I am just back from Kyoto and already writing, aren’t I great? I definitely think I am but not as great as Tomokazu Sugita. Definitely not.
Known for: Gintoki (Gintama), Leon Mishima (Macross Frontier)
My favorite: Gintoki (Gintama)
I think every single fan of anime has one day or another heard about Tomokazu Sugita, mainly because he is Gintoki in Gintama and Gintoki talks absolutely all the time. In a way, it’s what makes him incredibly great.
I have an episode in mind in which Gintoki was stuck in bed with sleep paralysis. This episode was basically him talking and absolutely nothing happened. For a whole episode. Could you believe I wasn’t bored the slightest? And this wasn’t just because he kept on talking nonsense, it’s also because Sugita can make his voice everything but boring and I love that about him. I would love this about all seiyuu actually but I don’t think many of them can do it to the extent he does. I think the only one I have seen doing this and not being boring was Hiroshi Kamiya in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.
Well, anyway, my point is, Sugita’s voice isn’t boring and Gintama proves it every single week. Not only can he talk non stop but he can also perfectly channel evil and annoying and pretty much everything. I can’t think of a more perfect match for Gintoki than him, it means he can do everything and he does everything.
I talked about Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei earlier. Believe it or not but Sugita is in it too, he’s voicing the quiet Ikkyu-san, who we almost never see but whenever he appears he always does something crazy while quietly commenting. It’s quite awesome to voice a crazy character without sounding crazy.
Did you also know that he voiced a robot? Does anyone remember Gargantia on the verdurous planet? Well, in this anime he voiced Chamber, the mandatory robot of any mecha. I was quite surprised when I first heard it but I think it was perfect too. Obviously they changed his voice a bit to make him sound like a robot but behind it he talked in a perfectly monotone voice making sound really close to a robot even without technology involved.
