I have safely returned from Okinawa for two weeks already and all I want to do is to go back. After all, who wouldn’t want to go back to transparent waters and white sand?
Thankfully I still have my favorite seiyuu to help me fight the post-trip depression and this week we are going to talk about one of them, namely Kazuya Nakai.
Known for: Zoro (One Piece)
My favorite: Masamune Date (Sengoku Basara)
Are you ready guys? Put your guns on!
For anyone who is familiar with Sengoku Basara you would recognize Kazuya Nakai‘s voice in a heartbeat, who wouldn’t after hearing him screaming throughout three seasons of the same series. I am not usually someone who loves screaming characters at all but for once, I thought that his voice was spot-on and that he had some kind of comical ring to it that was just close to perfect. In my opinion, it’s one of the few things that made Sengoku Basara as great as it was, it was those bits of comedy that probably did it for me.
As I pursued my investigations into Nakai’s career I have seen two distinctive patterns that I have found somehow really amusing because they contradict totally from the other.
The first pattern is that he is voicing fun and comic reliefs characters, like in Sengoku Basara or like with Hijikata in Gintama (though to be honest, everyone is a comic relief in Gintama). Somehow I think Zoro from One Piece would fit in this category as well. I also think he does comic relief really well, he can talk in such a way that feels both natural and funny at the same time. I think it would have made him a good comedian but it also an essential part of the work of a seiyuu.
Somehow though, the second pattern is completely different, the second set of characters he usually voices are the quiet type, like Doumeki in XXXHolic. Sadly, I have a hard time remembering him voicing this type of character. Because they’re quiet of course but it also means since they didn’t stand out much for me that Kazuya Nakai did them well.
As you can see we’re talking about a seiyuu who can do a lot of things, he has also voiced an incredibly high number of characters from video games and is also the narrator of the news corner of a popular Japanese morning show, while other talented voice actors are stuck to narrate commercials.
All in all, Kazuya Nakai‘s career is looking good but there’s one thing he just can’t do and that’s singing. But I’m going to forgive him because it makes his character songs hilarious.