Pacific Media Expo 2015’s anime guest of honor was Kyoko Hikami, a voice actress likely best known for her role as Momoko/Wedding Peach in the anime adaptation of Wedding Peach, or perhaps as the rabbit-ear-and-dice-wearing Rabi-en-Rose from Di Gi Charat. She held two panels at PMX, as well as at least one autograph session. PMX is small enough that neither was especially crowded – the panel I made it to peaked at about 20 attendees, and the line for autographs was similarly short.

A few highlights from her panel:

• She was inspired to become a voice actress by Gundam, and someday she’d like to be in a Gundam cockpit
• She was asked about her role as bad-girl Seira Morimura in Princess Nine. Hikami said that Seira was a special role for her, because at the time Seira was the youngest character she’d played at 15 years old – this felt like a parallel to her, because Hikami debuted at age 15. It sounds like recording for a baseball anime was a bit of a challenge, though: Hikami had never played baseball in her life.
• She particularly admires the voice actors for Dr. Senbei (from Dr. Slump), Goku (from Dragonball), and Conan (from Detective Conan/Case Closed)
  • Senbei’s actor (I believe she was referring to Kenji Utsumi) could seem like he was joking around and goofing off, but instantly switch to professional and totally collected
  • Goku’s actress Masako Nozawa – I believe Hikami mentioned she was always shocked that Nozawa could generate such a large, loud voice
  • Conan’s voice actress Minami Takayama is always the first person at the recording studio for Detective Conan, and is ready to show new actors around
• It usually takes about 2-3 hours to record a 30-minute TV episode
• She had to act out the Wedding Peach transformation to make it sound right in the recording booth, every single time.
• Voice acting pay:
  • Base rate determined by seniority
  • Multiplier based on the type of work being produced (30-minute episode, airline film, theatrical movie)
  • Base starting pay is low, but the upside is that since you’re less expensive there are lots of casting opportunities
• Digital technology has led to a lot of big changes, but on the mundane end it means that the video the voice actors receive a week in advance to help them prepare is now on DVD instead of VHS.
• Promotional work as part of voice acting
  • When she signed on as Wedding Peach, promotional event appearances were a condition of getting the role (nobody said anything like this in advance, though). Her first appearances were at International Tokyo Toy Show, which was were you’d hold these promotional events back before Comic Market was as big an event in terms of media attention.
  • There’s generally no push to promote Japanese dubs of Hollywood films. However, if there is a desire for local promotion for dubs of Hollywood films, or for specials for existing properties (such as Detective Conan or Anpan Man), or for J-dramas, the producers will often cast a screen actor guest character and use them for promotions.