100 Seiyuu Everybody Should Know: 80-71
Part 3 your way comes.
Why you should know him: The (then) rookie 19-year old seiyuu who landed a dream debut role as the youngest lead character in a Gundam series ever.
All about Daisuke: Sakaguchi’s naturally high-pitched voice makes him a favourite casting for teenage male leads and that typifies the type of roles he has had over the past 16 years, although he is of course, perfectly capable of voicing less conventional roles – witness Shonen Bat in Paranoia Agent.
Best known roles: Uso Evin in Mobile Suit Victory Gundam, Shimura Shinpachi in Gintama, Yamazaki Kaoru in N.H.K. ni Youkoso!, Sawaki Souemon Tadayasu in Moyashimon
What else you should know: He was part of the mildly successful 90s male seiyuu idol unit E.M.U. (Entertainment Music Unit) with Ishikawa Hideo, Okiayu Ryotaro, Hayashi Nobutoshi (now Canna Nobutoshi) and Midorikawa Hikaru.
Favourite Sakaguchi role: Jacuzzi Splot of Baccano! is characteristic of the whiny loser type of roles he gets, but him and Nice (Kobayashi Yu) made a good pairing. My Gintama-loving brain however, is mortified by the thought of a Shinpachi-Sacchan coupling [same seiyuu pair]…
Why you should know her: One of the 00s’ most prolific leading ladies.
Signature line: (>_<)b Omochikaeri!!!!
All about Mai: Possessing a sweet and fairly versatile voice, Mai has managed to forge a very strong presence this decade, typically voicing your average girl-next-door. Since debuting in 2002 she has averaged 2-3 lead roles per year – quite impressive when you consider most seiyuu would be lucky to get 1-2 their entire careers.
Best known roles: Furukawa Nagisa in CLANNAD, Tokiha Mai in Mai-HiME series, Ryuuguu Rena in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Kasugano Midori in Midori no Hibi
What else you should know: Best remembered for… other things like that yuri PV (which still cracks me up everytime I watch it), the resemblance to a certain rock guitarist as well as that LOL appearance in Joshi Anna Icchokusen.
Favourite Mai role: She was in her element as May Wong from Kaleido Star, a character that was annoying and hilarious in equal turns yet always fun.
Why you should know him: Former male seiyuu idol turned actor turned sound director.
More on Mitsuya: Most popular in the late mid-80s during the 101-episode run of Touch, Mitsuya has in recent years done more sound directing including working on Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho and 5 Centimeters Per Second.
Best known roles: Uesugi Tatsuya in Touch, Virgo Shaka in Saint Seiya, Aoi Hyoma in Combattler V
What else you should know: He teamed up with fellow veteran seiyuu & Touch co-star Hidaka Noriko to form a new seiyuu agency called Combination at the start of 2009, who have other old-timers like Sakakibara Yoshiko and Higuchi Chieko on their books. Newer anime fans might recognise Mitsuya as one of the two voices of Irabu Ichiro in Kuchu Buranko (he covers the middle and older versions).
Why you should know her: Famous for voicing one of the loudest, most obnoxious and annoying characters in anime history, as well as having a never-ending string of bad luck.
All about Miyamu: She seems to have a black cat following her everywhere she goes – a series of bad press and illnesses overshadowing her career. Supposed appearances in adult videos (strongly denied), throat ailments that forced a hiatus, a shotgun wedding and the diagnosis of Graves’ disease in 2007 are just some of the eventful happenings in her life.
Best known roles: Asuka Langley Soryu in Neon Genesis Evangelion, Toyama Kazuha in Detective Conan, Tamano Hinagiku in Wedding Peach, Alyssa Sears in Mai-HiME
What else you should know: Miyamu was the girl in the introductory video in the Battle Royale movie – you know, the one wearing the orange shirt explaining the game’s gruesome rules. Her second husband Seki Takayuki is a stuntman and they have a 5-year old daughter. For a while she was involved in sound work having directed the seiyuu in Loveless, but due to her illness, has stopped working in this area.
Why you should know him: He is the voice of ONIZUKA EIKICHI, 22-SAI. YOROSHIKU!!!
About Wataru: He tends to get saddled with comedy roles a lot (he’s even the Japanese dub for Daffy Duck) and Western fans will best recognise him for his GTO role, Tobi in Naruto:Shippuden and as Shiba Ganju in Bleach, but he can also mix it up – he was the main antagonist in Slayers Try .
Best known roles: Onizuka Eikichi in GTO, Garrod Rain in After War Gundam X, Kojima Genta & Takagi Wataru in Detective Conan, Aoki Masaru in Hajime no Ippo, Valgaav in Slayers Try
In case you’re wondering…: Yes he does voice Takagi Wataru in Conan, the character is actually named after him.
What else you should know: Legend goes that when Takagi got married, he and his wife did not cut a wedding cake but instead, cut a large onigiri made in the likeness of his Conan character Kojima Genta.
Why you should know him: The Seiyuu Awards’ special merit award is named in his memory.
All about Tomiyama: With his trademark aviator glasses, flashy shirts and skinny trousers, Tomiyama was one of the late 60s/70s original ‘versatile’ and most flamboyant male seiyuu, adept at playing good & bad guys while also providing narrations for various shows. His death from pancreatic cancer in 1995 shocked the industry, and over 10 of his roles at the time were passed on to the likes of Yamadera Koichi, Aono Takeshi and Horiuchi Kenyu.
Best known roles: Kodai Susumu in Uchuu Senkan Yamato series, Yang-wen Li in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Duke Fleed in Grendizer, Narrator in Time Bokan series
What else you should know: Fellow seiyuu and close friend Ohara Noriko described him as a ‘genius’, while Fujiwara Keiji narrated Keroro Gunsou with the aim of creating a voice ‘like Tomiyama Kei’s’. Posthumously honoured with a Life Achievement award in the First Seiyuu Awards in 2007, his name now lives on in a special merit award that has been awarded to the likes of Furuya Toru and Yamadera Koichi.
Why you should know her: A 20+ year industry veteran who tends to be remembered for the weird animals/dolls she voices.
Signature line: “Pika-pika! Pi-pikachu!”
All about Ikue: Ikue made her debut in Maison Ikkoku back in 1986. Most of her characters/voices tend to fall within the ‘child’ or ‘non-human’ categories, unsurprising since she has a rather high-pitched, cutesy voice. One of the original loli-obasans (she’s now 44).
Best known roles: Pikachu in Pokemon franchise, Tony Tony Chopper in One Piece, Gash Bell in Konjiki no Gash Bell!!, Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko in Detective Conan
What else you should know: Whilst on maternity leave in 2006, the seiyuu who temporarily took over her roles include Orikasa Ai, Kugimiya Rie, Noda Junko and Koorogi Satomi – certainly a strange bunch of very, very different types of seiyuu.
Favourite Iku-chan role: Probably Merle the cat-girl in Escaflowne nyaaa.
Why you should know her: Looking for someone to voice intimidating, tough-as-nails ladies/queens/baddies? You’ve got your woman here.
Best known roles: Sylia Stingray in Bubblegum Crisis, Haman Karn & Mouar Pharaoh in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam/Gundam ZZ, Integra Hellsing in Hellsing, Nagumo Shinobu in Mobile Police Patlabor, Princess Kushana in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Frederica Greenhill in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Queen Nehellenia in Sailor Moon
What else you should know: She’s an Oshii Mamoru favourite and is involved in many of his works, from the Ghost in the Shell series/movies to Patlabor to Sky Crawlers and even his Kerberos Panzer Jäger radio drama series.
Why you should know him: He of the oh-so-smooth, oh-so-deep, oh-so-chilling voice.
About Hayami…: Hard to believe he’s past 50 already! It seems since getting cast as Aizen in Bleach his number of bad guy roles has been increasing – Prism Ark, 07-Ghost, Sengoku BASARA to name a few….
Best known roles: Maximillian Jenius in Macross, Aizen Sosuke in Bleach, Nicholas D. Wolfwood in Trigun, Gavlet Gablae in Heavy Metal L-Gaim, Burn Bunnings in Aura Battler Dunbine, Ginias Saharin in Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team
What else you should know: He’s married to fellow seiyuu Igarashi Rei, and his nephew Hayami Hideyuki is also a seiyuu. Looks like uncle is getting the latter some help – he’s had roles in WHITE ALBUM and Prism Ark, both shows that Hayami worked on.
Favourite Show role: I don’t know about it being a favourite, but Eiri Masami from Serial Experiments Lain is one character that sticks in my mind for his… creepiness?
Why you should know her: The voice behind the naughtiest kid on TV (aka Shin-chan).
Signature line: HEERO!!!! HEEEEERRRRO!!! HEEEEEEEEEERROOOOOO!!! (just joking… I think)
About her voice…: Unless Akiko’s doing her Shin-chan voice I can barely recognise her – I would say it’s a testament to her versatility and ability to pull off almost any voice required. It still makes me scratch my head that the same person voiced Shin-chan, Relena and Kyoko (Unchi!! Unchi!!) in Denno Coil.
Best known roles: Shin-chan in Crayon Shin-chan, Shiina Tsubasa in Figure 17, Haydée in Gankutsuou, Relena Darlian/Peacecraft in Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Kohaku in InuYasha
Favourite Akiko role: The dual roles of Riku and Diva in Blood+ – way to go to voice a character that rapes and kills your other character.
I’m hoping these lists provide a more balanced view for the many seiyuu fans out there who focus on either female or male seiyuu exclusively, or watch certain types of anime that tend to employ the same group of actors over and over again. I’m sure not a lot of people can claim to watch shonen, kids’ anime, super robot shows and bishoujo-game adaptations all at the same time so there’s a lot of unfamiliar yet very noteworthy seiyuu out there in need of some extra lovin’!
What a wholesomely diverse group once again! -was along the lines of what I wanted to say but I’m too busy cracking up like crazy over every link you put for Nakahara Mai (someone so put something in my coffee this morning XD)
I remember the moment I found out Ikue Ohtani had done ero roles after knowing her as Merle and Pikachu.
PIKACHU’S VOICE HAS BEEN USED IN ERO? MIND(AND YOUTH) = BLOWN
I’m surprisingly familiar with a lot more than I expect in this batch, but it’s good to remember that Pikachu and Shin-chan both had done some rather odd voice work. As everyone has, at some point…
I KNOW EVERYBOOOODDDDDDDDDY! Yay, nice list. Even Takagi, Otani, Tomiyama (who I confuse for Toriyama sometimes…), Sakaguchi, etc etc. I didn’t know Miyamura when through all of that, or I didn’t remember. I thought she was mostly living in America.
Yeh, Ohtani does Ero…kinda makes me upset because it feels so wrong (;
I need to watch to watch Trigun in Japanese one of these days, because after hearing Hayami play so many creepy ass villains, I cannot imagine him as Wolfwood at all …
“Signature line: HEERO!!!! HEEEEERRRRO!!! HEEEEEEEEEERROOOOOO!!! (just joking… I think)”
LOL
I’m Mechafagging all over again this list, rofl.
HAMAN-SAMAAAAAAAAAA
YANG WEN LI and fak I gotta rewatch LoGH. Rofl.
*goes to work*
Have I ever told you how much I hate Hayami Sho’s voice? WELL NOW YOU KNOW. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
… unchi, unchi.
There is no substitute for Hayami Sho and what he has done, especially as Aizen. I suppose that was the role that shot him to fame the most, since he did it so well and continues to do so. His role as Akechi Mitsuhide in Sengoku Basara thus came as quite the surprise.
This has to be the most diverse section of the list so far. Wait…Hayami Shou is over 50?! I swear, people in show biz know where the Fountain of Youth is and they’re not telling us where it is! Or maybe he just got some plastic surgery done :/. I know him best as Muraki from Yami no Matsuei and he gave me goosebumps in that role.
I also LOLed at Ohtani’s picture. She was the first seiyuu I had ever heard of. I was 7 or 8 when I first heard of her and I live in the Western Hemisphere, so I found out about her by chance. I used to pronounce her name as “Aiku Ohtani” XD.
Oh pfft. No Hime-chan for Ootani. xD;
“My pet theory is that playing Himeko and Erika is what landed her a role as Pikachu”
Nakahara Mai!!!! love her. I really like her Nagisa-chan lead role from Strawberry Panic.
Really pretty too.
The other seiyuu, I have no idea who they are until today, except I saw once on YT Ohtani Ikue, she screamed during the talk show : pika pikachuuuuuuuuu !
Still very impressed with this list.. ^_^ Some surprises about some seiyuu, but a lot of remembering the voices from the characters they did.