Look, I'm not going to harp on the same crisis all over again, each and every time: the anime industry is a workplace that is not for the faint-hearted. From scheduling issues to behind-the-scenes circumstances and the like that always cause anime to falter within a very tight deadline, there're always certain expectations that the staff team involved has to do in order to make the products that they pump out, relative successes. It's the same for the VA industry, where talent is either quickly being raised to new heights, or dropped to pure hiatuses, cherry-picking the best or the finest and drying out those who fail to adapt fast to the daily concurrent changes. And this season, more than the inspiration that is Shirobako, novelist Kou Nigatsu's Seiyuu Radio no Uraomote a.k.a The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio, is a somewhat in-depth look right into the VA side of Japan's entertainment industry showbiz, and how it's operated through various mediums like radio and TV.
This is the story (plot?) of the tumultuous relationship of two girls: Yasumi Utatane and Yuhi Yugure, two unique public personalities who've racked up their own fans and audience enough to earn themselves a following. That is, once they meet up to co-host a high school-themed radio programme together, they may seem to get along on the surface, but nothing can be further from the truth that their private personalities just seem to clash very badly. And as if things couldn't get any worse, both girls, with their respective real names of the extroverted gal Yumiko Sato and the introverted Chika Watanabe, are classmates within the same school, thus putting them in the heated spotlight if circumstances happen that will jeopardize their safety and reputation. A growing journey in unforgiveness, teaching both girls what it means to be a true VA who only looks forward and never looks back in progression.
The age-old saying "opposites attract" is always true, which can be said about both girls in general, especially in a rather cutthroat industry where it leaves no one behind if one falters too much and doesn't improve at a breakneck speed. The complications and complexities of being a VA, wherever he or she comes from, are one of the most demanding careers, and you really have to give credit to the real-life VAs who bring you some of the most iconic sounding moments in anime, and this show is a glimpse into that aspect of the industry (e.g. Bocchi the Rock!'s Kessoku Band VAs would be a great example of this).
But back to Seiyuu Radio, the rocky affair between both Yumiko and Chika is only one of the few imitated real-life situations of an extreme case of a love-hate relationship, though it really is implied that both have a kind of pseudo-Yuri kind of connection (which I honestly don't understand why, but it seems like author Kou Nigatsu is REALLY pushing them as a "girls' love" couple) that IMO does kind of break the flow between the "budding" rapport of the two. And since we're talking about a part of the anime industry, the VA showbiz is extremely vulnerable if one frays off the "friendship circle," as we see both girls navigate the surrealism of what the industry entails in both its sunshine and darkness moments that isn't all forgiving to everyone involved, such as today's cancel culture and doxxing. Together with the supporting veterans, the likes of even more popular people like Otome Sakuranamiki and Mekuru Yubisaki, both Yumiko and Chika don't have the road ahead of them trying to learn and be skilled as quick as possible, being rookies in their own right, as compared to those who had more experience than them. Growth is essential, and rightfully so in an industry where you're chosen for potential talent and booted immediately if you are not on the same wavelength as everyone else.
Alas, everything else about the show is just mediocrity here and there. Headed by Silver Link's subsidiary studio Connect and directed by DanMachi director Hideki Tachibana, Seiyuu Radio only has one thing going for it: making sure that the anime captures the soul of the LN to a degree, and that degree is rather passable at best. It's neither the most exciting nor the best-looking show, but it's certainly far from being the worst thing ever.
The same goes to the music, for which I thought that Miku Itou and Moe Toyota (the VAs for both Yumiko and Chika, respectively) did a decent job helming the theme songs. But it's just plain forgettable at best.
Let's be real: while Seiyuu Radio no Uraomote a.k.a The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio, may be no Shirobako, it's at least a decent look into what goes into not just anime productions, but also the other segments of which radio is interconnected by to give a better idea of what VAs do on a daily basis, more than just voicing anime characters for one. And as informative as this show is, it's a niche show for a certain audience, so much so that I'd advise for and/or against those who are interested in knowing about how voice acting is conducted.
It's not a bad show, but more could be done better than just taking irrelevant (or rather, bait-worthy) tropes and throwing them in just for spicy melodrama.
