Going through Hikaru Midorikawa’s list of voice roles is bound to take a while since the guy has been going steady for so many years that it’s really kind of impossible to list them all and not run out of breath in the process. At this point you could easily say that he’s probably one of the most prolific voice actors in the world simply the amount of roles he’s taken on alone. Seriously, ready his resume, the guy has been involved in so many different projects that it simply boggles the mind to think of how many different personalities he’s had to affect in order to make it all work. You might think it would destroy or seriously alter one’s mind to come up with that many different voices but the truth is that the inflection might be different for a lot of them but the sound usually comes off as the same eventually between one character and the next. It’s easy to give kudos to a guy like this because it’s well-deserved and should be granted to him without hesitation. But quite honestly as good as he is there has to be some overlap or he might start to lose himself within the voices at one point.
He’s been featured in video games as well.
His list of voice appearances in video games is just as extensive since he’s managed to rack up an overwhelming number of credits in so many games that it seems as though he might be one of the biggest voice actors in TV, film, and games throughout the world. And yet if you asked a lot of people his name and tried to tell them who he was they might look at you blankly. This is unfortunately the effect of being a voice actor that’s not known for anything else. There are those fans that will keep track of who is doing the voices in the favorite animated shows and video games and recognize them right off the bat so it’s likely that a lot of people who do this would be able to tell that it’s him. But otherwise it seems like you might be hard-pressed to find anyone else that might be able to tell you anything about him and why he’s such a big deal. The great part about it however is that he knows just how important he is to the studios he works for and has become something of an icon in the business. With this many credits to his name it’s not a big surprise.
Voice actors aren’t exactly undervalued, they’re underexposed to be honest.
A lot of times if a voice actor has been a live action actor and people have come to know about them then they might recognize their voice and thereby realize who they are. But in Hikaru’s case he’s done primarily voice acting and therefore it’s pretty easy to see that he’s not as well-known and might be looked over as just another voice actor. While this isn’t a negative or a positive thing it’s something that a lot of voice actors have to deal with. They are actors without a doubt but as they’re not seen and only heard a lot of them don’t gain a whole lot of recognition outside of the studio and the fans that actually know who they are. It might seem a downfall of the profession but there are positives to it as well. Those that really pay attention to your work know who you are, you don’t have to worry about mobs of people everywhere you go, and you make a steady paycheck, hopefully, based solely on the tricks you can pull with your voice and the different characters you can come up with when it’s needed. And sometimes, they get paid very well for coming up with character voices for different characters that sound almost entirely the same with just a few minor differences.
It’s hard to wrap one’s head around this profession without having done it for at least a bit as a hobby or in play, but one thing that is understood is that they do get paid for acting and aren’t to be discounted at all. Despite not stepping in front of a camera they are still responsible for making the character sound right and for making sure that the character is remembered for their voice as well as their appearance. Let’s face it, if one anime character doesn’t sound the way that people are expecting then pandemonium usually ensues among the diehard fans since things like this just aren’t allowed. That’s why the voice actors are so important and why it’s vital that they be good at what they do and enjoy it enough that they’ll really get into their voices.
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