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// On :Friday, March 2, 2018
Hey guys, kanna here.
Well, Chibi Dragon and I binge-watched Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card last weekend (I also helped her catch up on UtaPri), and were surprised (understatement) to discover that some of the actors from UtaPri were also in...Diabolik Lovers. Well, at least they took a step up in their careers, right?
Speaking of which, we also discovered that the voice actor for Yuna D. Kaito (see episode 8 of Clear Card), Natsuki Hanae, was also the voice of Ken Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul. So, that got me thinking...what other voice actors was I surprised by from other anime?
This is going to be a somewhat brief post, and while I realize that this is Anime Monday #50 and that this should be pretty big, I'm going through a bit of writer's block and needed something. Plus, I was kind of surprised by some of the voice actors I discovered.
I'll only be talking about Japanese voice actors in this one. I might talk about English dub voice actors in a later post, but we'll see. For now, here are some famous Japanese voice actors.
Let's start with a fairly well-known one from an anime I'm rewatching, Black Butler. No, not Daisuke Ono (I'll get to him later). I'm talking about Jun Fukuyama.
Jun Fukuyama was the voice of the first Grim Reaper we saw in the series, Grell Sutcliff. You might recognize his brilliant voice acting work from scenes like this:
NOTE: THIS SCENE IS NOT FAMILY FRIENDLY. PG-13. I guess I could call it NSFW, but I don't know. Anyway, there is one VERY BRIEF moment of shirtless-ness in this scene.
And let's not forget this popular scene from Book of the Atlantic:
But did you know that Jun Fukuyama was also in...
La Corda d'Oro (Keiichi Shimizu):
and both seasons of the anime version of the Twilight series, Vampire Knight (Hanabusa Aido)?:
Hanabusa is the one with blonde hair
While I will admit, you can kinda tell it's him when you compare Black Butler to Vampire Knight, I had no idea Jun Fukuyama was in La Corda d'Oro or Binan...whatever the rest of the title is (seriously, that title is too long for ANYONE to remember). He's well-known for other roles, but these are the first few that come to mind for me.
Anyway, let's move onto a voice actress! This is Megumi Ogata.
I PROMISE, you are looking at a woman and not a guy with long hair. Anyway, you'll probably recognize her from Sailor Moon (the original series, not Crystal), where she voiced Haruka Tenoh (Sailor Uranus).
However, did you also know that she was in...
Cardcaptor Sakura AND Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card (Yukito Tsukishiro and Yue)
and Yu☆Gi☆Oh! Season 0 (Yugi and Yami Yugi)?
Now you might be thinking, "Well, that's definitely a guy who's just really good at voicing tomboy-ish girls" (or something along those lines). And that would be sexist, and you should be ashamed of yourself. Megumi Ogata IS. A. WOMAN! I don't know how much clearer I can make that. She just happens to be really good at voicing tomboy-ish girls, girls who have really deep voices, and guys who have kinda high-pitched voices. I'd say she's pretty good all around.
Moving on.
Our next voice actor is Hikaru Midorikawa.
Um...how do I talk about Hikaru Midorikawa without it sounding like an insult? Don't get me wrong, he's a great voice actor and I love some of the work he's done (which I'll list), but he was in one of the worst anime series of all time. No, not that one. No, not that one either. He was in...BOTH SEASONS of Diabolik Lovers, where he voiced Ayato Sakamoto. The ONE REDEEMING QUALITY he had in that anime was that he sang the opening theme for the first season with Kosuke Toriumi, who you should recognize from UtaPri. And speaking of UtaPri, did you know that Hikaru Midorikawa was in...
Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 2000%, Revolutions, and Legend Star (Eiichi Otori)
and Yu☆Gi☆Oh! Season 0 (Seto Kaiba)?
So...I guess I can say this: Hikaru Midorikawa's career has definitely had its ups and downs (Diabolik Lovers being one of the BIG downs). However, seeing his career being picked up in UtaPri was definitely a step up. I'm not sure why he took the job of voicing such a G-d awful character like Ayato Sakamoto in BOTH SEASONS that AWFUL anime, Diabolik Lovers, especially when his career was off to such a good start, but I'm not a mind reader and I don't have a TARDIS. So let's pretend we live in a world where he didn't take the part of Ayato Sakamoto and move on.
*looks at list*
I think I'll post about one more voice actor before I call it quits for now.
I saved the best for last! Here is...Daisuke Ono!
Daisuke Ono was the voice of our favorite butler who is "simply one hell of a butler," Sebastian Michaelis, from Black Butler (all three seasons and the OVA). In fact, he won the award for best lead actor at the fourth and ninth Seiyu (how voice actors are known in Japan) Awards for two different series (one of which was Black Butler). However, did you know that he was also in...
Uta no Prince-sama Maji Love 2000%, Revolutions, and Legend Star (Kira Sumeragi)
Kira is the one with black-ish/grey-ish hair
and Attack on Titan seasons 1, 2, and 3 (Erwin Smith)?
NOTE: The scene below has Erwin getting his arm bitten off. It's more than a little bloody, but features some AMAZING voice acting by Daisuke Ono. If you don't want to watch it, just go to the bottom of the video.
First off: HOLY CRAP, who knew Sebastian could sing? I mean, there is a boyband arc in the Black Butler manga (oops...slight spoiler...sorry), so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised when they adapt that into anime. But wow. I did NOT know Kira and Sebastian were voiced by the same person until I watched UtaPri Legend Star.
Second: Having to act like your arm is being bitten off by a Titan takes some serious dedication. I think that Erwin Smith is definitely one of Daisuke Ono's best roles (Sebastian will, of course, be my favorite, but Erwin is one of the best). I mean, I couldn't even tell it was Daisuke Ono. I seriously thought it was someone else (I can't remember who I thought it was).
Well, those were the first few I could think of! I'll probably do a part 2 to this later, as well as a post with English dub voices, but this is going to be it for now. Sorry Anime Monday (well, technically Friday) #50 wasn't as big as I hoped it would be, but I still hope you enjoyed it! Here's to the next 50! ~k
