j1m0ne's blog

A few notes and observations on seiyuu involved (or not involved) in the upcoming autumn anime season.

OK so I lied, it’s more like a mini-thesis really. So if you’re not at all into seiyuu, I apologise for being boring.

A few names worth keeping an eye on

Kaji Yuki (梶 裕貴)

Pony Canyon’s 2003 VS Auditions has eventually turned out to be one of the most fruitful open auditions ever, ‘discovering’ the likes of Kitamura Eri, Kataoka Azusa, Fujita Saki, Chihara Minori and Kaji Yuki. Kaji who, you ask?

23-year old Kaji Yuki is one of the bright young stars in ARTSVISION (a.k.a. the scandal ridden agency), who’ll no doubt be looking to him and a few others to build up their reputation again after a mass exodus of seiyuu over the last 18 months. Kaji’s voice fits squarely within the ‘teenage boy’ range, which seems to be pretty popular these days – think Kakihara Tetsuya, Yonaga Tsubasa and Okamoto Nobuhiko as comparisons.

To be honest, I find it surprising that Kaji is still pretty much an unknown quantity in anime circles. Seiyuu fans who follow other media formats like radio shows, drama CDs and the such may be better acquainted with him – he’s already notched up quite a few BLCD credits, runs his own website and writes on two separate blogs. Up until now, he’s only had one lead role as Shinozaki Mikoto in the cycling anime Over Drive, but I doubt anyone was paying attention to that.

This autumn gives Kaji a few chances to show off his talents, with the lead role in Yozakura Quartet and a supporting role in Kuroshitsuji. In addition, he will be co-hosting both shows’ internet radio programs, with Fukuen Misato (Yozakura) and Ono Daisuke (Kuroshitsuji). Amusingly, Kaji will also be participating in Dolly Variety Show, a programme with a concept (ikemen? dolls?) I can’t begin to want to take seriously. And if you’re into gaming, you’ll get to hear him voicing the hero in the upcoming Suikoden Tierkreis DS game.

Abe Atsushi (阿部 敦)

If Kaji Yuki’s been the one threatening to make a breakthrough for a while, then Abe Atsushi is someone who has sneaked in from nowhere to land firmly in the limelight in 2008. His name may not be familiar to most, but his roles certainly will make people sit up and take notice – Kukai Soma in the popular Shugo Chara! series, main protagonist Akiyuki in Xam’d and in a few weeks’ time, the lead role of Kamijo Toma in Toaru Majutsu no Index.

I don’t know a whole lot about Abe – I had to look up his agency page to see what he looked like, so low is his profile. The 27-year old Abe is signed to Ken Production, having graduated from the agency’s training school School Duo the same year that another one of KenPro’s promising young talents Yonaga Tsubasa did. Observers have compared his voice to Seki Toshihiko, and I can see where they’re coming from, especially when Abe uses his lower register.

I’ve been reading a couple of Xam’d-related interviews with Abe, and he mentioned in one of them how he was delighted to land the lead role in a BONES anime but started feeling pressured once he learned of the show’s premise and the rest of the seiyuu cast, which is full of heavyweight veterans like Orikasa Fumiko, Kuwashima Houko, Konishi Katsuyuki & Fujiwara Keiji.

Only time will tell if Abe will end up achieving as much as other seiyuu who started off their careers in similar circumstances i.e. leading a BONES production (Shimono Hiro in RahXephon, Miyano Mamoru in Wolf’s Rain, Sanpei Yuko in Eureka 7) but he’s made a good start already. Give it another twelve months and we should get to know a whole lot more about Abe and the direction his career is heading in.

Saito Chiwa (斎藤 千和)

Things have been very quiet on the voice acting front of late for Saito Chiwa, who will celebrate 10 years working in the seiyuu industry in 2009. Having gradually built up a loyal fanbase with an impressive series of roles over the early part of the decade – Lavie Head in LAST EXILE, Anita King in R.O.D.-THE TV-, Hazuki in Tsukuyomi-MOON PHASE-, Becky Miyamoto in Pani Poni Dash and Aika in the ARIA series are the ones that catch the eye, there’s been precious little to cheer about in the last 12 months (bar ARIA). Unless you count being reduced to a creditless, almost silent performance as Otonashi Meru in the Zetsubo-sensei series as a highlight. She also seems to have gotten typecast as the annoying spoiled-brat type (think Francesca in Strike Witches, Louise in Gundam 00 etc) lately, which is rather er… annoying.

Obviously, she always has Keroro Gunso to fall back on, but it seems pretty bewildering that the hugely talented Saito has not seen her name top the credit lists for almost 3 years now. Now seems as good a time as any to rectify that, with Kemeko Deluxe! putting her firmly in the spotlight again. Kemeko seems like the perfect vehicle for Chiwa to channel her excellent comic timing and deadpan humour – a female version of Koyasu Takehito, if you like. She’s also singing the opening theme (with 6 of the other seiyuu) and gets the ending theme all to herself.

There’s also a role for Chiwa in Rosario to Vampire CAPU2 as Kokoa, where she gets to duel with sister Moka (Mizuki Nana). Hmm, anyone still watching that? She also reprises her role in the second season of Gundam 00, but Kemeko DX! is what you should check out for maximum Chiwa impact.

Fukuen Misato (福圓 美里)

More often than not overshadowed by a certain Mizuki Nana despite having a pretty strong CV of her own, especially in the last two years or so. I attribute that to the problem of being relatively er… “aesthetically challenged”. OK, that’s not being kind to Fukuen; she has lost quite a lot of weight over the last few years, gotten a decent haircut and somewhat improved her image.

I guess Misato’s main problem is that she has a distinctly ordinary voice and it’s not easy to ID her unless you’re a religious fan. Eve in Black Cat and Yin in Darker than BLACK had essentially the same quiet voice and I can’t remember what on earth she sounded like in Hataraki Man or RED GARDEN. In fact, the only two characters of hers I loved (a lot) are Hajime in Pretear & Lione in Fushigiboshi – both are cute kids in Sato Junichi shows. Eh.

This summer saw her headlining an anime that wasn’t targeted at kids for the first time, and I’m sure Strike Witches’ Yoshika has earned Misato a couple more brownie points with seiyuu fans. I was surprised that her ending theme performance was also pretty good, given the bad memories I have of her and Kadowaki Maii in TAMAGO.

Yozakura Quartet will be giving her the yen that she needs to fill up her empty fridge this autumn, added to work on Rosario 2 & Battle Spirits. I hope the health problems that forced Misato to withdraw from Ga-Rei-Zero- are in check now. The hoarse, crackly voice she displayed on her return to Smile Gang didn’t inspire confidence but she’s gotten better in recent weeks, taking on another radio show for Yozakura whilst her stints on ToLove-Ru & Strike Witches are coming to an end, so the throat should hold up OK.

The busiest seiyuu (lead roles in bold)
Suwabe Junichi – 6 (Hokuto no Ken, Kuroshitsuji, Macademy WAsshoi!, Moryo no Hako, Shikabane Hime Aka, Vampire Knight Guilty)

Kugimiya Rie – 6 (Akaneiro ni Somaru Saka, Gundam 00 2nd, Kemeko DX!, Kurogane no Linebarrels, Rosario + Vampire CAPU2, Toradora!)

Kitamura Eri – 6
(Chaos;HEAd, Ga-rei -Zero-,Kemeko DX!, Noramimi 2, Toradora!, Vampire Knight Guilty)
-2008 has been a year of two halves for KitaEri; first 6 months of the year were spent picking her nose, playing Monster Hunter & harassing other female seiyuu while sitting by the phone waiting for work to come her way. Now she’s got more roles than you can shake a stick at, but she should be happy that it provides her fresh opportunities to harass newly acquainted female seiyuu.

Miyano Mamoru – 5 (Gundam 00 2, Hakushaku to Yosei, Kurozuka, Skip Beat!, Vampire Knight Guilty)

Yoshino Hiroyuki – 5 (Chaos;HEAd, Gundam 00 2, Inazuma Eleven, Toradora!, Tytania)

Tomatsu Haruka – 5 (Gundam 00 2, Kannagi, Kemeko DX!, Moryo no Hako, Yozakura Quartet)

Kuwashima Houko – 4 (CLANNAD-After Story-, Hyakko, Kurozuka, Moryo no Hako)

Kishio Daisuke – 4 (Junjo Romantica 2, Rosario + Vampire CAPU2, Tytania, Vampire Knight Guilty)
-Gosh, three out of four are sequels, none of which I completed. I am vaguely interested in seeing Tytania though. Kishio’s best current role is as Negishi in Detroit Metal City.

Ohara Sayaka – 4 (Hakushaku to Yosei, Kurogane no Linebarrel, Nodame Cantabile Paris, Toradora!)

Horie Yui – 4 (Hyakko, Shikabane Hime Aka, Toradora!, Vampire Knight Guilty)

Chiba Saeko – 4 (Kemeko DX!, Shikabane Hime Aka, Rosario + Vampire CAPU2, Shugo Chara!! Doki)

Fujiwara Keiji – 4 (Gundam 00 2, Hyakko, Kurozuka, Shikabane Hime Aka)

Nakahara Mai – 4 (CLANNAD-After Story-, Hokuto no Ken, Kannagi, Vampire Knight Guilty)

-Obviously this list is only as accurate as the cast announcements are, there could be more significant additions down the line as new characters enter the fray (a la Soul Eater). Don’t come back in December telling me my mathematics sucks.

Notes (aka j1m0ne waffles)
It’s actually pretty deceiving to just look at numbers, Suwabe would come out tops if you added the fact that he’s doing a couple of OVAs at the same time but if weight was added to the roles to emphasise major over supporting then Miyano Mamoru, with 4 out of 5 roles being the main protagonist, is the biggest winner in the autumn season.

Fukuyama Jun was tops with something like 8 regular roles in the spring season but he’s down to 3 now. Obviously, having so many roles previously meant no time to attend auditions.

Some of my favourites of the assembled casts for this season are Kuroshitsuji’s and KUROZUKA’s. Kuroshitsuji partly for the delicious prospect of hearing Sakamoto Maaya and Ono D together. KUROZUKA cos that cast list just oozes damn class. Kuro is theoretically Miyano’s juiciest & most demanding of his 5 roles this season – I look forward to hearing what sort of voice he’ll be using (as long as he’s not channeling Yagami Light). Similarly, I am interested in hearing Kishio Daisuke in Tytania – as you can see from the rest of his roles this season, he doesn’t really get that many opportunities in the serious/heavy type of shows compared to some of his contemporaries.

I think the Tomatsu push has somewhat baffled a lot of neutrals. (Personally) I think she’s promising for a relative newcomer with little voice acting training, but she’s been in a ton of crap anime that nobody watched (Polyphonica, ToLove-Ru etc) and people are quick to apply the idol hypothesis (looks are her only virtue) on her. I don’t know if that perception will change much with Kannagi, but she probably needs the one big otaku-pandering role to really make a breakthrough. They should stop making her appear in dorama though. I also think Haruka should be given the nickname The Girl With Twenty Faces (二十面相な女の子), cos she seems to look different in every single picture I’ve seen of her.

Disappointing season for Koshimizu Ami fans, she has just the one role in Macademy WAsshoi! (and even that as a guy) this time. Toyoguchi Megumi fans will be even more disappointed, as there’s nothing new coming. Oh well, there’s always Pokemon.

Good thing Minorin has a single, album & tour coming up so she doesn’t have to terrorise us with her high-pitched screech.

The most surprising casting decision for me is Neya Michiko in Hyakko, I didn’t expect them to cast her as a teenager in a high-school comedy.

Happiest news: Kikuchi Mika in Shikabane Hime Aka. Don’t know how well the anime will go but I am glad that Mika is still doing some voice work.

There’s just a ridiculous amount of female seiyuu around, and the competition for roles must be intense. You read about them attending auditions all the time (and a few talk about failing them) so you wonder how some of those who seem to get very little work pay their bills if they don’t temp at kombini etc

Above point leads me to think that Kuwatani Natsuko must be:
a) from a rich family
b) married to a rich man
c) doing some shady work that earns her loadsa yen
d) a 9-digit figure lottery winner
Reading her blog, you see her going snowboarding, holidaying in Korea (with Ishige Sawa & Shiratori Yuri), omiyage from her dad’s trip to China etc. Money must be coming from somewhere, right?