English Google seiyuu hit count results
So in this post I’ve posted about someone who did a hit count on seiyuu names on the Japanese Google site and I said I’ll do a similiar one, only in English. So using the name list on the page I’ve done my own little research and came up with my very own list of seiyuu name hits on English sites, and here’s the top 10:
- Hayashibara Megumi 262,000
- Sakamoto Maaya 225,000
- Hidaka Noriko 105,000
- Iwao Junko 103,000
- Ogata Megumi 80,500
- Hisakawa Aya 74,500
- Horie Yui 72,800
- Inoue Kikuko 68,700
- Mitsuishi Kotono 65,600
- Tanaka Rie 55,300
The search was done using both the given name surname and surname given name naming order, and all searches were limited to English only sites. This is so because English sites can use either naming convention, thus making searching in both naming convertion necessary. And by limiting the search to English-only sites will filter out Japanese sites which may have use the romanji in the pages and thus throw the hit count off.
Just like my prediction, the list is pretty much dominated by seiyuu from the early 90’s. Two of the top rankers on the Japanese list: Tamura Yukari and Mizuki Nana, were nowhere to be seen in the top 10. In fact they came 20th and 19th respectively.
While the two lists are hardly solid proof of the preferences of seiyuu fans from the two language region, I have to say I’m not surprised at my results at all. Afterall, the way in which fans comes to know seiyuu in the two language regions is vastly different, and the reason why fans support them is also vastly different.
If I was to offer and explaination for these results, this is how I would explain it: In the English speaking world, most fans only comes to know a certain seiyuu from their voice work in anime or games, but they do not get to know the other aspects of the seiyuu very well. So for seiyuu like Hayashibara Megumi, Hidaka Noriko and Hisakawa Aya, whom had taken part in many anime works which are popular amongst the English-speaking crowd, it is only natural that they rank so high. On the other hand, in Japan, seiyuu like Tamura Yukari and Mizuki Nana have other areas which they appeal to the crowd: Tamura Yukari is famous for her personality which really shines in radio talk shows and magazine columns, while Mizuki Nana is famous for her songs and live concerts. These are things which cannot be experienced easily for fans who do not live in Japan so they cannot experience their charm to the fullest.
Will we see a day when the preference of the two region are closely mirrored? Only time will tell.
April 17th, 2006 at 10:12
I would argue that the barrier between the two regions is not so much geographical location (this is becoming increasingly irrelevant in the Internet Age) but language. Further, I would suggest that preferences of the two regions will only more closely mirror each other when language becomes less important. What do I mean by that? Well, language could conceivably become less important as Japanese get more proficient in speaking English (I think it highly unlikely the West will become more proficient in speaking Japanese) and, to appeal to a more global audience, Japanese entertainment is either produced entirely in English or produced in both English and Japanese.
Take for example the latest Studio Ghibli DVDs that will include English subtitles as well as Japanese subs. How much longer until a studio decides to record an English audio track as well? I believe it will be at this point that seiyuu fandom will more closely align between East and West.