Title: A Voice Actor’s Soul
Author: Otsuka Akio
Publisher: Seikaisha Shinsho
Year: 2015
Tagline: Just Don’t Become a Seiyuu
“The ‘Boss’s Way of Life Will Destroy Your View on Seiyuu” – Kojima Hideo (Game Designer, Metal Gear series Director)
‘Nobody Else Wants to Do it, which is why the work comes to me’
Otsuka Akio; the man no one else in the seiyuu world compares to. His unparalleled acting ability and the distinctiveness of his voice continues to be loved by all genders and generations. Empathy for Batou, resonance with Rider, the bloodlines of Blackbeard, and the spirit of Solid Snake – why would the man who loves his work more than anyone else, continue to say this: “Just don’t become a seiyuu?”. Starting with his comrade Yamadera Koichi, what are the characteristics of the ‘leading’ seiyuu at the forefront who have shared the struggle with Otsuka? A survival strategy guidebook about work, life and acting theory; written by an extraordinary seiyuu for aspiring seiyuu and all other working professionals.
This is not a book for fans of Otsuka Akio. It is a book that will make you a fan of Otsuka Akio.
Contents
Chapter 1: People who ‘want to become seiyuu’ are fools
- Becoming a seiyuu ≠ Choosing a profession
- There are too many seiyuu
- Seiyuu cannot create their own jobs
- Popularity is everything, yet it cannot guarantee success
- The majority of seiyuu can’t apply for loans
- Talentless seiyuu end up becoming adults’ playthings and then it’s over
- High-risk, low-return: an unreasonable gamble
- ‘I want to give the kids dreams’ – the arrogance of such words
- Where people who have given up on socialism end up
- To ‘become a seiyuu’ is a lifestyle choice
Chapter 2: There was no other path for me except to ‘continue acting’
- In my youth, I thought ‘I’ll be anything except an actor’
- I got off the tuna fishing boat and went down the road of a performer
- Once I started acting, I saw a dramatic projection in my life
- From Bungakuza to Komatsuza, to getting acquainted with voice work
- Meeting Naya Rokuro, and the move into the world of voice acting
- There’s no profession as good as this!?
- The huge chance I grabbed alongside my comrade Yamadera Koichi
- The existence of Otsuka Chikao, a father who was both headwinds & tailwinds
- What I learnt in my fifties – the fascination of receiving performances
- Solid Snake & Otsuka Akio: Metal Gear Solid
- Batou was ‘Andre’: Ghost in the Shell
- Rider is exactly the type of big role that I can only play in an anime: Fate/Zero
- You can’t win without luck, but you can’t win just by luck either
- Take your chances and follow them up
Chapter 3: To the idiots who are working hard at ‘creating voices’
- Even an amateur can have a ‘good voice’
- A pro is someone who can ‘create characters’, not ‘create voices’
- Don’t tell lies, take a breath
- Codes found within the lines
- What’s wrong with entertainers getting into voice acting?
- Stinging words are tools
- Increase your stock of emotions
- The importance of polishing the foundations
- The big suckers who get happy about having ‘no retakes’
- What is left when you’re old and your voice has gone
- Hope for a big role
- Those who get discouraged when their voices are belittled should just go back to a producer society
Chapter 4: A world that only recognizes ‘actors who are loved’
- A misunderstanding: ‘I want to be a seiyuu therefore I go to seiyuu school’
- Why work does not fall into your lap
- Newcomers who don’t take on challenges will never be aware of opportunities
- The attitude of industry creators
- Battles in the studio
- Ties that are born from arguments
- How to overcome periods of misfortune
- You’ll gain fans if you move them emotionally
- If you can’t make the people around you love you, then you’ll never be an actor
- You won’t get far without a compatible manager
- Know the horror of irresponsibility
- It is pointless for seiyuu lacking vision to transfer agencies
- The industry’s full of young seiyuu who don’t know what they want to do so I’m never lacking for jobs
Chapter 5: What you should know before you reach your ‘goal’
- Do you want to ‘act’, or do you want to ‘be popular’
- If you want to be flattered, say so
- If you really love it, then do it
- If you want to be ‘an actor for life’, then you should experience real ‘working life’
- I can take it easy thanks to people who ‘want to become seiyuu’
- Not always satisfying to be flattered
- Live happily on the path of gambling
- Enrich your outlook from the viewpoint of an audience member
- A good book, a good actor, good staff, a good audience
- Even so, until the day I die
- I have no goals.
Conclusion
Note: You can buy the book on Amazon.
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