A list to make long-time anime fans feel equal parts old and nostalgic.
Anime is a youth-oriented medium, something that’s readily apparent when the vast majority of series star child or teen protagonists. But while their fictional status means the heroes and heroines of anime stay eternally young, their human voice actors do, of course, grow older.
Highlighting that fact is a recent tweet from Japanese Twitter user @animeveryhope10 which lists a number of famous performers, including talent involved in some of the biggest anime hits ever, who have turned 50 this year, or will before the start of 2018.
Let’s take a look at some of the biggest names on the list, and their most famous roles:
● Kotono Mitsuishi: Sailor Moon (Sailor Moon), Misato Katsuragi (Evangelion)
● Megumi Hayashibara: Rei Ayanami (Evangelion), Ranma Saotome (Ranma 1.2), Lina Inverse (Slayers)
● Takehito Koyasu: Hotohori (Fushigi Yûgi, Kiryu Toga (Revolutionary Girl Utena, Ryosuke Takahashi (Initial D
● Akira Ishida: Kaworu Nagisa (Evangelion, Xellos (Slayers, Athun Zala (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed)
● Kazuya Nakai: Ruronoa Zoro (One Piece)
● Akiko Yajima: Shinnosuke Nohara (Crayon Shin-chan)
● Toshiyuki Morikawa: Griffith (Berserk)
● Yuji Ueda: Amiboshi, Suboshi (Fushigi Yugi, Sagara Sanosuke (Rurouni Kenshin), Keitaro Urashima (Love Hina
● Mitsuo Iwata: Kaneda (Akira), Itsuki Takeuchi (Initial D), Kintaro Oe (Golden Boy)
The other, less prominent performers also on the list are Yoshiko Kamei,
Konami Yoshida, Takeharu Onishi, Nobuyuki Hiyama, Tsuyoshi Koyama, Rikako Aikawa, Fujiko Takimoto, Taiki Matsuno, Kazunari Tanaka, Maya Okamoto, Nozomu Sasaki, and Akiko Hiramatsu.
While the list is sure to make long-time anime fans feel old, that’s not really the reason @animeveryhope10 put it together. Instead, he simply wanted to highlight how much outstanding vocal talent was born in 1967. And what’s even more amazing is that a handful of the individuals on the list are still voicing those characters, specifically Mitushi as Sailor Moon, Hayashibara as Rei, Nakai as Zoro, and Yajima as Shin-chan. Each is now several decades older than their ongoing characters (the age gap between Yajima is 45 years), but fans can’t imagine any other voice coming out of the characters’ mouths, so don’t be surprised if some of them are still at it when they turn 60.
Source: Twitter/@animeveryhope10 via Hachima Kiko
Top image ©SoraNews24
Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’d like to sincerely apologize to any Nene/Bubblegum Crisis fans for not giving Akiko Hiramatsu more attention in this article.