j1m0ne's blog

And this is the supplementary section for all the hardcore seiyuu statistic fans.

It’s a fairly poor season for the guys, with very few anime productions that feature lots of male characters, spreading the roles out fairly evenly amongst the male seiyuu. There’s also no real breakout stars this time, with most of the roles going to well-established people.

Winners
Irino Miyu
Spring 2009 is proving to be a particularly fruitful season for Irino. Having made a memorable debut in Spirited Away all the way back in 2001 (as a geeky 13-year old), he’s rapidly risen over the last 2-3 years to become one of the go-to guys for young male roles who don’t sound like girls. Saji Crossroad, Tsubasa’s Syaoran and Birdy’s Tsutomu are some examples of the roles Miyu typically lands, but his performance as the devious Kuon in Kurozuka showed off a different side to his voice acting and is something he hasn’t really had the chance to do. I liked him in Winter Garden (the Di-Gi Charat spin-off specials)

This season sees him tackling 6 different roles, half of them as the lead character – those shows are all opposite Music Ray’n female leads – Tomatsu Haruka for Asura Cryin’ and Cross Game, and Takagaki Ayahi in Phantom the Animation. The other roles are in 07-GHOST, Cooking Idol I! My! Mine! and Hatsukoi Limited, but I believe 07-GHOST’s Shuri is the role that will offer him a bit more meat to it, everything else is pretty much within his normal scope and range.

He’s a very solid seiyuu who has proved that he’s capable of taking on more challenging roles and characters, and he’s cute to boot – but there are plenty of others working within the same bracket (Kakihara Tetsuya, Shimono Hiro etc). I guess Miyu got lucky at the audition rounds this time, but good for him – time to step up to the plate and really deliver some great performances to distinguish himself from the rest.

Tomatsu Haruka
Tomatsu is not only the spring season winner, it’s likely she’ll be the summer season winner as well. Pretty crazy, the number of lead roles she’s landing these few months – it’s predictably led to a lot of anti-Tomacchan sentiment on that world-famous BBS, with the haters blaming the almighty, excessive corporate push to further her career. Well, it’s a plus point that Music Ray’n/Sony are focusing squarely on voice work for Tomatsu instead of bikini shoots, I suppose.

This season sees Haruka taking on 4 roles, 3 of which are as the lead. She will reprise her role as the tsundere Corti in Polyphonica Crimson S, and voice two leads opposite Irino Miyu in the anime adaptation of Adachi Mitsuru’s Cross Game as well as Asura Cryin’. The other supporting role comes in Satelight’s Basquash, where she joins other young starlets Nakajima Megumi & Hayami Saori in the seiyuu supergroup Eclipse, providing the opening theme for the anime. Haruka also gets to sing the ending theme for Polyphonica and the opening for Hatsukoi Limited. as part of Sphere.

And it only gets better throughout the rest of 2009 with roles in CANAAN, Yoku Wakaru Gendai Mahou, GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class & Sora no Manimani. Love her or hate her, Tomatsu will be someone whose voice you won’t be able to escape this year.

Kugimiya Rie
Another strong showing this season for Kugimiya, who’s been consistently landing at least 3-4 roles every season over the past few years. I guess it’s pretty reasonable to say that Kugyu is probably one of the top 5 seiyuu in the business at the moment, though she seems to polarise opinions with her high-pitched, easily grating on the nerves type of voice. But two (tainted) Seiyuu Awards don’t lie, people!

She’s certainly a busy bee as always, and continues to have a stranglehold on the tsundere roles – an art that she patented. Granted, Kugimiya’s two lead roles this season are both in sequels or remakes (Hayate no Gotoku!! and Fullmetal Alchemist), but she’s got a couple of other substantial parts in Saki, Basquash! and Queen’s Blade added to continuing roles in Hetalia and Gintama so there’ll be lots of different types of Kugyu voices and characters on display.

Not to mention the tons of drama CDs and video games she pops up on randomly, as well as hosting the Hagaren radio show with Paku Romi (Hayacon radio just ended, inexplicably). Like Tomatsu Haruka, she’s somebody easily unavoidable for the forseeable future.

Shiraishi Ryoko
Sunny Uryocchi has had a stellar but unspectacular couple of years since breaking through in Negima (Kaede) and Mahoraba (Ryushi) in 2005, her earlier years spent on the sidelines and in DROPS. Ryoko’s very distinct husky voice is perfect for teenage male characters like Hayate or onee-san types like Airantou’s Rin, and that tends to be the sort of role she’s been landing in recent years.

Hayate still remains Uryocchi’s most well-known role, unless you count being the Japanese dub for Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus a particularly fantastic achievement. She’s not particularly prolific, but 2008 was a pretty good year for her – a long-running role as one of the three leads in Zettai Karen Children! added to Anew Returner in Gundam 00 and Ryoko in Kemeko Deluxe! as well as supporting roles in Birdy and Gegege no Kitaro.

This season Shiraishi returns with the Hayate sequel and the lead female role (her first ever) in Shaft’s Natsu no Arashi!, plus a major supporting role in Saki as well as being one of the many girls in the Hatsukoi Limited. anime. Her so-far lacklustre solo music career (she’s on King Records) might get a boost from the Natsu no Arashi! license – 5th single Kirari Futari serves as the ending theme. It’s nice to see that Uryocchi’s getting more roles, I think she’s pretty underrated and hasn’t really had a chance to show off the best of her abilities thus far. Onwards and upwards?

Top 14 most active seiyuu in spring season
More weight is given to number of lead roles, which is why Tomatsu Haruka beats out Kugimiya Rie. I try to work it out this way = 2 points for a lead role + 1 for a support role. Hopefully I didn’t miss anybody out, but the list is only correct up to late March – there’s bound to be unannounced roles that pop up throughout the season.

lead roles in italics
01.Irino Miyu (6 roles, 3 lead) Pts:9
-Asura Cryin’, CROSS GAME, Phantom, 07-GHOST, Cooking Idol, Hatsukoi Limited.
02.Tomatsu Haruka (4 roles, 3 lead) Pts:7
-Polyphonica Crimson S, Asura Cryin‘, CROSS GAME, Basquash!
03.Kugimiya Rie (5 roles, 2 lead) Pts:7
-Hayate no Gotoku!!, Fullmetal Alchemist, Basquash!, Saki, Queen’s Blade
04.Shiraishi Ryoko (4 roles, 2 leads) Pts: 6
-Natsu no Arashi!, Hayate no Gotoku!!, Saki, Hatsukoi Limited.
05.Paku Romi (3 roles, 2 leads) Pts: 5
-Fullmetal Alchemist, Higepiyo, Sengoku BASARA
06.Nakai Kazuya (4 roles, 1 lead) Pts: 5
-Sengoku BASARA, 07-GHOST, Asura Cryin’, Senjo no Valkyria
07.Tanaka Rie (5 roles) Pts: 5
-Asura Cryin’, Hayate no Gotoku!!, Tears to Tiara, Hatsukoi Limited., Slap-Up Party-Arad Senki-
08.Ito Shizuka (5 roles) Pts: 5
-Hatsukoi Limited., Hayate no Gotoku!!, TAYUTAMA, Basquash!, Saki
09.Kawasumi Ayako (3 roles, 1 lead) Pts: 4
-Queen’s Blade, PandoraHearts, Polyphonica Crimson S
10.Toyosaki Aki (3 roles, 1 lead) Pts: 4
-K-ON!, Asura Cryin’, Hatsukoi Limited.
11.Hino Satoshi (3 roles, 1 lead) Pts: 4
-TAYUTAMA, Beyblade, Hatsukoi Limited.
12.Chiba Susumu (3 roles, 1 lead) Pts: 4
-Senjo no Valkyria, 07-GHOST, Phantom
13.Fukuyama Jun (4 roles) Pts: 4
-Saki, Shangri-la, Hanasakeru Seishonen, PandoraHearts
14.Nabatame Hitomi (4 roles) Pts: 4
-Beyblade, Queen’s Blade, Natsu no Arashi!, Hayate no Gotoku!!

There’s also tons of others on 3 points including Minagawa Junko, Saiga Mitsuki, Inoue Marina, Goto Yuko, Orikasa Fumiko, Yahagi Sayuri, Horiuchi Kenyu, Shimono Hiro, Ueda Kana, Kaida Yuko, Sakurai Takahiro, Sato Satomi, Sawashiro Miyuki, Wakamoto Norio, Shimizu Ai and so on.

Some of the sad seiyuu that you might be seeing working part-time in a kombini near you these three months include Tamura Yukari, Kadowaki Maii, Kobayashi Sanae, Shimizu Kaori, Chiba Saeko and Fukuen Misato.

I’m still pretty bummed out over Toyoguchi Megumi dropping out of Fullmetal Alchemist and Valkyria. Reaaallly bummed out.