A rant about Japanese voice actors and interests/obsessions.

[GyppyGirl2021]

Before I start, I have absolutely no idea where to put this or even if I should be posting it at all. But I have some bitching to do, and I don't really want to keep it to myself, sooo.

Anyway.

Gintama.

Yes, of all things, that is what I have developed an interest in lately. Don't ask how or why. All I can say is that Tomokazu Sugita was involved. Which brings me to the main part of this rant: recognizing voice actors.

TVTropes has a "Names To Know In Anime" list for Gintama. This is nothing surprising. However, I don't watch a lot of anime, and the games I play are, for the most part, restricted to a specific subset. Therefore, I found it more than a little surprising that I recognized over half of the names on the list - and that leads me to draw comparisons with what I already know.


Tomokazu Sugita - I haven't played .hack//Link, so I can't really go there for comparison, but Ragna the Bloodedge. Holy character similarities. I think I remember a comment made somewhere a while back about Sugita's characters having a lot of similarities, and Ragna and Gintoki were among the comparisons. I didn't know any better at the time, of course, but it's freaking true. I can totally see Ragna being similar to Gintoki if it weren't for circumstances that would spoil basically the entire plot of BlazBlue.
Daisuke Sakaguchi - Granted, I only know Sakaguchi from .hack, and he doesn't really play a big role there, but there are quite a few comparisons I could make between the two roles. Although the VA himself is obviously closer to Shinpachi.
Akira Ishida - Unfortunately, I played Tales of Eternia (and watched the anime) long before I got into anything else involving Akira Ishida. Now with up-and-coming BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma starring him as Amane Nishiki, I'm going to have a few more comparisons to make when it comes out - but really, it just pisses me off that I keep hearing "MOUKO RENGEKIHA!!!" whenever I see Katsura on screen.
Fumihiko Tachiki - No. Just. No.
Hiroshi Kamiya - Shinji Freaking Matou. HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Ayako Kawasumi - Where to start, where to start? First of all, I watched/read Fate/Stay Night not too long before I started watching Gintama, so the first thing that sprung to mind was Saber, of course (especially considering her role). But then I realized that the voice Kawasumi used for Gedomaru was more similar to Atoli's than Saber's... and my brain pretty much exploded at the thought of a combination of those two characters. Ow.
Hikaru Midorikawa - Have seen/heard him too many times to count in anime and games (Tales of Destiny 2, Code Geass, Fate/Zero among others...). And let me tell you, it's sort of awkward hearing him in a comedic anime...
Yuuichi Nakamura - LIES LIES LIES LIES LIIIIIES although I honestly liked Hazama's English VA better.
Shinichiro Miki - Ever since Tales of Rebirth, I've had this weird subconscious pressure on my mind which dictated that this guy cannot voice non-serious characters (it actually affected my opinion of Kuhn's JP voice). And then Servant Assassin happened, and now I can safely say that Sakamoto does not bother me at all.
Takehito Koyasu - I should really finish watching Gundam Wing one of these days.


...This turned out to be more of just an empty-minded rant. I don't even know why I'm posting this anymore... meh. I blame my obsessive compulsive tendencies and anxiety issues.

[Kuukai]

...You forgot Wakamoto? And maybe Kugimiya is too obvious but it's kind of funny how Gintoki and Kagura = Fluegel and Cello + Posaune (for Chinese stereotypeness). Sugita is the same sarcastic, prematurely white-haired guy in everything. He's the successor to Akio Ohtsuka's prematurely white-haired tough guy character type--they even teamed up in Peace Walker.

The best thing in the world is the .hack//Live performances on the DVD included with the movie. Sugita is amazing in real life.

[GyppyGirl2021]

I didn't list Wakamoto because I felt my ramble had gotten far enough already, and believe it or not I think Kugimiya is actually under the list of voice actors I don't really have much experience with <_<

And yes, I have heard about Sugita's wonderful real-life persona. Unfortunately, I don't speak Japanese, so I can't really get as much experience with it as I'd like. XD