Considering the voice acting business can often draw from a number of pools of talent, it's rare to see any role go to a one off actor who maybe turned up in the office at the right time.
This is a tribute to them.
Some ground rules, the entries on the list have to have been main characters and not had any other named anime character on their resume, background characters are exempt as are American cartoon roles.
No hentai roles.
Honorable Mention: Maile Flanagan as Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto
I so wanted to put her down but she plays a named character in Astroboy, pretty good to net Naruto after only one other role though
10. Purva Bedi as Rion Aida from Agent Aika
The persistent assistant of Agent Aika, the performance lacks some emotion but Purva did a good job with what was otherwise a unique script.
9. Lindsay Doleshal and Shana McClendon as Nina Kirov and Miyuki Ayanokouji from Debutante Detective Corp
ADVfilms had to dig deep to make up numbers for bigger casts in their earliest runs but it is surprising these two didn't get any more roles especially when there were worst actors who did get more roles.
8. Lori Young as Lorna Endou from Ex-Driver
Lorna is one of favourite characters and Lori did a solid job working off the actress behind Lisa.
7. Sarah Strange as Ranma Saotome from Ranma 1/2
Sarah played Ranma for the movies, OVA episodes and half the TV series, at times you wouldn't even guess Ranma to have a female voice actor.
6. Julia Reyna Kato as Mirai Ozora from Moldiver
My inspiration for this list having just reviewed this. While l often call this performance very Nickelodeon, I couldn't ask for a better choice.
5. David Thund as Signal from Twin Signal
I have no idea where this guy came from but in one OVA he owned his whole performance and yet he's nowhere to be found afterwards.
4. Jessica Nigri as Super Sonico from SoniAmi Super Sonico The Animation
Better known for Cosplay and playing Cinder in RWBY, Jessica was a surprise pick for Sonico considering the character is to Nitroplus what Miku is to Vocaloid, so to see Sonico be voiced well in English is welcome.
3. Brennan MacKenzie and J.Patrick Lawlor as Rally Vincent and Bean Bandit from Riding Bean
Riding Bean is my highest rated OVA so to see two unknowns pull off a pleasant Rally Vincent and an Elvis like Bean Bandit is quite a feat.
2. Ellen Gerstell as Mihoshi Kuramitsu from Tenchi Muyo
Tenchi Muyo's cast had some big 80s and 90s names of cartoons among it's books with Ellen having previously been cast in JEM and the Dragon's Lair cartoon. Out of all the one off roles, Mihoshi is the best.
1. Pretty Much the Entire Cast of Miami Guns
All but two actors in this anime have never done any voice works, not before or after. Considering that the ambitious Anime Nation were hoping to ride the success of Excel Saga with this title, what we got was actually surprisingly well acted for a cast of nobodies, Yao's actress is having a ball in this. Miami Guns is a pretty terrible anime but it's fun trash anime at it's finest.
