

In the Lucky Star anime, there is a scene where one character mentions
something about drama CDs and anime adaptations of the same work having
different voice actors. Ironically enough (and probably intended), Lucky Star
is one of these franchises.

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7s6HW.png)

**Character** | Drama CD | Anime  
---|---|---  
**Konata** | Hirohashi Ryou | Hirano Aya  
**Kagami** | Koshimizu Ami | Katou Emiri  
**Tsukasa** | Nakahara Mai | Fukuhara Kaori  
**Miyuki** | Nakayama Erina | Endou Aya  
  
I can take some guesses at why this happens, but I've never properly
researched it and therefore don't know the actual reason(s) why.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2013-06-16T16:05:17.463
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2023-01-19T22:11:47.943
2023-01-19T22:11:47.943
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question
anime-production voice-acting lucky-star
Why do drama CDs and anime series of the same franchise use different voice actors sometimes?


I don't know this for sure, but practically speaking, just because a talent is
contracted for voicing a character, doesn't mean that the person is tied to
the character for life.

Add to the fact that production companies will green light projects at
different times, there are scheduling conflicts, too.

Also, I'm pulling this from [seiyu
ka](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seiy%C5%AB_ka-! "Seiyu ka"), but it seems if
the sound director doesn't like the talent, they can fight to have the talent
removed from the project.


CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-07-30T04:03:01.393
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2013-07-30T04:03:01.393
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answer


In the case of Lucky Star, this is because [the drama
CD](http://vgmdb.net/album/24597) predates the anime by about two years, and
was produced by a completely different group of people. When Kyoto Animation
took on the Lucky Star anime project, they decided to cast new voice actors.
Why? I don't know in this specific case, but one possibly contributing factor
is that drama CDs are likely to have a smaller budget than anime, meaning that
there are probably more constraints on which voice actors can be hired. Then
again, maybe the producers just didn't like Hirohashi Ryou as Konata, or maybe
Hirohashi had scheduling issues (because, after all, the Lucky Star anime
wouldn't have been part of her contract to do the drama CDs). Who knows?

This is a pattern you will see from time to time - there are some manga/LN
franchises that get drama CDs before getting an anime adaptation. In these
cases, the drama CD cast is likely to be replaced when it comes time to make
an anime, simply because the production staff for the drama CDs and anime are
different, and so there's nothing really necessitating that the anime
production staff use the drama CD cast. Kara no Kyoukai is another example of
this - there was [a drama CD back in 2002](http://vgmdb.net/album/49306), but
the entire cast (besides glorious Nakata Jouji as Araya) was replaced for the
movies.

On the other hand, when the drama CDs are a _tie-in_ to the anime, you'll
almost invariably see the same cast used for both, since they're both being
produced by the same people/companies. I know of no exceptions to this, though
I wouldn't be too surprised if there were some exceptions out there.


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2015-03-30T18:33:30.907
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answer