Tokyo, 27 January, /AJMEDIA/
It’s no secret that the voice acting industry in Japan is big. The country’s prolific publishing of animation and video games means there’s a never-ending flow of characters who need voices, and Japan also has a very healthy appetite for overseas movies and TV dramas, many of which get dubbed-into-Japanese versions too.
So that means there are a lot of voice actresses in Japan, and the number is getting bigger still. Voice actor magazine Seiyu Grand Prix periodically publishes the Voice Actress Directory, which it says is a comprehensive listing of working voice actresses in Japan. The newest directory, set to be included as part of Seiyu Grand Prix’s March issue (which goes on sale February 9), has profiles for over 1,030 voice actresses, the most ever since the directory started in 2001.
What’s even more startling than the number of voice actresses, though, is how quickly the number has grown.
● Number of listed performers in Voice Actress Directory
2001: 225
2004: 438
2008: 535
2014: 644
2016: 728
2018: 800
2019: 847
2020: 907
2021: 955
2022: 1,003
2023: Over 1,030
There’s also been a tremendous increase in the number of voice actors in Japan over the past 20 years. Seiyu Grand Prix’s most recent Voice Actor Directory, published in 2022, consists of a record-high 655 male vocal performers, compared to just 145 in the 2001 directory. Together, the combined number of voice actors and actresses has increased by roughly four and a half times since 2001.
