Yes, hi, hello, it's me!
I've gone on a wild downward spiral again, this time back into the anime & manga hole I thought I had mostly escaped from. Oh well. I like it here.
It all started with The Kiss Bet, which is a DANG adorable Webtoon. It has a cute art style and made me remember how much I miss reading comics, especially manga.
So I binged several of my old favourites. Takane to Hana; Kuzumi-kun, Kuuki Yometemasu Ka? and Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun to name a few. Many made me stay up way too late, just reading.
Meanwhile (not sure how the timeline went lol) I finished some of the anime that aired this summer, like Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu and Houkago Insomnia. While scrolling through the definitely legal site I watched them on, I saw Horimiya: Piece, which I actually still haven't watched, BUT it did make me finally watch Horimiya.
That's where this whole thing exploded properly.
I watched the other mentioned series somewhat casually, in a gentle kid of binge if that makes sense. Easy to stop at a reasonable time and go to bed.
Horimiya was mostly the same, but it had a catch.
A supporting character, Sengoku, was voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto. And a minor character, Yanagi, by Jun Fukuyama.
Both are at the top of my voice actor (seiyuu) list.
Which is why I am back here today.
This part specifically absolutely destroyed me:
Okamoto is known for his super loud and angry and energetic roles like Nishinoya from Haikyuu!! and Bakugou from Boku no Hero Academia, so this one was such a whiplash. He's so soft?? Calm and gentle and shy???? I have replayed this scene so many times already lol.
For comparison, here's a compilation from YouTube:
I watched like 10 seconds and EUGH I love this man and his voice so much. His vocal chords are made of magic.
This dude was one of two main factors in me finally watching Ansatsu Kyoshitsu aka Assassination Classroom, more on the other reason in a bit. And this show got an aggressive binge. Stayed up late, started immediately after coming from work, the usual.
Anyway, yes, Okamoto voiced one of the main characters in the show. A smug and crazy lil prick. Here's a clip that made me squirm in my seat. I was watching this in public, btw.
Like
Absolute destruction. My non-functional ovaries? Turned into dust.
This guy, Karma, was an absolute highlight of this show. Not the main reason I watched it, though.
May I introduce you to Koro-sensei's voice, Mr. Jun Fukuyama, my seiyuu #1 forever and ever, the reason I've watched several shows and spent money and A LOT OF time on a particular mobile game I'll get to soon.
The last clip is from the dub so I don't care about that but!! I love this guy so much!!!!!! He's an absolute delight, going from menacing to adorable and from a mess into a caring teacher.
So yes, I binged this show so fast because two of my favourite seiyuus were in it. Okamoto is in a lot of shows I've seen, but Fukuyama is a rarer treat, kind of? Both have a long list of roles they've done though.
His voice is so deep and cool yet he often does these boisterous and silly characters! I haven't watched Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! in YEARS, but this clip lives in my head rent free:
Like???? I am not physically capable of watching this without grinning?? I love his voice so much!! A similar one is Takanashi from Working! aka Wagnaria! but I don't wanna get clips from that rn. (He has a similar reaction when he catches feelings and starts bashing his head against the nearest hard surface. 10/10.)
Was supposed to have more examples but alas, Blogger has a video limit. I edited a whole 2 minute clip of how Prince Raj got his pride damaged in Akagami no Shirayukihime's first episode but y'all gotta live without that now. Couldn't find anything on YT either, it's all dub stuff.
Anyway, with all that out of the way, let's get to his most recent ovary destruction role.
Vyn Richter from Tears of Themis.
As previously stated, I know Fukuyama from his roles as silly and dramatic characters who like to yell a lot. Vyn is so different from what I'm used to, but you will NOT find me complaining.
He's a calm and composed psychologist (psychiatrist? whatever lol) who's SO sweet and SO soft and gentle and I love him, I just need to see him blush. Dude's so very composed. He also illogically falls for MC at first sight/meeting. Soff idiot.
Ah, right. Tears of Themis is made by the Genshin Impact people, and it's a combination of a dating sim/visual novel and a genuinely intriguing detective story. You solve murders, debate, analyze arguments and crime scenes and earn stuff to open side stories where you woo these four super cool anime dudes I can't choose a favourite from. And the main reason I got into this game is the cast.
3 out of the 4 characters are voiced by my favourites.
No Okamoto sadly, but we got Jun Fukuyama as Vyn as previously mentioned...
And Yuki Kaji as Luke Pearce! Dude's a perfect combination of cute childhood friend and cool detective energies. I love this idiot so much. He gets embarrassed stutters so often, it's adorable <33
Kaji has a lot of roles, my favs being Kenma from Haikyuu!! and Nishikata from Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san. He also does both calm and wild roles <3
Also Kaito Ishikawa as Marius von Hagen! He's the VA of my dear Kageyama from Haikyuu!! and also Genos from One Punch Man. Super cool, but does silly dudes so very well. Marius is such a sneaky lil prick, and Ishikawa's voice is perfect for him <33 He constantly teases MC and she's so tired of him and his shenanigans xDD
The funny thing is the 4th dude:
Artem Wing is the main character's boss who is so in love with her!! He blushes so much!! He tries to watch romance tv shows so he can take notes!! The game has a card collection aspect and I think I have Artem cards the most, so I see him a lot.
And I have spent A LOT of time on this game. I stay up past my usual bedtime, go to work sleep deprived, and continue playing as soon as I get home. I'm so good at this adulting and self control stuff.
Okay, this isn't a game review (or is it?) so I'll try to get back to the topic at hand.
I've mentioned several voice actors in many of the old posts here, so me being into seiyuu stuff isn't technically anything new in this blog. Sometimes I just get so into it that I watch entire series because of the voice actors in them lol. Like, I went to watch the snail racing movie Turbo in 2013 just cuz I liked his Finnish VA, Petrus Kähkönen. He was the super cool Tennessee Kid Cooper in Sly 4 and captured me immediately xD
Right, I do know many Finnish and English VAs too, of course. I grew up watching Finnish dubs of tv shows and movies, so I picked up a lot of voices I can still recognize. (You don't want to consume any kind of Finnish media with me - no radio, tv, movies or ads at least. I will point people out OR get mad if they sound familiar but I can't put my finger on it.)
Since learning English, however, I've grown to dislike the Finnish dubs, and after getting a bit older, I moved from always watching English dubs to preferring things in whatever the original language is. Usually it's Japanese. Some anime series have good dubs, like Ouran High School Host Club, but I am a proud member of the "only subs please" gang. I will die on this hill.
I do appreciate dubbing, don't get me wrong. I would be a completely different person if I didn't have access to Finnish dubs of my favourite games, movies and cartoons. I'm thankful, but will almost always prefer the original versions.
It might just be that if I had to list VAs in all three languages, the English list might be the shortest. Might, I'm not sure and I am too lazy to actually make a list. Off the top of my head I can definitely list more Japanese VAs though. Not sure how Finnish ranks.
All this talk is making it seem like I know Japanese. It's just the usual anime stuff, really. Reading the translations in Tears of Themis is a lot of fun though! The English and Japanese aren't always exactly the same, and I love comparing things whenever I hear words or phrases I recognize! Makes me feel smart :>
Most of the VAs I recognize are men (cuz I am straight and VERY WEAK), but a lot of the women I recognize are Finnish. Japanese voices are often so high I can't tell the difference. Or maybe I just don't care cuz I have so much ear candy with the men lol.
Before ending or going for another wild rant, I'll do a top 5 in all three languages ^^
Japanese:
- Jun Fukuyama
- Nobuhiko Okamoto
- Kaito Ishikawa
- Yuki Kaji
- Mamoru Miyano (Okabe in Steins;Gate, Tamaki in Ouran)
Great runner ups: Miyu Irino, Tetsuya Kakihara, Kenichi Suzumura
English:
- Josh Brener (Donatello in Rise of the TMNT)
- Ben Schwartz (Leonardo in ROTTMNT, movie Sonic)
- Rob Paulsen (Yakko Warner)
- Stephen Merchant (Wheatley in Portal 2)
- Will Ferrell (Megamind)
Runner ups: Roger Craig Smith, Maurice laMarche, Mike Pollock
Finnish
- Jon-Jon Geitel (Guy in Croods, Odd in Code Lyoko)
- Antti LJ Pääkkönen (Minion in Megamind, Spongebob though I haven't seen much of the dub)
- Jarkko Tamminen (Emperor Kuzco)
- Petrus Kähkönen (Turbo, Tennessee Kid Cooper)
- Aksu Palmén (Remy in Ratatouille, Hiccup in HTTYD)
Runner ups: Samuel Harjanne, Santeri Kinnunen, Antti Pääkkönen
It's funny how I had to actually think for the latter two lol. Might be a bit of a popularity thing for them as well. I've paid the most attention to the Japanese voice actors, ok?! Lemme be a weeb in peace, sheesh
Anyway, Tears of Themis is calling me, there's still stuff I have to do before it gets its daily refresh so I'mma hop off now!
P.S. This blog might get a new writer or two, we'll see :>
~Sienna~