I’m sorry it’s late this week. I’ve been playing Vindictus a lot lately, and that’s why. By the way, that game is so awesome. You should play it if you have time.
So, this week’s seiyuu is Wakamoto Norio.
Born in the year of 1945. Pretty old guy.
His voice is very distinct. When you listen to his voice, pay attention how he ends his lines. There’s always some kind of exhale at the end.
Wrong vampire… but there is a song called "No Life Queen" by SOUNDHOLIC, which is arrange of Remilia's theme
So, as you can see in the title, he played Alexander from Hellsing. I find it pretty interesting, because he also played Dracula in Castlevania series (Well, he did get killed by Alucard in Symphony of the Night, I think.).
His roles are usually the last boss, narration, or gag characters. He seems to be really smart (he graduated from Waseda University law school.), and he was some kind of SWAT before becoming a seiyuu. When he was in the police force, there were many strikes by students, so he felt bad about suppressing students. Then he saw an ad for seiyuu academy, so that’s how he became a seiyuu.
He also played Chiyo’s dad and Mechazawa. There’s just huge gap between his Dracula (from the Order of Ecclesia, where I heard him first) and gag characters like that, so I feel really weird. I respect seiyuus how they can act totally different style of voices.
And there’s funny episode about him. When he had the role of Cell in Dragon Ball, he was practicing the voice acting at home one day. He heard some kids playing outside. They were doing Dragon Ball role play, and one kid shouted, “Cell, com out! I’ll beat you up!”
So, you know what Wakamoto-san did? He opened the window, and shouted back, “Who wants to be absorbed!” in Cell’s voice. Of course the kids ran away crying.
His other roles include Oda Nobunaga from Sengoku Basara series. Last battle in Oichi’s story mode in Sengoku Basara 2 Heroes is Oichi (Nobunaga’s little sister) vs Nobunaga, and they are both crazy. Before they fight, they laugh for no reason, and it’s pretty awesome in some sense.
Wakamoto-san played so many roles, that I don’t even wanna try listing them. Besides, I gotta play some more Vindictus, so This week I’m pretty lazy…
And here’s the link of Wakamoto ni Shite Ageru. Although it sounds just like Wakamoto-san, it’s actually some other guy mimicking Wakamoto-san’s voice. I think it’s pretty good.
Chris · October 30, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Heh, I remember watching Azumanga Daioh and wondering “Where have I heard this voice before?” when I heard Chiyo-chichi speak (HELLO EVERY-NYAN!) and realizing later than he was basically every awesome villain ever. I also found it interesting that the guy is an expert in martial arts. It would be totally awesome to see this guy whup some mugger’s ass while spouting Cell’s or Vicious’ lines (that DBZ incidente sounds hilarious).
Gene · October 31, 2010 at 8:51 am