seiyuu.

you know you become a fan when you watch the particular anime only after you heard that a particular voice actor is in it. even better when you realized that they have a beautiful character vocal range =)

Koyasu Takehito is definitely on my radar all the time. of course hotohori has a lot to do with me enjoying his voice acting, but after that there was aya from weiss... and that gained him a solid following from me. He writes, produces, give concerts and sings in a deep smooth voice. although he is pretty quiet nowadays (a quick check online got me thinking he might be dropping in popularity sigh, and the last character which i enjoyed him in was ranka from ouran high), I picked him back up after watching an ad for a japan domestic airline, in which he narrates (*ear perks up* wait! that is Koyasu's voice!). never underestimate the powers of an inner fangirl. Also, did i mention that he is the most prolific voice actor to date? over 230 roles~~ =) but I kinda want him to stop doing his own stories (because after weiss, everything else pales in comparison. and please no more assassin angst roles, too cliche coming from you) and start picking up nice big roles (you have the fame to demand that much at least) so we can all enjoy your voice again.

Tomokazu Seiki is another favourite, mainly because of his vocal range. Again i knew of him through fy (a really high pitch voice for chichiri), and thanks to koyasu inviting him to be part of weiss, i got to hear his other range - a deeper range for ken's manly, sporty character. And he has a solid singing voice too. Koyasu once said that he has an eye for talent, and that was why he invite Tomokazu into weiss - i couldnt agree more. If Koyasu has the best voice for an adult masculine role (so restrictive), Seiki has the best vocal range from young boys to adults. there are probably animes which he can play double roles for, and people might not even detect it. When i watched a clip of him doing one-man demonstration of a yaoi scene (he did both seme + uke), i was floored. and he is STILL hot commodity right now - at least he is still taking nice roles and awards. (yes, koyasu is never wrong. now if only koyasu can pinpoint his own future...)

Male seiyuu will always catch my eye first (cause girls will always take note of bishounen characters first). But one female seiyuu caught my eye - Megumi Ogata. Unfortunately, it was because she took on plenty of main male roles. I must say that she does not have a voice that is suitable for a female lead, as her voice is too low for a chirpy female. If I have to put a good character description, it will be her role as yukito from css and shinji from eva - gentle, soft spoken mature young males. her females roles however, are more mature and tomboyish (tier harrible from bleach anyone). But her males roles are always lead popular characters. And she recently won an award for her achievements!

now on to someone more current.

Mamoru Miyano. he has both good looks and voice. The first role I heard of him was tamaki from ouran, and he gave the right balance for a main character that is comical, dramatic, yet still commands enough charisma suitable for the lead. His tamaki soundtrack, guilty beauty love, is still in my top 50 most play playlist since 2006 (which neither koyasu nor tomokazu achieved, their weiss soundtrack is a group effort). On the other end of the spectrum, he also voiced light yagami from death note. comparing the characters tamaki and yagami is enough to cement his award status. Unfortunately I am not as anime active as i was, so it kinda stopped there. But i do know that he (though wiki) is still very much sought after and he won awards for nice big roles (of hit anime series). Best part of all was that i discovered an online mini polling - "Mamoru VS Koyasu : who come out tops?" Two giant players, each from their own generation. Being biased (for hotohori) and from the good old anime days (1995s - 2005s), my vote goes to Koyasu. Truthfully I will never be sure unless I watch more of Mamoru's performances. But if people are doing such polls that means he's good enough for the big league.

I want to see the following stuff happening in the future:

- Koyasu receiving some recognition award (He deserves it. other members from weiss got theirs)
- A best anime rival-pairing revival between Koyasu and Midorikawa Hikari. They are legendary.
- Mamoru attending comicon or some equivalent so everyone can make voice requests.
- Koyasu coming over to our local anime convention. For purely selfish reasons. (it's a stretch, since he has not even been to the US conventions)
- i want to at least acknowledge a great female seiyuu in my lifetime. no whiny characters, I dig independent, mature female characters who gets flustered easily. haha.