151 Seiyuu: From Hirano Aya to Wakamoto Norio

[minakichan]

SHIRAISHI MINORU!!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5GGdx9_i_c
Koi no majinai ASLDFKJASDLFIAJSDLFIAJSDLIFJDSL biimu!

You are so awesome. Taniguchi is awesome, ilu. Best throwaway unimportant annoying BFF character ever.

[blkmage]

Congratulations, we've made it through one stanza!

[SIZE="5"]15. Koshimizu Ami (小清水亜美)[/SIZE]

Koshimizu Ami is another young seiyuu, but is much more well known, due to her scoring several notable roles. She's played everything from age-old goddesses to visual novel protagonists, soft-spoken geniuses, and crazy mecha pilots.

I think her acting ability is pretty good. She definitely brings the crazy with Anemone in Eureka Seven, a role that requires the entire range of emotions. Her other role that I thought was awesome was as Holo, the wolf goddess in Spice and Wolf, in which she brought the smug. That's also another role that requires a lot of different emotions, but with far less crazy than Anemone and far more subtlety.

Yep, she's a pretty versatile voice actress.

Major Roles
Eureka Seven (Anemone)
School Rumble (Tenma Tsukamoto)
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (Kallen Stadtfeld)
Kimikiss Pure Rouge (Yuumi Hoshino)
Myself ; Yourself (Nanaka Yatsushiro)
Spice and Wolf (Holo)
H2O: Footprints in the Sand (Takuma Hirose)
Strike Witches (Charlotte E. Yeager)
Saki (Nodoka Haramura)
Umineko no Naku Koro ni (Rosa Ushiromiya)

[Atria35]

Sometimes I don't know what to make of this one. I loathed her in Myself; Yourself and Kimikiss, but ADORED her as Holo. What's up with that? But she's an awesome Holo.

[blkmage]

I'd bet that it has more to do with the characters themselves than her portrayal of them, which I don't blame you for because those two series had pretty awful characters.

[blkmage]

[SIZE="5"]16. Shimizu Ai (清水愛)[/SIZE]

Apparently is really good friends with Nakahara Mai. Unfortunately, I don't know much about her beyond that because it seems all of her major roles are in shows that land outside of those I've watched. Recently, she's been getting a lot of minor roles. Apparently she also sings.

Major Roles
Please Twins! (2003), Karen Onodera
This Ugly Yet Beautiful World (2004), Akari
Dears (2004), Ren
My-HiME (2004), Mikoto Minagi
Strawberry Panic! (2006), Tamao Suzumi
D.Gray-man (2006), Road Kamelot

[SIZE="5"]17. Toyosaki Aki (豊崎愛生)[/SIZE]

One of the newest superstar seiyuu, Toyosaki Aki made her name as Hirasawa Yui in K-ON!. Obviously, that would mean that she's a natural for the high-pitched, airhead high school girl character. Surprisingly, that's not the only voice she can do, as seen with her roles in Spice and Wolf II and Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi. But, her popularity from K-ON! has all but assured her presence in anime for years to come.

Major Roles
Minami-ke: Yoshino
Shugo Chara!: Su
Hatsukoi Limited: Koyoi Bessho
The Sacred Blacksmith: Lisa
K-On!: Yui Hirasawa
Bungaku Shoujo: Chia Takeda
Maid Sama!: Satsuki-tenchou

[SIZE="5"]18. Maeda Ai (前田愛)[/SIZE]

[SIZE="7"]?[/SIZE]

Maeda Ai has actually done very few anime roles, the most notable of which is Mimi in Digimon Adventure. That is all.

[minakichan]

Too many female seiyuu in girly shows for men that I don't watch =(

Love K-On! of course, but Yui's voice.... agh. Sometimes it's more tolerable when she's singing. Thinking about it, I guess Yui's voice is a little rounder than most high-pitched cute girls, and it has some bounce and personality, but it's still about an octave outside my comfort zone.

I remember Maeda Ai!! And all of her Digimon EDs too. Her voice was pretty.
Was? Man, what IS she up to nowadays?

[ich1990]

She definitely doesn't look like what her voice sounds like.

Indeed. It is weird.

Also, a guy VA, hooray!

[blkmage]

[SIZE="5"]19. Aizawa Mai (相沢舞)[/SIZE]

[SIZE="7"]?[/SIZE]

Her biggest role was as one of the 31 students of Class 3-A in Mahou Sensei Negima. Which means we move on to

[SIZE="5"]20. Nakahara Mai (中原麻衣)[/SIZE]

Nakahara Mai is someone who has had a large number of major roles that are diverse. At the very least, her performance as Ryuguu Rena in Higurashi should ring some terrifying bells for a few people here. Clearly, she's got both nice and crazy covered. Her other major role is in Clannad, in which she plays Furukawa Nagisa.

But a lot of her variety is also displayed in many of her side roles as well. Again, demonstrated ability for crazy, as I'm sure a lot of you will remember Niekawa Haruna from Durarara!!. She's also played spoiled the ojou-sama character in Taishou Yakyuu Musume and even the overconfident young'un in Nanoha StrikerS as Teana Lanster.

It wasn't until I looked at her list of roles again that I realized that I'd always assumed that she was a one-note seiyuu, mostly based on Nagisa. It's actually pretty surprising the different kinds of roles she's had. And she's still getting a fair number of roles. Her most recent role that stuck out to me was as Yasuri Nanami, the older sister in Katanagatari, who is a pretty awesome character.

Major Roles
Midori Days (Midori Kasugano)
My-HiME (Mai Tokiha)
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (Rena Ryuguu)
Strawberry Panic! (Nagisa Aoi)
Clannad (Nagisa Furukawa)
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS (Teana Lanster)
Sola (Aono Morimiya)
Chrome Shelled Regios (Felli Loss)
Taishou Baseball Girls (Akiko Ogasawara)
Katanagatari (Nanami Yasuri)

[Wyntre Rose]

Well, I don't know any of the most recent names at all, but I did realize that I missed Koshimizu Ami. She was great as Horo, Kallen, and Anemone. I especially liked her as Holo. To the point where I felt badly for the VA that would dub her, since she was going to have some pretty big shoes to fill. She did the wise, snarky, yet vulnerable Holo just right, imo. And she and Jun Fukuyama, as Lawrence, had some great chemistry.

[blkmage]

TWO GUYS TODAY WOW

[SIZE="5"]21. Matayoshi Ai (又吉愛)[/SIZE]

[SIZE="7"]?[/SIZE]

who

[SIZE="5"]22. Sugiyama Noriaki (杉山紀彰)[/SIZE]

Yeah, this guy. But, he's a pretty good voice actor. Despite his two biggest roles being largely of the same personality (Sasuke in Naruto and Ishida in Bleach), he's also played characters who are not brooding all the time. These are characters like Rivalz, a hapless side character in Code Geass, Emiya Shirou in Fate/stay night who is pretty much the opposite of those two, Hawakama, the stubby senior in Moyashimon, and ENGERLAAAAAAAND in Hetalia. This was pretty surprising for me, since I was expecting him to be either one-note or one of those who just does one or two roles.

Major Roles
Bleach (Uryuu Ishida)
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (Rivalz Cardemonde)
Fate/stay night (Shirou Emiya)
Hetalia: Axis Powers (England)
Moyashimon (Takuma Kawahama)
Naruto (Sasuke Uchiha)
Ookiku Furikabutte (Junta Takase)

[SIZE="5"]23. Goto Mai (後藤麻衣)[/SIZE]

Apparently, she's done much more voice acting for eroge under an alias (which is fairly common for a lot of seiyuu), but her list of anime roles is fairly short and she's been getting bigger roles only recently. Her biggest role to date is probably as Hayama Mizuki, who was only a side character in ef - a tale of memories, but eventually got her own route animated in ef - a tale of melodies. Beyond that, she's had roles in your typical harem fodder shows. She's definitely in the high-range in terms of pitch.

Major Roles
Happiness! (2006 TV series), Sumomo Kohinata
Nanatsuiro Drops (2007 TV series), Yuki-chan
Ef: A Tale of Memories. (2007 TV series), Mizuki Hayama
Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu (2008 TV series), Mika Nogizaka
Kemeko Deluxe! (2008 TV series), Tamako Kobayashi
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009 TV series), May Chang
Shin Koihime†Musō (2009 TV series), Ryuubi (Liu Bei) / Gentoku / Tōka
11eyes (2009 TV series), Yuka Minase
Ladies versus Butlers! (2009 TV series), Pina Suforumukuran Estoh
Shukufuku no Campanella (2010 TV series), Ritos Tortilla

[SIZE="5"]24. Abe Atsushi (阿部敦)[/SIZE]

This guy seems to be an up and coming seiyuu. Likely a function of the show's popularity, Abe Atsushi's most high-profile role is Touma, that guy who talks a lot in A Certain Magical Index. Before that, his most well known role was one of the original School Guardians of Shugo Chara!, the Jack's chair, Kukai Souma. While I can't say anything about those roles, I thought he did a fine job as Akiyuki in Xam'd: Lost Memories. But yeah, I think his exposure as Touma landed him a couple of roles in the past year, including the childhood friend that got parachuted in in Kaichou wa Maid-sama and one of the main characters of Bakuman, Moritaka Mashiro.

Major Roles
Shugo Chara! (2007 TV series), Kukai Soma
Xam'd: Lost Memories (2008 ONA), Akiyuki Takehara
Toaru Majutsu no Index (2008 TV series), Touma Kamijo
B Gata H Kei (2010 TV series), Takashi Kosuda
Maid Sama! (2010 TV series), Hinata Shintani
Bakuman (2010 TV series), Mashiro Moritaka

[minakichan]

Sugiyama Noriaki's Igirisu has a LOT of character (shocking, considering how flat of a character he's been written in the anime). Rivalz too has a pretty interesting voice quality. And they sound completely different from his emo-boy roles! Clearly the man is doing something right.

[Yamamaya]

[SIZE="5"]19. Aizawa Mai (相]

[SIZE="7"]?[/SIZE]

Her biggest role was as one of the 31 students of Class 3-A in Mahou Sensei Negima. Which means we move on to

[SIZE="5"]20. Nakahara Mai (中原麻衣)[/SIZE]

Nakahara Mai is someone who has had a large number of major roles that are diverse. At the very least, her performance as Ryuguu Rena in Higurashi should ring some terrifying bells for a few people here. Clearly, she's got both nice and crazy covered. Her other major role is in Clannad, in which she plays Furukawa Nagisa.

But a lot of her variety is also displayed in many of her side roles as well. Again, demonstrated ability for crazy, as I'm sure a lot of you will remember Niekawa Haruna from Durarara!!. She's also played spoiled the ojou-sama character in Taishou Yakyuu Musume and even the overconfident young'un in Nanoha StrikerS as Teana Lanster.

It wasn't until I looked at her list of roles again that I realized that I'd always assumed that she was a one-note seiyuu, mostly based on Nagisa. It's actually pretty surprising the different kinds of roles she's had. And she's still getting a fair number of roles. Her most recent role that stuck out to me was as Yasuri Nanami, the older sister in Katanagatari, who is a pretty awesome character.

Major Roles
Midori Days (Midori Kasugano)
My-HiME (Mai Tokiha)
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (Rena Ryuguu)
Strawberry Panic! (Nagisa Aoi)
Clannad (Nagisa Furukawa)
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS (Teana Lanster)
Sola (Aono Morimiya)
Chrome Shelled Regios (Felli Loss)
Taishou Baseball Girls (Akiko Ogasawara)
Katanagatari (Nanami Yasuri)

Now every time I watch Clannad I'm going to hear Nagisa screaming in my head, "USE SODA!!!"

[blkmage]

Sugiyama Noriaki's Igirisu has a LOT of character (shocking, considering how flat of a character he's been written in the anime). Rivalz too has a pretty interesting voice quality. And they sound completely different from his emo-boy roles! Clearly the man is doing something right.

Yeah, when I found out he was doing Shirou in Fs/n, I was like whaaaaat, no way, that's impossible. And I was about to write that all he does is the emo voice, but I decided to check just in case, and it turned out he was a perfectly fine Shirou.

Now every time I watch Clannad I'm going to hear Nagisa screaming in my head, "USE SODA!!!"

It's even worse because normal Rena and Nagisa sound about the same.

[blkmage]

[SIZE="5"]25. Katou Emiri (加藤英美里)[/SIZE]

Katou Emiri is another seiyuu that got her start in the last few years. The role that likely launched her career? Lucky Star's tsukkomi, Hiiragi Kagami. She has a fair number of roles under her belt, usually some variety of high school girl. She has stepped outside of that set of roles recently, two of her more high profile roles being Hachikuji Mayoi, the elementary school girl from Bakemonogatari, and Kinoshita Hideyoshi, the androgynous twin brother in Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu (and also his twin sister Yuuko, a minor side character). Having voiced a few popular characters, her own popularity will continue to grow for the foreseeable future.

Major Roles
Akane-Iro ni Somaru Saka (Karen Ayanokouji)
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu (Hideyoshi Kinoshita)
Bakemonogatari (Mayoi Hachikuji)
Darker than Black (Kiko Kayanuma)
Lucky Star (Kagami Hiiragi)
Ookamikakushi (Isuzu Tsumuhana)
Kuroshitsuji (Meirin)

[KeybladeWarrior]

[size=167]17. Toyosaki Aki (豊]

One of the newest superstar seiyuu, Toyosaki Aki made her name as Hirasawa Yui in K-ON!. Obviously, that would mean that she's a natural for the high-pitched, airhead high school girl character. Surprisingly, that's not the only voice she can do, as seen with her roles in Spice and Wolf II and Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi. But, her popularity from K-ON! has all but assured her presence in anime for years to come.

Major Roles
Minami-ke: Yoshino
Shugo Chara!: Su
Hatsukoi Limited: Koyoi Bessho
The Sacred Blacksmith: Lisa
K-On!: Yui Hirasawa
Bungaku Shoujo: Chia Takeda
Maid Sama!: Satsuki-tenchou

I think she does a great job with Yui. X3

[Falx]

I think she does a great job with Yui. X3

Wait what? Spice & Wolf II? I've checked MAL and can't see anything... are you sure?

[blkmage]

She's the nun in the second arc of Spice and Wolf II. It's on the official site, the last character on the page.

[Falx]

Well, that'll teach me to rely on user generated databases. If I had the energy I'd add her myself.

Gonna go refresh my memory as to what she sounded like.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

"I stuttered."

[blkmage]

[SIZE="5"]26. Kitamura Eri (喜多村英梨)[/SIZE]

Kitamura Eri's been around for a few years, starting as Last Exile's Tatiana and then hitting it big in Blood+ as Saya. Since then, she's had a steady stream of a roles of all kinds. Her staple voice seems to be the one she uses for characters like Yui in Angel Beats and Saya in Highschool of the Dead, which, for lack of a better description, I guess sounds like tsunere-voice (but not of the Kugimiya Rie variety).

That's not all she can do, though. She has voiced a number of boys, usually the younger counterparts of various characters, but the major example of this type is Potemayo's Sunao, who is the main character of the show. But my favourite performance of hers is in Toradora, where she plays Ami, arguably the best character in the show. She started off fairly flat as the spoiled celebrity, but turned out to be incredibly insightful and aware of everything the other characters were missing.

This and a few other big and popular roles means that you'll continue to see her name in the credits. For instance, she seems to be a popular choice for younger sisters, as in Bakemonogatari (Araragi Karen) and Durarara!! (Orihara Mairu)

Major Roles
Angel Beats! (Yui)
Blood+ (Saya Otonashi)
Bakemonogatari (Araragi Karen)
Chaos;Head (Rimi Sakihata)
Highschool of the Dead (Takagi Saya)
Kodomo no Jikan (Rin Kokonoe)
Last Exile (Tatiana Wisla)
Potemayo (Sunao Moriyama)
So Ra No Wo To (Kureha Suminoya)
Taishou Baseball Girls (Shizuka Tsukubae)
Toradora! (Ami Kawashima)
Working!! (Yachiyo Todoroki)

[minakichan]

I haven't gotten to check in here =(

Anyway

"Arararagi-kun!"

Also Hideyoshi is the hottest character in that show.

Also Kojika gah.

That is all!

[Falx]

Ami is the ultimate bro.

[Juliannesan]

[SIZE="5"]2. Endou Aya (遠]

Endou Aya is relatively new. She's been doing minor roles for a few years, but it wasn't until 2007 that she really hit it big, playing the role of the meganekko of the four main girls in Lucky Star, Takara Miyuki. You'd think that she'd be outshone by Hirano Aya (Konata) and Katou Emiri (Kagami), but she definitely performed well, even in a less outspoken role.

A year later, she landed her biggest role yet, Sheryl Nome, the intergalactic popstar and one of the leading ladies of Macross Frontier, the 25th anniversary Macross title. Sheryl is a very different character from Miyuki. While Miyuki was soft-spoken and slightly airheaded, Sheryl is someone who exudes confidence and pride and is later is a girl who nearly loses everything.

However, unlike her co-star Nakajima Megumi, singing doesn't seem like it's one of her strong points, as all of her songs in Macross Frontier are handled by May'n. Or maybe she didn't have the voice for what they wanted out of Sheryl's songs. Well, you can take a listen to Miyuki's character song and decide for yourself, I guess.

Since then, she's been receiving a number of roles, with her bigger ones being Felicia Heideman from So Ra No Wo To, the first of TV Tokyo's Anime no Chikara projects, and Kajika Louisa Kugami Burnsworth, the main character of Hanasakeru Seishounen.

Major Roles
Lucky Star (Takara Miyuki)
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (Kinue Crossroad)
Macross Frontier (Sheryl Nome)
My-Otome 0~S.ifr~ (Lena Sayers)
Neo Angelique Abyss (Angelique)
Sekirei (Matsu)
Sora Kake Girl (Kannagi Itsuki)
Kanamemo (Minami Yuuki)
Hanasakeru Seishounen (Kajika Louisa Kugami Burnsworth)
Needless (Cruz Schild/Yamada)
So-Ra-No-Wo-To (Felicia Heideman)

I LOVED HER AS KAJIKA!
She did SUCH a great job.

I mean, there is no dub yet to speak of. But I loved her in it. ^_^

[blkmage]

[SIZE="5"]27. Ootsuka Houchu (大塚芳忠)[/SIZE]

Too bad there do not exist any pictures that are of acceptable resolution of him.

But, the guy has been around for a while, with roles in stuff like Legend of the Galactic Heroes and Zeta Gundam and ZZ Gundam (as Yazan Gable). Nowadays, he's more likely to be recognized as the voice of Jiraiya in Naruto. He has a really distinct voice that I can't really separate from Jiraiya anymore. It's really strange watching a short demon in a tux prancing around using the same voice.

He has an extensive list of roles. He's done his share of main character roles, but now you'll be more likely to see him as any older male side character. He's shown up in a lot of recent shows like Arakawa Under the Bridge, Durarara!!, Soul Eater, and Spice and Wolf.

Major Roles
Brigadoon: Marin & Melan (Melan Blue)
Heavy Metal L-Gaim (Mirao Kyao)
Metal Armor Dragonar (Tapp Oseano)
Saiyuki (Doctor Ni Jianyi)
Naruto (Jiraiya)
Slam Dunk (Akira Sendoh)
Soul Eater (Little Demon)
Spice and Wolf (Zheren)
Arakawa Under the Bridge (Toru "Shiro" Shiroi)
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (Yazan Gable)

[ShiroiHikari]

So that's that guy's name. Haha, Yazan.

[Nate]

OH GOD YES. OOTSUKA ROCKS SO HARD.

Why am I so excited about him? BECAUSE HE'S FRIGGIN' DENEB FROM KAMEN RIDER DEN-O.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVHuAEsPn5w&feature=related

He's so awesome! DENEBUUUUUUUUUUUU!

But yeah most people are gonna know him as Jiraiya in Naruto. :l

ACTUALLY. If you wanna see him in full effect, watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Axjv70IFwHE&feature=related

It's from the Den-O Live Talk Show and the part where they interview the Imajin seiyuu. So he's right there at the beginning of that video. Actually, you'll get to see a crapload of awesome seiyuu in that clip, but I think most of them aren't in the song. Among the famous seiyuu there that I don't think are in the song are Toshihiko Seki, Koji Yusa, Masaki Terasoma, Kenichi Suzumura, and Shin-ichiro Miki.

Man I love Den-O.

[MasterDias]

Ootsuka Houchu actually has a pretty interesting variety of live action/western animation dubs on his resume. He was apparently Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park, Agent Smith in The Matrix Trilogy, James Bond in several movies, Data in Star Trek: TNG, Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Dracula in several movies, Davy Jones in PoTC:DMC, and...Captain Planet.

[Yamamaya]

Congratulations, we've made it through one stanza!

[SIZE="5"]15. Koshimizu Ami (小]

Koshimizu Ami is another young seiyuu, but is much more well known, due to her scoring several notable roles. She's played everything from age-old goddesses to visual novel protagonists, soft-spoken geniuses, and crazy mecha pilots.

I think her acting ability is pretty good. She definitely brings the crazy with Anemone in Eureka Seven, a role that requires the entire range of emotions. Her other role that I thought was awesome was as Holo, the wolf goddess in Spice and Wolf, in which she brought the smug. That's also another role that requires a lot of different emotions, but with far less crazy than Anemone and far more subtlety.

Yep, she's a pretty versatile voice actress.

Major Roles
Eureka Seven (Anemone)
School Rumble (Tenma Tsukamoto)
Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion (Kallen Stadtfeld)
Kimikiss Pure Rouge (Yuumi Hoshino)
Myself ; Yourself (Nanaka Yatsushiro)
Spice and Wolf (Holo)
H2O: Footprints in the Sand (Takuma Hirose)
Strike Witches (Charlotte E. Yeager)
Saki (Nodoka Haramura)
Umineko no Naku Koro ni (Rosa Ushiromiya)

I bet she's the best mom ever.

[blkmage]

[SIZE="5"]28. Asakawa Yuu (浅川悠)[/SIZE]

Asakawa Yuu is a seiyuu with several major roles both in and outside of anime. The show that a lot of people will likely recognize is Azumanga Daioh, in which she played Sakaki. Her other role that she's particularly known for is as Fate/stay night's Rider. Although many of her bigger roles are from several years ago, she still gets a ton of supporting roles and the occasional big role like, usually due to her voicing the same character in a visual novel that's being adapted.

But two of her notable roles lie outside anime. The first is as Ever 17's Tsugumi. I'm almost entirely sure that I'm the only person here who's ever played Ever 17, but yeah, pretty important character. The other role is as the Vocaloid Megurine Luka. Luka's probably my second favourite Vocaloid, behind GUMI, because of her vocal range, which is less piercing than Hatsune Miku's.

You've probably noticed that the types of roles she plays are the more serious, stoic kind of girl rather than the uguu~ kawaii~ type.

Major Roles
Misuzu Kusakabe - 11eyes
Motoko Aoyama - Love Hina
Natose - They Are My Noble Masters
Luka Megurine - Crypton Vocaloid2 CV03
Rider - Fate/stay night
Sakaki - Azumanga Daioh
Tsugumi Komachi - Ever 17

[Wyntre Rose]

Well, the only role I know of her would be Sakaki, from AzuDai, but I enjoyed her in that very much! And she's a Vocaloid? Hmmm...I may have to check that out.