I love anime, a lot. Now, that means that I usually watch it as it comes out and with english subtitles rather than with english voiced dubbed over it. However, the first anime I ever really loved to the point of intense fandom (and still love to this day) is Gundam Wing. It wasn’t long after that when Cartoon Network started airing anime on the Adult Swim time frame and I started watching shows like Inuyasha (and why Inuyasha was on Adult Swim is beyond me…).
That was when I realized that once you became a voice actor, you were in for the long haul, and you worked a whole bunch of jobs with the same people. Seriously, Inuyasha was like a Gundam Wing voice actor reunion that added Richard Ian Cox for good measure. It was pretty cool to hear all the same voices for characters I loved (and Duo Maxwell=Kouga, Trowa Barton=Miroku, and Treize Kushrenada=Sesshomaru is just AWESOME).
I had the awesome fortune to sit in on a really cool Inuyasha panel at Katsucon with Richard Ian Cox and Kirby Marrow (Inuyasha and Trowa/Miroku, repectively). They were two really cool guys. Hysterical, really, even if it was a little weird hearing voices I associated with different faces (albeit animated ones). However, it was really bad ass when they decided to dub over an episode of Inuyasha with the two of them doing ALL of the voices… and changing the lines considerably. The next year at Katsucon there was a panel with just Richard Ian Cox. We got him to speak French… in the Inuyasha voice. And he was quite amused by the fact that one person in my group was dressed as a giant squirrel. He was REALLY amused when he realized she was a FLYING squirrel.
And no, I don’t know why I use Richard Ian Cox’s full name. I do it when I talk, too. Though, I guess it is kind of unfortunate to have the name Dick Cox…
All of this blathering is leading to a new revelation. I just saw the English dubbing of Gundam 00 for the first time. It’s like Gundam Wing plus Inuyasha as far as voice actors. And I LOVE it. While Lockon Stratos is my favorite character (its a REALLY close race between a few characters with this show), I still love that I can pick out my favorite voice actors among the others. And way to go Brad Swaile for landing the role of Setsuna F. Seiei (Quatre Rebarba Winner of Gundam Wing). And Scott McNeil… you make a great villain. I don’t particularly like the character Ali Al-Saachez (the reasons are VERY obvious to those of you that have seen the show… especially the end of season 1), but I still love you.
Oh, and apparently, all my favorite voice actors (that have migrated from Gundam Wing, to Inuyasha, to Gundam 00) also have a habit of doing Barbie movies. Really guys… BARBIE?
I was going to list off my favorite voice actors and the characters they’ve done that I have discovered for myself. Then I realized that I completely forgot a show, and also owe Brad Swaile more props. Deathnote also has a few of the Gundam Wing guys (which they will always be known to me as), including Brad as Raito Yagami (or “Light,” but really…) and Brain Drummand (Zech Merquise) as Ryuk. Now I can’t even begin to list the awesomeness that is their characters, but I will still list them.
Brad Swaile, Brian Drummond, Kirby Morrow, Mark Hildreth, Scott McNeil, David Kaye, Richard Ian Cox, Lisa Ann Beley, and for good measure, Greg Ayres. Greg may not be in the shows I mentioned, but he’s still a bad ass voice actor in a bunch of other really good animes.
You guys are awesome. Keep doing what you do. I promise to keep watching.
J13lue 