オーディション

オーディション – ōdishon. audition. Auditions are held for different purposes: To be considered for an agency, to be chosen for a group, or to be selected for a role, etc. As such, what one does in an audition depends what they’re auditioning for. Some are line reads from the actual script, some are talent showcases, some are both.

Auditioning is part of the process (think of it as a job interview) and failure is common even for famous seiyuu. However, roles can also be offered without an audition (指名; shimei) because the role may have been written with them in mind or a prior working relationship makes them a more favorable option, or simply because they are more marketable since they may be asked to do more than just lend their voices for characters.

These can be seen as giving an unfair advantage since some production staff do supposedly play favorites, so sometimes they go out of their way to address it. In one such case, Millepensee, the production staff of Cop Craft disclosed that the casting of Mayu Yoshioka for Tilarna was through a blind audition and passed through different people including the author because the seiyuu and the studio (specifically the director) had worked together in Wake Up, Girls! New Chapter where she voiced Mayu Shimada.

Some casting connections are very apparent package deals by sponsors affiliated with the seiyuu because they had a hand in producing it (OP, ED, BGM, etc.). Those cases are fairly easy to spot. Note the seiyuu, look for the label or their subsidiaries in the credits, and you’ll find the connection.

Some castings are purely based on the author’s discretion. Minami Tanaka’s leading role for The Spirit of Eternity Sword 3 came about because the author/game director was a fan of her as a radio personality and her voice was a good fit for the heroine Euphoria so he directly asked for her.

Depending on the project, auditions may take place a few months to a year before it comes out. It is overseen by the sound director who makes casting calls to agencies and these may be selective or scattershot, with some sessions lasting multiple days. Some roles may be chosen by the seiyuu to audition for and the results might not always be what they expect but in a good way. Auditioning for a role doesn’t necessarily exclude them for others as there have been stories of seiyuu failing a role they auditioned for only to be given another role to try, which they eventually land.