Veteran Seiyu Fails To Find A Job

by dtshyk
Apr 16, 2009 11:21 PM | 56 Comments

VA Takimoto Fujiko revealed in her blog that she has recently been scarce of jobs and she couldn't even participate in the auditions of the Spring-term anime. She said the producers tend to employ newface Seiyu with low guaranteed fee or popular idol Seiyu.

The guaranteed fees of Seiyu are determined by a ranking system. Each Seiyu is ranked A, B, C... according to the experience and the popularity, and the guarantee fee increases as his or her rank goes up. This system brings about a bad effect that the producers avoid to use veteran Seiyu with higher ranks.

Ref. The guarantee fee of a 30min episode anime ($1 = 100 yen)
newface: 15,000 - 20,000 yen
highest rank: 45,000 - 58,000 yen

Source: Takimoto's blog
Source: Seiyu on Wikipedia

Seiyuu

20 of 56 Comments Recent Comments

Yuri Amano and Yuri Shiratori...

Where are they now?

Nov 18, 2010 8:35 AM by Kleferi

That ranking system is like Idolmaster no wonder the game felt a bit realistic.

May 9, 2010 11:12 AM by Hoppy

People wanting to become a seiyuu should be thinking twice now. Seems like the anime industry is having some sort of crisis.

May 9, 2010 11:07 AM by Xassite

well i suppose those who voice one piece are lucky.

May 9, 2010 9:58 AM by cafekun

You're a bunch of jerks talking about physical appearence.

For the longest, I wanted to know about this rank system. Called this on WIKI: 日俳連のランク. They seem to become "veteran" after 20 years?

I don't know what to say. There's so many skillful people. This feels..I personally hate it. What is it? "Vain"? It's real life but I still hate it. Popularity is the devil sometimes. But holy crap, letter grade?! It's like..military or something. ;) like Fukayama Jun could be A-rank?

Then, if vets are so expensive, why employ them for some OVAs? Especially as a lead. Like, since Shikei reminded me, Midorikawa in a Yaoi OVA as the lead.

And if I remember, there can be negoiation fees?

Aug 21, 2009 10:41 AM by shakeyourpup45

MagicalEmi said:
Yeah, and we shouldn't have to put up with all these ugly male seiyuu playing hot bishounen. What is the world coming to? Pffft.

Obviously the director doesn't care about ugly dudes unless he's gay. Duh.

Apr 22, 2009 6:18 PM by Neverender

MagicalEmi said:
Yeah, and we shouldn't have to put up with all these ugly male seiyuu playing hot bishounen. What is the world coming to? Pffft.

I don't care that Midorikawa Hikaru is kinda old, pudgy, not very cute, married, and probably balding at this point. He's still hot as hell. <3

Apr 22, 2009 6:09 PM by shinkeikaku

Yeah, and we shouldn't have to put up with all these ugly male seiyuu playing hot bishounen. What is the world coming to? Pffft.

Apr 22, 2009 4:47 PM by MagicalEmi

Anomalous said:
I fail to see how her face would play into this (although I think it's just her hair that's bad). You won't see her face if she's just doing anime. :p

You're missing the point. If I'm the director of a series, and I need a voice actor for this cute girl, who am I going to pick? WHY WOULD I PICK AN UGLY GIRL TO VOICE A CUTE GIRL. THE IDEA IS RIDICULOUS

Apr 22, 2009 3:50 PM by Neverender

MagicalEmi said:
Eh, I think she looks fine here:

My view has been changed.

Apr 21, 2009 2:10 PM by Kappaka

Eh, I think she looks fine here:

Apr 21, 2009 9:40 AM by MagicalEmi

Konfig said:

dtshyk said:
..she has recently been scarce of jobs..

Join the rest of us down here in the real world.

Apr 21, 2009 8:22 AM by cr4sian_phil

I fail to see how her face would play into this (although I think it's just her hair that's bad). You won't see her face if she's just doing anime. :p

Apr 21, 2009 6:43 AM by Anomalous

Oh shi-- I didn't even think of looking at her face when I saw this forum. From now on I shall judge any and all voice actors by their faces. Cause it's what really matters.

Apr 21, 2009 6:09 AM by HarryTram

No shit. Look at her face.
I mean I hate to be an asshole (HAHA), but damn.

Apr 20, 2009 11:07 PM by Neverender

sad xD

Apr 20, 2009 11:03 PM by Koko-Bear

Konfig said:

dtshyk said:
..she has recently been scarce of jobs..

Join the rest of us down here in the real world.

... And that's what's wrong with the world. Good lord I wish some people would think for themselves...

Apr 20, 2009 1:10 PM by JadeMatrix

tiamat21 said:
45 dollars an episode:P
that is terrible:/
since its usually 1 episode a week for most anime, won't that meen to earn a decent living you would have to take up 5/6 animes a week...
x

It's $450 an episode. Still not much me thinks.

Apr 18, 2009 5:24 PM by Neji

I didn't realize how low the pay was for voice actors...

Seriously, to have a decent living, they would have to be doing at least 2 different animes at once!

Apr 18, 2009 6:45 AM by BananaPeel

The only solution is for the seiyuu to keep their rank as low as possible, unless they seek popularity. Even so, this isn't guaranteed since the fact that experience points do raise ranks, like a RPG..

Maybe, she can join the world of "freeters" in which she can have one or multiple part-time jobs and as soon as she is hired to do seiyuu work, she can just quit and go back to seiyuu work. The economy is not good, it is always better to plan ahead.

Apr 17, 2009 9:42 PM by Kira01

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