Anime: Sore ga Seiyuu!

We've recently seen shows about people farming, drawing manga, making movies, and developing games. It's about time we finally got one about voice acting. Sore ga Seiyuu is show about three early-career seiyuus, voiced by early-career seiyuus nonetheless, being shown the ropes and challenges of the industry while being mentored by veteran VAs, many of whom are cast as themselves! Though the show doesn't have anything particularly nice animation-wise and is practically a blatant advertisement for Gonzo at times, it is a unique and welcome break from the endless cycle of other high school-centric shows. For veteran viewers of anime, this show is particularly nice for its long cameos by VA veterans and for everyone else it gives an interesting look at the challenging and competitive nature of the seiyuu industry, and perhaps reasons why the job is so much more respected in Japan compared to the rest of the world.

The show follows a new trainee VA, Futaba, as she auditions and works in various roles and eventually joins an idol group and radio show with two other new VAs.

Animation:
To be honest, Gonzo is not my go-to animation studio when I'm looking for good eye candy. This show only reinforces that fact with relatively cheap animation characteristics. Expect a show with simple backgrounds and details throughout. Though the scenery inside a studio is new for probably most viewers, this obviously isn't a high-budget show. Likewise, expect relatively plain looking characters with average at best facial animations. I'm still not sure what to make of Sayo-chan's heart-shaped pupils or Futaba's rather hideous doll/mascot Korori. The only real positives here are the caricatures of real VAs. Yui Horie's transformation from messy glasses girl to super-popular idol is perhaps a bit of an exaggeration but pretty fun nonetheless. Given the nature of the show, don't expect too much action or ecchi.

Sound:
The show starts with what sounds like an annoying OP, but one that eventually grows on you if you listen to it enough times- it's kind of an amalgamation of multiple songs using the same instrumentation. The ED is also fairly innovative, kind of like a play on the group's radio show; it combines a pretty catchy main melody section, free dialogue section, a section of "requested" famous songs, and a next-episode preview. The BGM is fairly active though nothing is particularly memorable.

There is a pretty large VA cast, with a lot of special guests including huge veterans such as Masako Nozawa, Hiroshi Kamiya, Ryouko Shiraishi, and Yui Horie to name a few. The heroines do a fair job overall but it's hard not to be overshadowed by such veterans. Though on purpose, one of the weird pills to swallow with this show is that the "trainee" heroines perform quite horribly when actually in the recording studio and then immediately sound like the capable VAs that they are once outside the recording studios.

Story:
The show follows Futaba and later two other early career VAs as they work to build their experience and reputation. Though there are some plot twists and tension moments, a large portion of the show is spent explaining the ropes to the viewer, which I felt was pretty cool for once. For the first time, the general audience gets to see the working conditions and living conditions of the VAs that they so admire. The show even spends an entire episode on the manager's perspective, showing how scheduling can be a full time job in and of itself.

To me, this show felt more like Gin no Saki than Mangaka-san to Assistant-san; it focuses a lot more on the actual craft and giving viewer insight than really exploring character relations and milking the perspective for comedic value. For that, I give the show props, even if it means many people won't find it interesting.

Character:
So the three heroines are supposed to grow throughout the show, and by the end, indeed they do seem to be more confident when in the studios. However, you never really get to bond with the barely-developed VAs, perhaps this is meant to reflect the idea that the VA's aren't important- it's the characters that they give life to that are. That being said, what are interesting are the portrayals of famous VAs. I mentioned Yui Horie earlier but Ryouko Shiraishi also gives Futaba a pep-talk about overworking herself, something that Shiraishi actually went through in real life- thus giving depth to... not the characters but the actual VAs that you've watched in other shows (indeed... quite deep there). Though I have no idea how realistic the portrayals of the VAs are in other respects (glasses with Yui Horie, Hiroshi Kamiya as a rebellious youth, Rikiya Koyama as a health fanatic, etc.) it does beat in the idea that the voices behind the characters actually have real lives too.

Value:
The value of this show is twofold, you get to learn about seiyuus as a job and you get to learn about real life seiyuus. Despite the fairly average plot and boiler plate animation, there's enough good content here to merit a watch. If you ever were curious about voicing roles be it anime, games, movies, or radio here's your chance to find out how it's done.