ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod. My respect for Japanese seiyuu has shot up, like, 150%! asdashghfff!!!
- Okay. First off, this is a clip of the recap episode from the CLAMP anime X (TV). Watch the first 25-ish seconds and take note of the voice of Kakyou, the character narrating. Then, skip to 3:50 and take note of Subaru's voice (guy in white coat).
(WARNING: Do NOT watch past the scene of Subaru and Seishirou, unless you don't care about being spoiled for this series.)
When it comes to seiyuu, the people I take most notice of tend to be the ones who have very distinct and recognizable voices. (e.g. Koyasu Takehito sounds like Koyasu Takehito no matter what role he plays. Same goes for Takahiro Sakurai.) But recently, I've started to notice seiyuu who sound COMPLETELY different depending on what type of role they're playing.
For instance, I looked up the credit list of X to see who voices Kakyou (because his voice sounds exactly the same as Hakim's from Victorian Romance Emma). When I found out the seiyuu for both is Yuuji Ueda, my eyes almost popped out of my head. Because one of Ueda's most famous roles is...
Sanosuke from Rurouni Kenshin! (Which happens to be one of my most favorite anime voices EVER.) I mean, isn't it incredible?? Just compare the voice Ueda uses in X and the voice he uses for Sanosuke. He sounds TOTALLY different! I can hardly even hear a trace of Kakyou's voice in Sanosuke's; they sound like they were voiced by two different people. I mean, SERIOUSLY! *mind = blown*
The difference is less dramatic, but I also recognized the seiyuu of X's Subaru, Tomokazu Sugita... a.k.a. Kyon from Haruhi Suzumiya. (Who you can hear in the Haruhi video I posted a couple days ago.) Just goes to show how different Sugita sounds when his voice isn't dripping with sarcasm. I guess I didn't notice much when Sugita played Mayama from Honey & Clover because in that role, he still used his comedy voice half the time.
Likewise, Sugita also voices Soldier Blue in Toward the Terra, where he sounds even more noble and not-sarcastic.
- This is the end of the first episode. Soldier Blue appears ten seconds in.
I was honestly shocked when I found out Blue shares the same voice as Kyon; Blue sounds noble and commanding most of the time, but uses a very gentle tone when he speaks to certain characters, which is a voice I could never in a million years imagine coming out of Kyon's mouth. xD
So yes. Thank God for ANN's Encyclopedia, the giver of knowledge. :P
