The "voice actor craze" has been around for a long time. Now the voice actor is not only the voice of animated characters and the voice of foreign movies and TV series, but also the development of singers, photo idols, variety shows and other aspects. As the scope of acting continues to expand, voice actors are currently very popular as versatile variety stars. In the past, there were very few idols and actors who didn't make it to the top of their careers, but in recent times, the number of young people who have taken voice actors as their development direction has skyrocketed.

Many of these young people who dream of becoming voice actors have entered a voice actor vocational school and are training hard every day. However, a veteran voice actor asserted that "I want you to give up the only job as a voice actor."

The people who came up with the idea that this would break the dreams of young people were Akio Otsuka, who voiced SolidSnake in the popular game "Metal Gear Solid" series, and Akio Otsuka, a veteran voice actor who voiced Bart in the "Ghost in the Shell" series. In his book "Voice Actor Soul" (published by Hoshikaisha), Otsuka clarified the current grim situation in the voice actor world.

First of all, let's get to know Akio Otsuka as a person. He was born in Tokyo in 1959 and is now 55 years old, and his father is also voice actor Shuo Otsuka. At the age of 23, Otsuka studied drama for one year at the Graduate School of Letters, and later joined Komatsuza, a theater company founded by Inoue Inoue. From this time on, Otsuka began to work as a voice actor, and in 1988 he joined the voice actor agency Esaki Production (now Mouse Promotion). After that, Akio Otsuka officially began to be active in people's eyes as a voice actor.

Otsuka, who has been active in the voice actor world for nearly 30 years, told us that the current voice actor world is already in a state of white-hot competition where "thousands of troops are fighting for a single-plank bridge". Indeed, after 2000, the number of anime producers has proliferated, and the number of games with voice has also increased, and the demand for voice actors has increased. However, the number of voice actors is far from oversupplying.

In fact, in addition to voice actors who specialize in voice acting, there are also many part-time voice actors who do voice acting while working part-time. So, how is the remuneration of voice actors decided?

In the world of voice actors, there is a strict "hierarchy". The so-called hierarchical system is a system established by the Japan Federation of Cast and Crew (note: similar to Chinese associations). Voice actors registered with this organization can be assigned a rank according to certain rules and determine the remuneration. Otsuka said, "Rankings can indeed reflect the career development and popularity of a voice actor, but it does not indicate a person's status, it is just the standard of hourly salary" (from "Voice Actor Soul"). Although the ranking does not represent a qiē, it can still determine the level of remuneration that voice actors can get.

"Elementary level" is the lowest level, and the remuneration is 15,000 yen (about 775.5 yuan) per episode, and the average voice actor will always be at this level for less than three years after registration. After three years, the remuneration varies from F to A. Taking the dubbing of an episode (30 minutes) animation as an example, from low to high, it is "15,000 yen" for newcomers, followed by "16,000 yen" and "17,000 yen", and the price is increased gradually in units of 1,000 yen (about 51.7 yuan).

Whether it's an anime or a movie, basically the content of the work doesn't have any effect on the amount of remuneration. In principle, voice actors should be paid based on the length of the work, but in fact, the hours worked and the role they play are not taken into account. For example, if a rookie voice actor plays the protagonist in a total of 12 episodes of animation (30 minutes each), the performance fee is 15,000×12=180,000 yen (about 9,306 yuan). And playing a supporting role in the same work, the price will not change.

"In addition, if the work is reused, there will be a 'diversion fee'. If it is broadcast on TV, DVD, and the Internet at the same time, the final reward will be 2.4 times the original remuneration. Taking the previous rookie voice actor price as an example, the original remuneration of 180,000 yuan can be increased to about 430,000 yen (about 22,231 yuan). Some people may think, "That's not a lot," but that's the income from three months' work. ”

Originally, it was difficult for rookie voice actors to receive jobs uninterruptedly, and even if they received jobs, because they were the lowest level, they could only get a little paid. From this point of view, voice actor is indeed a very cruel profession.

"For voice actors who have completed three years of work experience, there is theoretically no upper limit on the remuneration, and the most expensive one I know of is about 45,000 yen (about 2,326.5 yuan). Anything beyond this price becomes a free hierarchy, that is, it changes from hourly to piece-based. ”

If you continue to accumulate work experience and become popular, you can get about 3 times the salary of a newcomer. But in reality, the "grade" is determined by one's own declaration. Of course, you can also put a high price on yourself, but it doesn't make sense if the price is too high and no one cares. At this point, there is a mentality in the industry that if you set your rank too high, you may not get a job, so the system of paying according to rank should be a disadvantage for voice actors.

Although the remuneration of voice actors is not really very high, it is difficult to become a voice actor. Recently, there have been a lot of voice actor volunteers who think that if you want to become a voice actor, you should go to a voice actor college first, but Otsuka points out, "That's just self-righteousness." ”

"Most of the veteran voice actors who are now known as insiders have never been to a voice actor school. Of course, some might say that it was because of the different times. However, among the young people who are now walking on the Avenue of Fame, only a few have been to a voice actor school. There are even fewer voice actors who take the path of idols. And those who directly join the performing arts company by relying on their experience as a photo model, child star, and participating in drama performances, or join the performing arts company through a short-term training course. ”

So, it's actually not necessary to go to a voice actor school at all. To put it bluntly, going to a voice actor school is just a long way to spare.

"Voice actor schools and training classes are very lucrative business. For the school, there is no obligation to take responsibility for the future of the student. Because the school does not have a contract that says that it will make the student a star or that the student will have a stable job and salary after graduation, the school is too easy in a sense. ”

Voice actor is a profession that is not profitable, but voice actor schools are profitable, and this is the reality. All in all, hopefully those who have voice actor aspirants with dreams won't be deceived.

By the way, Otsuka is because his father, Shuo Otsuka, said to Rokuro Nagaku, who is also a voice actor, "Rokuro, can you take care of my son?" "I joined the voice actor company. In fact, Rokuro Naya took care of Otsuka in this way - "I will introduce you to all the directors I know." It doesn't matter if you don't do it well the first time, I'll take full responsibility until you do it the second time." In other words, Otsuka entered the voice actor world completely by 'guanxi'. Moreover, because his father is a famous voice actor, he has a very strong network.

From this point of view, although Otsuka's advice to voice actor volunteers has a feeling of "superiority" of vested interests, it is also true that the job of voice actor is difficult to get by, and it is not profitable. Voice actor volunteers should be aware of this harsh reality.