Page "Voice acting in Japan" Paragraph 5

Initially, dubbing and doing voice-overs was a performance of an actor who used only his voice.

When doing this job, they were called.

For convenience, the term was shortened to a new compound consisting of the first and last kanji to make.

It was only after the voice acting booms, however, that this word became widespread.

For this reason, elderly voice actors resent being called seiyū, because, during their time, the term had a different ( and minimizing ) connotation.

The renowned Chikao Ōtsuka, who dubbed Charles Bronson among others, was quoted in a special issue of Animage saying " We are actors.

Even if a performance only requires the use of our voice, we still remain actors, and it is therefore incorrect to refer to us as just voice actors, isn't it ?".

He was opposed to the new trend of separating actors and voice actors, even in the face of emerging voice actors like Genzō Wakayama, who learned how to act using their voice and never set foot in a theater.