Kadokawa Is At It Again (2nd Annual Seiyuu Awards)

So apparently Kadokawa managed to put their own promotional interests ahead of the greater good again with this years 2nd Annual Seiyuu awards by basically giving the noteriety to people from their own camp.  The winners are inside:

Best Leading Male:
Miyano Mamoru (for Gundam 00) (Kadokawa Publishes Newtype Magazine which has a vested interest in Gundam 00.  I like Mamoru in 00, but I know that’s not why he won)

Best Leading Female
Hirano Aya (for Lucky Star) (Kadokawa published Lucky Star and basically made Aya Hirano’s career with their other popular work that almost everybody has heard of, Suzumiya Haruhi No Yuutsu.  Am I at all surprised that Kadokawa’s favourite media darling took this award, frankly not really)

Best Supporting Male
Ono Daisuke (Minamike, Rental Magica) (Rental Magica is published by Kadokawa and he is also one of their favourites for appearing in their series, although I actually really like him)
Kamiya Hiroshi (Gundam 00)  (Again like him in 00, but again Kadokawa)

Best Supporting Female
Kugimiya Rie (Hayate no Gotoku!) (Finally somebody who actually won without having anything to do with Kadokawa, although she is also in 00, which again Kadokawa has a vested interest in.  Doubtful that played a huge role in this though)
Saiga Mitsuki (Moyashimon) (As far as I know had nothing to do with Kadokawa either)

Best Rookie Male
Hatano Wataru (Terra he…, Saint Beast)
Yonaga Tsubasa (Ookiku Furikabutte, Gigantic Formula) (No idea who these people are)

Best Rookie Female
Katou Emiri (Demashitaa! Powerpuff Girls Z, Lucky Star) (Kadokawa)
Kobayashi Yuu (Gintama, Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei) (Loosely tied to Kadokawa)

Singing Award
Hirano Aya
Katou Emiri
Fukuhara Kaori
Endou Aya
(Lucky Star OP) (KADOKAWA KADOKAWA ARRRRRRRRGH!  If by this point people can’t see this was rigged then they are either tone deaf, diehard Lucky Star fanboys or both)

Best Personality
Suzumura Kenichi (Cherry Bell) (It’s Shin Asuka folks, apparently he runs a decent TV Show, though he has ties to Kadokawa through Newtype Magazine promos of Gundam Seed, which to this day remains popular)

Special Achievement
Jyou Tatsuya

Achievement Award
Nozawa Nachi
Hazama Michio
Kinomiya Ryouko

Synergy Award
Kamen Rider Denou (Seki Toshihiko, Yusa Kouji, Terasoma Masaki, Suzumura Kenichi) (Interesting to note, Toei created the Kamen Rider series and owns stock in……..you guessed it, Kadokawa.  Vice versa as well)

Tomiyama Kei Award
Furuya Tohru (Gundam, Kyojin no Hoshi, Saint Seiya) (Tohru Furuya is a legend to me, but he also has ties to Kadokawa through Newtype Magazine and Gundam)

So can anyone here not see what went on.  I’ve talked about this on other boards and blogs and many agree with me, but some people are still either too vested in the memory of the days of Haruhi and when Aya Hirano was at her peak and in the glitz and glamour of todays modern idol seiyuu that they have allowed it to pass by or they just haven’t fact checked and cross referenced the promoters of the event with the winners, that this ceremony has been reported on many sites as completely legitimate without anybody bothering to raise questions.  Consider the following facts about the ceremony that I deem to be odd:

-There is no known list of the official nominees that was made public before the ceremony, the winners were just asked to show up

-The results were published in the Voice Newtype Magazine issue officially released the day after they were made public at the ceremony (some people even got ahold of advanced copies of Newtype and published the results on 2channel before the ceremony even began on Saturday March 08, 2008) and some claim that Aya Hirano’s picture used on the front cover may have come from as far back as early February, making the whole process seem staged and premeditated

-Both Best Lead Winners are linked to Kadokawa promoted material (Gundam 00 And Lucky Star)

-The Best Singers Award went to singers of a Kadokawa constructed series (Lucky Star)

-One Best Supporting Male Award went to a person linked to Kadokawa promoted Material (Gundam 00)

-The Other Best Supporting Male Award went to a person who starred in a Kadokawa licensed show (Rental Magica, which I’ll go on record as saying is thoroughly mediocore in every regard)

-One Best Supporting Female Award went to a role that was actual a Lead Role (Rie Kugimiya for Nagi Sanzenin in Hayate No Gotoku)

-One of the Best New Females is linked to Kadokawa promoted material (Lucky Star)

-The Best Personality Award went to a person associated with a show that ended years ago, but still sees frequent mention in Newtype Magazine (Kenichi Suzumura was Shinn Asuka in Gundam Seed Destiny)

-The Best Synergy Award didn’t even go to an anime cast, it went to a Live Action Tokusatsu series that was made by Toei, which along with Bandai shares a 5% stock interest in Kadokawa Publishing LTD.  This as I understood it was supposed to be the Seiyuu Awards.

I see a lot of people talking about how spectacular it was that Aya Hirano and Mamoru Miyano won without really bothering to pay attention to all the descripencies, oddities and backroom meddlings that went into the event from it’s initial inception as a public vote (possibly to gather data on who the public wouldn’t freak out over seeing win) to the sponsors making their decisions, to Kadokawa having the results ready in Voice Newtype so far ahead of time as to actually be done with them before the ceremony they were reporting.  People can be their own judges of who their favourite Seiyuu is, but I find it really hard to buy into this whole ceremony.  If people want, here are my picks for who should have rightfully won:

Best Leading Male: Tetsuya Kakihara (Simon in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann)

Best Leading Female: Rie Kugimiya (Nagi Sanzenin in Hayate No Gotoku) (Because it IS a leading role in the first place)

Best Supporting Male: Nobuyuki Hiyama (Viral in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann) Keiji Fujiwara (Ali Al Sarshes in Gundam 00)

Best Supporting Female: Satsuki Yukino (Mion and Shion Sonozaki in Higurashi Kai) Inoue Marina (Yoko in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann)

Best Rookie Male: I’m going to throw this category to the award winners seeing as I don’t even know if their were any remarkable new males.  They are in shorter demand these days it’s true.

Best Rookie Female: Megumi Nakajima (Ranka Lee in Macross Frontier) Aya Endo (Miyuki Takakara in Lucky Star)

Best Personality: Everyone I’ve talked to says this award all but belongs to Yukari Tamura for her comedic timing and witty banter on her radio show, and you know what, I’m not about to disagree.

Singing Award: T.M Revolution (Howling in Darker Than Black)

Synergy Award: The Ensemble Cast of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (It’s actually an anime)

All Achievement Awards Can Be Kept As They Are Deserved

And that’s that.  I hope people really do start to consider what goes into these promotions rather than just whether their favourite Seiyuu win.  It is important to learn more about the industry and it’s inner workings so that we can keep them in check when they try to hijack things for their own purpose.  After all a corporation is only as powerful as the happy consumers who help keep its revenue flowing.