Despite the preferences of overseas fans, there is no doubt that Goku’s Japanese voice actress Masaka Nozawa is one of the greatest and most successful voice actresses in the industry.
She is known for having the longest career as a voice actress in video games and for being the voice actress to have played the same character in a video game for the longest time, holding two Guinness World Records.
Nozawa-san is also the winner of the prestigious Kikuchi-Kan Prize in 2023, an award that recognizes achievements in all aspects of Japanese literary culture.
So she is more than qualified to comment on the voice acting industry and its future. But according to her, Nozawa-san is not really happy with it.
Masako Nozawa did not hesitate to criticize new voice actors
In a recorded interview with voice actress Fumi Hirano (Urusei Yatsura), Nozawa-san admitted that she was not too hopeful for the future of voice acting in anime, as the new generation of voice actors is not as original as it should be.
She noted that they merely copy the styles of existing anime and do not strive to develop their unique skills and modulations.
As a result, the originality and depth that the anime dubbing industry once had is fading.
(Modern voice actors) simply watch anime and copy what they hear, so what they do sounds like a copy of a copy of a copy. As a result, the depth and breadth of anime dubbing is rapidly dwindling.
Fumi Hirano-san agrees with Nozawa-san’s statement and offers her own advice to young and aspiring voice actors.
Voice actress Urusei Yatsura reveals the secret of an original voice actor
When once asked for advice on how to become a good voice actor, Hirano-san said that aspiring voice actors should observe the world around them and draw inspiration from different places to build their repertoire.
But really, they’re copying existing material and replicating exactly what people have liked in the past. While fans would like to see consistency in the industry, they also want a certain level of originality.
For example, if all the female voice actresses copied Saori Hayami, who voiced Yor from Spy X-Family and Shinobu from Demon Slayerwould all sound the same.
Although Hayami-san is a fantastic voice actor and has played numerous roles, each voice actor’s performance must be varied, otherwise fans would not be able to tell the characters apart.
Moreover, this is not the first time that fans have heard the same kind of criticism.
Studio Ghibli Co-founder Hayao Miyazaki explained back in 2014 that the new generation of animators spend too much time watching anime and not enough time observing life, losing the maturity and authenticity that anime stands for – a recreation of real events and emotions.
Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball ZAnd Dragon Ball Super can be viewed on Crunchyroll.
