Seiyuu Awards

Although Seiyuu have a huge loyal fan base in Japan, it is only this year that their talents have been recognized by an official awards-giving body. The First Seiyuu Awards were given out last March 3 at the 3D Theater of Akihabara's Tokyo Anime Center.

Winning for Best Male Seiyuu in a Lead Role is Fukuyama Jun for his role of Lelouch in Code Geass. Fans would remember Fukuyama for his role of Albert in Gankutsuou/The Count of Monte Cristo. Romi Paku won Best Female Seiyuu in a Lead Role for her role of Nana Osaki in the anime, Nana. Romi is particularly known for voicing boy characters, with notable roles including Edward Elric in the original Japanese version of Full Metal Alchemist and Okamoto Katsushiro in Samurai 7.

Best Male Seiyuu in a Supporting Role went to two actors – Ishida Akira (Arthrun in Gundam Seed Destiny) and Kouki Miyata (Kazumi Yoshinaga in Yoshinaga-san'chi no Gargoyle). Fans would know these two seiyuu from their previous roles of Cho Hakkai from the Saiyuki series and Murata Ken from Kyou Kara Maou!/God(?) Save Our King, respectively.

Best Female Seiyuu in a Supporting Role went to Koshimizu Ami (Kallen Stadtfeld from Code Geass) and Gotou Yuuko (Mikuru Asahina from The Melacholy of Haruhi Suzumiya).

Named Best Rookie Actors are Tetsuya Kakihara (Yutaka Mikoto from Princess Princess) and Masakazu Morita (Kurosaki Ichigo in Bleach). The winners for Best Rookie Actresses are Yui Kano as Momoko Kuzuryu from Sumomomo Momomo and Aya Hirano as Haruhi Suzumiya from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Hirano is presently garnering rave reviews for her role of Misa Amane in Death Note.

Best Musical Performance went to Nana Mizuki for Justice To Believe. Finally, the Pokemon Cast won the Synergy Award.