Hayashibara], it probably doesn't hurt your chances at attracting viewers attentions.
You'll sometimes also see stunt voice casting similar to how Dreamworks casts their stuff with hollywood actors, with people who normally don't do voice acting like Gackt popping up in The Fist of the Northstar, or guest starring on an episode of One Piece, or appearing in the credits of a Studio Ghibli film. As others have pointed out, this is more common in theatrical films and not always done [just look at Pixar's habit of casting staff members for some voices, or Disney occasionally going with someone more known for their voice acting skills like Frank Welker in Alladin or Cree Summe in Atlantis, or singing/broadway skills like Paige O'Hara] EDIT- Oh, and Cree Summer is our generation's Frank Welker (though Frank Welker is too). Tress MacNielle is the evil super genius of american voice acting [Favorite Simpsons moment- "Wait, that's not animals being horribly tortured.... IT'S TRESS MACNIELLE!!"] |
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SalarymanJoe
 Posts: 468 Location: Atlanta, GA, USA |
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As much as it makes sense ... I'm actually trying to think of instances where it's actually happened. I know I've seen seiyuu featured prominently on television specials but almost always in conjunction with the character they are playing (like, if they're talking about Dragonball, they might cut away to Nozawa Masako). Even thinking back to some of the more recent promotion materials I've seen, like more recent Hokuto no Ken materials, they tended not to focus on who was playing the characters but put the characters in the forefront and, oh by the way, they're played by these people. Ironically, if the creators are more well known for a product, they tend to get a higher billing.
I think that impression is overblown and sorely mistaken. Both of the perceived importance of seiyuu and animation as a whole. Some anime are well known and even beloved by a lot of people in Japan but it's probably nowhere near the list or size as you might think. Most; however, do not care nor know a lot about cartoons and particularly people who worked on them. It's actually a lot closer to the US than you might think. |
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The King of Harts
 Posts: 6712 Location: Mount Crawford, Virginia |
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I'm pretty sure SalarymanJoe is right in that Japanese voice actors don't have Hollywood status in Japan. Definitely amongst anime fans they do, but that's because they actually respect and admire the work their voice actors put into their favorite shows, unlike most American anime fans who piss all over English VAs. Whoops, my bitterness just busted out by accident 
But yea, while they are beloved by anime otaku in Japan, that's only a small percent of the country.
Actually, Cartoon Network is promoting a new show (forget what it's called right now, though) and focus heavily on the "From the creator of Ben Ten: Alien Force" angle. I'm sure that's not the only example (even though you are disqualifying shows with famous people for some reason), but it's the only recent one I can think of. |
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