Considering how much dorama is going on in Singapore, I guess it’s really time for me to pick up the slack for Impz. I love this blog as if it’s my own loli, and I’ll endeavor to do everything in my power to keep it alive.
Anyway, moving on.
Everyone are always talking their favourite anime or favourite character, but rarely do you ever get a discussion on voice actors. That’s perfectly understandable – the credit list at the end of the episodes are rarely translated, and even if they are, who’s bored enough to read them? Any NGE fan can easily tell you who directed Evangelion, and a lot can tell you who designed the characters (Hideaki Anno and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto respectively), but how many can tell you who voiced Rei? Misato? What about Shinji? You don’t know? Read on to find out!*
A lot of voice actors have fan clubs in Japan and massive following online, but in the English anime community there is very little focus placed on voice actors. There is only one blog is dedicated to voice actors, and there are no blogs that are dedicated to a single voice actor. The coverage of English VAs is as good as non-existent – largely due to the fact that most bloggers watch subs and don’t give a damn.
So here I was, thinking of what to write, when I realised that I’ve never done anything to help fix this problem. I don’t give a crap about English VAs – anime dubs are generally horrible, which is strange considering how most games have great voice acting. Japanese voice actors though, are of a much higher quality. Most of them know how to deliver a line, and the best can change their voice at a whim.
Female VAs
Ayako Kawasumi ANN page
When it comes to versatility, there is the Aya Hirano school of “I now sound like a I have a different voice box” and Ayako Kawasumi’s “I can act”. You can always recognise her voice, which is absolutely beautiful, but at the same time none of her numerous roles sound the exactly same. Whether it’s Kanako Ohno from Genshiken to Fuu from Samurai Champloo to Mahoro from Mahoromatic, there’s always a line or two that will send shivers down my spine. Truly a queen of voice actresses.
Other notable roles: Aoi Sakuraba in Ai Yori Aoshi, Saber inFate/stay night (TV), Matsuri Sakuragi in Ichigo Mashimaro
Satsuki Yukino ANN page
Kaname Chidori. She is my second favourite female character of all time (the first being Osaka), and Satsuki Yukino’s voice brings her very much to life. From the energetic tsukkomi’s in Fumoffu to the wonderful performance all through The Second Raid, Yukino’s performance adds a lot to the enjoyment of the whole Full Metal Panic franchise. She’s not a one trick pony though, as her performances in other series (Saki Kasukabe in Genshiken, Rei Tachibana in Pani Poni Dash!) are just as equally well done. She hasn’t gotten many leading roles since Genshiken though, so I’m really looking forward to her performance in the low-profile but excellent Hitohira.
Other notable roles: Sylia Stingray in Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, Kagome Higurashi in InuYasha , Yoruichi Shihouin in Bleach
Yukana ANN page
Another versatile voice actress, but more along the line of Aya Hirano. That’s not to say she can’t act though – her performance as Tear in Tales of the Abyss got very close to drawing tears from my eyes. The first I took notice of her was during Mai-HiME, where she played, excellently, the dual roles of Mashiro and Fumi. Playing two roles is hard enough, but it especially stood out to me because Fumi and Mashiro were practically together all the time, and they were complete opposites in terms of how they sound. Since then I’ve been loving every single one of her roles. She first started acting under the name Yukana Nogami.
Other notable roles: C.C. in Code Geass – Lelouch of the Rebellion, Reinforce Zwei in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, Teletha “Tessa” Testarossa in Full Metal Panic Series
Honorable mentions:
Saeto Chiwa: BECKY (Nan da yo, sensei da yo!) and NATSUMI! (Boke kaeru…) Simply awesome and under-appreciated.
Rie Kugimiya: Extremely type-casted, but an excellent voice actress none-the-less. Did you know she voiced Alphonse in Full Metal Alchemist? Bet you didn’t. She was also awesome as Sabato-chan in Dokuro-chan.
Fumiko Orikasa: Another extremely varied and talented voice actress. She can sing well too! Amazing as Ciel in Tsukihime, amazing as Miu in Ichigo Mashimaro. Amazing all round.
Male VAs
Naming females were easy – naming males are much harder. Male seiyuus have less prominence in my mind (because I tend to remember cute/sexy voices, while I care as much about male VAs as I do about legumes), so I had more trouble coming up with any names. But because it takes more for me to notice male voices than female voices, it also means that these voice actors are truly excellent.
Tomokazu Seki ANN page
One of the, if not THE, most versatile male VA in the business, he’s name has reached something of a legendary status in my mind. He voices some of the my favourite characters, and he’s one of the few male VAs who can make his voice sound very different, depending on what kind of role he’s playing. He can definitely act too – Sousuke in The Second Raid is an excellent example, showing a wide range of emotion with great believability. He’s equally out-standing as a villain, acting out the sinister and mad Kageyama with great aplomb. His credit list at ANN is also long like long cat, a testament to his popularity.
Other notable roles: Kyo Soma in Fruits Basket, Rentarou Futaba in Futakoi Alternative, Kenichi Shirahama in History’s Strongest Disciple Kenichi
Tomokazu Sugita ANN page
A lot of you would be familiar with this fellow, his popularity sky-rocketing with the recent The Melancholy of Suzmiya Haruhi and the Kanon remake. His control of witticism is so complete that he even voiced characters whose only role is to throw out sarcastic lines (the alien subordinate in Pani Poni Dash!). In fact he is almost being type-casted – some of Yuuichi’s line in Kanon 2006 seem almost tailored to his strength in this area. That doesn’t mean he can’t act in other roles though – Mayama in Honey and Clover was an exemplary performance that captured the character perfectly.
Other notable roles: Hattori Kyouhachirou in Basilisk, Hideki Motosuwa in Chobits, Sakata Gintoki in Gintama
Jun Fukuyama ANN page
Inukami was one of the most underrated shows of 2006, overlooked by many because of its abundance of elephants. At its helm was Keita, a character whose uniqueness drives the show, and the voice behind him is none other than Jun Fukuyama. What makes Inukami work so well is the dynamic between Keita and the other characters, and Fukuyama brings him to life. Soon after Inukami Fukuyama was met with another challenge, and one of the best anti-hero known to anime fans was brought to life in Code Geass. He was also the voice of Issei in Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, one of the funniest side characters in the FMP universe.
Other notable roles: Kimihiro Watanuki in XXXHOLiC, Ryouhei in SaiKano: Another Love Song (OAV), Zelman Clock in Black Blood Brothers
Honorable mentions:
Takahiro Sakurai: Ukiya in Gate Keepers, Jirou Mochizuk in Black Blood Brothers and Suzaku Kururugi in Code Geass. Three widely varying roles all played very well, and he has leading roles in many other anime too.
Norio Wakamoto: His list of credits is longer than longcat, and his voice has a certain uniqueness to it that makes it stand out. See also his list of skills and abilities in ANN. Pure win.
Before anyone tries to lynch me, I know I’ve left out a lot of famous and popular voice actresses, like Mamiko Noto and Yui Horie. But I don’t like them that much so there. If they, or some other VAs that I haven’t named, are your favourites, I’d like to hear about them. Post a comment about who your favourite voice actors/actresses are!
*The answers are Megumi Hayashibara, Kotono Mitsuishi and Megumi Ogata respectively. The first two are also somewhat legendary, voicing characters from Sailor Moon to Lina Inverse to Excel to Hello Kitty.
21 Comments
Favourite Female VAs
1.Kawasumi Ayako-Yes! One of the most talented and best seiyuu around. She voiced her characters so well that you can’t help but to feel what they felt. Her current role in Hitohira is something to watch for as it requires her to strain her voice a bit.
2.Toyoguchi Megumi-Voiced Satou Sei(Marimite),Revy(Black Lagoon) and recently Sophia(Claymore).If Ayako-san is the queen, then Megumi-san is the crown princess of seiyuu, for me.
3.Koshimizu Ami-A young, versatile and talented VA. Her performance as Paraeitta in Simoun is by far the best.From the blunt Tenma(S.Rumble) to angsty Nina(Mai-Otome); that speaks the volume of her talent.
Notable mention: Sawashiro Miyuki, Kuwashima Houko, Kotono Mitsuishi, Chiba Saeko, Mizuki Nana.
Haha, this is a nice list.
Tamura Yukari is a personal favourite of mine. Her voice is cute and innocent, and normally lands her in the role of young girls – Misha (Pita Ten), Ranpha (Galaxy Angel) – while still being able to play out darker parts of the character (Rika in Higurashi, Mai in Kanon, Sakura in D.C., Ichigo in Onegai Techer)
Sawashiro Miyuki is another personal favourite. She normally takes on younger roles, sometimes with hits of arrogance. Her notable roles include Shinku (Rozen Maiden), Puchiko (Di Gi Charat), and Mint (Galaxy Angel).
Though she’s more of a singer, Momoi Halko is one of the more prominent voices, probably due to her high pitched voiced (the only seiyu that can beat her in that, off the top of my head, is Shintani Ryoko). The only seiyu role she has that sticks out is Komugi (Soultaker), but she’s done enough songs that she’s probably one of the more recognizable voices.
I guess I tend towards voices I can recognize on hearing. On the note of Tomokazu Seki, he plays himself on Akahori Gedou Hour Rabuge. In one episode, he’s shown to make up in a mansion, surrounded by maids. As the anime put it (if I remember correctly): Tomokazu Seki, the greatest man on Earth. Fun stuff.
One possible reason for the lack of notable male seiyuu is possibly since young male characters can also be voiced by women. Mayumi Tanaka sticks out in my mind for this example. She’s voiced quite a few guys (Luffy from One Piece, Mao in Chuuka Ichiban, Kuririn from Dragon Ball), and even the female characters she’s voiced tend to be masculine (Kanna from Sakura Taisen).
CURSEEEEEEEEE YOU LUPUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Why must you post relatively alluring pictures of Maria during my “Stop wanking” month!!!
I am going to KEELHAUL you.
One of the related videos to the link you gave for the infamous “Damette, Hamada-san” for Aya Hirano showcased her ability to really change voices – http://youtube.com/watch?v=lj0jIss_WjQ
I couldn’t imagine her really being able to do so many voices…
For the female VAs, Satsuki Yukino is the best known to me – I can always recognize her voice every time it comes up – maybe ’cause I watched too much Inuyasha lol…
Tamura Yukari and Miyuki Sawashiro seconded, Ryoko Shintani added. Saito Chiwa, Kaneda Tomoko and Kozakura Etsuko for MOAR loli.
Wakamoto Norio in an anime means serious business
…off the top of my head anyway
Huh what do you mean we don’t talk about seiyuu? We talk about them all the time!
In fact, I just did a post on Fukuhara Kaori lol.
But yeah, there are a lot more great seiyuu than you mentioned. Some of my personal favourites include Kobayashi Yuu (hot face, hot voice), Asakawa Yuu (sultry), Nakata Jouji (the deepest male voice) and Kanazawa Hana (tongue rolling chick).
I don’t really have favourite female seyuus – aside, possibly, from Megumi Ogata (when she’s voicing male characters); other than Shinji, YYH’s Kurama and YGO Season 0’s Yami no Yuugi come to mind.
My favourites are Koyasu Takehito (*swoons and drools* – X’s Sakurazuka Seishirou, Angel Sanctuary’s Kira, Excel Saga’s Il Palazzo, Fushigi Yuugi’s Hotohori), Fukuyama Jun (for all the reasons you mentioned, and also Lelouch), Tomozaku Seki (he also did Gravitation’s Shuichi), Akira Ishida (Gundam Seed’s Athrun, Gintama’s Katsura, Naruto’s Gaara, HaruToki’s Yasuaki, Eva’s Kaworu) and Suzumura Kenichi (X’s Kamui, Gintama’s Okita, Spiral’s Ayumu).
I sometimes even watch anime only for the sake of its seyuu, as was the case with Weiss Kreuz, Meine Liebe and HaruToki…
–> Sawashiro Miyuki doesn’t only do female voices. Wait till you see her do the male voices that you don’t even think that it is her. Her regular voice sounds like Mint. Her Puchiko voice is cute and sarcastic. Then you have her as Kotarou and .
I constantly find myself amazed by and impressed with Tomokazu Seki’s range of roles. I first heard him as Touya from CCS, and then as Sousuke in FMP, and then as Mepple in PreCure…
My favourite VA just for the way she sounds is Yukari Tamura, personally. Chiwa Saito also gets a very close second place, ever since Hazuki from Tsukuyomi.
I also have a fair bit of respect for the somewhat typecast VAs who are nevertheless everywhere, like the aforementioned Tomokazu Sugita (lots of snarky roles), Kikuko Inoue (motherly caring roles, probably starting from Kasumi in Ranma 1/2 or Belldandy in Ah My Goddess), and then there’s Kenichi Ogata and Mugihito, who, between the two of them, seem to have every single old-man voice in anime.
Female VA:
1.) Mitsuishi Kotono 2.) Kuwashima Houko 3.) Ueda Kana 4.) Suzukaze Mayo
Male VA:
1.) Shinichiro Miki 2.) Wataru Takagi 3.) Shuichi Ikeda 4.) Tohru Furuya
forgot to add English dub VAs…
Female VA:
1.) Amanda Winn-Lee 2.) Hunter Austin 3.) Vanessa Morley
Male VA:
1.) Vic Mignogna 2.) Dave Wittenberg 3.) Sam Vincent
A true voice actor.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=02jXerN4m4k
I don’t really get the whole seiyuu worship thing.
True, they could use better pay and working conditions, but…
I appreciate them for their role in making Japanese Animation live for most of us, but to go beyond that to idolatry is… …rather disturbing.
You should also note that Takahiro Sakurai was also the voice of Cloud in Final Fantasy: Advent Children.
And I MUST add my favorite male seiyuu to your list, he doesn’t get nearly enough credit:
Jouji “George” Nakata
He isn’t everywhere like Tomokazu Seki, but he has some very notable roles, namely Alucard in Hellsing, Folken in Escaflowne, and the Count in Gankutsuou.
Well I see a few of my faves are there.
Being an InuYasha fan I grew fond of Satsuki. Not to mention the awesome Ken Narita as Sesshoumaru, his voice was just so smexy. Plus he played Lin on Ghost Hunt.
As for FMP, I actually heard the dub before the sub and love both takes on it.
Chris Patton is awesome as Sousuke.
And I have to agree with Tomokazu Seki since he’s my beloved Ryuuki from Saiunkoku Monogatari.
As English V.A’s go, Chris Patton is always awesome and Vic Mignogna is always great, he’s played so many of my favourite characters.
I love him as Ed in Fullmetal Alchemist, not to mention he was Dark in D.N Angel and of course the wonderful Kurz Weber from FMA.
Aaron Dismuke was great as Al too. Hell the whole cast was good, FMA had a great English dub.
I also seem to have a fondess for Illich Guardiola.
I also like Colleen Clinkenbeard. She was a great Riza Hawkeye and I enjoyed her as Eclair in Kiddy Grade, not to mention she was Esther in Trinity Blood.
Ahh which brings me to Troy Baker, whom I’m fast beginning to like, since he’s pretty new. But hee was fantastic as Abel in Trinity Blood and I just finished watching the dub of Basilisk. He was pretty darn good as Gennosuke.
L-chan – I agree Jouji was fantastic as Alucard. I also happen to like Crispin Freeman as his dub voice.
Ooh and how can I forget the wonderful Steven Blum who has voiced so many great characters. Like Spike Spiegal from Cowboy Beebop, Darcia in Wolfs Rain, Shishio in Kenshin
(yes I actually didn’t mind the Kenshin dub and oh horror of horrors, I like Kenshin’s dub voice)
I know a lot of people hate the Kenshin dub and I have to say I think sometimes you have to separate the lines being read and the actual voice. I think the script for Kenshin sucked a lot at times, but the voices weren’t half bad.
Ahh I could go on all day about great voices ^-^
I can’t believe that of all Seiyuus, u’d left out the following (in my order of preference):
- Tamura Yukari
- Mizuki Nana
- Koshimizu Ami
- Naduka Kaori
- Nogawa Sakura
- Nonaka Ai
- Sanada Asami
- Nanbatame Hitomi
Ok, there’s a ton of Seiyuus I can go on and on. =p
That’s a joke, right? VAs are most often the only staff people actually know from a show and get far too much credit compared to the creative staff which makes the series possible. Rarely ever I see people actually knowing just one or two animators from a show, at most there are a few people who heard of the director but only if those are well known anyway.
Screw VAs and take actually a look further behind the scenes of anime making.
Sigh.
My favourite VAs
- Hocchan
- Megumi Hayashibara
- Ayako Kawasumi
- Norio Wakamoto
- Jouji Nakata
- Seki Tomokazu & Sugita Tomokazu
Also lol at English VAs, srsly, lol.
People who complained about me leaving out seiyuus: I limited myself to 3 each, simply because of space constraint. I don’t want to write a post that’s long enough to elicit TD;LRs, so, even though there were a lot more VAs that I wants to include, I had to leave them out.
In a perfect world, 100% of the people involved in any project would get full credit. It’s not a perfect world. That said, though, I agree that voice actors in any field are a talented bunch and the work can be harder than you would even imagine. Kudos for your tribute.
People go to me for seiyuu knowledge. However, I’m not good with seiyuu who are born after me and I’m not good with male seiyuu born after Seki Tomokazu-san. (I only know like two male seiyuu born after him. That’s it.) What that tells you is that I’m very old.
While another forte of mine is mangaka, directors and the like are not. I definitely know more than just Kanno Youko-san and the Ghibli staff. Don’t think like I’m limited to those people.
Anyway, where do I begin on favorites? I better list by gender. I won’t mention who has been said already.
Female – Hiramatsu Akiko-san, Hisakawa Aya-san, Aoyama Minami Takayama-san, Yamadera Mika Kanai-san (Prica of “Black/Matrix”, Arche of “Tales of Phantasia”, Tifa of “Gundam X”), Tsuru Hiromi-san, Hidaka Noriko-san, Yamazaki Wakana-san (Meiko of “Marmalade Boy”, Kitagawa of “Sensei no Ojikan”, Ayane of “Dead or Alive”, Prague of “B/M”), Touma Yumi-san (“SC’s” Ivy, Urd of “Aa! Megami-sama”, Yui & Touma of “Fushigi Yuugi”, Xiaoyu, Lei Fang), Neya Michiko-san (Saki & Rintsu of “Quiz Nanairo Dreams”, Rose in “SFZ III”, Sophitia of “Soul”, Nancy of “R.O.D.”), Matsumoto Rika-san, Iwao Junko-san, Kouda Mariko-san (Nayuki of “Kanon”, Miki of “MB”), Kawakami Tomoko-san (Rika of “Cardcaptor Sakura”, Chihiro of “FY”, Rosette of “Chrno Crusade”, May Lee/Jinju of “KoF”), Konishi Hiroko-san (Sae of “Mahoutsukai Tai”, Lilith of “Vampire”, Nene in the “Bubblegum Crisis” TV series, Shiori in the “Kanon” game), Ikezawa Haruna-san (Athena in the “KoF” games since “1998″ as well as Foxy and Kyouko, Yoshino of “Marimite”), Iizuka Mayumi-san (Aoi of “To Heart”, Nanaka of “Mahoutsukai Tai”, Kasumi of “Pocket Monsters”, Tron of “Rockman”, Makoto of “Kanon”), Sakamoto Maaya-san, Yamamoto Maria-san, I better stop.
Male – The Ootsuka father/son combo of Chikao-san (Moriarity of “Holmes”, McCoy in “Area 88’s” TV series) and Akio-san (Daigo in the final “Justice Gakuen” game, Solid Snake, Hyou of “Gekka no Kenshi”), Yamadera Kouichi-san (Daigo in the first two “Justice Gakuen” games, Ryouga of “Ranma”, Spike), Midorikawa Hikaru (who I’ve been jealous with over the years), Yuuki Hiro-san (Alfred of “Garou Densetsu”, Omi of “Weiss Kreuz”, Yoshitora of “Samurai Spirits”), Okiayu Ryoutarou-san (Yuu of “MB”, Roy of “JG”, Shigure of “Fruits Basket”), Ueda Yuuji-san (“JG’s” Shouma, Keitarou, Sanosuke), Ishii Kouji-san (Yamazaki and Gatou of “Garou Densetsu”, Kimura-sensei of “Azumanga”, too bad he never played as a kid as far as I know), Tanimura Kishou-san (Sensei-san of “Binzume Yousei”, Seiji of “Midori no Hibi”, Seki of “SnO”), Hino Satoshi-san (poor guy), etc.
Yes, seiyuu deserve more luv than ever~! Have been one since discovering seiyuu for Rurouni Kenshin / Samurai X
And it’s hard to find seiyuu fans here in m’sia. These people should deserve a lot for their hard work.
Anyways, here’s my list (in case curiosity arises; they’re not listed btw)in no proper order:
- Kuwashima Houko (Clare in Claymore)
- Morikawa Toshiyuki (Dante in Devil May Cry)
- Okiayu Ryoutarou (Kuchiki Byakuya in Bleach)
- Ohtsuka Akio (Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid series)
- Seki Toshihiko (Genjo Sanzo in Saiyuki)
- Hirata Hiroaki (Sha Gojyo in Saiyuki)