Originally Posted by Kaijo
You misunderstand. In Japan, anime is more accepted, and it's a big business. Not many in US high school would say, "I want to be a Voice actor when I grow up" while in Japan, it's more than acceptable to say, "I want to be a seiyu." Their are many schools that train seiyu in Japan, whereas such schools in the US are nearly nonexistant; if anything, it's a course or two attached to a broader curriculum. It's also not as stigmatized as VA work is in Western Society. It's like anime in general, which is big in Japan, and yet not quite mainstream in the US.
Go ahead, enter a new social circle and say you like watching anime and playing video games. There is still that stigma of... immaturity to it.
In Japan, it's not as bad to say that, and since anime is a big business, a LOT more people train to be VA's then they do in the US. Over here, it's not as often you get a "professional" VA, but as you said, a stage actor looking for some cash between gigs or something. And yes, there can be auditions, but I think you're underestimating just what corners a company will cut to get cheaper labor.
Anime dubbing companies in Japan also want cheaper labor, but they get it because there are TONS more VA's there then in the US; with so much supply and competition, hiring prices go down.
I work for a company that hires VA's for some of it's work, adding voices to educational software. It's not that big of a business, and there are very few people who actively specialize in it. Normally it's just something attached as a side skill, and not sought as a lifelong career. And I've been in those recording booths and done some recording myself; it does take training and practice to modulate your voice enough to get emotions through so they end up sounding right. You can't just talk normally; you really have to push your tonations and inflections just right, almost overemphasizing them, otherwise you end up sounding wooden and emotionless.
Note: A company *can* hire good dub actors, and a lot of cases they do, even if the dub actors aren't professional full time VA's. I've already mentioned a few series where I liked the English voices. And most western animation do seek out better dub actors; but a company dubbing something like anime, usually just want to add an English track and push it out the door, so there's not as much emphasis.
Also, as a last note: superior is down to taste. Just because one way sounds better to me, doesn't mean someone else can't find a different sound better.
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