Kaji Yuki 梶 裕貴

I think he is the busiest male seiyuu in 2016. This year, he has major roles in 26 animes on TV and on the big screen, namely:

1. Norn 9: Norn + Nonetto
2. Zutto Mae kara Suki Deshita. Kokuhaku Jikkou Iinkai
3. Accel World: Infinite Burst
4. Gyakusatsu Kikan
5. Boku no Hero Academia
6. Koutetsujou no Kabaneri
7. Tsukiuta. The Animation
8. Gyakuten Saiban: Sono “Shinjitsu”, Igi Ari!
9. Servamp
10. JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken: Diamond wa Kudakenai
11. Joker Game
12. Arslan Senki: Fuujin Ranbu
13. Occultic;Nine
14. Bananya
15. Fukigen na Mononokean
16. Kiznaiver
17. Noragami Aragoto OAD
18. Tantei Team KZ: Jiken Note
19. Dimension W
20. Durarara!!x2 Ketsu
21. Haikyuu!! Second Season
22. Nisekoi: OAD
23. World Trigger
24. Nanatsu no Taizai: Seisen no Shirushi
25. Dia no Ace: Second Season
26. Fairy Tail

He is also in Japanese dubbing projects for some of the major TV, DVD and big screen works, namely:

1. The Secret Life of Pets (Universal Pictures animated movie)
2. Cantabile Tomorrow (Korean Drama adapted from Nodame Cantabile manga)
3. The Last Ship (TNT Drama Series)
4. Memories of the Sword (Korean Movie)

These do not include his Radio, Game, and Web TV works. Most recently, he had been working on an NHK Radio program. Some of his past animes also has some ongoing radio programs.

Kaji Yuki also made history in the Annual Seiyuu Awards since he won the Best Male Seiyuu Award for two consecutive years in 2013 and 2014, but he has already 3 of those trophies since he won Best Rookie in 2009. The list of awards I have found so far:

1. Annual Seiyuu Award – Best Male Seiyuu 2013
2. Annual Seiyuu Award – Best Male Seiyuu 2014
3. Annual Seiyuu Award – Best Male Rookie Seiyuu 2009
4. Tokyo Anime Award – Best Voice Actor 2013
5. Anime Grand Prix – Voice Acting Award 2012
6. Anime Grand Prix – Voice Acting Award 2013

AFAchan recently made a popularity poll of seiyuus among 10,000 fans and Kaji Yuki came as 3rd most popular in 2014 and rose to 2nd most popular in 2015 with a big increase of almost 40% in the votes. Is he going to dethrone Kamiya Hiroshi very soon, who held the top spot in both years? We will wait and see if AFAchan will make another poll this year and the next years to come.

Newtype Magazine also has their own popularity awards for current animes and in 2014, Kaji Yuki came out on the top spot for Male Seiyuus based on the poll participated by the magazine’s readers. I think I also saw a couple of the magazine’s issues with Kaji Yuki on the cover page, center spread, or feature stories.

So it doesn’t really come as a surprise why he is the busiest seiyuu this year.

Personally, I never bothered about Kaji Yuki’s voice in the past until I saw Nanatsu Taizai’s Meliodas. I admit I wasn’t a fan until I saw this anime. Meliodas is a mix of cute and outrageous and I think the voice contributed a lot to it. Proof of that is sometimes I just put Nanatsu Taizai episodes on a playlist and listen to it like an audio while I’m hammering my keyboard for some work. Meliodas’ voice is like music – relaxing, refreshing, energetic, funny, annoying, and a lot of other things.

Although Meliodas is so adorable and uber popular, I still think Yukine of Noragami is a much harder work for Kaji Yuki and by far, his finest acting, especially on Noragami episode 9 when Yukine received the Divine Punishment. I saw the DVD for the Noragami event and everyone who worked with him was really worried after that Divine Punishment episode. Surprisingly to me, he came out with only slightly scratchy voice after that.

Lately, he’s been given characters with low scary voice, like his character in Arslan Senki, Hermes/Ginkamen.

I watched Shingeki no Kyoujin many many times so there might be a “Kaji Yuki” factor to that, subconsciously.

I think I read two or three negative comments over the web from people about Kaji Yuki’s voice, which I can empathize with because I used to not bother about his works in the past. But I would definitely recommend Nanatsu Taizai anime for anime fans to appreciate this seiyuu’s extraordinary hard work and developing talent. I think Kaji Yuki is a bit like his character in World Trigger, Mikumo Osamu, who works so hard in order to make himself a little bit better each day.

It’s fun to look forward to Kaji Yuki’s next works and projects. To be continued…

Jun Fukuyama 福山潤

He is probably the best male seiyuu who can voice a female character. In anime, of course. But the characters are not exactly female because they are actually the cross-dressing female version of the original character.

In Working!!, he voiced the protagonist, Takanashi Souta, a male worker in a family restaurant. In one of the episodes, his character had to dress up as a female version of himself, fondly called by the other characters as Kotori (a play of the kanji of the character’s name). His voice switched to a feminine and cute tone as Kotori-chan.

Takanashi Souta                               Kotori-chan

The cuteness climaxed to episode 13 with the scene below and Jun Fukuyama just couldn’t resist the adlib for which he is so popularly known for. Personally. I think the adlib brought the cuteness to this scene… don’t blink your ears… he said something really cute here.)

In Ixion Saga DT, who would have thought that Mariandale, one of the main characters in the anime, is voiced by a male seiyuu? Jun Fukuyama played out the character so well that anyone who is not familiar with his voice would definitely think he is a she. In fact, in one of the live events of the anime, Mariandale’s seiyuu was part of a “guess who” contest to promote the anime series. Of course, Fukuyama fans guessed correctly, but some of the outrageous and hilarious response include “Panda”, which was in fact, one of Jun Fukuyama’s characters in another anime. This became a Fukuyama-Fan-Joke during the event.

In MM!, he also voiced the cross-dressing version of his character, Sado Tarou. But this character was a comical cross-dresser so he did not transform in a feminine voice until the later part of episode 12, just a very short bit part, so better not blink. Still…

In Princess Princess, Fukuyama voiced one of the main character, Kouno Toru, who also cross-dressed as a princess, being one of the title characters. He did not switch to a feminine voice at the beginning of the anime but in later episodes (#4 onwards), he became a more convincing princess than Paku Romi’s character.

In Osomatsu-San, he voiced the female parody version of Ichimatsu. The character is called Ichiko in this anime. He seriously pulled-off a sinister feminine version of Ichimatsu. This time, Ichiko is not a cross-dressing female version but a parody female version, meaning, an alternate story is made within the anime’s episodes where the male characters have alternate female characters.

                 

Well, I look forward to other characters he will voice in the future. For now, his works are really very much impressive that I can’t find any other comparison among other male seiyuus. Although, I think it is quite interesting to note how Morikawa Toshiyuki voiced a very convincing Panda Mama, who is the mother of the character voiced by Jun Fukuyama, Panda, in Shirokuma Cafe. But I don’t have time to write it here. Maybe I will write it in another article in the future. Just maybe…

Jojo no kimyou na bouken: CARS…

anime:

Manga:

1984:

Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken: the list of artists and art so far…

The list of artists and arts that are referenced so far based on the anime:

1. The Beatles
2. Dio
3. Marlon Brando
4. Led Zeppelin
5. REO Speedwagon
6. Cars
7. Wham
8. ACDC
9. Lisa Lisa
10. Suzie Q
11. Smokey Robinson
12. Jeff Beck
13. Sadao Watanabe
14. Dire Straits
15. Wang Chung
16. Prince
17. James Brown
18. Loggins and Messina
19. Julius Ceasar
20. William Tell
21. Santana
22. Boreas
23. Tom Petty
24. Tarkus
25. Bruford
26. Mary Stewart
27. Erich von Stroheim
28. 300 (movie)
29. Tiger Balm
30. The Captain and Tenille
31. Devo
32. Nena
33. John Carpenter’s Christine (Movie)
34. Enya
35. Steely Dan
36. Inner Space (Movie)
37. Friday the 13th
38. Nightmare on Elm Street
39. Oingo Boingo
40. Vanilla Ice
41. Mariah Carey
42. Chaka Khan
43. Terence Trent D’Arby
44. Iggy Pop
45. Joe Lyn Turner
46. Full Force
47. Pet Shop Boys or Pet Shop of Horrors
48. Wheel of Fortune
49. ZZ Top
50. Wilson Phillips
51. Queen

… and counting

Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken: all your favorite rock bands and artists of the 20th century are here

Imagine putting together these artists in one anime: Dio, Dire Straits, Cars, Santana, Led Zep, lisa lisa, suzie q, tom petty, smokey robinson, ACDC, styx, wang chung, and r.e.o speedwagon… You get Jojo no Kimyou na Bouken. It’s really fun to watch this anime with such superior art, funny lines, and crazy poses. But the fun thing is when you recognize the names of the characters and gives you a split-second humor of how good the music was in the past…

And then add some stylish Italian Fashion, Art and a bit of History to complete its flavor…

Here’s my favorite character… DIO, when he was in his teens in the anime.

shingeki no kyoujin: heart-stopping story

Shingeki no kyoujin is the most exciting and intriguing story I have ever encountered. Remember when you watch an anime that you just couldn’t stop until you see how it ends no matter how tired your eyes may get? This one should be on top of them all. Every episode is just heart-pounding. As the story unfolds, new twists and secrets are revealed.