Has anyone else noticed that Shimizu Ai is providing the voice for two different characters in Strawberry Panic? Obviously, she has a lead role in Suzumi Tamao, but she also plays Hyuuga Kizuna. If you can’t recall who Kizuna is, I don’t blame you, since she’s a minor character rarely referred to by name: she’s the pigtailed girl in Chikaru’s harem.
At first, I thought Kizuna’s seiyuu was simply channeling Shimizu Ai. Nope. It’s Shimizu Ai herself. Granted, seiyuu occasionally pull double duty - most of the guest characters in Simoun, for example, are voiced by members of the main cast - but it seems rare for a headlining seiyuu to voice two regular characters in the same show. It’s especially weird when you consider how distinctive Shimizu Ai’s voice is. While she plays each role a bit differently (Kizuna sounds more squeaky and immature), there’s no hiding the fact it’s Shimizu Ai.
Which raises some interesting questions: have Tamao and Kizuna ever interacted with each other in the same scene? I’m sure they’ve appeared on-screen simultaneously at some point, but have they ever both been party to the same conversation? Or, more importantly, have they ever spoken directly with each other? I don’t believe it’s happened yet, but if it ever does… how bizarre will that be?
It happens. Perks to voice acting over real acting I suppose. But you’re right in that it is pretty rare. It’s not like YUKANA pulling two in Mai-Hime though… probably the oddest I’ve seen.
I believe that they have never interacted with one another, i just caught up lately and with that in mind i watched, but didnt see any actual talking to each other from tamao and kizuna.
I
It’s not that bizarre if you consider that the Sonozaki twins in Higurashi are played by the same seiyuu and they interact with each other ALOT
The Sonozaki sisters are twins, though, so you sort of expect them to sound similar, if not the same (this is especially true when you consider how the story specifically exploits the fact they’re twins… wouldn’t have worked, really, had they had different seiyuu).
I had forgotten about the Yukana/Mai-HiME thing. That WAS weird. I’d be curious to know how that came to be.
FOOLS!! In Blood , Riku and Diva are played by the same person. And one is a major character while the other is the super antagonist. And SPOILER, they have sex (rape though).
There’s also Rie Tanaka as Meer/Lacus? Though they ‘look’ the same, so it’s to be expected. There are plenty of those twins/lookalikes/siblings being voiced by the same seiyuu; ie Dori/Gura (Akeno Watanabe) and Inkara/Sasante (Toru Okawa) from Utawarerumono. Come to think of it, Akeno has done dual duties a few times; ARIA (Al/Maa-shachou) & Zegapain (Tomigai/May-Yen) off the top of my head.
Twins don’t always need to have the same seiyuu though, look at Hikaru/Kaoru (Ouran) and er, Futakoi lol. But yeah, the Yukana thing in Mai-HiME was well weird. Especially if you watched the seiyuu afureko video and saw her talking to herself in some scenes ~_~
I think this is a lot more common than you realize. In “Kiki’s Delivery Service” both Kiki and Ursula were voiced by the same seiyuu, which makes the long sequence between them in the cabin rather odd once you realize.
In DragonBall Z, Gohan and Goku and Goten were all voiced by the same seiyuu. In the English dub Piccolo and Vegita are the same voice actor. (He was also the dubbing director.)
The Japanese version of DBZ uses the same seiyuu a lot of times in succession. Android 20 and Dai-Kaioshin were the same seiyuu, and Satan-san and Dabura were the same seiyuu. One seiyuu did Babidi, Dr. Briefs, the King, and North Kai.
Of course, with all the characters in DBZ, they’d have exhausted the world supply of seiyuu if they’d tried to cast a different one for every role.
…and the ultimate in seiyuu double-duty (Though i haven’t verified this, I’ve read it online twice, so it must be true!) - all the Tachikomas in Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex are done by a single voice actor.
Jeff, are you sorry you brought this one up yet? We forgive you ’cause you update so often!
If it’s possible, it would be an exercise in controlling her voice box. Changing accents from one character to another, both voiced by one seiyuu, would be quite a challenge for someone like her doing double duty (heh, alliteration).
I think the Yukana pairing in My HiME was foreshadowing for the relationship between Fumiko and Mashiro, and the true nature of the Mashiro present in the series. To say much more probably gets one into spoiler territory, but I’d love for them to make an OAV of the Miko Mashiro we get a fleeting glimpse of during Mai’s fight with the Black Prince.
Heh, for some reason this reminds me of something in Friends - Lisa Kudrow playing both Phoebe and her twin sister Ursula. Those conversations were pretty hilarious.
Yeah, I know its not anime, but its relevant ^_^