Author: @Qianlixi
At the beginning of 2020, according to the data of Japanese voice actors in "Voice Actor Grand Prix", the total number of male and female voice actors recorded in Japan exceeded 1500 (595 males and 907 females), which is 4 times that of 19 years ago (145 males and 225 females).
Voice actors, the profession that gives characters souls, are gradually getting attention, and people who work as voice actors are constantly moving from behind the scenes to the foreground. The work content of the voice actor profession has been constantly changing since its emergence. How have Japanese voice actors changed since their inception?
As early as 1925, the Tokyo Broadcasting Corporation, the predecessor of the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), admitted 12 "radio drama graduate students", who are currently considered to be the first professional voice actors in Japan. At that time, there was no specific term for voice actor, only "broadcast actor". It wasn't until 1942 that NHK show producer Ryū Oka named the profession "Voice Actor". During this period, the main job of the voice actor was to dub the radio dramas produced by the Broadcasting Bureau, and also to carry out some basic broadcast work.
After the war, in 1950, television began to appear, but at that time, Japan's original television programs were insufficient, so it was only possible to import a large number of foreign television programs and TV series, etc., and to re-dub these programs in Japanese through voice actors (blowing substitutions). Among the more famous are the cartoon "Superman" and so on. Because of the popularity of television programs, the profession of voice actor gradually became popular, and the first voice actor boom also began at this time.
During the first boom in voice actors, the work content of voice actors began to change from radio broadcasts to foreign programs and then dubbed, of course, this work is not only Japanese voice actors, but also one of the job of voice actors in various countries, and now there are many national dubbed versions of programs. The "Pacific Rim" on the shelves on the b station a few days ago also had a Japanese version of blowing substitutes, and the male protagonist of Tomokazu Sugita and the female protagonist of Emi Hayashibara caused a lot of talk at that time.
However, until 1970, voice actors were only behind-the-scenes workers, and their social status was not high compared with salaries and tv and movie actors who appeared.
Since 1970, various Television stations in Japan have begun to have their own TV programs, various tv drama special dramas have become popular, voice actors who voice foreign programs have begun to voice their own national programs, and the work content has basically not changed, and the late Chief Shuka, who used to be the villain in "Kamen Rider", and Goro Naya, who voiced Ace in "Ace Ultraman", are among the representatives.
During the same period, with the rapid development of the Japanese animation industry, voice actors who specialized in dubbing cartoons began to emerge in large numbers, such as Akira Kamiya, Toru Furutani, Shuichi Ikeda, Yoko Suzumi and so on. It is also the development of this animation industry that has promoted the professionalization of voice actors, and the structure of voice actors who are specially trained to dub anime has also been continuously produced and improved, and the second boom in voice actor professions has begun.
Since then, voice actors have become a relatively independent and mature profession. During this period, although the work of voice actors was still dominated by behind-the-scenes dubbing, the concept of diversity of voice actor work began to emerge, and they gradually began to try to go to the front, like the band "slapstick" formed by the above-mentioned Akira Kamiya, Toru Furuya and others, and the special radio program hosted by animated voice actors also began to be born. Many new voice actors also start with broadcasting, and "Is This Voice Actor" also has a relevant introduction to the work of voice actor broadcasting.
In general, in the 1960s to the end of the 1980s, people's focus is still on the role of the voice actor, the voice actor's voice in order to shape the role, so the selection of voice actors also began to have a direction, in addition to the professionalism of the dubbing, the various firms also began to pursue the "beauty" of the voice itself, the appearance is not the focus for the time being, the audience will not deliberately pay attention to the sound, for example, at that time, people may like the role of Xia Ya and pay attention to his voice actor Shuichi Ikeda, But few people know the character of Xia Ya specifically because they like Shuichi Ikeda.
But all of this changed dramatically in the 1990s. In the period after the 1990s, with the continuous improvement and development of the voice actor industry, the requirements for voice actors have gradually increased, and voice actors have begun to be active in various front-end jobs as a new type of artist.
Emi Hayashibara, recognized as the "Queen of Voice Actresses" in Japan, is a representative figure of this period. As a voice actress, she has played many classic roles, Ling Polly in "Eva" and Gray Plains in "Conan" are all goddesses in the hearts of many otaku. As a singer, the financial benefits of her songs are even far greater than the salaries she voices. At the same time, she also has the identity of lyricist, dj and so on.
Not only Megumi Hayashibara, but also a large number of voice actors with all-round talents such as Takayama Minami, Kuwajima Noriko, Akira Ishida, Anduichi Kwan, etc., jointly supported the profession of "voice actor" at that time. At the same time, during this period, more and more people began to remember a voice actor for one role, so that they could pay attention to other works of the same voice actor.
Voice actors in the dubbing for anime singing op, ed and other situations are becoming more and more common, but also many voice actors even directly debut as singers, the appearance value has begun to be one of the selection conditions for voice actors, the concept of voice actor idolization has also begun to form, the representative of this period is the voice actor Mizoya. At that time, the voice actor work was not only dubbing and work related to the work, but also began to be a singer and actor, and the treatment of voice actors was also qualitatively improved.
Time has come to the 21st century, if the relationship between voice actors and characters before this is generally voice actors serving the roles, and the voice of voice actors needs to be adjusted according to the different roles, then after entering the 21st century, the voice actor's voice has become a more symbolic symbol.
Although today's voice actors still have the flexibility to switch between various voice lines, usually a voice actor always has a very impressive voice line. For example, the famous "Nail Palace Disease", that is, the proud voice line of voice actor Nail Palace Riki, such as Louis in "The Devil of Zero", Xia Na in "Eye-Burning Xia Na" and so on. At the same time, there are also the poisonous tongue and belly black of Hayami Saori, the harem king Assasi of Matsuoka Akira, the perversion of the Koan Takeshi, the rescue girl of Higashiyama Nayo, and so on.
At the same time, as more and more people work as voice actors, the general trend of increasing competitive pressure on voice actors has promoted the expansion of voice actors to other fields, thus making the division between voice actors and other artists more and more blurred. For example, Mizuki Nana, although she debuted as a voice actress, is now obviously the focus of her work as a singer. The same is true of Aina Nanjo, who works as a voice actor and singer at the same time, and is popular all over the country with an op "only my railgun" from "Super Electromagnetic Cannon".
Coupled with 2.5-dimensional idol planning such as "Idol Master" and "Love Live", the degree of idolization of voice actors has been further deepened, and in recent years, more and more voice actors have been marked with many labels such as "beautiful voice actors", and now Japan's highly popular voice actors, the topic degree has been fully capable of fighting with the real "love beans".
The work content and status of voice actors have changed, and the treatment has naturally improved, and now more and more people in Japan think that voice actors are no longer low-status jobs, and they are willing to engage in this work, which is probably the reason why the number of voice actors in Japan has increased.
In fact, most voice actors in various countries have not taken the idol route like Japanese voice actors, they are still behind-the-scenes workers, and only the role of Japanese voice actors is more special. With the development of time, the content of Japanese voice actor work has gradually changed from the earliest "sound" to the current "excellent", and the voice actor is no longer a simple "sound" provider, but a real "excellent". Of course, like all actors, they are the interpreters and shapers of the characters. Silently pay behind the scenes, behind the scenes to create a role, voice actors, also worthy of people's attention, love and praise, this issue of the show ends here, thank you for watching.
Part of the source is Wikipedia