Hello all! Welcome to GotWoot’s first monthly (or perhaps weekly? Don’t know if I have that much free time… anyway…) GotWoot’s First Edition of :

“Who the f** voices that character?” Or “Where have I heard that voice before?”
A.k.a. GotWoot’s Featured Voice Actor (VA)

We begin with *drumroll please*

Shuuichi Ikeda (lol, got the ugliest pic i could find!)
‘Shuu who?’ you ask

I can almost guarantee you’ve heard this guy before. He may be one of the best VAs in the biz. He is most remembered as:

That’s right. Char Aznable. Anyone worth their grain can tell you how awesome Char Aznable is, and a large part of that is due to the talent of the character’s VA. Remember, anime only stimulates 2 of the 5 senses (what you do to yourself while watching Love Love Show is a different story…) so one half of every character is the VA.

I don’t think I’m alone in saying that Ikeda’s performance as Char MADE Mobile Suit Gundam. (and if you ask what show that is, I am going to curbstomp you). Not to disrespect the other excellent VAs, but the job Ikeda did was masterful and probably went a long way to making the Gundam series what it is today. Char was probably one of (if not the) biggest parts of Mobile Suit Gundam. And as the story went on , Ikeda’s characters carried the plotline. Hell, they were the plotline.

I call these the Ikeda Big 5, his 5 most recognized characters:
The other guys in the pics are, (from left to right of Char): Quattro Bagina (Zeta Gundam), Gilbert Dullindal (Gundam SEED Destiny*blech*) Seijuro Hiko (Kenshin/Samurai X) and Shanks (One Piece).

For all you Narutards out there, yes he’s been in Naruto as well, but only as a minor character, Sazanami Toukichi (eps. 159, 160). Ikeda voiced the samurai/bounty hunter guy, and even he couldn’t save that short filler arc from its crappyness.

Ikeda is known for his deep baritone voice. When he speaks in a show, something important is about to be said. This VA usually does important, high ranked/wizened/veteran characters, partly because his voice just seems to command respect. There’s also almost always a sinister, lurking undertone in Ikeda’s characters’ voices. To sum it up, his is the ultimate badass voice. Other VAs may be better at ‘tough guys’ and ‘villains’, but Ikeda’s roles always have a level of humanity that is usually destroyed through over-acting or use a ‘monstrous voice’ (ex. Orochimaru in Naruto).

Ikeda is married to Sakiko Tamagawa (Natsumi Tsujimoto in You’re Under Arrest, Ayano Kondou in Fafner in the Azure), who has done tons of VA roles herself. Ikeda was once married to Keiko Toda (Anpanman in Soreike! Anpanman, other roles) but they divorced a while back.

You can find out more about Ikeda at his website (its obviously in Japanese tho)
http://haikyo.or.jp/PROFILE/man/10587.html

Other big roles: Brian J. Mason (Bubblegum Crisis OAV), Martin (Monster), Captain Napoliplita (Project A-ko and subsequent sequels), Ptolemy (Reign the Conqueror), Shinji Nagumo (Tokyo Babylon OAV).

Well, I think that’s about all for this edition-

Oh my god! Ikeda-sama himself has graced us with his prescence! Ikeda-sama, what do you have to say to the anime collective?

hahaha!