Born on the 5th of May 1967, Koyasu Takehito had already earned his right as one of the most prolific seiyuu by December 2008, with a staggering role in 365 anime series. Most notable for his role as Dio Brando from the Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure franchise. Capturing Dio’s feverish selfishness, evil and wit, Koyasu has managed to create a character who is every bit of a phenomenon as the universe of his origin. Sporting several iconic phrases, Koyasu gave Dio Brando the life that instantly makes him one of the most memorable anime characters to date and arguing with that is, well… MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA! Koyasu Takehito has played several other roles, many of which are of supporting characters, most notably Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, Nagi Springfield from Negima, and even Sister from Arakawa Under the Bridge!

Born on the 30th of March 1967, Hayashibara Megumi is a seasoned veteran in the industry. With a glistening singing and voice acting career, Hayashibara Megumi is a seiyuu legend! Her standout role for us is her Neon Genesis Evangelion role as the legendary stoic ice princess, Ayanami Rei. That particular role inspired many other characters and further entrenched the archetype in the anime medium in a phenomenon known as the Ayanami Rei Expy. Hayashibara Megumi’s other roles include her legendary role as Cowboy Bebop’s Faye Valentine, Osomatsu-san’s Todomatsu, Paprika and even Jessie (Musashi) from Pokemon!

Chiba Isshin has had a number of roles as supporting characters in many different anime; however, his standout role for us is as Tekken protagonist Jin Kazama. Capturing the character’s seriousness and the graveness in every single word Kazama utters, Chiba Isshin has earned our respect throughout the years. Chiba has also featured in One Piece as several characters, namely Mikazuki, Hammond and Gladius. Chiba’s Jin Kazama role makes him the seventh single voice actor to play a single role in a videogame the longest; placing him in the same league as Mortal Kombat’s Ed Boon who voices Scorpion and Yasui Kunihiko who voices Yagami Iori from the King of Fighters franchise.

Born in Saitama, Japan, Sugita Tomokazu’s biggest role for us is his Gintama role, where he is protagonist, Sakata Gintoki. As Gintoki, Sugita is responsible for many years of laughter and unreal banter throughout the events of the anime! Be that as it may; however, Sugita is a talented seiyuu with a steady repertoire of roles including Arakawa Under the Bridge character Hoshi, Motosuwa Hideki from Chobits, and even Pipimi from the standout 2018 gag comedy, Pop Team Epic!

Bursting onto the scene in mid-2014 is Ishida Sui’s Tokyo Ghoul, a title well-known throughout the anime world for various reasons; particularly the complex protagonist introduced to us as Kaneki Ken. Natsuki Hanae’s voice brings Kaneki to life and his voice acting is incredible throughout the franchise. His performance of Kaneki’s physical and mental anguish were brilliant; however, it is the contrast in Kaneki’s demeanour from the beginning of the first season for which Natsuki deserves endless kudos. His other roles include Jaco from Dragon Ball Super, Nicolas Brown from Gangster, as well as Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April) protagonist Arima Kousei.

Gaining her interest in voice acting while watching Japanese-dubbed foreign films, Kayano Ai is a seiyuu with a stellar list of roles, including No Game, No Life main character, Shiro. This soft-spoken role stands out from much of Kayano Ai’s roles in anime, which include 3-gatsu no Lion character, the motherly Kawamoto Akari. Other roles include Honma “Menma” Meiko from AnoHana, which is a peppier role than some of her others, showing great versatility from the brilliant seiyuu.

Boasting roles like To LOVE-Ru main character Lala Satalin Deviluke and a more serious Yuuki Asuna from Sword Art Online, Tomatsu Haruka debuted in 2007 and has flown high ever since. Other Tomatsu roles include Morgiana from Magi and Kariu Reina from slice of life series, ReLIFE, as well as an occasional appearance as the female version of Saiki Kusuo, on the occasion that he decides to use his shapeshifting powers. A completely different role to the two we’ve mentioned includes her hilarious role as Beelzebub supporting character Hanazawa Yuka, known to the other characters as “Paa” (crazy).

Coming from Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, the seiyuu and singer Noto Mamiko makes our top three for her extensive list of roles in anime, as well as some of her performances of anime openings and endings. This list of theme songs include the first ending theme song of 2006 series Witchblade, of which she played the protagonist, Amaha Masane, a role which tested her voice acting ability as it was outside her usual archetype. However, she completely ate that role, as well as that ending theme! Noto Mamiko is also Fairy Tail’s Mavis Vermillion, Enma Ai from Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl), and Kuronuma Sawako from Kimi ni Todoke (From Me to You).

This guy’s voice is unmistakable – the confident and crisp voice that very much describes many characters he voices, Matsuoka Yoshitsugu is without a doubt one of the most memorable seiyuu in the industry right now. Characters voiced by Yoshitsugu tend to be excitable, confident to a fault, outspoken and absolutely badass at times – however, they are also the most OP (over-powered) characters out! This includes Shokugeki no Souma’s main character Yukihira Souma, Sword Art Online protagonist Kirigaya Kazuto, Sora from No Game, No Life; Amaki Ren from this year’s Rise of the Shield Hero and even the insane priest from High School DxD, Fried Sellzen! Matsuoka’s ability was recognised when he won the 10th Seiyuu Awards as the Best Actor in a leading role.

Coming in at first place on our list of memorable seiyuu is none other than the woman behind the voice of possibly the most notable anime character ever – Son Goku of the Dragon Ball franchise. Coming in a time where martial arts was quickly coming to prominence, at least as far as entertainment was concerned, the Dragon Ball franchise is one of the biggest exports from anime and has touched just about every single corner of the globe. Masako Nozawa’s voice takes getting used to if the Japanese dub of Dragon Ball Z and Super aren’t what you started watching; however, after getting used to it, it becomes apparent the sheer familiarity of the voice, as well as the way in which it captures a Goku you can’t help but think it greatly pleases author Toriyama Akira. Nozawa’s other roles include Kitarou from 1960’s series Gegege no Kitarou, in which Nozawa has remained the protagonist from the first iteration of this anime in 1968, to the 2018 reboot. All the applause on Earth simply wouldn’t do this seiyuu justice.