Japanese Voice Actors / Typecasting

Akira Ishida plays either effeminate and/or gay male characters fairly frequently, a role usually given to female voice actors, or villains. For the former, this seems intentional, as many of his roles even look similar physically.
Kikuko Inoue generally plays Yamato Nadeshikos, shrill noblewomen or mothers. She has also played gruff tomboys in Saber Marionette J and the Sakura Wars series, sexy she-bitch I-no in the Guilty Gear games and the psycho Alv in Kiddy Grade.
- Macross Frontier gets her a role as Grace O'Connor, who initially sounds like the caring mother, but things change quickly enough in the second half the series, and in Episode 18 she gets to crank out the evil, sexy voice as she smashes Sheryl's ego into tiny pieces.
- Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO 2: The Gravity Front has her be a really creepy Shinigami who haunts the first episode's protagonist.
- She plays kind sisterly/motherly characters so often she's even called Onee-chan (Big Sister) by her fellow seiyuu and fans.
- Bridget Hoffman has served as Inoue's English voice counterpart on at least four occasions: Belldandy, Chitose Hibiya, Rune Venus, and Mizuho Kazami. She's even typecast as Yamato Nadeshikos.
  - She played a slight inversion of her pigeonhole as covert Knife Nut Ryoko Asakura.
- Played Tsubasa Ozora in Captain Tsubasa: Road to 2002.
Megumi Ogata plays male characters (often Bishōnen) or androgynous women. A famous exception is the willowy Princess Emeraude in Magic Knight Rayearth, and she released a drama track of her conversation with a presumably different kawaiiko character that's actually her doing the other voice.
- Ogata's roles in Samurai Deeper Kyo. Nuff said.
- Need more examples? Eagle Vision, Yukito/Yue, Masaya Aoyama, Shinji Ikari, Yugi Mutou, Makoto Naegi, Kurama, Nagito Komaeda and more. Among her "masculine girl" roles are Haruka/Sailor Uranus, Sizer, Tier Harribel and others. (sanity are not absolutely required)
Similar to Ogata is Romi Park, who tends to play younger male characters like Toshiro Hitsugaya or Edward Elric... and her characters are usually young prodigies who are vertically challenged and sometimes have... issues... when this is mentioned.
- Except Giorno Giovanna, who is not only cunning but is 5ft7 at the age of 15!
- In addition, her characters tend to be Older Than They Look. (Edward Elric, Toshiro Hitsugaya, and Zidane Tribal).
- Finn.
Mamiko Noto is known for playing Kawaiiko and Yamato Nadeshiko characters, but was notably Playing Against Type as the Hazumi in Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito and as Creepy Child Ai Enma in Hell Girl.
- However, you can still expect most of her boy characters to be on the passive side. Look at Yukinari from Girls Bravo and Kouta from Kanokon.
Nana Mizuki voices Dark Magical Girl Rue, Dark Magical Girl Utau, Dark Magical Girl Fate, Dark Magical Girl Ouji, Dark Magical Girl Cerulean Blue, Dark Magical Girl Tsubasa. On the other side, she also voices Shrinking Violet Hinata and Shrinking Violet Magical Girl Tsubomi... as well as Genki Girl Shinobu and Genki Dark Magical Girl Levi. She also voices young boys, such as Alois Trancy.
- Mostima is, so to speak, a literal "Dark" "Magical" girl, but not a Dark Magical Girl, being more of a lone wolf, and a very casual and relaxed character.
- She has also shown the ability to speak in a Kyoto dialect as Momo-no-sei of Onmyōji.
Atsuko Tanaka is often cast as a Cool Big Sis type of characters, or females that combines both authoritive or style, such as her role as Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell, Lisa Lisa in Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Battle Tendency, Reiko Tamura in Parasyte, Konan in Naruto and Caster in Fate/stay night.
Although he has a wide range, Shin-ichiro Miki is usually typecast as a blond pretty playboy type of characters (including Kurz Weber or Limone). Also, his characters often harbor, uh, affection towards girls much younger than themselves, examples include: Allen Schezar (towards Hitomi), Crim (towards Subaru), Shannon Casull (towards Pacifica), Heinz Schneider (towards Ellis), Reiot Steinberg from Straight Jacket (towards Kapel Theta)... all these despite being versatile enough to play as Kojiro (James) all the way to Aladdin in the Japanese dub of the Disney series, or to Bob Makihara of Tenjho Tenge.
- His 'interact with girls younger than his character' is also very much seen in Gundam 00, as Big Brother Mentor Lockon Stratos interacts a lot with Emotionless Girl Feldt Grace. The catch is, instead of Lockon being interested at her, it was Feldt who ends up having an unrequited crush on him.
- Recently we have Miki Shinichiro voicing Hijikata Toshizou in the PS2 Otome Game Hakuouki Shinsengumi Kitan. Our heroine Yukimura Chizuru looks...quite young, and is even called a shota for being literally flat...
- He has also voiced Sieg from Kamen Rider Den-O, fitting completely into type.
Hikaru Midorikawa's most common roles are quiet, antisocial bishounen types. However, in the Banpresto multiverse, he's cast as a loud-mouthed ignorant jock of a character. In one of the "Preview of Next Episode" savescreens, he imitated Heero Yui, a more standard Midorikawa Hikaru role, and confused everyone.
- He was also the voice of Marth in the Super Smash Bros. series, with a much lighter tone to his voice than his usual roles.
- If anything, anyone voiced by Midorikawa will usually have an air of 'coolness' around him, something that is exploited to hell and back in Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto. Cool, Cooler, Coolest indeed.
Expect almost any characters played by Ayako Kawasumi to have a 'dark side'. It happened many times... First, her character in Gate Keepers Ruriko Ikusawa had her powers converted to the dark when she's kidnapped, second, Chikane Himemiya in Destiny of the Shrine Maiden snaps and converts a Mecha into evil while submitting to a dark god, though to be honest, it's just a huge Gambit Roulette to her, and lastly one of the routes in Fate/stay night had Saber get defeated and turn to... Saber Alter.
- However, she seems to have bucked the trend with her most recent role as Saki from To Love-Ru, who doesn't seem to have a true dark side (as far as we're concerned...)
  - Doesn't Akari in To Heart precede Saki here? By ten years?
  - Kaori's Wangst in Kanon 2006 doesn't count as a dark side, right?
Nobuyuki Hiyama has a lot of range from deranged villains to cool and calm characters, but thanks to his role as Guy Shishioh, and Breakout Role as Hiei, fans noted that his common roles are hot blooded characters. He is also notable for being the "voice" of Link in Ocarina of Time.
- Considering that whenever a hot blooded character voiced by Hiyama Nobuyuki starts yelling about something, they start sounding like Guy, (and that he has also done the voices of Ikkaku Madarame and Viral) it's not exactly surprising he gets picked for the hot blooded roles: it doesn't matter what the voice sounds like normally, as long as it starts sounding like Guy when he starts yelling, it will ALWAYS be epic.
- The guy seems incapable of yelling in deep voice. He always yells like Guy, even if his voice jumps three octaves in an instant to get. Not that it's not awesome mind you.
Junko Takeuchi, thanks to her role as Naruto, has been often typecast as goofy young boys.
- Hokutomaru in Garou Mark of the Wolves, Dieter from Monster, Gon Freeces In Hunter × Hunter, and Mamoru Endou in Inazuma Eleven.
  - She's also the Japanese dub voice of Gumball Watterson, who, albeit being rather ditzy, is more of The Cynic than her other characters as of Season 2.
  - She also voices Assistant Mayor Bellwether, who turns out to be a villain at the end.
Yuu Asakawa. It's not seldom that she'll play characters who are the most well-endowed between the cast, thereby turning her to be the candidate of the series' Ms. Fanservice. If the series is full of Ms Fanservices already... let's just say she'll be one of the top Fanservice providers.
- If she's voicing a boy, expect that boy to be somewhat arrogant and sure of his abilities. There's Mitani from Hikaru no Go, Kouji from Kyou no Go no Ni, and Sefuru from Harukanaru Toki no Naka de.
- Ms. Asakawa's ex-husband, Shoutarou Morikubo, has also fallen into typecasting, mostly as bad-tempered guys who switch back and forth between Jerkass and Jerk with a Heart of Gold types. Look no further than Akaya Kirihara from The Prince of Tennis or Krylancelo Finrandi aka Orphen from Sorcerous Stabber Orphen.
  - He's also Shikamaru Nara, who tends to be a jerkass with women.
  - He also tends to play the adorable dorks who, while not necessarily evil or a jerkass, could probably kick your ass if they had to e.g. Amano Ginji in Get Backers, Ichiro in Nerima Daikon Brothers, or Narugami/Thor in Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok.
Yuko Miyamura tends to be cast in the roles of reckless, loud, and boastful young women, such as Aisha Clan-Clan of Outlaw Star and Asuka of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
- A better description of her standard character would be "crazy". Whether artificial girl (My Dear Marie), Yakuza boss’s daughter with a crush on teacher (Very Private Lesson), or action heroine with a dark past (Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion and Casca from Berzerk), all are a narrow margin from going crazy, and dangerously so. She was also the "instructor" on tape in Battle Royale, which was live-action (but she was crazy).
- She was also Larxene from Kingdom Hearts. Now that was definitely a messed-up person...
- A sort-of middle ground could be Alyssa Searrs from My-HiME...
Rie "The Rie" Kugimiya has become known for her young girl or young girl-bodied Tsundere roles: Shana (Shakugan no Shana), Louise (The Familiar of Zero), Iori (The Idolmaster), Nagi (Hayate the Combat Butler), Sugar (One Piece), Kagura (Gintama), Astarotte (Astarotte No Omocha), and Taiga (Toradora!). In fact, her other fan nickname is "the Queen of Tsundere".
- Before those big roles as all-powerful mini-lady however, she was cast as an all-powerful mini-lady Tsuzura in yuri Visual Novel Akai Ito, which was released in 2004 (Shana was aired in 2005). Think Nagi, but with Onmyōdō magic. And now you know.
- She's been trying to get out of the pigeonholing by playing the Cute and Psycho Nena Trinity from Gundam 00 and the Token Mini-Moe Liechtenstein from Hetalia: Axis Powers.
- Not to mention her role as Matsudaira Touko in Maria Watches Over Us, a character that is older-appearing than many of her other roles, and far less prone to outbursts of anger at those she loves.
- She also has a number of male roles. The sweet and naive Takasato Kaname/Taiki in The Twelve Kingdoms, suit of armour kind soul Alphonse Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist and wild brat Raised by Wolves Ikuto in Digimon Savers.
- Definitely a case of Playing Against Type by her role as Shrinking Violet Meido Shannon in Umineko: When They Cry, as well as Nemu from Bleach and Yua Sakurai from two episodes of Shugo Chara! Doki.
- And recently, the cat in Fairy Tail. THE CAT. Which tsukkomi at every single chance she gets, regardless of scene/event.
- Her taking over the role of Miu Fuurinji from Tomoko Kawakami in the Kenichi OVAs was... surprising.
Even the amateur voice acting world isn't exempt from this. Hideki does Harem Genre leads, Satouberri does cute squeaky girls...
Tomokazu Sugita may be falling towards this as he becomes known for playing snarky and sarcastic male leads. But then there's Baccano!!'s utterly deranged homicidal mechanic/gang leader/killer, Graham Spector. And the completely serious and professional (when he's not banging his subordinate) Leon Mishima of Macross Frontier.
- On several occasions he's cast as someone with the voice of some Unlucky Everydude. Point in case: Hideki Motosuwa in Chobits, Rin Tsuchimi in SHUFFLE!. Even Sugita uses his Unlucky Everydude voice type for Brooklyn 'Bullet' Luckfield.
- Of course Rin Tsuchimi is pretty sarcastic himself so that fits his type.
- A somewhat subversion is his role as Ragna The Bloodedge.
- He's had practice with being That Man in Guilty Gear, as well as his role as Mayama in Honey and Clover.
- He also goes a full villain mode a few times with Shin in Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage, Renkotsu in Inuyasha, Charlotte Katakuri in One Piece and Satan in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.
- Then there's Joseph Joestar, who not only weaponizes his snark but manages to be a Large Ham at the same time.
- And now he's cast as the perpetually hissing (when not maniacally laughing) Creepy Child Kurodōji in Onmyōji.
Ryusei Nakao has been typecast as cruel, quirky, disturbing, sadistic men (mostly villains) with high pitched voices, including Freeza (and his brother, Cooler, and his counterpart, Frost), Mayuri Kurotsuchi in Bleach, Him in Powerpuff Girls Z, Caesar Clown in One Piece as well as Farfarello. He, however, is capable of other types of roles; notably, he sang a very sweet love song with fellow seiyuu Junko Iwao. Strangely enough, he also happens to be Buster Bunny and Yakko Warner from Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs respectively in their Japanese dubs. That's some creative casting there.
- Junko, you say? Makes you wonder if that role as Tatsuya Sudou in the Persona 2 games wasn't just coincidence...
Need a badass with a Large Ham tendency? Norio Wakamoto. He often, but not always, plays hammy Big Bads. Among his roles: Igniz and Rugal (if only for one game so far), Cell, M.Bison/Vega, Vicious, MD Geist, Coach Ohta, Emperor Charles of Britannia (Emperor Wakamoto), Oda Nobunaga, and Dracula in almost all the Castlevania games that feature voice acting. To sum up: he dubbed Lando Calrissian in Star Wars.
- Exceptional scene-chewers who aren't the Big Bad: Victoream from Konjiki no Gash Bell, Shuren of Fist of the North Star, Woodchuck in Record of Lodoss War.
- Exceptional non-scene-chewers but still utterly awesome: Playboy Johnny of Guilty Gear, or the hilarious narrator in Hayate the Combat Butler. Further subversion, he plays Reuenthal, the angsty ladies' man in Legend of Galactic Heroes.
- I wish I were a bird.
  - Coooo! (Wish granted!)
Voice actress Yuki Kaida has been more or less typecast to play soft-spoken teenage boys with hidden agendas or skills, like Shusuke Fuji from The Prince of Tennis and Kurapica from Hunter × Hunter (whom she even plays in the musicals). One of the few different roles she has been casted as is the gentle and troubled Machi Kuragi in the Fruits Basket CD-dramas.
- Don't forget Tsukasa Futaba from Ryuusei No Rockman; the fact that he's also known as Gemini Spark should clue you in on his double nature...
- Generally, when she doesn't play soft-spoken boys, she plays kind, sisterly characters.
- She has a pretty wide range, though. In just The Prince of Tennis, she plays three different characters. One is Fuji Syuusuke, and another is his older sister Yumiko. They sound fairly much alike, although Syuusuke has a slightly deeper tone. But the most surprising thing, is that she also voices the otherwise masculine youngest brother Yuuta (though only in a flashback of when the siblings were younger).
Yuko Goto often plays girly Moe characters like Mikuru from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Ironically, Goto (aka "Gotouther-sama" after a character from Fist of the North Star, of which she is a fan) is apparently a hardcore biker in real life. Parodied in Lucky Star, in which she appears as an intimidating, hypermasculine Yakuza-style biker, then zooms off on her motorcycle making cutesy "vroom, vroom" noises.
- These days, however... it seems she is set to not only Moe characters, but also Yandere characters. If Anya Alstreim is telling you something...
  - Anya seems to be more of a mix of Little Miss Badass with No Social Skills and a bit of Wise Beyond Their Years, rather than a true Yandere. A more straight Yandere gal played by Gotou-san would be Kaede from SHUFFLE!.
Daisuke Ono seems to be associated with charming Bishōnen like Yukito in AIR Koizumi in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and himself in Lucky Star (which is exactly as it's said: charming bishonen).
- Let's not forget Hosaka from Minami-ke.
- In Higurashi: When They Cry, he plays Mamoru Akasaka, so that could be a subversion.
- And in the upcoming Umineko: When They Cry anime, he'll be playing the ecchi, stubborn Battler Ushiromiya, so that's definitely a subversion.
  - He's also Silver and El Fuerte.
  - And in the upcoming remake to The King of Fighters 2002, he voices a replacement for K9999 called...Nameless.
  - Then there's Snow Villiers in the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII.
- Ahem. Shizuo Heiwajima. Jotaro Kujo. Erwin Smith. Shukoro Tsukishima. Can you say "subversion"?
- Another aversion would be his evil turn as the enigmatic Battle Butler Sebastian in Black Butler.
  - However, this one would count more as a subversion because his voice varies in this role, going from completely playing his type to "holy crap, how can that be the same person?"
- Jyushimatsu.
- And if that wasn't enough, check out ANY episode of his radio show with Hiroshi Kamiya or ANY live events with him and behold his dorky personality in real life.
- Let's just say ever since Umineko: When They Cry, Ono D's pigeonholing as "charming" has been given a big fat NOT NO MORE.
Ikue Otani, Pikachu herself. Among other adorable Genki Girls and Keets include Zatch Bell!, Ojamajo Doremi's Hana-chan, Iincho from Dokidoki School Hours (sort of a subversion, but she's a SMAP fangirl...), and Tony Tony Chopper of One Piece.
- She voices two characters from Destiny of the Shrine Maiden: Mako-chan and crazy-nun Miyako. Mako-chan's voice probably fits more closely to her regular roles...
If you want a good seiyuu for a female character older than 30? Go to Masako Katsuki. She started with Naïve Everygirl (like Maya Kitajima form Garasu no Kamen) or Cool Big Sis (like Reccoa from Zeta Gundam) roles, but ever since she played Michiru aka Sailor Neptune in Sailor Moon she's been playing older ladies.
- She played some older ladies before that, too; take Ikari-sensei from High School Kimengumi in the 1980s.
Fumihiko Tachiki is well-known for his work voicing sinister older villains, who usually share very personal connections to one or more of the main characters. This also usually goes hand in hand with his roles' tendencies, if they have children, to be at best distant or at worst downright manipulating and bad fathers. Most famously, of course, is Gendo Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion, but he has also played Kratos Aurion from Tales of Symphonia, Odin from Odin Sphere and Zaraki Kenpachi from Bleach. And even young comic relief Boss from Mazinkaiser. To sum it up, he's a very good choice for Big Guy type of characters, even moreso if they have a veteran-ish aura.
- Uh, just a sec, those guys (Gendo, Kratos, Odin, Kenpachi) are fathers or sorts, right? (Well, Kenpachi is no father, but he DOES adopt Yachiru...). Not to mention they also have a 'bad' image painted on them...
- And then, in an apparent parody, he plays Hasegawa in Gintama, a middle-aged man who lost his prestigious job and family (thanks to the heroic speeches of the main character) and is frequently called a no-good, worthless old dude. The fact that Hasegawa resembles Gendo to an extent makes it all the better.
- You also have to consider Kasai from Higurashi: When They Cry. He's gruff and is technically yakuza but he's definitely a good guy (and an awesome one, at that), as well as a father-figure of sort to Shion.
- He's also the Japanese voice of Yondu Udonta, a ruthless space pirate who's also a good guy, having raised Peter Quill as his own son after learning his birth father was a child-killing monster (or, as he once put it, "a jackass"), and ultimately sacrifices himself to save Quill's life.
Joji / George Nakata and Akio Ohtsuka only play extremely hard-boiled badasses, though their characters frequently get put into situations not quite of their calibur to add flavor.
- George Nakata = Villain. That's all that needs to be said. Granted, some of those villains are also protagonists, like Alucard in Hellsing, but villains nonetheless.
  - A slight exception: Nakata was behind the voice of Sonic Adventure's E-102 Gamma.
  - Giroro is kind of a gray area ... but Roy Revant?
Hideyuki Hori, though not as much as obviously seen, seems to be a rather popular choice for ninja characters. Including Ryu Hayabusa in Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, Schwarz Bruder in G Gundam, and in the crossover Namco X Capcom, he plays Team Commando's resident ninja Sho/Ginzu.
If you see Show Hayami's name in a cast list, take extra caution. If that character seems like affable and attractive, there is a chance that he'll turn out to be the worst man in existence (case in point, Dr. Kazutaka Muraki in Descendants of Darkness, Masami Eiri in Serial Experiments Lain, and Sousuke Aizen in Bleach). He also plays straight socio/psychopaths just as often.
- And even if he is voicing a good guy, expect that character to be pretty fucked up in the head, like male lead Idol Singer Kouji from the yaoi anime Zetsuai1989 or Klein Sandman.
Kumiko Watanabe comes in two flavors: If she's playing a boy, she's most likely to play young heroes (doesn't need to be main) or Bratty Half-Pint in general. If she's playing a female... then just be ready that her character may turn out to be the worst bitch in the series (Hello, Katejina Loos).
- She can also play screwball characters, as she played Woody Woodpecker in the dub of his 90s TV series.
In a weird variation of this trope, two of the main characters of One Piece were designed with their voice actors in mind. More impressive in the case of Mayumi Tanaka (Luffy), since there was no guarantee that the series would even receive an anime adaptation, while Kazuki Yao (Franky) had voiced several characters in One Piece after it had already been successful.
- Speaking of Mr. Yao, it seems he likes to do "crazy" characters: bar Franky, his others in One Piece were Mr. 2 Bon Clay and Jango.
  - He also was Hot-Blooded Judau in Gundam ZZ, as well as Shinobu Fujiwara in Dancougar.
Yuuichi Nakamura tends to play guys who, for a lack of better description, are jerks. Usually with hearts of gold underneath. We have Okazaki Tomoya from CLANNAD (a jerk who quickly softens up for his various love interests), Abe Takaya from Big Windup! (a jerk who doesn't realize that yelling at his shy, meek pitcher isn't helping said pitcher's self-esteem any), Alto Saotome of Macross Frontier (a jerk who has trouble recognizing other people's kindness toward him, especially if they happen to be his love interests), Ikuto Tsukiyomi of Shugo Chara!, etc. Meanwhile Yuuki Terumi takes this pidgeonhole beyond eleven into psychopathic levels.
- Graham is the Playing Against Type case here. A Hot-Blooded, Large Ham, ace rival who is very far from being a jerk.
- He completely plays against his type with Koichi Minamoto.
  - He also completely, absolutely plays against his type with Ringo Tsukimiya. It was such a subversion to his usual work that multiple people questioned him about accepting the role beforehand. No, seriously.
- If egocentrism counts as being a jerk, then Beet J. Stag could count as an example.
- At the same time, Nakamura also played a noticeable number of times fathers and especially older brothers (or even younger brother in Wata Mote), which is characteristic, the latter predominantly in Brother–Sister Incest series or playing with this. Put a plus if in a similar work also plays Saori Hayami as one of his Love Interest.
- He's also been cast as the painfully adorable little boy Shirodōji in Onmyōji.
Kappei Yamaguchi's kind of stuck with "hotheaded hero," having voiced Ranma, Inuyasha, and Monta from Eyeshield 21, among many others. One of the few notable exceptions is one of his earlier roles, Daisuke Kusama from Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still. Or L from Death Note.
- Though, he subverts the trend beautifully in roles such as Tororo from Sgt. Frog and (most of all) Usopp from One Piece.
  - And don't forget the Serenely Dissonant, Extreme Doormat that is Mr. Tick Jefferson
- Artemis from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.
- He does quite well with goofball characters as well. Want an example? How about Teddie? Or Shigechi? Could Bugs Bunny count?
Hitomi Nabatame is a versatile voice actress, doing stuffs from young girl, graceful princess, outgoing girls or characters. However, if there's several things she's most known for, it's either her Hard-Drinking Party Girl roles, or roles that have Les Yay painted in it. She may be even like this in real life.
- She does consider Shizuka Ito to be "Main Wife", Mamiko Noto is "Lover No.1", Kaori Shimizu is "Lover No. 2" and Ami Koshimizu is "Lover No.3" Granted they all worked together at some point (School Rumble).
  - Given that, according to her blog, she's in a serious relationship with Shizuka Ito, "may" might not be strong enough a word.
Mamoru Miyano could do with a bit more typecasting...
- Lately he is quite suited to roles of cold covert killers such as Setsuna from Gundam 00 and Vampire Knight. Death the Kid, even if not cold all the time, could count as well since he is the son of the Shinigami.
Sometimes, a voice actor is pigeonholed into one type, but as time passed on, he/she is pigeonholed in another type and almost abandons their old pigeonholed types. The example of this is Aya Hisakawa, known as young, mostly spunky girl characters, especially Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury, Skuld, and Chai Xianghua. But as time passed, she finds herself pigeonholed into mature women that knows her stuffs, such as Maya Natsume, "Captain Mom" Retsu Unohana or even Stripperiffic Ms. Fanservice Judith. This is also somehow reflected in her old pigeonholed types — the recent Ah! My Goddess series features Skuld with an older form, and Hisakawa left Xianghua's role after Soul Calibur III.
And the other example of 'switch pigeon hole' voice actor is Miki Ito. Beforehand, she's known as Femme Fatale type characters, sometimes overlapping with villains, such as Android no 18, Nova, Legretta the Quick. Now you find her voicing genuinely good Genki Girls like Asa Shigure, Taiga Fujimura...
- Though recently, she's returned to her old type with Miyo Takano who, incidentally, is the Big Bad.
- As well as Eva Ushiromiya in its spiritual sequel Umineko: When They Cry.
Natsuko Kuwatani is mostly known for absolutely loyal henchwoman to whomever she works for rather then the actual cause her master follows and rarely cares for anybody else. Kasuga in Sengoku Basara, Sette and Arf in Nanoha are good examples of following her master to the ends of the earth and often hints of a romance of them (some more blatant then others). Just call her Natsuko Kunoichi in that case.
- Does cutesy Suiseiseki count as the part of 'loyal to the master to the end of the earth' part, DESU~?
Shizuka Ito is known for her refined sexy personality (she does do hentai after all) and is often seen working with girlfriend Hitomi Nabatame (they have a good relationship, and apparently they are girlfriends if Hitomi's blog is to be believed) and the ability to go between romantically teasing or generally stoic and serious. Rest assured, she is a skilled femme fatale who is on fire (or at least her element in animes like Shakugan no Shana)
Soichiro Hoshi is often the younger partner of Akira Ishida. Aside from that, he plays normally passive characters with hidden berserker streaks to him such as Kira Yamato from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED franchise and Brooklyn from Bakuten Shoot Beyblade. His roles often carry sticks or similar stick-like weapons to battle. Beamspam Jesus has nothing on stick smack Jesus.
- Kazuma and Keiichi Maebara may be considered inversions. Both definitely have berserker sides to them, and Keiichi has a baseball bat as a Weapon of Choice but Kazuma is openly loud, brash and violent while Keiichi is a loud, perverted dork who only becomes violent when he falls victim to the Hate Plague.
- Ditto Masaru, who is made of hot blood and punches out fifty-feet giant chickens in his spare time. And Sanada Yukimura is basically the former dialled Up to Eleven.
Tessho Genda is mostly known for his The Big Guy roles. If you see a character voiced by him, expect them to fulfil the Mighty Glacier role, such as the younger Toguro in Yu Yu Hakusho, Takeda Shingen in Sengoku Basara, Kurama in Naruto, Kaido in One Piece, Mighty Kongman in Tales of Destiny, and Largo the Black Lion in Tales of the Abyss. He does some exceptions, though, like the dubbed version of Batman.
- And then there's Shu from Dragon Ball who completely goes against his usual type as a tiny little humanoid dog who's often victim to whatever comic abuse comes his way.
Miyu Matsuki has a reputation of being cast for death with Mecha roles, aside from that she is a well known Yuri typecast.
- But she also played Isumi Saginomiya.
Saki Nakajima loves to do Meido roles in general in terms of roles in general typecasts.
- But she also played Chizuru Honshou
- And Karin Sasamori.
Mitsuki Saiga mainly plays male roles despite being a female seiyuu. Many of the roles she plays is mainly as protectors but when she also has to play a villain as well, it becomes a Well-Intentioned Extremist character. Example is Makubex from Get Backers. And if she doesn't play boys, she plays Action Girl types, like Jun from the Mazinkaiser OAV.
One curious case is Masami Kikuchi. He was pigeonholed for years as the Unlucky Everydude / Harem Cast Lead types (like Keiichi Morisato in Ah! My Goddess) and got to play against type in the course of a series saga. Compare his Jou Kido to his Rob McCoy aka "Dolphin" and his Akihiko Kurata. And then compare these to his Hiroshi Wakato from The Prince of Tennis...
Yukari Tamura seems destined to be the go-to name for (usually loli) genki Magical Girls, with the title Fairy Musketeers and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. She has done several different roles (Mai Kawasumi in Kanon), but even if not magical, a large number of her characters tend to at least look somewhat loli (Sakura Yoshino in Da Capo, Mei Sunohara in CLANNAD, Ichigo Morino in Please Teacher!, Ink Nijihara in Moetan).
- Rika Furude is an inversion. She seems to play it straight for awhile, but eventually it becomes clear that there's more to her than meets the eye.
- And then there's Bernkastel, who is a Rogue Protagonist in Umineko: When They Cry, by virtue of her being the summation of all pre-Matsuribayashi-hen incarnations of Rika Furude.
Marina Inoue when doing major roles is mostly cast in the Ojou role most of the time. While not always of the lady in fine dress theme, there is a generally air of being a woman with a duty. Examples are Yoko, Petra and Alicia. And did we mention that these characters are pretty handy with their guns?
- Jessica Ushiromiya is an inversion. She's an Ojou, but she's also a tomboyish Tsundere.
- Subverted in Skip Beat!. Kyoko dreams of being an Ojou or a Princess but is also a poor aspiring actress lusting for revenge (and has the evil aura to prove it).
- Don't forget Wataru Tachibana.
- She also voices Armin Arlert from Attack on Titan, who is a guy.
- She has three roles in Onmyōji, out of which Hōōka is probably the closest to her type. The other two roles are Oguna who is a boy and Gaki the Creepy Child.
Most characters voiced by Nozomu Sasaki end up creepy or evil or both. These include characters like Tetsuo (and his very obvious Expy K9999), Mello, Olba Frost, Enishi Yukishiro, and the worst of them all... Johan Liebert. The only exception is Yuusuke Urameshi, but that's just ONE breakout role compared to his whole lot of... that type of character.
- Kazuya Hasukawa of Here is Greenwood is another exception. He's really just an Ordinary High-School Student.
  - Let's not forget Sasaki playing Unlucky Everydude Youta Moteuchi in the Video Girl Ai Drama CDs.
- Jin Akutsu from The Prince of Tennis initially plays it straight by being a huge Jerkass, but later subverts it by getting Character Development, evolving into a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and an Aloof Big Brother to Taichi Dan.
- Sasaki himself is probably a good example of someone who switched typecasts — he used to play a lot of sweet-voiced young boys and now does more creepy evil types. There were even rumors in Japan that he'd had some kind of surgery or injections to alter his voice. In Legend of Galactic Heroes, which was made over a period of several years, try comparing Julian's voice at the beginning and end of the series to hear the 'change' (although arguably this could just be an example of acting, as the character had grown and matured).
  - Sasaki started smoking at some point, which is the cause of his deeper/raspier voice in later series.
Isshin Chiba is mostly not-quite-so-active in anime. But when in video games, he has a lot of infamous roles, mostly as someone who is a Jerkass, or has an evil side. Including Albel Nox from Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, Melfice from Grandia II, Jedah Dohma from Darkstalkers and even Jin Kazama from Tekken, who has currently embraced his evil side. And, of course, who could forget that he is the main voice of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure's Dio "ZA WARUDO" "WRRRYYYYYY!!!" Brando in Jojos Bizarre Adventure Heritage Of The Future?
Need an Tsundere Idol? Try Sakura Nogawa, often her roles will interlace with something idol related, famous roles includes Tsundere Tsubomi from Strawberry Panic!, Shiho from My-HiME and being one of Gust (Creator of the Atelier Series) newest talent to rely on. She has been cast in every Ar tonelico series so far. The only exception of this might be Hinaichigo from Rozen Maiden.
- Don't forget she was the voice of Kaori Aida from Azumanga Daioh.
Kouji Tsujitani is known for his roles within being a Chivalrous Pervert and having one Star-Crossed Lovers too many (mostly unintentional). Examples of characters of exhibiting either trait include Bernard Wiseman, Seabook Arno, Azai Nagamasa and Miroku. He has other roles as well, but these comes to a troper's mind first when they think about this actor.
- And then there's Itsuki...
Yuki Matsuoka is known for voicing extremely weird and eccentric characters such as Osaka and Orihime Inoue from Bleach. OTOH, she voiced characters that are very much loved by the fandom such as Osaka and Haruhi Suzumiya's Tsuruya.
- Also, Orihime and Tsuruya have undergone Memetic Mutation, both involving food products (leeks and smoked cheese, respectively).
Ami Koshimizu may have versatile voice styles, but she often has a consistent fanservice and humorously ecchi feeling to her roles that she plays.
- But she also played Rosa Ushiromiya.
Kenichi Suzumura plays a lot characters whom knows or have the worst luck examples are Strawberry 100% and Gundam SEED Destiny, don't feel bad though, at least the VA gets to be quite close with Hitomi Nabatame... His characters also tend to be very loud, childish or rude and scream a lot (think Shinn Asuka in SEED Destiny or Chika Akatsuki in Zombie Loan)
- But then he also provides the voice for Shiromujō from Onmyōji, a gentle, calm and well-mannered guy who constantly calls out his brother's rudeness.
Hiro Shimono most notable typecast as a lead is seen as a somewhat meek person with a good sense of artist touch within him. His characters are usually pretty good at art or something culturally creative. Also, on 2 occasions he voiced roles which are also done by Johnny Yong Bosch.
Miyu Irino seems to be cast as an Unlucky Everydude who also have high chances of being a Woobie or a Scrappy. Case in point being Syaoran from Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-, Saji from Gundam 00, Tomoharu from Asura Cryin', Kou from Cross Game, Tsutomu from Birdy the Mighty: Decode and Zwei from Phantom~Requiem for the Phantom~. Just note that his romantic interests tends to end up dead or horribly maimed.
Ryuzaburo Otomo's voice is more often than not linked with villainous characters with an already-imposing stature, such as Sir Crocodile, Dabura, Tetsu Ushio in the first season of the Yu-Gi-Oh!, Vamdemon, Uka-Uka, Astaroth, The Terminator, and... Mr. Freeze?
- Speaking of which, the last two are also played by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Satoshi Hino seems to be one of the go-to guys for Ordinary High-School Student types who get overshadowed by his female companions. Let's see: Yuji Sakai, Saito Hiraga, Koukin Shuyu, and Tayutama's Yuuri Mito.
- Yuuto from Cross Edge is a notable mention
  - Try Kamui from Gintama. Seriously.
Mobile Suit Gundam and its spin-offs just can't get along with Pretty Cure at all. Almost every VA whom had at least one stint with Gundam went on to be a villain in Pretty Cure. The only exception was Romi Park (Turn A's Loran Cehack).
Kana Hanazawa is one of the best recent choices for timid, kind, if somewhat fragile, female characters such as Sengoku Nadeko and Kosaki Onodera. Though she has played against this on occasion, such as Mikan Yuuki in To Love-Ru or Zange in Kannagi: Crazy Shrine Maidens, a great lot of her characters end up falling into the main type. She also falls in The Woobie typecast with Tenshi and Suou in Angel Beats! and Darker Than Black.
- Recently she also voices Genki Girls such as Nessa and Rana Linchen.
- Her versatility in voice acting really shows as recent anime also delegates her into Ax-Crazy roles like Rize Kamishiro from Tokyo Ghoul and Cute and Psycho roles like the aforementioned Sengoku Nadeko and Akame ga Kill!'s Seryu Ubiquitous.
- Another subversion is her rookie cop-turned-Bruiser with a Soft Center, Inspector Akane Tsunemori, in Psycho-Pass.
Aki Toyosaki got her start playing bubbly, somewhat ditzy female characters with Amuro in Kenko Zenrakei Suieibu Umisho, and hasn't really left it since. Roles such as Tomo in Seikon No Qwaser, Suu in Shugo Chara! and, above all, Yui in K-On! are good examples of this characterization.
Yōko Hikasa, taking off from her Star-Making Role as K-On!'s Shrinking Violet Mio Akiyama, has been pigeonholed into girls with long black hair (and sometimes a Hime Cut), but not necessarily as shy as Mio, such as Seraphim (Is This a Zombie?), Houki Shinonono (Infinite Stratos), Maya Kumashiro (Occult Academy) and Shino Amakusa (Seitokai Yakuindomo). Seen here◊. Many roles of hers are excellent swordswomen as well, such as Houki and Seraphim as mentioned above, as well as Junko Hattori (Demon King Daimao), and Erica Blandelli (Campione!).
Wataru Takagi is commonly typecast as any form of Gangster/Delinquent and other forms of the dregs of society. Naturally, this often gets him into villain roles, such as Horada in Durarara!!, Chaka in Black Lagoon or Tobi in Naruto. However, he may also play the converted Delinquent such as Aoki in Hajime no Ippo or the Great Teacher Onizuka himself.
- Bizarrely enough, he voiced the author of the original manga in Excel Saga.
- But then, there are his namesake police detective, and Detective Boys group member Genta Kojima.
Hiroaki Hirata has recently lamented that, after ten years building a reputation as anime's "pirate seiyuu," (Sanji, Benny, Balthier, Captain Jack Sparrow, etc.), it took exactly one role (Kotetsu T. Kaburagi from Tiger & Bunny) for him to lose this title and instead become known as the "oyaji seiyuu."
Chiaki Takahashi is mostly known for her roles as Ms. Fanservice (occasionally overlapping with Cool Big Sis) or the one who is considered sexiest on the cast, considering she is a gravure idol. However, in a subversion, the personalities of her characters could differ from ditzy (Azusa), kind and nurturing, if conflicted (Litchi), utterly flirtatious (Haineko), and... well a lot more, but they always held the 'Sexy' part well.
Yūki Kaji mostly known for voicing any unlucky person and Ineffectual Loner person, but intelligent, kind hearted and always careful. However, the character's life that he voiced was changed after he met a mysterious, but special girl. For example Haruyuki Arita, Haruaki Yachi, Amata Sora, and last, but not least, Shu Ouma.
- He also tends to get pigeonholed as "Hot-Blooded male lead who can SCREAM HIS HEAD OFF". Such as Eren Yaegar, Alibaba and Issei.
Shigeru Chiba tends to be heard as either The Narrator, Hot-Blooded characters, goofball types, villains, or even a mixture of some of those.
- There is one notable exception, though: He voiced Sebas Tian, the soft spoken and kindhearted butler of Overlord. Still, said exception is occasionally averted (usually in the Ple Ple Pleiades Shorts).
Issei Futamata's most common roles tend to fall along two types. One usual type would be him being cast as squeaky-voiced nerds and/or generally unlucky young men (that may or may not also be a bit unstable). The other common typecasting involves him voicing random mooks and corrupt businessmen, or other villains just as sleazy.
You can assume any character voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa is totally badass. Whether good, evil, young, old, funny, Bishounen or Gonk, they are badass. Dante, Mr. Chang, Kaname Tousen, Ryu, Shishiwakamaru, Kimimaro, Tyki Mikk, Sephiroth, Katakura Kojuro, Ugo, Jirou, Obi-Wan, Neo etc. Also, he plays the badass fathers or father-figures of heroes, e.g. Minato Namikaze, Isshin Kurosaki, or Isaburou Sasaki.
- The Big Bads he plays are not only badass, but also extremely evil, like Griffith/Femto, Naraku, Gohyan, Yukio Oikawa, Bellial Vamdemon, the aforementioned Sephiroth, Yoshikage Kira or Enel.
Nao Tōyama tends to play bubbly and somewhat ditzy girls such as Kanon Nakagawa, Chiho Sasaki, Karen Kujo, Yui Yuigahama, and the Kongou sisters.
Rina Hidaka's name is often associated with young girls. Compare Enju, Yuniko, Last Order, Silica, and most of the Mutsuki-class Destroyers.
What does Kirito, Tooru Kokonoe, and Bell Cranel have in common? They are all Nice Guy protagonists in Harem Genre light novels voiced by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka.
Need Cool Big Sis which will look after the girls in the Schoolgirl Series, the delightful The Ace love interes in the school comedy, or the Girly Girl protagonist for your Reverse Harem work? Saori Hayami can perfectly handle this, especially if you need to sing well for the role.
The vast majority of characters voiced by Takehito Koyasu are villains.
Junichi Suwabe tends to voice cool, gruff badasses like Archer, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, Shota Aizawa, and Yami Sukehiro.