263rd G-View: Sore ga Seiyuu!

This we got an anime about making anime and an anime about voice acting in Japan. We already covered the former so this time we will be looking at the latter in Sora ga Seiyuu!

NOTE: The show does borrow some things from SHIROBAKO but is an entirely different entity overall.

Alternate Title: Seiyu’s Life!

Genres: Slice of Life, Comedy

Themes: Voice acting

Number of episodes: 13

G-Rating: 8/10

Plot Summary: The world of voice acting is seen through the eyes of Futaba Ichinose, Ichigo Moesaki, and Rin Kohana, three rookie voice actresses.

Seiyu’s Life as the name implies is a show that gives viewers a behind the scenes look of the different roles Japanese voice actors can apply for and the challenges each job entails, specifically our three leading ladies and the challenges they must face not only from the jobs they get but also getting jobs to begin with. Some examples of jobs seiyu’s can apply for include radio host, commercial announcer, video game and/or anime character voice over. Details are given on what each job entails by the guide, aka Futaba’s plushie and other neat stuff pertaining to said jobs. Besides the seiyu viewers also get a look at the people behind the seiyu such as the managers, supervisors and other coworkers. It is like a crash course in “seiyu 101” with as few stones as possible left unturned.

Of course like any other anime revolving around its characters and their occupations the show would feel incomplete without an exploration of our three ladies, their charms, sisterhood of voice acting and both the professional and personal challenges they need to face and overcome on the road to becoming a special guest seiyu in a future show about voice acting. The best part is their struggles and troubles are sympathetic as there were some obstacles I could relate to myself. So yeah the cast rocks. Cannot find a single character I disliked as everyone had a role to play and no one felt added on for kicks. If a show has a big cast make sure everyone plays a part. That is what I say when it comes to anime with large casts. While this show’s cast is not that big there are still many people and thankfully they all have a job to do. Oh and my favorite of the main trio is Futaba.

One of the shows’ surprise draws is the weekly guest appearance by well known and established seiyu like Rie Kugimiya who play themselves and not only showcase their mad skills and share sage advice with our heroines but the viewers as well. Definitely a special treat for animeniacs who follow certain seiyu’s work and get a surprise appearance by them on the show…provided they are one of the 13 anyway. Unfortunately my lady love was busy with another important role at the time so she could not attend a special screening. Another treat is that during the episodic EDs a snippet of a popular series’ theme such as Utena’s “Rondo-Revolution”.

Speaking of, the animation quality is standard along with the soundtrack but both the OP and ED are catchy.

This could be interpreted as “brahs 4 life” or “together forever”. It is up to the viewer. Guess which one I picked.

Overall Seiyu’s Life! is a show that covers the basics of Japanese voice acting and has neat characters with straightforward yet sympathetic obstacles. For viewers who enjoyed SHIROBAKO and do not mind watching a show with somewhat less deep character arcs then by all means give this one a go. Also recommended to viewers who are interested in getting a behind the scenes look at the life of seiyu.