Seiyuus + Music Franchises = Next Level Voice Acting
Blurring occupations and fiction/reality in Bushiroad’s recipe for success
If the three words , “seiyuu,” “Bushiroad,” and “music franchises” don’t mean much to you, don’t worry because we’ll break them down in this article until it all comes together.
Then you’ll be left with the sweet apple pie of knowledge, that of a whole new world of Japanese media and culture that you cannot make without first breaking out the apples, sugar… and all the other ingredients you need to make apple pie, I guess.
So, first, here are the apples:
There’s a reason why people call seiyuus “seiyuus” and not “Japanese voice actors” when, ironically, the term itself translates to exactly that! (声優, short for 声の俳優, or koe no haiyuu)
Lending their voices to characters in games, movies, and animation, sometimes dubbing over actors in movies and TV shows into the local language, are probably what you think when you hear the term “voice actor”. And that’s exactly what a seiyuu does — but just a little more than you would’ve expected.
Looking at the websites of the seiyuu training programs offered by several senmon gakkou (vocational schools) reveal the potential career path of a seiyuu to include voice acting — in the aforementioned, most widely understood sense — for anime and games, but also ani-song singers (character image songs or theme songs released as tie-ins for a particular anime or game), musical actors, event MCs, and VTubers (virtual YouTubers) — to name a few!
In particular, it’s apparently common enough for a voice actor to know how to sing, which brings us to “all the other ingredients” before the sugar because that’s just how this progression is supposed to go: the existence of so-called “music franchises” or “multimedia projects” if you consider the plethora of media (anime, manga, games, voice drama CDs) released under this common thread of music.
I’m talking about franchises where seiyuus lend their voices to fictional, animated characters who are music performers — whether that means idols, rappers, or band members — in the franchise’s story world, but who may also perform live as their characters in concerts, sometimes learning the choreography in the case of idol groups and the instruments that their characters play in the case of bands.
Now, another reason why I think people separate seiyuus and voice actors from one another is the level at which the former blur the distinction between fiction and reality.
And if you haven’t guessed from the title of this article, it’s a whole other level entirely, in the sense that if you’re a manga fan and that particular manga gets turned into an anime, there’s something satisfying about finally being able to put an actual voice to a character you’ve grown attached to after so many pages, volumes, and, most likely, years.
More than matching the voice you have for the character in your head, it’s about finding one that can capture the character’s unique personality through the seiyuu’s particular vocal quality, which they’re likely to tweak to varying degrees with every new character.
Naturally, when you’ve been in the game long enough it’s likely that you’ll start to recognize the seiyuu by name and even begin to recognize a character’s voice as theirs if it’s distinctive enough or if the seiyuu is virtually in every famous anime.
You might even look up clips of them performing in seiyuu events for your favorite anime where the seiyuus perform live voice acting as their characters but also engage in games and behind-the-scenes talks as themselves.
As a fan, you learn to accept this complex identity flux between equating a seiyuu as their character and seeing them as an actual person. But where this flux gets knocked up a few levels — a whole, whole, whole new level of voice acting — is with music franchises.
Did I mention the seiyuus learn to dance or play instruments whilst sticking to the tweaked voice of their character?
And this is — finally, the sugar — where Bushiroad comes in, with about four or five such music franchises (haven’t really counted, actually) under its belt and enough fictional-slash-real musical groups to hold its own yearly rock festival.
Probably more widely known as a publisher of trading card games like Cardfight!! Vanguard, Bushiroad is also the creator of the BanG Dream! franchise (Bandori for short), perhaps the most famous music franchise centered on girl bands, which was created specifically in that way to differentiate itself from a scene saturated with idol-centric bands.
But what makes Bandori even more unique is the fact that 1) the seiyuus are recruited before the characters are created, and that 2) most of the time, the seiyuus didn’t even know how to play their character’s instrument at first and only start training after they’ve been hired.
It’s a whole different feeling when you’re watching the actual seiyuus onstage in full costume and full voice, mimicking the mannerisms of their characters without looking the least bit awkward.
It truly feels like your favorite characters have come to life, but it’s even more heartwarming when you think about the sheer number of hours the seiyuus must have put in to get to that level of skill.
The following music video of Bandori’s Roselia combines live footage of the band’s performances with scenes from the animated MV side-by-side, showing just how accurate the vocalist performs her character’s movements.
I can’t tell how many hours I spent on the mobile rhythm game to get to level 118, but rather than an addiction, it’s because I really enjoy the songs that I keep playing it.
I’m also intrigued by just how unique the sound of each band in the franchise is. From the vocalists’ qualities to each band’s overall vibe, they’re extremely easy to distinguish from one another and I often find myself jumping back and forth between binge-playing through different band’s songs for a refreshing change of pace.
And, of course, I just fell in love with the characters. Reading each band’s story in-game, getting to know all of the characters (and there are a lot) and watching them struggle with getting better musically as well as with themselves actually put the idea in my head of writing a story about forming a band.
But it’s another of Bushiroad’s music franchises — one that started off as an all-male spin-off of Bandori — that pushed me to actually start writing: “from ARGONAVIS” (formerly “Argonavis from BanG Dream!”).
I remembered stumbling upon a video coughed up by the YouTube algorithm. The thumbnail looked cool and since I’d been listening mostly to rock at the time, I thought YouTube finally decided to combine two of my loves of Japanese media with my favorite genre of music.
And, boy, was it a good recommendation.
Because it was my first live performance video where seiyuus perform as their characters in a band.
Because it made me download their first game when it was released only in Japanese, at a time when I still stumbled through hiragana and katakana because I really wanted to play a rhythm game with the music I fell in love with.
Because it made me listen to the full 190+ songs on their YouTube playlist every day as I stared, daunted, at a blank Notepad doc on my computer before typing for three, four hours straight — slowly but surely inching towards creating that story they had inspired me to write (because this is coming from a person who was inspired by anime to go to school in Japan).
I’m finally going to my favorite band from the franchise, GYROAXIA’s, concert next month, and you can bet I’m once more putting on that playlist as I’m writing this article to prepare for it.
There’s a lot to love about music franchises.
The sheer number of media available which helps to establish the characters means you’ll never get bored immersing yourself in them.
It’s also interesting to compare the seiyuus with their characters. To watch them immerse themselves in their roles, adapting their actual voices to the character they’re playing and staying in character whilst performing onstage then breaking that wall during interviews, radio shows, and other behind-the-scenes content.
And, of course, it’s just good music and good storytelling.
So, really, what’s stopping you from going to the Internet right now and diving down this wondrous rabbit hole into a whole new world you’ll be wanting to return to for years on end?
