How much does it pay to voice one of the most iconic characters from Japan.
Dragon Ball is one of the most successful and well-known franchises to come out of Japan. To this day, the series continues to release new content like series, movies, and video games.
The main character, Son Goku, has been voiced by Masako Nozawa since 1986. Having been in the voice acting industry for more than three decades, let’s find out how much she makes playing an iconic character.
No Rank Voice Actress
Most voice actors in Japan are part of a ranking system. Everyone starts at rank 15 which is the lowest rank. The assigned rank number actually determines their pay. Those at rank 15 make 15,000 yen per recording session (a thirty minute episode), those who are at rank 16 make 16,000 yen per recording session, those rank 20 make 20,000 yen per recording session and so on and so forth.
Just because you voice a main character, doesn’t mean you’ll be paid handsomely. It’s all determined by your rank.
Nozawa however, is one of the few seiyuu who has no rank.
Unlike voice actors who have a rank and flat pay rate, she is allowed to negotiate her salary.
Nozawa’s Salary
According to SoraNews, she made a total of 40 million yen ($360,000) in 2017. There’s no way to know the breakdown of the money. However, according to Nozawa herself when she appeared on the program Osamu Hayashi-sensei no Ima yaru! High School, voice roles for video games and pachinko pay more than TV anime (half hour episodes) and dubbing Western films.
We can assume that most of her salary consisted of her voice roles in Dragon Ball Super and in video games like Dragon Ball FighterZ. If any of the Dragon Ball series also rebroadcasted, she would also make residuals. Although it’s hard to say how much she’d make per episode.