Japan isn’t the only one with an appreciation for voice acting (obviously). In fact, this is also the 2nd year for both the Seiyuu Awards and Voice Actor awards. But since there have been all sorts of coverage of the Seiyuu Awards (and how rigged it is), I’ll put in my plug for the Voice Actor awards, also known as the Voicey Awards. I’ve been lazy to talk about this and it’s been more than a month since I found out about the results, but now it’s Spring Break, I have all the time in the world.

When an anime fan thinks of an English voice actor, the first thing in mind is probably anime dubbing; whether it be revered or revolted is another can of worms. From what I’ve gathered, there’s much more to that. Sure, many famous stage/film actors also do some voice acting as well, but there’s a whole different group of actors that do primarily voice work, just like seiyuu in Japan. These people are the ones you hear in movie trailers, TV and radio commercials, grocery store announcements, and more. Pretty similiar to what many seiyuu may do (depending on the agency). Many veteran voice actors later go into directing and the like.

You may be wondering about who won. If you haven’t clicked on the link to the site yet, here’s a repost of the list:

Best Child Voice: Brandi Munro
Best Teen Voice: Jesse Springer
Best New Voice: Jeffrey Kafer
Best Male Voice: J.J. Wilson
Best Female Voice: Debbie Munro
Best Foreign Voice: Lili Wexu
Best Voice Team: Adam Fox and Kara Edwards
Best Personal Branding: David J. Lawrence
Life Time Achievement: Pat Fraley

The one that impressed me the most is Brandi Munro for Best Child Voice. It’s amazing how large one’s vocal range can be, especially for someone so young (12 years old!). Although, whether the reason she and her mother, Debbie Munro, won an award this year is rigged or not, I don’t know. At least the kid seems to deserves it. All the winners here seem pretty solid, though.

You also may notice that none of the anime dub artists are listed. The nominations list is closed, so I can’t confirm if any were even nominated, but that’s besides the point. What I’m saying is that most anime dub actors are about 3rd rate. The fall of the anime industry here is questionable and up for debate elsewhere, but the expectations for an anime dub is still higher than it should be. Many seiyuu in Japan are among the top in the industry; thus the comparison between the Japanese and English tracks is a bit unfair.

This gave me a new insight on voice acting between both ends of the pacific. Voice acting may still be a rather small area in the acting industry (one student in my Theatre class even asked “What is voice acting?”, but she was a freshman anyway), but should not be forgotten. Sure, there aren’t any idol concerts or character singles here, but the voice acting community is alive and well.

On a small note: this award ceremony was held in Canada. I notice a lot of Canadians I meet have really quirky voices (and last names)…