Seiyuu discussion

[something]

Hashihime has a good write-up based on information posted on 2ch (and full list can be found here) about the busiest seiyuu in 2010. I find it really interesting because it makes clear that there's a difference between dominating the lead roles and actual number of episodes. Both are legitimate measures, but episodes gets less talk since it's more work to count.

According to the website, this counted hour-long shows (like Katanagatari) as two points per episode. This is all episodes that aired in 2010 even if the show was ongoing from before.

Top 20, including continuing series
227 - Fujiwara Keiji
219 - Sawashiro Miyuki
217 - Kugimiya Rie
211 - Fukuyama Jun
195 - Sakurai Takahiro

192 - Taketatsu Ayana
187 - Ono Daisuke
186 - Okamoto Nobuhiko
185 - Kuwashima Houko *
185 - Fujimura Ayumi

182 - Hanazawa Kana
181 - Yuuki Aoi
177 - Hirano Aya
174 - Nakamura Yuuichi
169 - Sanpei Yuuko

164 - Tomatsu Haruka
163 - Toyosaki Aki
161 - Koyasu Takehito
159 - Kakihara Tetsuya
152 - Yoshino Hiroyuki

* Note that this says Sawashiro Miyuki again in Hashi's list, but it's really Kuwashima Houko.

Fujiwara is every gruff adult male in anime it seems, so go figure! The ladies get all the attention, but 3 of the top 5 and 5 of the top 10 are guys. Smaller pool of male seiyuu + seemingly longer career lifespan means these guys can really rack up the roles.

Sawashiro's ranking does and doesn't surprise me. I've lamented her lack of major roles this year, but that doesn't mean she hasn't seemed to pop up everywhere anyway. Lots of minor roles (sometimes it feels like she's half the minor Fairy Tail cast), but other than Lag in Tegami Bachi (which netted her about 25-26 eps in 2010) and Celty in Durarara!! (another... oh at least 20 I'd imagine) it can be hard to tell where those episodes came from. I did not watch HSotD so I don't know how big her character is in that. So man this wonderful lady racked up a lot of small roles. Now to keep things in perspective she certainly still got more significant roles than most seiyuu could dream of.

I think Sawashiro's high numbers without necessarily an equivalently high profile for the year is one definitely mark of a "veteran" seiyuu. And/or one who scored a lead role in a few long-running shows. Kugimiya Rie seems to be good at both. Happy in Fairy Tail and Al in FMA '10 count for a lot but other than that it's hard to tell just where she was. Yukimura in Hyakka Ryouran is the only very major role I know I've seen her in for shows starting 2010 but that's just a one cour show. So like Sawashiro, one can only imagine she did a whole whole lot of minor characters.

Hirano also places highly despite her public attempts to withdrawal from anime seiyuudom. Surely the ~45+ episodes Lucy got in Fairy Tail in 2010 help. She's also in DB Kai but not as a major role from what I understand.

I think what gets lost for a lot of these big seiyuu is more mainstream anime they might be starring in. For example, I have no idea who is voicing roles in Pokemon (well I know Yuuki is in the current one) or other kiddy shows. Or if something like Sazae-san is counted.

Big hot new stars getting plenty of leading roles do appear (Taketatsu, Hanazawa, Yuuki, Tomatsu, Toyosaki) but all somewhat outside the top 5. Taketatsu is clearly at the head of that pack in 2010. Hanazawa and Yuuki are a little less than a cour of material behind.

---

If we take the list only for shows that began airing in 2010 - which would knock out most of those long-running series - we do see some changes outcome.

Top 20, shows with a 2010 start only
180 - Fukuyama Jun (福山潤)
158 - Fujimura Ayumi (藤村歩)
157 - Hanazawa Kana (花澤香菜)
155 - Taketatsu Ayana (竹達彩奈)

150 - Fujiwara Keiji (藤原啓治)
150 - Sawashiro Miyuki (沢城みゆき)

148 - Kobayashi Yuu (小林ゆう)
148 - Ono Daisuke (小野大輔)
147 - Toyosaki Aki (豊崎愛生)
140 - Okamoto Nobuhiko (岡本信彦)

134 - Sakurai Takahiro (櫻井孝宏)
121 - Hikasa Youko (日笠陽子)
119 - Asumi Kana (阿澄佳奈)
113 - Itou Shizuka (伊藤静)
112 - Takagaki Ayahi (高垣彩陽)

109 - Suwabe Jun'ichi (諏訪部順一)
105 - Kanemitsu Nobuaki (金光宣明)
105 - Yuuki Aoi (悠木碧)
104 - Ishii Kouji (石井康嗣)
100 - Tomatsu Haruka (戸松遥)

Left the Japanese in so people can easily correct me if I got any wrong.

This year obviously belonged to Fukuyama Jun who has a very commanding lead over anyone else. What's interesting about him in 2010 starts is that he did almost nothing in Winter (9 eps, what, all Shinra?) but must have had a lot carrying over from late 2009. He just explodes at the end of the year - 74 episodes in 3 months! 75 with ongoing shows (...a one episode cameo?)

Like Fukuyama, Sawashiro she had a 75 episode cour too, at the start (Winter) rather than end of the year. But the winner here is Kugimiya Rie with 80 episodes in Winter, meaning she recorded nearly an episode a day. Impressive.

Hot commodities Hanazawa and Taketatsu move up to #3 and #4. Toyosaki goes from #17 to #9. Hikasa Yoko suddenly appears on this list at #12, despite being something like #43 in the full list.

Talking of the numbers changing when you do the 2010-start only list, Hirano Aya, for example, drops from 177 to 90. So Fairy Tail and maybe one or two other shows were indeed a big percentage, plus she's not seeming to focus very much on auditioning for new roles. Although I say that as if 90 episodes is small. Sawshiro drops 69 episodes to tie with #1 Fujiwara at 150, still beastly but far from #2 of 2010 starts. But like
Kobayashi Yuu is an interesting example, she scores 151 (just outside the top 20) for the full list, but 148 for 2010-only. So she was clearly not busy on longer shows in late 2009, since only 3 episodes carried over.

I'm sort of amazed how many of Yuuki Aoi's episodes were carryovers from 2009 or earlier. 180 down to 105? Clearly plenty of stuff from before is keeping her busy. Not that she isn't taking plenty of major roles, but like many hot otaku anime seiyuu they're gonna be a bunch of one cour shows. Though that Pokemon job is probably like a holy grail for seiyuu.

Kamiya Hiroshi, despite seeming ever-present, actually only landed 94 episodes in 2010, even counting ongoing shows. 79 for 2010-only shows. Similar for Hayami Saori with 88/88 (no carry-over it seems).

[Fencedude]

Originally Posted by something

Similar for Hayami Saori with 88/88 (no carry-over it seems).

Was wondering where she was on this list, since by the end of the year it seems like you couldn't turn around without tripping over a character voiced by her.

Like, I just got around to watching the Kaibutsu Oujo OAD, and it turns out they recast it completely, and guess who replaced Kawasumi Ayako as Hime?

[EmperorBrandon]

Originally Posted by something

I'm sort of amazed how many of Yuuki Aoi's episodes were carryovers from 2009 or earlier. 180 down to 105? Clearly plenty of stuff from before is keeping her busy. Not that she isn't taking plenty of major roles, but like many hot otaku anime seiyuu they're gonna be a bunch of one cour shows. Though that Pokemon job is probably like a holy grail for seiyuu.

Probably almost all from Yumeiro Patissiere and Anyamal Tantei Kiruminzoo, since both started late 2009, have four cour, and have her in a main role.

[Westlo]

So this is where this discussion went...

Anyway looks like I held the funeral rites for Rie and Noto's lead roles a bit too early....

Rie

Dragon Crisis (though to be fair, they used drama cd cast...)
Lotte no Omocha!
Aria the Scarlet Ammo (replacing IS and will probably be pushed just as much, reunites the two Toradora leads)

Noto

Kimi ni Todoke (sequel though so it's a given...)
Freezing
Nurarihyon no Mago 2 (not lead but she's playing the main villain which is just as good really..)
Dororon Enma-kun Meeramera

They'll have more new lead roles in the first 4 months of this year than they've had over nearly the last 18...

Also good to see Horie Yui finally get a new lead role in Dog Days...

[something]

Courtesy of Hashihime: http://hashihime.blogspot.com/2011/1...f-of-2011.html

Rank - Number of episodes - Seiyuu

1　136　Kugimiya Rie
2　122　Sawashiro Miyuki
3　99　Inoue Marina
4　90　Hanazawa Kana
5　88　Miyano Mamoru
6　85　Okamoto Nobuhiko
7　84　Kakihara Tetsuya
8　81　Toyosaki Aki
9　79　Fujiwara Keiji
9　79　Hirano Aya
9　79　Yuuki Aoi
9　79　Kobayashi Yuu
9　79　Orikasa Fumiko
14　78　Kitamura Eri
15　77　Itou Kanae
16　75　Namikawa Daisuke
16　75　Konishi Katsuyuki
16　75　Sakurai Takahiro
19　73　Paku Romi
19　73　Horie Yui
21　71　Hikasa Youko
21　71　Miyake Kenta
23　70　Sanpei Yuuko
23　70　Sugiyama Kishou
25　69　Sugita Tomokazu
25　69　Nakamura Yuuichi
27　68　Noto Mamiko
27　68　Suwabe Junichi
27　68　Tomatsu Haruka
30　67　Koyama Rikiya
30　67　Miki Shinichirou

Sawashiro Miyukiiiiiii! Not a big surprise there. I'm slightly surprised Kugimiya has more than her, though not surprised Kugimiya is near the top.

But what the fuck where did Inoue come from? 99 episodes? More than HanaKana? The hell has Inoue been doing that I missed? I mean I still hear her, but I didn't think I heard her quite that much. I guess major roles in IS, Mariaholic, Ochinko and Rio added up to more than I thought.

Wonder where Ono D (favorite male seiyuu) fell off to. He was tied for 7th among both genders in shows with a 2010 start last year.

Obviously this is just any appearance at all in an episode, with no weighting for lead roles or length of appearance or number of individual shows.


Source for the data - http://wikiwiki.jp/seiyu_syukei/

[EmperorBrandon]

Originally Posted by something

But what the fuck where did Inoue come from? 99 episodes? More than HanaKana? The hell has Inoue been doing that I missed? I mean I still hear her, but I didn't think I heard her quite that much. I guess major roles in IS, Mariaholic, Ochinko and Rio added up to more than I thought.

Scrolling through here and focusing on the first half of the year, it seems like Danbooru Senki and Beyblade would have added several episodes for her too. That number still seems too high, but I don't want to take the time to do the math and confirm...

[Fencedude]

19　73　Paku Romi

Huh? Doing what?

Only thing I remember her in recently is a fairly bit part in Penguindrum.

Edit: Just realized this list is first half of the year only, so that doesn't even count.

[HitokiriShadow]

Originally Posted by Fencedude

Huh? Doing what?

Only thing I remember her in recently is a fairly bit part in Penguindrum.

Edit: Just realized this list is first half of the year only, so that doesn't even count.

She was the main character in Deadman Wonderland and she plays semi-regular major secondary characters in Naruto and Bleach. Still seems like quite a lot for just that though, because its unlikely her characters appeared in more than half of the Bleach and Naruto episodes. If you assumed she appeared in half of them plus Deadman, that's only about 39. And those three shows seem to be everything she's done for this year. The only way that number comes close to making sense is if they counted her as being in every episode of Naruto AND Bleach, which would bring it up to about 63.

[EmperorBrandon]

Originally Posted by Fencedude

Huh? Doing what?

Only thing I remember her in recently is a fairly bit part in Penguindrum.

Edit: Just realized this list is first half of the year only, so that doesn't even count.

Well, she's the lead in Deadman Wonderland, so that's several episodes there. Her continuing recurring roles in Naruto and Bleach probably add up to a good bit. Also, she was in stuff that's off the otaku radar like Wolverine, Beyblade, Toriko, and Stitch.

[HitokiriShadow]

Originally Posted by EmperorBrandon

Well, she's the lead in Deadman Wonderland, so that's several episodes there. Her continuing recurring roles in Naruto and Bleach probably add up to a good bit. Also, she was also in stuff that's off the otaku radar like Wolverine, Beyblade, Toriko, and Stitch.

Oh, right, Toriko. I saw that several times as I looked through the list, but I somehow completely forgot that was this year. I think I was mixing it up with something else. And I forgot Wolverine was this year. I don't see Beyblade or Stitch on her ANN list though.