Japanese Fans Complain About the Size of Voice Actor Names in Anime Trailers

Recently, some Japanese fans took to Twitter to express their frustration about how certain trailers handle the size of the voice actors’ names compared to the characters’ names.

When you watch a trailer for an upcoming anime—or even for an anime film, game, etc.—in some cases, believe it or not, the voice actor’s name appears much larger than the character’s name.

For instance, in the screenshot below, “CV” indicates the voice actor, the person providing the character’s voice. You can see that the voice actor’s name appears in large, prominent blue text.

Meanwhile, the character’s name is in smaller, white text. This practice used in some trailers has irritated fans, leading to complaints and even some memes circulating online.

Japanese Fans Complain About the Size of Voice Actor Names in Anime Trailers

One tweet in particular went viral at the beginning of October, gaining over 3 million views, in which an anime fan voiced their dissatisfaction with this trailer practice.

“Could you do something about these ads where the voice actor’s name is bigger than the character’s? I want to know the names of the anime characters,” the fan wrote.

Several other fans shared their opinions on the matter, with some saying this is a common practice to highlight the voice actors who play the characters, while another said they never choose to watch anime based on who’s in the voice cast.

Another fan gave their take: “The excessive promotion of voice actors ends up hiding the character names. The production team and marketing department need to consider balancing this. It’s important to increase opportunities to show the characters’ names so fans can easily find that information.”

This discussion also led to the creation of the following meme:

In the image, the top half shows the voice actor’s name large and prominent, while the character’s name appears small above it. In the lower half, the opposite is shown.

This is mostly a concern among Japanese audiences, as international fans generally don’t speak Japanese and might not notice this. Still, I’m curious to see how some Western trailers handle these parts.

Here’s a screenshot from Trailer 1 of Dandadan, where the voice actor’s and character’s names are the same size:

And here’s a screenshot from Trailer 3, where the credits only appear at the end, with the voice actors’ names larger than the characters’.

Do you think trailers should emphasize the character names or the voice actors?

via Voce Sabia Anime