In Japan, life can be rough, especially in the anime industry. Japanese animators often live below the poverty line, and are often overworked and underpaid. However, the same also seems to go to seiyuu or voice actors, especially the ones who are still starting off. One of the most famous seiyuu today is Aya Hirano, also known as the voice of Haruhi Suzumiya, as well as Fairy Tail’s Lucy Heartfilia. However, her life wasn’t really as glamorous when she was starting out as a seiyuu.

Now, the role of Haruhi Suzumiya really changed her life, and provided her her breakout role. However, when she got that role, she was still starting out and was still scraping by. And she talked about her life before becoming famous back in 2014, during an episode of Kansai TV’s Kaiketsu Emi Channel variety show. In that interview, she said:

“There was a time when I really had no money, so I’d put soy sauce on tissues and eat them.”

This happened during the mid-2000’s, and was also happening while she started voicing Haruhi (before she got that big paycheck of course). However, she did admit she wasn’t eating cheap tissues, but the ones with lotion. Well, at least she’s still alive now. However, with big roles like Konata in Lucky Star and Lucy in Fairy Tail, it seems she can now eat properly. Oh, and she’s also doing concerts every now and then, and her CDs usually land in the Oricon Charts, so I guess she has now said goodbye to eating tissues… unless she actually likes eating them of course.

But while she’s out of poverty now, we should remember that other seiyuu aren’t as lucky. Some are still struggling to make ends meet, or even land a good role to get themselves famous. So yeah, being a seiyuu ain’t as glamorous as many would have thought, as there are still lots of struggles to contend with. And don’t even let me get started with the animators…

Listen to Hirano’s voice as Haruhi from “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya”:

source: Sora News 24