ALL HAIL EMPEROR WAKAMOTO!
If there's one voice actor who is extremely pigeonholed, but is just so awesome at doing his pigeonholed job, this man is that voice actor. Norio Wakamoto is a policeman turned voice actor (we assume he just had to yell "HALT, CRIMINAL!" and they'd immediately stop), so well known for his quality, grandiose voice as a villain. So if you want a menacing, great
Big Bad (or just non-
Mook bad guys in general) role, contact him. And his range of villain roles also varies, either manipulating and scheming, or
The Berserker type. Or whether it's of a high position, or an underling (as long as it's no
Mook). Beware...they can become
Ensemble Darkhorses or
Magnificent Bastards greater than the
Big Bad himself.
Villains, however, aren't his only forte (though it's undoubtedly what he's really good at). He is also capable of doing humorous, perverted roles, or rarely, heroic types.
Norio Wakamoto is an expert in martial arts, and he will
kick your ass.
Also, thanks to his recent role as
Darwinist Emperor Charles zi Britannia, he has reached a certain
Memetic Badass status amongst anime fans. There are people who state that any anime can turn out instantly good if he is participating (or that any character he voiced will always be perceived as
Badass). It's even gotten to the point where instead of having him "work his voice to fit a character," they work the character to fit his voice.
Norio Wakamoto...
For his Western (if less Pigeon-holed) equivalent, see
Steve Blum.
Norio Wakamoto can be heard in these works as the villain role:
- Cell in Dragon Ball Z.
- Vicious in Cowboy Bebop.
- Alexander Anderson in Hellsing Ultimate. (If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accused! O Lord, come! Ahhhhhmeeennn!
)
- Emperor Charles zi Britannia in Code Geass.
- Dracula in the Castlevania series (from Symphony of The Night onward). This role utilizes his famous Evil Laugh better than most.
- He has a VARIETY of them in Dracula X Chronicle, depending on battle stage and how much Richter is going to get demolished if the attack connects.
- Igniz in The King Of Fighters 2001. In 2002, he did Rugal Bernstein, but in 2002 Unlimited Match Rugal's voice was reprised by the original actor, Toshimitsu Arai.
- M. Bison / Vega (Dictator) in the Street Fighter series.
- Barbatos Goetia in Tales Of Destiny 2 (AITEMU NAZO! TSUKATTEN JA!! NNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!)
- Oda Nobunaga in Sengoku Basara.
- Shapiro Keats in Dancougar.
- Tekkaman Omega in Tekkaman Blade.
- Denpa Shogun in Myself Yourself, the Big Bad of a sentai Show Within A Show.
- Overlord Zenon in Disgaea 2.
- The narrator for the opening crawl in the original. Well, at least the DS remake, to this troper's knowledge. "There exists a place they say is blacker than any darkness, deeper than any ocean..."
- Gene in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops.
- Hol Horse in the OAV of Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure.
- T-Bag in the Japanese dub of Prison Break.
- You call that an I Am Not Making This Up? Here's one for you: Victoream. Yes, that one.
- Before Victoream, he was a minor Canon Fodder villain but was still awesome.
- Mr. Sinister in the Japanese dub of X Men.
- Kagato in Tenchi Muyo and Tenchi Universe
- Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts.
- Stern Neue Regisseur in Super Robot Wars
- He also did Maier V. Branstein.
- Chaos in Dissidia: Final Fantasy
- Although not in any of the anime, he also voices Dio Brando in an obscure radio drama version of Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure
- Golba in Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny
- Shredder in the Japanese dubs of the first two live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies.
- Black Shadow in F Zero Legend of Falcon/GP Legend (WATASHI WA SHINEN! SHINEN ZUU!!!)
- Gntarl in the TV remake/expansion of Munto.
- Shurara in Keroro Gunsou. The resonance ritual has never been this creepy.
- Conrad Viscuess in Infinite Ryvius.
- Makuta Teridax in the Japanese dubs of the Bionicle movies.
- (I kid you not) Vince McMahon in the Japanese-dubbed WWE.
- He voiced Gambino in the Berserk anime.
For his non-villainous roles, here's a bit of his portfolio:
- The shapeshifter Nagamimi in Kyogoku Natsuhiko Kosetsu Hyaku Monogatari.
- Johnny in Guilty Gear X and XX.
- Al-Cid Margrace in Final Fantasy XII.
- Coach Ohta in Gunbuster.
- The Narrator/Voice of Heavens in Hayate The Combat Butler.
- Onsokumaru in Ninin Ga Shinobuden — a role which must have been written with him in mind. He's given license to steal the show, and does it with gusto.
- Chiyo-chichi (the orange cat...thing) in Azumanga Daioh.
- Woodchuck in Record Of Lodoss War (but note that Wood ends up victim of a Karla-induced Grand Theft Me).
- Diao Chan in Koihime Musou
- Matsudaira Katakuriko, the violent nutcase director of the Shinsengumi in Gintama.
- Lando Calrissian in the Japanese dub of Star Wars.
- King Drake the Third in Makai Kingdom.
- Mechazawa in Cromartie High School
- General Winters Socalo in D.Gray-Man.
- In Sailor Moon he was a recording artist in love with a woman, and ended up as a youma target. His sexy voice attracted all da ladies.
- Gargoyle the dog statue from Gargoyle Of The Yoshinagas.
- Ooshima, the Kuroda group's second-in-command in Gokusen. He's very funny.
- He voiced the minor hero character Shuren in Fist of the North Star, though not for long, since storyline reasons demanded Shuren's failed Heroic Sacrifice against Raoh. He also did Raoh for a very short time in his silhouette debut.
- Duke Duffau in Chrono Crusade, leader of the demon pursuers. Interestingly, the character was an antagonist of sorts in the manga (although he mostly ignored the heroes and went straight for Aion), but in the anime adaptation he got upgraded to an uneasy ally with the Magdalene Order.
- Non Human Sidekick Chew Toy Koujun from Ryofuko-chan.
- Oskar von Reuenthal in Legend Of Galactic Heroes, one of his earliest (and in this troper's opinion best) roles.
- Yoshimitsu in Soul Calibur IV, replacing Nobuyuki Hiyama. This has cemented Yoshimitsu's status as an Ensemble Darkhorse.
- The voice of the nanosuit OS in the Japanese version of Crysis. No, really. And in very good Engrish, as well.
- Gustave St. Germain of Baccano.
- Taisou from Giant Robo.
- Ashlay Barnbalt in Star Ocean: First Departure
- Gigalt Gangaragash in Planetes
- The Nabuu brothers in Ga Rei Zero.
- Raiden in the first Mortal Kombat movie.
Tropes associated with Norio Wakamoto:
ALL HAIL BRITANNIA!!!
