The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (a.k.a. METI) is a section of the Japanese government, and it recently said that using generative AI in the wrong ways could run afoul of the country’s Unfair Competition Prevention Act. Namely, METI pointed out how using generative …Read more »
Shinji Sugimura, a member of Japan’s House of Representatives who hails from the Constitutional Democratic Party, has called for Japan’s voice actors to be designated Living National Treasures. Sugimura, who calls himself a “non-otaku,” isn’t coming at this from the point of view of a …Read more »
Mike McFarland, a prolific anime voice actor and director, recently had emergency surgery after a tumor was discovered in his brain. Thankfully, the surgery did what it needed to do. Now McFarland is going to need time and aid to recover, so anime voice actors …Read more »
Production baobab shared the sad news that voice actor Eiji Yanagisawa has passed away. He died on November 12, at the age of 57, and the cause of death is listed as a brainstem hemorrhage. The National Library of Medicine explained: Primary brainstem hemorrhage (PBSH) …Read more »
Natalie Van Sistine works in different parts of anime, including as a voice actor, script writer and engineer. Her best-known acting role is as Yor in the hit SPY x FAMILY, and while she was a guest at Detroit’s Youmacon convention, Van Sistine spoke to …Read more »
In America, SAG-AFTRA has been fighting for actors’ rights against generative AI, and now some well-known Japanese voice actors have launched their own group known as “No More Mudan Seisei AI” (translated as “No More Unauthorized Generative AI”). They dropped a short video, which starts …Read more »
Dragon Ball Daima will debut very soon. And while it will bring back many beloved characters from the Dragon Ball franchise, there is going to be one major voice change in the Japanese version. That’s because Yamcha, who has been played by Toru Furuya since …Read more »
Sad news has been announced out of Japan as we learn of the passing of prolific voice actor Atsuko Tanaka. The news was revealed by her son, Hikaru Tanaka, who is also a voice-over talent. According to Hikaru, his mother had been battling an illness …Read more »
Last weekend’s Attack on Titan Final Season THE FINAL CHAPTERS (a.k.a. Shingeki no Kyojin The Final Season Kanketsu-hen in Japanese) featured the acting debut of voice actors Yuuki Kaji and Ayana Taketatsu’s baby. Kaji plays Eren Jaeger in the series. Taketatsu’s voice credits include playing …Read more »
A bipartisan group of Senators — Chris Coons (D-Del.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — have come out with the discussion draft of their proposed bill they’re calling the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act. …Read more »
The Japanese labor ministry puts out a survey each year asking workers about their experiences in the world of arts and entertainment and elsewhere. This time around it asked people with artistic careers about sexual harassment, a question it has not asked in the past. …Read more »
The Arts Workers Japan, an association in Tokyo, sent an appeal to the country’s Agency for Cultural Affairs about protecting entertainers from losing their jobs or copyrights due to AI. This includes entertainers who work as voice actors in anime. “The advancement of AI under …Read more »
Seiyu Grand Prix, a voice actor magazine in Japan, annually publishes a Voice Actress Directory and a Voice Actor Directory of all the professional voice talents currently working in Japan. And with plenty of anime, video games, virtual YouTubers and the task of dubbing other …Read more »
A voice actor can really bring an anime character to life, so the app Line did a survey asking Japanese teenagers about their favorite voice actors. The survey consisted of 428 high school boys and 413 high school girls who watch anime. They were asked …Read more »
If you’ve ever found yourself wondering which anime voice actors have the sexiest voices, Japanese morning show Mezamashi TV is here with a very specific ranking. The show decided to run down a list of the top picks, based on both the roles the actors …Read more »
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