I’ve given the Japanese voice actors a lot of praise. It’s time to give some of the American voice actors the praise they deserve:
Michael McConnohie
Notable Character Voices: Seth in Street Fighter 4 and Astaroth in Soul Calibur III and IV
This guy’s probably my favorite voice actor on the anime dub circuit. I love how refined and sophisticated he sounds. “Let’s take this to the next level!”. Personally, I think he was miscast as Astaroth. I’ve known him for voicing the stoic, warrior type characters or the evil dictators, so it was strange to hear him do the role of a murderous monster. I am kind of hoping he somehow lands a role in BlazBlue, but none of the characters seem to fit his voice. Oh well, if he doesn’t make it there I’ll still hear him in many dubbed anime to come.
Michelle Ruff
Notable Character Voices: Crimson Viper in Street Fighter 4 (and if it counts, Rukia in the DS Bleach fighters)
Michelle Ruff’s a pretty talented voice actress. From voicing the femme fatales, to the shy, quiet types…she’s got a voice that’s easy on the ears and a voice that seems destined for more fighting games. She voiced Viper really well in my opinion, so I hope to hear more of her in the future(listening, Aksys?)
Cathal J. Todd
Notable Character Voices: Wolverine and Captain America from the Marvel 2D fighters.
The original voice of Wolverine. This guy voiced Wolverine for the entirety of the classic X-Men cartoon, and even provided those gruff tones for all of Capcom’s fighters which involve him. I only found out recently that he also voiced Captain America, so he does have quite a lot of talent. Tis’ a shame that he’s not used all that much, though…“Rookie”.
Mamiko Noto is wondrous as Oichi (Sengoku Basara series/X). I look forward to hearing her performance in Daemon Bride (as “scythe-girl” Kureha and sword-bearing angel Michael).
“Kikoeru… shi no ashioto ga… takusan.” (“I [can] hear them… Death’s footsteps… loudly.”)
Takashi Kondou’s Faust is almost eerily convincing (particularly in GGX).
“Himitsu no… Fausto!” (“The secret… Faust!”)
Noriaki Sugiyama does a good job as Shirou Emiya (Fate/Unlimited Codes) and Sasuke (the Naruto games).
“Rasustavaanii! Ima, omae no subete wo ubau! Shazai no kotoba, itsuka jigoku de.” (“One-shot! Now, all you have will be taken away! I’ll apologize some day in Hell.”)