It was a little past nine o'clock in the audio studio.
"Good morning," Lin Zhiyan and Nanase Mayumi said as they arrived. Many voice actors immediately greeted them.
These voice actors...
Lin Zhiyan replied, "Good morning," without breaking his stride. His gaze swept over them, and he recognized most of them.
Closest to him was Tanaka Rie, who left a particularly strong impression on many. She was known for frequently cosplaying her characters at events and had released several photobooks, some featuring swimsuit photos. She had a great figure, with impressive curves, and was a childhood idol for many.
She married voice actor Yamadera Koichi in 2012 but divorced in 2018. After the divorce, she became even more uninhibited, posting various photos on Twitter, including three-piece swimsuit shots, which fueled bizarre rumors online that Yamadera Koichi had divorced her to save his life.
Her voice roles were numerous and varied, including Lacus Clyne in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Mercury Lamp in Rozen Maiden, Maria in Hayate the Combat Butler, and Maho Nishizumi (the protagonist's sister) in Girls und Panzer.
The Japanese voice actress for Lisa in Genshin Impact is her. Every time a new event occurs in FGO, she, as the voice actress for Sesshouin Kiara, streams herself pulling gacha while wearing an outfit identical to the character's card art, striking the same pose, and personally promoting the game.
Of course, most of these events lie in the future.
Currently, Tanaka Rie is only 21 years old, with only two or three years in the industry. She hasn't voiced many roles and isn't yet famous.
A bit further ahead in time, another future top voice actress, Tamura Yukari—nicknamed "Great Demon King Tamura"—is one of the "Big Three of Voice Actresses," alongside Mizuki Nana and Horie Yui.
She has voiced countless roles, mastering a wide range of voices, though her loli voice remains her most memorable.
Tamura Yukari debuted earlier, in 1997. In three years, she voiced over twenty anime series, but mostly as supporting characters or even background characters. She had two lead roles, but neither gained significant fame.
Beyond these two, many future heavyweights of the voice acting world were also emerging, including Noto Mamiko, Nonaka Ai, Fukuyama Jun, Sugita Tomokazu, Sawashiro Miyuki, Saito Chiwa, Nazuka Kaori, Kugimiya Rie, Kawasumi Ayako...
These future superstar and mega-hit voice actors were either just starting out or had only been active for two or three years. To put it bluntly, they were still "green."
At this time, the real big names—like Megumi Hayashibara (voice of Rei Ayanami and Ai Haibara), Minami Takayama (voice of Conan), and Mayumi Tanaka (voice of Luffy)—would never have attended this audition.
After a brief greeting, Lin Zhiyan and Nanase Mayumi went straight to find Nobuhiro Wakabayashi, the sound director. Before they even entered the control room, the voice actors behind them couldn't help but start whispering:
"Who are those two? They're both so good-looking."
"The Supervising Director and Assistant Producer for the Death Note animation. You don't even know them?"
"What! The Supervising Director is this young and handsome? I always thought directors were all unkempt old men."
"Shh! Keep it down. You'll be dead if word gets out."
"Hmm~ Speaking of which, what's the relationship between the Supervising Director and the Assistant Producer?"
"Who knows? But it's definitely not simple."
Inside the recording studio, after a brief greeting with sound director Nobuhiro Wakabayashi, Lin Zhiyan and Nanase Mayumi found seats.
"Supervising Director, Nanase-san, here are the materials for today's voice actor auditions and the character scripts," the sound director said, handing each of them a stack of documents.
The voice actor files included basic information about each person and the roles they wanted to audition for.
Lin Zhiyan set the character scripts aside and looked at the voice actor files, estimating, "This thick stack must contain over a hundred people, right?"
"Forty-two in the morning, fifty-nine in the afternoon, for a total of one hundred and one," the sound director replied.
Lin Zhiyan let out a sharp "hiss."
This is terrifying!
Listening to one hundred and one people's voices in a single day, even just repeating the same few lines—his ears would be calloused by the end of it.
Fortunately, they didn't need to make final decisions immediately. A preliminary assessment would suffice for the day. The sound studio would record all the audio, and they would schedule a meeting later to discuss and confirm the voice actor choices.
Lin Zhiyan casually flipped through the files and found Yamaguchi Morihei's file, confirming he would at least be present for the audition, though only in the afternoon.
That being said, attending the audition didn't guarantee a role. At best, it meant their schedules were compatible and they were willing to voice the character if they passed the audition.
The competition was fiercest for the voice actors of Yagami Light, L, Ryuk, and Misa Amane, as these could all be considered lead roles. After all, what voice actor wouldn't want to play a lead?
The competition for supporting roles was relatively less intense, but only relatively speaking. On average, each character still had five or six candidates vying for the part.
It was clear that the voice acting industry was no easy path.
"Speaking of which, this animation's script is really good. I heard Mr. Hayashi wrote it himself?" Wakabayashi Kazuhiro, the Supervising Director, suddenly said, leaning back in his chair.
"Yes, that's right."
Lin Zhiyan nodded. "You think so too, Wakatake-san? Then it looks like our first animation under L.S Production is a sure thing."
"President Ishikawa actually let you leave IG so easily? What a loss for them," Wakabayashi Kazuhiro said with a smile.
"What choice did he have?"
Lin Zhiyan shook his head and joked, "He couldn't exactly lock me up, could he? That would be illegal."
As they chatted, the clock struck ten.
The auditions officially began.
Wakabayashi Kazuhiro put aside his casual demeanor and turned to the glass-walled booth, ready to observe the first candidate's audition.
Lin Zhiyan also opened the data sheet and waited. Soon, he turned to Nanase Mayumi beside him and said, "Mayumi, you should pay close attention too and jot down any voice actor candidates who seem suitable for the role."
Technically, Nanase Mayumi was only a producer's assistant and was not qualified to participate in voice actor auditions. Only official producers had that right.
But then again, who was qualified was ultimately up to Lin Zhiyan.
Lin Zhiyan's idea was to judge suitability based on whether the voice actors' vocal tones and acting skills matched the original version. However, he wasn't sure if this was the right standard. After all, getting close to the original was incredibly difficult. Every person's voice was unique, and acting was such a vague concept that it was hard to judge.
In such circumstances, he had no choice but to have Nanase Mayumi help him keep an eye out.
Nanase Mayumi didn't overthink it.
Hearing Lin Zhiyan's words, she clenched her fist and nodded seriously. "Understood. I'll do my best."
In the recording booth on the other side of the glass wall, the first voice actor appeared. "I'm Nonaka Ai from Aoni Production, auditioning for the role of Yagami Sayu. Please guide me."
She glanced at the audition script in her hand and began her performance.
Lin Zhiyan and the others listened intently.
Please Support me by becoming my patreon member and get 15+ chapters.
[email protected]/Ajal69
change @ with a
Thank You to Those who joined my Patreon