10 Best Japanese Anime Voice Actors You Should Know

Goku screams as he unleashes yet another transformation, Erwin delivers an intensely motivating speech to the scouting legion, Anya says “Peanuts”.Our favorite and most memorable anime moments are carried by much more than just their amazing drawings and video effects, the voices of the characters make the scenes transcend into a new realm of realism. There are voices and sounds we will never forget. Today we will dive into the world of the artists, the performers who have immortalized our best anime moments, Voice Actors.

Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent. In Japan however, they are called Seiyuu. Obviously, the amazing art that is to be put on screen must be accompanied by equally amazing voice performances.

We will be going through our 10 best anime voice actors you should know. We have done our research and selected, but this list is completely subjective (don’t get mad if we leave someone out). Here’s our list;

10- Kazuya Nakai

9-Kappei Yamaguchi

8-Junko Takeuchi

7-Yuichi Nakamura

6-Kenjiro Tsuda

5-Romi Park

4-Hiroshi Kamiya

3-Mamoru Miyano

2-Nozawa Masako

1-Yuki Kaji

10.  Kazuya Nakai

Making tenth on our top 10 best anime voice actors, Kazuya Nakai is famous for voicing the Toronto Zone character in the anime series One-Piece, Toshiro Hikikata from Gintama and Shinjiro Aragaki from Persona 3.

He won the 5th Seiyuu Award as the Best Supporting Actor for his role in One Piece and Gin Tama. He also has several other notable performances in roles like Kanzo Mogi in Death Note, and Tres Iqus in Trinity Blood amongst several others. 

9. Kappei Yamaguchi

Involved with Goku and 21st Century Fox, Mitsuo Yamaguchi is a Japanese actor, voice actor, singer, and rakugoka better known by his stage name Kappei Yamaguchi.

Shigekiyo Yango in “The Diamond is Unbreakable,” Inuyasha and “Ranma in Ranma 1”, L in “Death note”, Usopp in “One Piece”, Shinichi Kudo in “Detective Conan” and Feitan in “Hunter x Hunter” are just a few of the well-known voices that Kappei Yamaguchi is known for. He is one of the greatest Japanese voice actors.

You should check out 10 Best Anime Streaming App for both Android and iOs.

8. Junko Takeuchi

Joining our list of best anime voice actors is another actor who voiced an extremely iconic character, Akamaru in Naruto. And yes, she also voiced Naruto in the same series. She even voices Naruto in the video game, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3.

Junko is known for voicing young male characters in Japanese anime with quirky and goofy personalities such as Naruto. She has also voiced Gon Freecs in Hunter x Hunter, and Boruto in Boruto Next Generation among others.

7. Yuichi Nakamura

Yuichi Nakamura, who is in his early forties, started doing voice acting work after enrolling at Yoyogi Animation Academy. The majority of these parts included male characters who were in their teens, 20s, and 30s.

Yuichi Nakamura, who is well-known for his soothing and crystal-clear voice, has voiced Kuro from “Haikyu!!”, Gojo from “Jujutsu Kaisen”, Hotarou from “Hyouka”, and Hawks from “My Hero Academia”. Clearly one of the best anime voice actors.

6. Kenjiro Tsuda

The “sexiest voice” in the Japanese entertainment industry is thought to be Kenjiro Tsuda’s. He is one of the most well-liked male voice performers for anime. Definitely one of the best anime voice actors.

His voice is unmistakable and distinctive in the field. Tsuda is a very dedicated and self-made voice actor who began his career in 1995. He has experience in a variety of dramatic mediums, including stage acting, narration, film acting, and even directing. We are not upset with his propensity to play villains since he does it well!

His most well-known performances include those in One Punch Man as the Atomic Samurai, Attack on Titan as Hannes, My Hero Academia as Kai Chisaki, Fire Force as Joker, God of High School as Jegal Taek, and Jujutsu Kaisen as Kento Nanami, among many more. He appears a lot in action anime.

5. Romi Park

Ms. Park is one of the anime industry’s more recent voice actors. She frequently portrays strong, assertive female characters as well as intelligent men; Edward Elric, one of her most well-known roles, is a prime example of this.

In the case of Katsushiro in ‘Samurai 7’, she has even taken on the role of a young guy. Among others, she has voiced Ragyo Kiryuin in ‘Kill la Kill’, Toshiro Hitsugaya in ‘Bleach’, Zoe Hange in ‘Attack on Titan’, and Temari in ‘Naruto’.

Ms. Park has also lent her voice to Japanese translations of Western media, including Guardians of the Galaxy and The Matrix Revolutions, and video game characters, this makes her one of the most famous anime voice actors.

You might be interested in the 8 Best Fighting Anime on Crunchyroll to Watch.

4. Hiroshi Kamiya

A voice actor from Chiba, Japan named Hiroshi Kamiya has been working in the field since 1994. He not only supplies the voices for Boys Love CDs, audio stories from the BL genre, and many series’ leading roles, but he also broadcasts a radio show.

Hiroshi Kamiya is known for voicing Levi from Attack on Titan, and Izaya Orihara from the anime Durarara!! and Trafalgar Law from One Piece.

He won several “Most Voted” awards in the Seiyuu Awards from the sixth to tenth awards, making him inducted into the Hall of Fame, and making him one of the best anime voice actors. Definitely deserving of his place here.

3. Mamoru Miyano

Mamoru Miyano was born on June 8, 1983 in Saitama, Japan. His voice gave life to the famous Yagami Light character in Death Note. He began his career as a musician. He won the 1st Seiyuu award for ‘Death Note’ and the Best Voice Actor award in 2008 at the Tokyo International Anime Fair.

At the 2nd Seiyuu Awards, he won the Best Lead Actor award for Setsuna F.Seiei in ‘Mobile Suit Gundam’ and as Hakugen Eriksson in ‘Koutetsu Sangokushi’.

He is known for his role in ‘Death Note’ as Yagami Light, Death the Kid in ‘Soul Eater’, Rintarou Otabe in ‘Steins Gate’, and Amai Mask in ‘One Punch Man’ amongst several others.

Mamoru Miyano has also been cast to voice the charismatic Doma in Demon Slayer.  He holds our third spot for his ability to deliver quantity with quality. 

2. Nozawa Masako

Surely, you didn’t think Son Goku was voiced by a muscular man from planet Vegeta, right? Our number 2 spot is taken by the adorable and glamorous Nozawa Masako, she is clearly one of the most popular Japanese anime voice actors.

There’s a common moment of awakening every anime fan hits when they find out their favorite male character was voiced by a woman. As a voice actress, in addition to her roles (She has voiced “Dragon Ball” hero Goku, his children Gohan and Goten, his descendant Goku Jr., his father Bardock, and his evil version Goku Black) in the DragonBall series, she is most known for the roles of Tetsuro Hoshino in ‘Galaxy Express 999’, Kitaro in ’GeGeGe no Kitaro’ (first and second series), Guilmon in ‘Digimon Tamers’, and Dr. Kureha in ‘One Piece’.

She owns this spot simply for how iconic Goku’s “Kamehameha ” is.

1. Yuki Kaji

The top is reserved for the best and in our humble opinion, he is second to none. Eren Jaeger’s signature scream(“Tatakae!!”) is the work of prolific voice actor Yuki Kaji, who has worked in the industry since 2004.

He’s one of the most versatile male anime voice actors and having him in a series is like a blessing to anyone. In addition to lending his voice to many different anime characters, Kaji also presents a variety show and a web radio program.

A four-person singing quartet was another project he once took part in. He has voiced Shoto Todoroki from ‘My Hero Academia’, Meliodas from ‘Seven Deadly Sins’, Kenma from ‘Haikyu!!’ and Mabuchi Kou from ‘Ao Haru Ride’.

Yuki Kaji is also one of the highest-paid anime voice actors in Japan and deservedly so. For us, he just might be the best anime voice actor.

This concludes our list of best anime voice actors, what do you think of it? Did we leave anyone out? Let us know your opinion.

You may like 12 Upcoming New Anime Movies You Should Not Miss.

Get more from Manganime Tradnow:

• Anime Comparison: Dragon Ball Kai vs Dragon Ball Z
• 30 Must-Read Manhwa For Anyone
• 15 Easy Anime Songs to Learn on Piano
• Top Best Female Voice Actresses in Japan
• Top 10 Tokyo Revengers Characters Reviewed
• 12 Great Anime About Motorcycles
• Visiting the Ekom-Nkam Waterfall Cameroon
• Mob Psycho 100 Season 3 Release Date
• Is Mix Manga a sequel to Touch
• The Ultimate Guide to the Top Manga Stores in the World
• Top Platinum End Angels and Their Levels

Don’t you want to miss any cool events or tips about anime art, anime, webtoon and manga? Then sign up for our newsletter for the latest updates from Manganime Tradnow below 👇