4th Annual Seiyuu Awards...predictions!
The 4th Annual Seiyuu Awards ceremony is taking place in 2 days, so the results should be leaked at anytime now. I'd just like to throw in my two cents and laugh at how far off I am later, haha.
First off, to make things easier all the previous winners of Best Lead awards are excluded from any major awards this year -with the exception of the Overseas Choice- because it's unlikely the committee will give the same people another big one in such a short time. Those people include Paku Romi, Hirano Aya, Kugimiya Rie, Fukuyama Jun, Miyano Mamoru and Kamiya Hiroshi. FukuJun is probably out of the possibility of Overseas Choice as well, as he had already gotten the honour last year due to his Lelouch fame. Now that easily eliminates some of the biggest stars in the industry this year.
Secondly, it always appears to me that the award committee does not have a definite definition of what is a "lead" role and what is a "supporting" role, so let's just say Best Lead is the crown award while Best Supporting is the "next big thing." Haha.
Now let's start!
BEST MALE LEAD:
Ono Daisuke would be my first pick...and lots of 2ch'ers are speculating him as well, from what I've read. Let's break it down - fame, check. Fan base, check. Good looks, check. To make it even more likely to happen, he had won a Best Supporting award before. If we follow the trend, most Best Lead winners (with the exception of Miyano Mamoru, but he was at least nominated in the 1st Awards nonetheless) had won something in the previous awards. My only doubt with OnoD is that he didn't have any memorable lead roles in 2009 - if memory serves me right, 11eyes was his one and only lead? Unless if Kuroshitsuji somehow made it into the cut, even though it was considered 2008. Or the committee would be desperate enough to count even Final Fantasy XIII...But oh wait this is supposed to be anime works only, I guess.
Which brings me to Itsuki's gay lover Sugita Tomokazu as the next most possible candidate. He fits into all of the criteria mentioned above just like OnoD, but he also has one big advantage - he did have a real big memorable lead role in 2009! Now no matter how much Endless Eight sucked, he still did an incredible job voicing Kyon and definitely deserves something for his role.
I wish Sugita's gay lover Nakamura Yuuichi can win with Clannad as well, but oh what's the chance. it just doesn't make sense to me how he had gotten nothing so far. Nothing. Even though he's another of the industry's current biggest stars.
But you know who I think deserves this award the most in 2009? Kamiya Hiroshi. For his role as Araragi Koyomi in Bakemonogatari. Tl;dr, to sum it up, Koyomi was the single best played male lead I've heard in 2009 - if not my whole life. He's also the most satisfying Kamiya role I've heard so far imo. This is one of those moments which I curse why did they randomly give Kamiya the award last year...or why do they always have to give people the wrong awards in the wrong years. But I'm still a happy fangirl overall. *laughs*
BEST FEMALE LEAD:
Saitou Chiwa seems to be the most likely choice all thanks to the "Senjougahara-tore" (read: Bakemonogatari) fame - if it wasn't that her name was so new to the awards. Everyone was amazed at how well Senjougahara Hitagi was played by her when Bakemonogatari first aired, especially because it isn't one of her typical loli roles. Everything actually makes sense for her to claim the award this year, but like I said, she has never won anything before so I'm not sure one Senjougahara Hitagi is enough to grant her that honour.
I've also constantly heard about Koshimizu Ami amazing performance as Horo in Spice and Wolf, even though I have never watched the show myself so I can't judge. It's quite possible though, as she had gotten Best Supporting before for Kallen in Code Geass.
Sawashiro Miyuki is the next person coming up in my mind as she has been getting quite a lot of exposure lately, though I'm sure if she had another lead roles in 2009. Also makes sense as she got Best Supporting last year. But they can always save her for 2010 for her sole as Selty in Durarara...though it's probably still too early to tell.
BEST MALE SUPPORTING
Not much clue, too much unpredictability and too many possibilities. It's not like FukuJun or Hirano Aya's breaking roles as Lelouch and Haruhi; they can easily throw in someone random for this and it will still be logical, you know? There are simply too many deserving candidates for this imo.
That said, I really wish Miki Shinichirou and Sakurai Takahiro can be recognized this time. And of course Nakamura Yuuichi again.
Two years ago people speculated that if Miyano Mamoru was going to win with Setsuna F. Seiei, then either Miki or Kamiya would win Best Supporting - and they were not off at all, because Mamo-chan and Kamiya did win with their respective Gundam roles after all. Perhaps the committee is feeling a little bad for leaving MikiShin out last time, maybe not. But Roy Mustang from FMA is definitely a potential winning role.
Sakurai, on the other hand, should have won something a long time ago if it wasn't because of that controversial plagarism scandal back then in 2006. It's really a shame that his popularity still hasn't fully recovered from that as he has proved he has an incredible amounts in voice acting. The memorable Suzaku from Code Geass was pushed to the side, so hopefully Meme from Bakemonogatari can grant him something this time. Which I just realized both of the only two male characters in Bakemono were voiced by the figures of tragedy (maybe not-so-much in Sakurai's case, as we will never know the truth behind it) in 2006 - Kamiya from the car accident and Sakurai from the scandal. Now I feel like rewatching the show again...
BEST FEMALE SUPPORTING
Seriously no clue on this one, I'm not kidding. Same as above, too many candidates and random possiblities. Personally I think people like Kawasumi Ayako, Horie Yui, Tamura Yukari, Nazuka Kaori are long-overdue for an award of some sort, but hey, lots of other seiyuu also are. Out of the random four mentioned above Horie Yui probably has the best chance because Bakemonogatari was one of the biggest things in 2009, and she definitely deserves it for Hanekawa Tsubasa. It's one of the most pleasant roles I've heard from her.
BEST ROOKIE
This one is easier. On the male section - Maeno Tomoaki. Everyone says he should have gotten it last year, but he hadn't. Another long-overdue award? Maybe the results two days later will tell. Rumors from 2ch also said Irino Miyu would be one of the winners though I'm not sure how that would work out...while he's young (just passed his 22nd birthday), he's anything but new to the industry.
Onto the females, Hanazawa Kana's name is the first to pop up in my head. Definitely one of the fastest growing female seiyuu in 2009 that you hear almost everywhere nowadays, and as a result, stirring up a lot of haters/anti-fans just like her preceedors Hirano Aya and Tomatsu Haruka. Bonus because she participated in Bakemonogatari because again, it's one of the hottest shows in 2009. There's also Takagaki Ayahi, Toyosaki Aki, Ito Kanae and Hayami Saori. Good thing Tomatsu Haruka is already out of the game otherwise there would be intense competition for this category. At least one of those names above is going to win something for sure.
BEST MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Let's see. Mizuki Nana and Nakajima Megumi are out of the game. Hmmm...
Then logic tells me that something K-On! would win, probably Don't say lazy. Or they might surprise us with any one of the random openings from Bakemonogatari. Or Motto! Hade ni ne from Kannagi would work too. Or they feel bad for still not giving Sakamoto Maaya a singing award all these times (the problem is whether Kobato made it into the cut...I believe voting began prior to the Fall season last year). Or some random Sphere songs will shine.
...What I know for certain is that someone, or some group, female is going to get it. I'm counting on Miyano Mamoru to raise the bar for male seiyuu singing in the future!
BEST PERSONALITY
Don't pay too much attention to this one because my fail Japanese does not allow me to listen to radio 24/7. Though I would laugh if OnoD gets it and all the DGS fangirls go crazy...eh-hm. Excuse me. xD; It's probably not going to happen anyway.
OVERSEAS CHOICE
Idk, why don't you people tell me who you voted? *laughs*
Since the all-hail-Lelouch!FukuJun should be out of the picture so he doesn't receive the award every year, I'm only left with three most possible names on this - Mizuki Nana, Hirano Aya and Kamiya Hiroshi.
I don't think I need to elaborate on Mizuki Nana, if you like seiyuu and anime and music and you haven't heard of her name...then I don't know what to say lol. The queen of anisons who broke all possible records existed in the history of seiyuu. Definitely well-known enough overseas. She is confirmed to be the recipient of the Kei Tomiyama Award this year already -and well deserving- in case if you are not aware of it.
Hirano and Kamiya, on the other hand, are also two very possible candidate because 1) they have already gotten top honours in the Awards before and there's not much else the committee can give them other than the Overseas award - that's if they don't want their names to disappear from the seiyuu awards forever after; and 2) I can totally picture their mad fanboys and fangirls finding 50 different computers each to vote and crashing the site as a result rofl.
This fail person forgot to cast her vote before the deadline so she has nothing else to say \o/ Next year, definitely. At least I hope I remember |D;
First off, to make things easier all the previous winners of Best Lead awards are excluded from any major awards this year -with the exception of the Overseas Choice- because it's unlikely the committee will give the same people another big one in such a short time. Those people include Paku Romi, Hirano Aya, Kugimiya Rie, Fukuyama Jun, Miyano Mamoru and Kamiya Hiroshi. FukuJun is probably out of the possibility of Overseas Choice as well, as he had already gotten the honour last year due to his Lelouch fame. Now that easily eliminates some of the biggest stars in the industry this year.
Secondly, it always appears to me that the award committee does not have a definite definition of what is a "lead" role and what is a "supporting" role, so let's just say Best Lead is the crown award while Best Supporting is the "next big thing." Haha.
Now let's start!
BEST MALE LEAD:
Ono Daisuke would be my first pick...and lots of 2ch'ers are speculating him as well, from what I've read. Let's break it down - fame, check. Fan base, check. Good looks, check. To make it even more likely to happen, he had won a Best Supporting award before. If we follow the trend, most Best Lead winners (with the exception of Miyano Mamoru, but he was at least nominated in the 1st Awards nonetheless) had won something in the previous awards. My only doubt with OnoD is that he didn't have any memorable lead roles in 2009 - if memory serves me right, 11eyes was his one and only lead? Unless if Kuroshitsuji somehow made it into the cut, even though it was considered 2008. Or the committee would be desperate enough to count even Final Fantasy XIII...But oh wait this is supposed to be anime works only, I guess.
Which brings me to Itsuki's gay lover Sugita Tomokazu as the next most possible candidate. He fits into all of the criteria mentioned above just like OnoD, but he also has one big advantage - he did have a real big memorable lead role in 2009! Now no matter how much Endless Eight sucked, he still did an incredible job voicing Kyon and definitely deserves something for his role.
I wish Sugita's gay lover Nakamura Yuuichi can win with Clannad as well, but oh what's the chance. it just doesn't make sense to me how he had gotten nothing so far. Nothing. Even though he's another of the industry's current biggest stars.
But you know who I think deserves this award the most in 2009? Kamiya Hiroshi. For his role as Araragi Koyomi in Bakemonogatari. Tl;dr, to sum it up, Koyomi was the single best played male lead I've heard in 2009 - if not my whole life. He's also the most satisfying Kamiya role I've heard so far imo. This is one of those moments which I curse why did they randomly give Kamiya the award last year...or why do they always have to give people the wrong awards in the wrong years. But I'm still a happy fangirl overall. *laughs*
BEST FEMALE LEAD:
Saitou Chiwa seems to be the most likely choice all thanks to the "Senjougahara-tore" (read: Bakemonogatari) fame - if it wasn't that her name was so new to the awards. Everyone was amazed at how well Senjougahara Hitagi was played by her when Bakemonogatari first aired, especially because it isn't one of her typical loli roles. Everything actually makes sense for her to claim the award this year, but like I said, she has never won anything before so I'm not sure one Senjougahara Hitagi is enough to grant her that honour.
I've also constantly heard about Koshimizu Ami amazing performance as Horo in Spice and Wolf, even though I have never watched the show myself so I can't judge. It's quite possible though, as she had gotten Best Supporting before for Kallen in Code Geass.
Sawashiro Miyuki is the next person coming up in my mind as she has been getting quite a lot of exposure lately, though I'm sure if she had another lead roles in 2009. Also makes sense as she got Best Supporting last year. But they can always save her for 2010 for her sole as Selty in Durarara...though it's probably still too early to tell.
BEST MALE SUPPORTING
Not much clue, too much unpredictability and too many possibilities. It's not like FukuJun or Hirano Aya's breaking roles as Lelouch and Haruhi; they can easily throw in someone random for this and it will still be logical, you know? There are simply too many deserving candidates for this imo.
That said, I really wish Miki Shinichirou and Sakurai Takahiro can be recognized this time. And of course Nakamura Yuuichi again.
Two years ago people speculated that if Miyano Mamoru was going to win with Setsuna F. Seiei, then either Miki or Kamiya would win Best Supporting - and they were not off at all, because Mamo-chan and Kamiya did win with their respective Gundam roles after all. Perhaps the committee is feeling a little bad for leaving MikiShin out last time, maybe not. But Roy Mustang from FMA is definitely a potential winning role.
Sakurai, on the other hand, should have won something a long time ago if it wasn't because of that controversial plagarism scandal back then in 2006. It's really a shame that his popularity still hasn't fully recovered from that as he has proved he has an incredible amounts in voice acting. The memorable Suzaku from Code Geass was pushed to the side, so hopefully Meme from Bakemonogatari can grant him something this time. Which I just realized both of the only two male characters in Bakemono were voiced by the figures of tragedy (maybe not-so-much in Sakurai's case, as we will never know the truth behind it) in 2006 - Kamiya from the car accident and Sakurai from the scandal. Now I feel like rewatching the show again...
BEST FEMALE SUPPORTING
Seriously no clue on this one, I'm not kidding. Same as above, too many candidates and random possiblities. Personally I think people like Kawasumi Ayako, Horie Yui, Tamura Yukari, Nazuka Kaori are long-overdue for an award of some sort, but hey, lots of other seiyuu also are. Out of the random four mentioned above Horie Yui probably has the best chance because Bakemonogatari was one of the biggest things in 2009, and she definitely deserves it for Hanekawa Tsubasa. It's one of the most pleasant roles I've heard from her.
BEST ROOKIE
This one is easier. On the male section - Maeno Tomoaki. Everyone says he should have gotten it last year, but he hadn't. Another long-overdue award? Maybe the results two days later will tell. Rumors from 2ch also said Irino Miyu would be one of the winners though I'm not sure how that would work out...while he's young (just passed his 22nd birthday), he's anything but new to the industry.
Onto the females, Hanazawa Kana's name is the first to pop up in my head. Definitely one of the fastest growing female seiyuu in 2009 that you hear almost everywhere nowadays, and as a result, stirring up a lot of haters/anti-fans just like her preceedors Hirano Aya and Tomatsu Haruka. Bonus because she participated in Bakemonogatari because again, it's one of the hottest shows in 2009. There's also Takagaki Ayahi, Toyosaki Aki, Ito Kanae and Hayami Saori. Good thing Tomatsu Haruka is already out of the game otherwise there would be intense competition for this category. At least one of those names above is going to win something for sure.
BEST MUSICAL PERFORMANCE
Let's see. Mizuki Nana and Nakajima Megumi are out of the game. Hmmm...
Then logic tells me that something K-On! would win, probably Don't say lazy. Or they might surprise us with any one of the random openings from Bakemonogatari. Or Motto! Hade ni ne from Kannagi would work too. Or they feel bad for still not giving Sakamoto Maaya a singing award all these times (the problem is whether Kobato made it into the cut...I believe voting began prior to the Fall season last year). Or some random Sphere songs will shine.
...What I know for certain is that someone, or some group, female is going to get it. I'm counting on Miyano Mamoru to raise the bar for male seiyuu singing in the future!
BEST PERSONALITY
Don't pay too much attention to this one because my fail Japanese does not allow me to listen to radio 24/7. Though I would laugh if OnoD gets it and all the DGS fangirls go crazy...eh-hm. Excuse me. xD; It's probably not going to happen anyway.
OVERSEAS CHOICE
Idk, why don't you people tell me who you voted? *laughs*
Since the all-hail-Lelouch!FukuJun should be out of the picture so he doesn't receive the award every year, I'm only left with three most possible names on this - Mizuki Nana, Hirano Aya and Kamiya Hiroshi.
I don't think I need to elaborate on Mizuki Nana, if you like seiyuu and anime and music and you haven't heard of her name...then I don't know what to say lol. The queen of anisons who broke all possible records existed in the history of seiyuu. Definitely well-known enough overseas. She is confirmed to be the recipient of the Kei Tomiyama Award this year already -and well deserving- in case if you are not aware of it.
Hirano and Kamiya, on the other hand, are also two very possible candidate because 1) they have already gotten top honours in the Awards before and there's not much else the committee can give them other than the Overseas award - that's if they don't want their names to disappear from the seiyuu awards forever after; and 2) I can totally picture their mad fanboys and fangirls finding 50 different computers each to vote and crashing the site as a result rofl.
This fail person forgot to cast her vote before the deadline so she has nothing else to say \o/ Next year, definitely. At least I hope I remember |D;