Voice Monster (2020)

First Chinese voice acting-centered variety show

The premise of the show is to battle 33 young male voice actors from various companies on stage via live dubbing. Before stage events, the voice actors have to go through blind audition judged by professional panelists. Once they get the role, they received training from senior voice actors (a la Produce 101). The stage event had voting system by live audience, then after that the top 5 rank will be awarded "SSV".

The cast consist mostly of moderately popular young voice actors (they aren't yet mainstream but not completely unknown/newbie either) so they had quite a number of works under their belt. The mood of the show is comedic and brotherly they actually help each other every challenge. No evil editing, but some members definitely have more screen time than others. Actor Lee Chengru as the panelist was often bashed by netizen for his critiques but strangely I often agrees with him. What they can improve if they're gonna make season 2 is, they should invite more freelance or small company voice actors to balance the power of the VAs from famous companies with existing company stans like 729, Bian Jiang, and Guanghe Jimu. The later episodes of this season feels a little too company-centric.

*Ngl the standouts, skill wise, imo, very subjectively, were Ma Zhengyang and Hu Liangwei who coincidentally belong to the same company. They were stably good even though they don't win. The bright guys from 729 plus Zhang Siwangzhi and Li Lanling were hilarious, definitely the spices needed for the show.

Overall it's a feel-good show and I'll definitely tune in if they decide make more.

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