Kikunosuke Toya, Shion Wakayama Win 20th Annual Seiyū Awards

The organizers of the 20th Annual Seiyū Awards announced the winners on Sunday. The winners include:

Best Lead Actor Award

Award for best leading performances from an actor during the year

Kikunosuke Toya

Shion Wakayama

Best Supporting Actor Award

Award for best supporting performances from an actor during the year

• Reina Ueda
• Shinji Kawada
• Mayumi Tanaka

Best New Actor Award

Award for noteworthy performances from actors who debuted within the last five years

• Taihi Kimura
• Taiga Takano
• Momoka Terasawa
• Yoshinori Nakayama
• Hana Hishikawa
• Minori Fujidera
• Haruna Mikawa
• Manatsu Murakami

Singing Award

Award for singing by voice actors under own name or in a role

• Idol unit AiScReam (from Love Live! franchise)

Personality Award

Award for a voice actor who has done notable work in radio, web radio, or TV as a personality, whether under their own name or a character’s.

• Yōko Hikasa

Game Award

• Fate/Grand Order

Kids/Family Award

• Lilo & Stitch

Foreign Film/Live-Action Show Award

• Matsuya Onoe
• Maaya Sakamoto
• Mutsumi Tamura

MVS (Most Valuable Seiyū) Award

• Akira Ishida

Below are the award winners who were previously announced:

Merit Awards

Award for voice actors who have contributed to many genres, including foreign works, over the years

• Aruno Tahara
• Keiko Yokozawa

Synergy Award

Award for works that best show the talent of voice actors

• The IDOLM@STER series

Kei Tomiyama/Kazue Takahashi Awards

Award for voice actors who have been active in every field including acting

• Shinichirō Kamio
• Rei Sakuma

Special Award

Voice actors, works, or activities that deserve special recognition

• Nami Mizuno

The awards ceremony, which revealed the full list of awardees, was held on Sunday. Starting in 2023, the categories of “Best Lead Voice Actor,” “Best Supporting Voice Actor,” and “New Voice Actor” are no longer separated by gender. The awards committee stated regarding the change, “voice acting is a job that transcends gender, as female voice actors sometimes voice male characters and vice-versa.” The committee added that it discussed the topic for a few years and decided to make the three awards gender free out of respect for diversity.

Starting in 2017, the Special Merit Award, which honors deceased voice actors and actresses who have contributed to many genres, was replaced with an honoring of all voice actors and actresses who passed away in the previous year.

Beginning in 2019, the awards introduced four new categories, which include “Foreign Movie/Series Award,” “Game Award,” “Influencer Award,” and “MVS (Most Valuable Seiyū).”

Source: Seiyu Awards’ X/Twitter account