The 2nd Seiyu Awards – Results
Here it is again. The results from a biased, rigged, heavily weighted (in the wrong direction) poll that favours those from the money and connection-rich institutions, who scratch the commitees’ backs and stick a few fifty-dollar bills in their back pockets. Oh wait. I got my notes for the Seiyu Awards and the Malaysian election mixed up…… (Did all you Malaysians exercise your rights as all responsible citizens should do, even if makes absolutely no difference? I did.)
But seriously, not a lot has changed from last year – it’s still a mix of bizarre ‘this can’t be true unless someone rigged it!’ winners and a bunch of ‘Well OK, that’s not too bad but someone deserved it more’. Anyway, some dude leaked the results about an hour before the actual ceremony, and he got everything spot on. When I saw the list, I was completely underwhelmed -_- so when news of the ‘real’ winners started trickling out I was listlessly bored.
Had intended to listen to tonight’s Anispa which is supposed to feature the winners’ interviews but I really can’t be arsed now, it’s gonna be boring as hell.I’ll still update with pics when I get hold of them. I gave up & listened to Anispa, cos I wanted to hear a few people’s speeches ^^; Anyway, results follows plus some comments – you’ll find out why I mentioning Kadokawa & JOQR, and what’s all that TMA stuff later on.
Edit: Official site has updated with the results.
Report from Akiba Kakaku. Some of the pics below are from the site.
All the award winners (click for larger)
closeup.
RESULTS IN FULL
Best male: Miyano Mamoru (Setsuna F. Seiei in Gundam 00)
-Miyano wins cos of Gundam (Kadokawa). I think he had a stronger case for winning last year with Death Note but ah well, better late than never.
Anispa: Mamo talked about his long tuxedo (above), which he rented for the awards. He kept doing funny voices throughout the interview, heh. Washizaki Takeshi praised his speech as being ‘mature’. Erm, lemme see, what else was Mamo talking about…… the year in general, really. A lot of Gundam talk too. A listener made fun of Miyano’s big chin ^^;
Best female: Hirano Aya (Konata in Lucky Star)
-Oh no, not her again. Yawn. Lucky Star – Kadokawa. Also, links with dwango. I’m not impressed; Hirano ahead of Kuwashima Houko (Claymore) and Kawasumi Ayako (Nodame)? Nooo waaay.
Anispa: The kimono she was wearing at the awards was from her mother. Take-chan and Masumin had the same thing to say about her – she’s cute. Unfortunately, I missed half of what they were talking about cos I was busy trying to listen to the election results… oops. I remember she thanked her fans, though.
Best supporting male: Kamiya Hiroshi (Tieria Erde in Gundam 00), Ono Daisuke (Hosaka in Minami-ke)
-Kamiya wins for Tieria Erde? HAHAHAHHA. I’d rather have had him win for Zetsubo-sensei, but oh well. And Ono-D! Cue ‘Ahahahaha, ahahaha, ahahaha’ Hosaka style laughter. He should’ve won last year too. Both of them have links with JOQR & dwango. Sadly, Konishi Katsuyuki not winning makes me cry ;_; but I’m sort of happy with this nonetheless.
Anispa: Kamiya sounded like he was dead and displeased to win ^^; Asano called him shy! Bwahahahaha. Not if you hear him on Zetsubo-sensei radio…. Ono D gave the shortest speech by far, and was again, very subdued.
Best supporting female: Kugimiya Rie (Nagi in Hayate no Gotoku!), Saiga Mitsuki (Kei in Moyashimon)
-Well, I jokingly voted for Kugimiya but I didn’t really expect her to win ^^;;; Hayate no Gotoku! runs in Shonen Sunday which is published by Shogakukan. Saiga Mitsuki…. shoot. I thought she’d win for Terra e instead of something like…. erm. Kei from Moyashimon? Oh well, I’m happy enough with both of these winners, though I really would’ve liked Ueda Kana to win too.
Anispa: Kugimiya was reaaaalllyyyy cuuuute. OMG. Saiga was her usual mundane, monotonous self. I couldn’t hear half of what she was saying cos it was really noisy in the background, but she gave the longest speech.
Best new male: Yonaga Tsubasa (Ren in Oofuri), Hatano Wataru (Sam Houston in Terra e)
-Hatano/Waccha is this year’s Kakihara Tetsuya – he too graduated from AMG and like Kakky, is signed to 81produce. Nobody but fangirls have heard of him, presumably. I predict he’ll become really popular this year (I quite like him myself). I voted for Yonaga (TMA), but I really didn’t think he’d win ahead of Nakamura Yuichi.
Anispa: Both Yonaga & Waccha’s speeches were the ‘OMG, we’re not worthy’ type speeches.
Best new female: Kobayashi Yu (Kaere in Zetsubo-sensei), Katou Emiri (Kagamin in Lucky Star)
-Katou is like this year’s Kano Yui – she too graduated from AMG, but unlike Kano (who is signed to Aoni), Katou is signed to 81produce. Oh, and Katou used to present Tokyo Anime Center Radio too. Kobayashi Yu used to present Animelomix on JOQR and should’ve won last year, except that she was at some Negima live event on the same day the awards were held.
Anispa: Emiri’s was another ‘OMG, I’m not worthy’ speech but she did mention her family was surprised at the news. Yu-tan described her trophy (it’s blue!) and again, it was like she was reading from the same winning speech script as Emiri, Yonaga & Hatano. Asano Masumi ridiculed the newcomer award winners for having exactly the same speeches ^^;
Best singer: Motteke! Sailor Fuku by the Lucky Star girls
-OK, shoot me. Everyone on the panel must be deaf…. I really thought they might give Aice5 a last hurrah, but it wasn’t to be. And Minorin ;_;
Anispa: Endo Ayaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! (furthest right in the pic above) It was good to see that the other girls were there too – their message for the radio show was cute.
Best personality: Suzumura Kenichi
-Both of his current shows Radio ZERO-SUM & Cherry Bell both run on JOQR. I’m still aggrieved that Tamura Yukari didn’t win.
Anispa: I’m not very familiar with his radio work, but I found him pretty charming on Anispa. Really funny guy. Incidentally, Suzumura and last year’s best personality winner Asano Masumi are both signed to Artsvision.
Synergy Award: Kamen Rider Den-O (Seki Toshihiko, Yusa Koji, Terasoma Masaki, Suzumura Kenichi)
-Well, that’s actually one winner that both surprised and pleased me.
Anispa: Seki-san gave the speech/message on behalf of the Kamen Rider crew ^o^ A very grown up, mature one too.
Tomiyama Kei award: Furuya Toru
-I suppose this is like a ‘Special Legend Award’.
Service Award: Nozawa Nachi, Hazama Michio, Kinomiya Ryoko
-W00t for Legendary seiyuu!
Special Service Award: Jo Tatsuya
-Mainly did narration. Jo died in 1995.
Stats by agency (only the character & newcomer awards):
81produce – 2
KenPro – 2
Aoni – 1
Himawari – 1
Spacecraft – 1
Mausu – 1
Holy Peak – 1
I’m Enterprise – 1
More balanced than last year but SIGMA 7 GOT BLANKED this time. No Mizuki Nana, no Yukana, no Nakamura Yuichi, no Inoue Marina. Someone really hates them ^^;
And Gurren Lagann WON NOTHING. Not Kakky, not Konishi Katsuyuki, not Marina, not Yukarin, nothing. Somebody didn’t suck up to the panel hard enough…. Oh hang on, Saiga Mitsuki voiced Rossiu. Oops. Ah, StrikerS didn’t win anything either.
No Kitamura Eri, sob. No Marina either, blubber.
Anywayyyy, like all the cynics on 2channel I believe it’s all those media companies trying to make sure that their shows & what not get all the top prizes. It’s not merit-based at all…. as they say:
Best Male/Female Seiyuu awards should be renamed Best Kadokawa-show Seiyuu Award.
Best Newcomer should be renamed Best AMG Graduate
Best Personality should be renamed Best JOQR radio presenter
Here’s the list of all the companies involved in the Seiyu Awards:
Affiliates:
dwango – developer/publisher of mobile entertainment/apps
AMG (Amusement Media Sogo Gakuin) – seiyuu school
Avex Marketing Communications Inc.
Nippon Engineering College (NEC), sister school of Katayanagi Institute
Tokyo Animation College – animation school
Tokyo Announce Performing Arts College, under Toho Gakuen
CLM – Gravia & seiyuu DVD makers
VAP – Entertainment company – artist management & broadcasting
Tokyo Media Academy(TMA) & Tokyo Announce Academy (TAA) – seiyuu school
Tokyo Animator College
Toho – the film studio behind all those Godzilla movies
HALF H.P STUDIO – sound production company; you’ll see their name in a lot of anime end credits
Banpresto – game developers, owned by Namco Bandai Group
Pony Canyon – media giants
Yoyogi Animation Gakuin (YAG) – animation school
Publicity etc:
Tokyo Anime Center
Kadokawa Shoten
Shogakukan
Nippon Cultural Broadcasting (JOQR)
And, a reminder of last year’s winners:
Best male: Fukuyama Jun (Lelouche in Code Geass)
-Geass=Kadokawa.
Best female: Paku Romi (Osaki Nana in Nana)
-NANA is an Avex-sponsored show. Paku is a JOQR presenter.
Best supporting male: Ishida Akira (Athrun Zala in Gundam Seed DESTINY) & Miyata Kouki (Kazumi in Yoshinaga-san’chi no Gargoyle)
-GSD is another Kadokawa-related show, Yoshinaga is an Avex show. Miyata Kouki is also host of Tokyo Anime Center Radio.
Best supporting female: Koshimizu Ami (Kallen in Code Geass) & Goto Yuko (Mikuru in Suzumiya Haruhi)
-Code Geass again. Haruhi – Kadokawa too.
Best new male: Morita Masakazu (Kurosaki Ichigo in Bleach) & Kakihara Tetsuya (Mikoto in Princess Princess)
-Kakihara graduated from AMG. Morita’s award was only funny for the fact that he’s older than almost every other winner bar Ishida and Paku.
Best new female: Hirano Aya (Haruhi in Suzumiya Haruhi) & Kano Yui (Momo in Sumomo etc)
-Kano graduated from AMG. Haruhi – Kadokawa.
Best singer: Mizuki Nana (Justice to Believe)
-Has connections with dwango & JOQR.
Best personality: Asano Masumi (Anispa!)
-Anispa is a JOQR show.
How do you like the awarding this time around? Deserved? Or just laughable? On reflection, this year’s list actually makes more sense than last year’s, especially the supporting categories. The newcomer awards are still ridiculous though. And I still hate joint winners, it’s like they’re trying to hard to please everybody. But hey, nobody takes these things seriously, do they?
Lawl, I thought I was looking at Jay Chou in the first image.
Love your photoshop job on the logo. Couldn’t agree more. :p
Sigma Seven and King Records probably couldn’t get into the corporate incest this time around thus explaining why none of their artists and seiyuu got any awards.
What’s conspicious is King Records’ absence from the list of affiliates. Methinks this is why Starchild and King artists are a complete no-show this year.
har, I should have refreshed the window
That’s just how the seiyuu business works, eh. I guess a people’s choice awards for seiyuu wouldn’t be much of a difference either, since it would be rigged by the conflicting fanbases.
I dislike Motteke. The b-side is much more pleasing to the ear.
…Minorin ;~;
Minorin~ ;~;
Why wasn’t she picked… ;~;
伊藤静涙目wwwww
井上麻里奈涙目wwww
植田佳奈涙目w
喜多村英梨涙目wwww
茅原実里涙目ww
川澄綾子涙目www
桑島法子涙目wwwwwwwwwwww
あみす涙目wwwwwwwwwwwww
田中理恵涙目wwwww
田村ゆかり涙目w
中原麻衣涙目ww
能登麻美子涙目wwww
若本規夫涙目wwwww
Even if joint winners are generally debatable, without it I bet there are way too many VAs neglected. (Of course, I can put way more than that)
Best female: Hirano Aya (Konata in Lucky Star)
(╯ﾟдﾟ)╯╧╧
There are many easy choices and I don’t know why they choose her. At least picking Horie Yui or Tamura Yukari can fool alot of people.
The best leading and supporting award winners didn’t surprise me. I am most pleased that Waccha won for best rookie male. (I voted for him, of course. X.D) Also glad Yonaga won cuz Mihashi is just too cute!
I was voting Suwabe for supporting and personality, and Tatsu for singing. Too bad neither of them won. But overall I’m pretty pleased with the results. It definitely is a popularity contest though. But if it allows me to see Hatano in a suit…. .*_____________________*
Hirano Aya? Haha. Lucky Star girls? hahahahahaha. What about Inoue Marina and Mizuki Nana? ._.
Anyway, I think that only Kugimiya Rie and Ono Daisuke (and maybe Katou Emiri) deserved their prizes.
Only Kugimiya Rie really deserved a prize IMHO. It’s just sad that the truly talented likes of Seki Tomokazu, Orikasa Fumiko, Toyoguchi Megumi etc + all those names I’ve mentioned get shut out cos their agencies and companies aren’t kissing some smelly corporate feet.
Bah, where’s Inoue Marina? I’m going to pretend I never saw this post… T_T
Yay for Miyano-san ^^ Thanks for sharing the coverage :3
Shocking. Full of crap seiyuu or ok seiyuu in crap roles!
Wow. No Mizuki Nana. Let me go cry in my little corner now. (Jk) I think I’m mostly shocked that Motteke! Sailor Fuku got Best Musical Performance – Hare Hare Yukai last year was at least a fun catchy song, but MSF has NO music value as a stand-alone, whatsoever. Without the anime, the song is utter crap. Even with, I can’t stomach the full version.
Personally, I thought Kobayashi Sanae deserved something for her performance in D.Gray-man. Maybe it’s because I’m partial to Allen Walker, but I went into DGM expecting the cliche, tragic-past-ridden, one-dimensional male protagonist but I was pretty impressed by all the different sides – from the more comedic moments to the deeper emotions and more…I’d actually go as far as to say I like her Allen a bit more than Paku Romi’s Ed Elric in FMA.
Sorry for double posting, but I think Denno Coil ought to have won something for its seiyuus as well.
Well, I know I’m biased, But I voted for Hirano over Kawasumi and Kuwashima, who are fundamentally better seiyuus, because I thought Konata was a brilliant comic invention — even more brilliant than Nodame. If I was voting now, I’d give serious consideration to Yajima Akiko, who really opened my eyes as Mari in Blue Drop.
In any case, the award has to be for work in this year, not for a body of work or previous triumphs.
As for singers, there is a difference between skill and musical interest. I find many of the skilful singers rather boring, and most of the OPs and EDs I liked best this year were not by seiyuus — except for the ED to Touka Gettan, by Hayami Saori, which I thought was subtle and musical.
Motteke! was an entertaining novelty song. It sold a lot of copies and fixed itself in the public mind. Its initial success also helped sell a lot of character CDs. These things are probably significant to an industry panel.
Not that I’m saying this is an unbiased selection. The back-room boys were clearly at work. But I think most choices were at least justifiable. And if you look at the list of sponsors and organizers, it has grown pretty long, and does include Shogakukan as well as Kadokawa.
I used to think that the five-year rule for newcomers was silly, until I tried to set up a poll myself and discovered that a lot of seeming newcomers had been in the business several years, getting a role here and a role there.
All the winners seem to deserve it in one way or another besides Aya Hirano. But hey look at it this way, the other 5 are seeing lots of work, while Aya Hirano basically has nothing to show for this award, going in or going out. What really counts is how much work people have seen and how much they contributed to the Seiyuu medium that year, not what award the sponsor of the show deems fit to give to it’s biggest darling and most lucrative human being turned commodity.
Let’s face it, her image as Haruhi has been nothing short of a boon for the company and they will milk it until the Aya Hirano popularity bandwagon runs dry, which if 2ch is any indication has already come to pass.
In that sense of contribution I mentioned, Kugimya Rie and Tohru Furuya seem to be pretty much the only people who seems to have gotten the award out of sheer merit. Kugimiya is a workaholic who must not even be able to sleep with all the roles she is being offered and filling. Her range, emotive style and pitch eclipses that of Aya Hirano and is equalled in my opinion only by Romi Paku. The industry can’t seem to get enough of her either as she is literally everywhere, yet you never see her touted or boasting about her latest CD release. She’s just there, and for once in the realm of Japanese seiyuu seems the real deal, rather than a public persona.
I will admit that though that I’m liking Mamoru Miyano and Hiroshi Kamiya in Gundam 00, I doubt they won the award for any reason other than the Bandai/Kadokawa link (Newtype Magazine anyone?).
I also want to go on record as saying I have come to absolutely loathe Kadokawa’s marketing practices as of late. It seems I’m not the only one either. They basically overpromote themselves to death in every avenue possible and get away with it because they back a lot of shows that are popular with Moe Otaku, who will buy and love almost anything as long as it fits certain criteria.
Lucky Star was essentially a Kadokawa advertisement disguised as an otaku parody series beyond the first 4 episodes. Anybody remember that director that got fired from Kyoto Animation?
I’m willing to bet he didn’t want to play ball with the sponsors so they got rid of the problem more or less and replaced him with someone who would. You notice the change in tone of the series almost immediately when the replacement episodes start kicking in.
So of course it would win big at a ceremony backed by one of the most self-interested, self-promoting conglomerates in the Japanese media industry. The whole ceremony should be called the Kadokawa awards, not just the best male/female category. The public portion of the vote basically seems like a mask to make the whole process seem more legitimate and unbiased.
It’s really a shame that some people who clearly deserved the awards have to share the stage with those who really just don’t.
out of the list above, glad to see ono d and kugimiya rie on it – love her kagura very much, which i think is a bit under appreciated. ditto about elections in m’sia, an expected outcome from what i had in mind. now time for opp to prove their mettle.
Some of the results are just… wow.
I also want to add how I am impressed with how you managed to tie so many of the winners to the sponsors of the event. Considering Aya Hirano is affiliated with 2 of them she seemed almost predestined for that “award”.
If I had any faith in the english communites ability to recognize more seiyuu names and gauge Japanese acting ability then I would try to organize an alternative vote for this, but alas…
lol~ only got 3 hit this year, for kugimin, ono-d, and emiri~~
best singer….(T__T)
congrats to the winners, thou~ rigged or not..
Looking at the result gives me mixed feelings.
I admire Hirano Aya for her abilities and her work on Konata, but I look at Kugimiya Rie and I wonder if Rie-chan should have won Best Female Seiyuu instead.
The amount and quality of work she turned out last year was phenomenal… Shana, Nagi, Louise and Neena Trinity. Between Aaya and Rie-chan, it should have been Rie-chan. And this is coming from an unabashed and hardcore Haruhiist.
And what about other seiyuus such as Yukarin and Nakahara Mai, who brought to live memorable characters such as Nijihara Ink (Moetan) and Rena (Higurashi)?
And since when was Nagi a supporting character?
And best singer should have been Mizuki Nana for her work on the Shugo Chara OSTs, namely Meikyuu Butterfly and Blue Moon. The fact that any person is getting the same award for 2 years in a row should not matter, as Nana-chan is seriously that superior to the competition.
Goodness me, Hirano Aya….. AGAIN?!
Time to recognize really good Seiyuus please. Age may be a factor, but dun turn it into some kind of “Young People Only” award.
Tamura Yukari & Horie Yui gets my vote. Yes I dun really care if they are 32yrs old this year.
T.H.E.Y A.R.E G.O.O.D.
nuff said.
Wow, I seriously don’t care much for any of the award winners. Except maybe Suzumura Kenichi, I don’t even like his voice acting that much, but I hear him on various radio shows and he just makes me laugh even though I don’t know what he’s saying.
But in response to Julius Firefocht’s comment, I’m quite glad that Mizuki Nana didn’t get the award. Her voice is quite outstanding, but I don’t think her music is, her songs in Shugo Chara were only average to me. That being said I haven’t heard the Lucky Star song so I couldn’t compare.
To Emily
That is surprising, because I thought Mizuki Nana’s voice acting average but improving, while her music and songs are outstanding. Ah well, different tastes in music I guess.
Miyano Mamoru’s performance as Setsuna F. Seiei is probably one of the more lacklustre, mediocre and forgettable performances I’ve heard last year. This is rather sad.
On the other hand, glad to see you got to cast your vote. Opposition FTW! Did your constituency win?
>owen s
I live in a city full of pussycats who are afraid of change. Hence my votes amounted to almost nothing, which makes my blood boil! I did at least, vote in the only parliamentary seat that the opposition won in my state (hint: we’re also the poorest state in the country). But generally, I am happy with the way things went in the rest of M’sia overall ^_^
I think the results are perfectly fair.
Only the bitter fanboys of seiyuu who didn’t win anything (nothing against them) or the antis that are complaining.
Actually now that I think about it, the fact that Motteke won the best song award did made me roll my eyes a bit o_O
But other than that I think it was overall very objective and fair.
@W-General: That’s because you’re like the biggest blind Aya Hirano fanboy I’ve ever seen. No offense but I personally remember the Haruhi & Lucky Star boards on AS quite well so there’s no sense denying it.
Even Hashihime who loves Aya Hirano’s personality and image doubts the fairness of the results, but then again he actually puts a lot of thought into the whole Seiyuu thing, you just want to see your “Goddess” win.
The fact that you think an award ceremony governed by anime industry interests is objective and fair shows this. Considering none of the “antis” had a voice in this at all I think they have a right to complaint. A lot of people resent the commercialization and idolization of seiyuu that sees a lot of good talent (Katsuyuki Konishi, Romi Paku, Satsuki Yukino, Tetsuya Kakihara, Kappei Yamaguchi, Takehito Koyasu, Seki Tomokazu, Norio Wakamoto, need I go on?) get ignored for a merely par role like Mamoru Miyano’s this year (I like the role, but best?! Not even close) or Jun Fukuyama’s last year (Same deal). Katsuyuki better get himself a contract with Kadokawa, that’s all I have to say.
The people who are complaining, myself included, also know a lot more about the anime and seiyuu industry then others, so we understand what went into this whole “Awards” ceremony and why it feels hollow.
Anyone who thinks the results are fair must be wearing blinkers and earplugs.
I was already disillusioned by last year’s awards and my sole hope for this year was that the awarding process would be more transparent.
But no, it got worse. I’m too bored to point out all the glaring oddities again (just refer to my afterthoughts post) but the fact there’s not even an official nominees list, the winners all know beforehand that they’re gonna win (otherwise they wouldn’t bother to turn up) and that the results were leaked out beforehand by somebody with an advance issue of Voice Newtype means the Seiyu Awards was nothing but a farce.
Did I not mention that before? I knew the results an hour before the actual ceremony, cos somebody on 2channel with an advance copy of the upcoming Voice Newtype leaked the list. Voice Newtype is published by…… Kadokawa. So much for being objective and fair.
It all kind of reminds me of how Famitsu scores it’s games. Oh and as usual ANN has decided to take the story and run with it as if it were the gospel truth, but then again what else is new.
Lol… no Sigma Seven? Disappointing…
Not to offense but I really really think that this awards is far from objectiveness and fairness.
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