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One of the more prominent Japanese voice actors making a name for himself who started cropping up during the 2000s, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka [松岡 禎丞] (born September 17, 1986 in Hokkaido) first debuted as Shouta Mitarai of The Idolmaster. However, it wasn't until the early 2010s when his roles started to increase, particularly Sword Art Online's Kirito. Due to the success of SAO, he became typecast as Nice Guy harem protagonists or vanilla heroes (or Stock Light-Novel Hero), earning him the title of the "Harem King" in the anime community.
He won the best lead actor at the 10th annual seiyuu awards
. As of 2019, he holds the current official Guinness World Record for the most unique sound bites provided by a voice actor, exceeding 10,000 words in Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: Memoria Freese.
Notable Roles by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka:
- Absolute Duo as Thor Kokonoe
- Ace of the Diamond as Shinji Kanemaru
- AFTERLOST as Yoshiaki
- Akame ga Kill! as Lubbock
- ALL OUT!! as Shō Mikado
- Aoharu × Machinegun as Tohru Yukimura
- Arata: The Legend as Arata
- Arena of Valor (Japanese dub) as Lü Bu (Playing Against Type, since as we know, Lu Bu is as strong as he is an arrogant, Hot-Blooded warrior with No Indoor Voice. And only has one love, not a harem.)
- Arknights as Arene
- As Miss Beelzebub Likes as Astaroth
- Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland as Nikodemus (Niko) David Dieter
- Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea as Kortes
- Ayakashi Triangle as Sosuke Hinojiki
- Bastard!! (1988) as Lars (2022 Netflix anime)
- Battle Spirits Shonen Gekiha Dan as Rugain
- Bladedance of Elementalers as Jio Inzagi
- Bleach as Äs Nödt
- Blue Lock as Jingo Raichi
- Bodacious Space Pirates as San-Daime
- Buddy Complex as Aoba Watase
- Campione! as Godō Kusanagi
- Cannon Busters as Philly the Kid
- Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions as Juan Díaz (reprises the role for the 2023 anime series)
- Captain Tsubasa: Tatakae Dream Team as Tomeya Akai
- Chaos;Child as Takuru Miyashiro
- Charade Maniacs as Souta Gyobu
- Chibi☆Devi! as Itsuki
- Chivalry of a Failed Knight as Shizuya Kirihara
- Chousoku Henkei Gyrozetter as Shunsuke Hayami
- Classicaloid as Richard Wagner
- Code Geass: Akito the Exiled as Yukiya Naruse
- Cookie Run Kingdom as Herb Cookie
- #COMPASS as Adam Yuriev
- The Comic Artist and his Assistants as Yūki Aito
- Cute High Earth Defense Club Happy Kiss! as Maasa Shirahone
- Dankira!!! -Boys, be DANCING!- as Noel Gekkōin (Bloody hell!)
- DAYS as Jin Kazama (No, not the Tekken character)
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba as Inosuke Hashibira (Playing Against Type as he's a Hot-Blooded berserker with a short fuse)
- Denki Gai No Honyasan as Kantoku
- The Detective is Already Dead as Bat
- Devils and Realist as Sitori
- Devils' Line as Yuuki Anzai (Playing Against Type as he's an adult with a Sugar-and-Ice Personality and is definitely NOT a harem protagonist)
- Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth as Takumi Aiba
- Dimension W as Koorogi
- The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. as Anpu
- Dragalia Lost as Hope
- Dragon Nest as Warrior
- elDLIVE as Dr. Ravu
- The Eminence in Shadow as Skel Etal
- Eromanga Sensei as Masamune Izumi and Kirito (as a cameo appearance)
- Final Fantasy XIV as Hermes
- Fire Emblem Heroes as Hríd
- Fire Force as Yona
- Food Wars! as Soma Yukihira (Playing Against Type to an extent; while Soma is heroic he's quite arrogant compared to the others on the list.)
- Full Dive as Kamui
- Gaist Crusher as Izuna Kokuyou
- Genshin Impact as Xiao
- Girlish Number as Jūzō Matsuoka
- Goblin Slayer as Spearman
- Granblue Fantasy as Black Cat Thief
- Grand Chase Dimensional Chaser as Lass Isolet
- Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi as Nie Huaisang (in the Japanese dub of the audio drama)
- Gundam Build Divers as Do-ji (Playing Against Type as an Unknown Rival to the main character and being a Dirty Coward at the same time)
- Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens as Yamato
- Handyman Saitou in Another World as Cains
- Heaven's Memo Pad as Narumi Fujishima (one of his earliest lead roles)
- Helck as Azudora
- High School D×D as Freed Sellezen (Playing Against Type as he is a psychotic villain)
- High School Star Musical as Akira Ugawa
- High Score Girl as Mā-kun
- Hitorijime My Hero as Kensuke Ohshiba
- Hori-san and Miyamura-kun as Izumi Miyamura (OVA)
- How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend as Tomoya Aki
- Hybrid Child as Tsukishima (replacing Hikaru Midorikawa who voiced him in the drama CD)
- I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World, Too as Yuuya Tenjou
- ICHU as Hikaru Orihara
- THE iDOLM@STER: SideM as Shōta Mitarai
- The Irregular at Magic High School as Masaki Ichijō
- Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? as Bell Cranell (Playing Against Type since the character has a much younger sounding voice than his usual characters and is a Distressed Dude who often needs rescuing)
- Jujutsu Kaisen as Kokichi Muta/Mechamaru
- Kamen Rider Geats as the Vision Driver, Laser Raise Riser, Zillion Driver, and Suel
- Kengan Ashura as Raian Kure
- King's Game as Toshiyuki Abe
- Kiss Him, Not Me as Hayato Shinomiya
- Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne as Array
- Lookism as Daniel Park
- Lord El-Melloi II Case Files as Flat Escardos
- Love Lab as Masaomi Ikezawa
- The Lucifer and Biscuit Hammer as Hyou Shimaki
- Luck & Logic as Olga Breakchild
- Lycoris Recoil as Majima
- M3: The Dark Metal as Akashi Saginuma
- Magi: Labyrinth of Magic as Titus Alexius
- Makura no Danshi as Yū Maiki
- Master Detective Archives: Rain Code as Yomi Hellsmile
- Mikagura School Suite as Bimii
- Mission: Yozakura Family as Kengo Yozakura and Goliath
- Mob Psycho 100 as Teruki Hanazawa and Hikaru Tokugawa
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom as Daniel Harper
- My Hero Academia as Yosetsu Awase
- My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! as Nicol Ascart
- Mysterious Joker as Phoenix/Tsubasa Akai
- Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea as Shun Sayama
- Nights of Azure as Professor Alukard
- No Game No Life as Sora (Playing Against Type as he is arrogant, hammy and has No Indoor Voice)
- Nobunaga the Fool as Magellan
- Octopath Traveler as Therion
- Olympia Soiree as Akaza
- On Air! as Kasumi Toba
- Osamake as Sueharu Maru
- Overlord (2012) as Philip Dayton L'Eyre Montserrat (Playing Against Type, as his character is more of a Lethally Stupid Know-Nothing Know-It-All)
- The Pet Girl of Sakurasou as Sorata Kanda
- A Place Further than the Universe as Toshio Zaizen
- Please Tell Me! Galko-chan as Otao
- Pokémon Evolutions as N
- Pokémon Journeys: The Series as Kibana (Raihan)
- Pokémon Masters as Nobori (Ingo)
- The Price of Smiles as Joshua Ingram
- Prince of Stride as Kei Kamoda and Tetsu Hachiya
- Psychedelica Of The Black Butterfly as Monshiro
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica as Nakazawa
- Punishing: Gray Raven as Lee
- The Quintessential Quintuplets as Futaro Uesugi (Playing Against Type among his usual harem lead roles, being more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold than a straight Nice Guy)
- Re:Zero as Betelgeuse Romanee-Conti (one of the biggest examples of Playing Against Type since the character is a hammy, Ax-Crazy villain with No Indoor Voice)
- Ready Player One (2018) as Shoto/Akihide Karatsu (Phillip Zhao) (Japanese dub)
- Record of Grancrest War as Moreno Dortous
- Record of Ragnarok as Loki
- Requiem of the Rose King as Prince Richard of Lancaster
- RIN-NE as Oboro
- The Rising of the Shield Hero as Ren Amaki
- Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective as Mylo Moriarty
- Rune Factory 5 as Ryker
- Sailor Moon Eternal as Helios/Pegasus (replacing Taiki Matsuno)
- Sasaki and Miyano as Taiga Hirano
- Seirei Gensouki: Spirit Chronicles as Haruto Amakawa/Rio
- Servamp as Belkia
- Shin Megami Tensei Liberation: Dx2 as Gakuto Inoue
- Shirobako as Tatsuya Ochiai
- Sky Wizards Academy as Kanata Age
- Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle as Demon King Twilight
- Stars Align as Itsuki Ameno
- Super HxEros as Retto Enjou
- Super Lovers as Aki Kaidō (replacing Jun Fukuyama from the Drama CD)
- Super Robot Wars BX as Youta Hiiragi
- Sword Art Online as Kazuto "Kirito" Kirigaya (he reprises the role whenever Kirito shows up in various media, including games such as Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax and Tales of Arise)
- Tales of Arise as Law
- Taisho X Alice as Alice
- Tearmoon Empire as Abel Remno
- To Love Ru as Nakajima (Playing Against Type as he's now a Hopeless Suitor part of a lead girl's harem rather than the other way round)
- Tokyo Revengers as Takashi Mitsuya
- Tomo-chan Is a Girl! as Tatsumi Tanabe
- Tower of Fantasy as King
- Trinity Seven as Arata Kasuga (replacing Yoshimasa Hosoya from the Drama CDs)
- Trigun Stampede as Vash the Stampede (replacing Masaya Onosaka)
- Twin Star Exorcists as Chijiwa
- Under Night In-Birth as Chaos
- Unlimited Fafnir as Yū Mononobe
- The Vampire Dies in No Time as Tou Handa
- Wandering Son as Riku Seya
- Wolf Girl and Black Prince as Nozomi Kamiya
- Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary as Pu Zhao
- Yowamushi Pedal as Hajime Aoyagi
- Yu-Gi-Oh! GO RUSH!! as Zaion/The☆Providence.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS as Nail Saionji
Tropes associated with Yoshitsugu Matsuoka’s roles include:
- Cross-Dressing Voices: Sitri where he's an Attractive Bent-Gender.
- Evil Is Hammy: Whenever he's casted as a villain expect him to chew the scenery. A LOT.
- Evil Sounds Raspy: Another aspect when he's casted as a villain expect said villain to be a Guttural Growler.
- The Hero: Usually cast as the lead male, especially of Harem Genres.
- Large Ham: He can really ham it up with the best. Whilst he has a very calm BBC Narrator sort of voice, when his roles needs to scream or make goofy noises, he's really good at it.
- Man of a Thousand Voices: Most of his roles are Nice Guys with similar characteristics, so he rarely gets a chance to show off. When he does, however, such as Lubbock, Sora, Yukiya Naruse, Bell Cranel, Nakajima, Sitri, and now Soma Yukihira, Freed Sellezen, Inosuke Hashibira the results are suitably epic. And then he voices Betelgeuse, of all people...
- Mr. Exposition: Most of his heroes provide Info Dumps at one point or another. Kirito and Sora (when he's not being his normal Jerkass self) in particular sound like they could be narrating a BBC documentary.
- Nice Guy: Most of his roles are this, especially his Harem Genre ones.
- Pigeonholed Voice Actor: He's often associated with heroic and Nice Guy characters (particularly in Harem Genre anime) among anime fans, and very often will be a big brother with a younger sister.
- Playing Against Type: Despite the above, he is quite capable of bucking his usual roles in spectacular fashion. Some notable instances of this are the totally insane Betelgeuse in Re:Zero, the Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy with No Indoor Voice Sora in No Game No Life, the sadistic murdering Wang in Darwin's Game, Chick Magnet Jerk With A Heart Of Jerk Kirihara in Chivalry of a Failed Knight, the calculating Child Prodigy Techno Wizard Nail Saionji in Yu-Gi-Oh! SEVENS, the nice but quite arrogant Soma Yukihira in Food Wars!, the Hot-Blooded No Indoor Voice berserker Inosuke Hashibira in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, the Ax-Crazy sociopathic terrorist Majima in Lycoris Recoil, and the devious Killer Game Master Suel in Kamen Rider Geats.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: One of his most delightful talents is being able to emote an absolutely adorable screech of girlish-terror for comedic purposes, as show in the comedic Blu-Ray DVD extras "Sword Art Offline" and "Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon."
- Star-Making Role: Kirito from Sword Art Online; also applies to a lesser extent towards Shunsuke in Chousoku Henkei Gyrozetter and Godou in Campione! thanks to all three titles being released at the same time in 2012.
- Stock Light-Novel Hero: He tends to be cast in these roles. Expect his characters to have a Supporting Harem, to be overpowered, and to be an Ordinary High-School Student.
