Hello there. It's been about a week since my last post, which is a pretty long time compared to what I have been doing for the past month or so. Anyway, I'm back now.......so here's today's topic!
YAMADERA KOICHI (山寺 宏一)
七色の声を持つ男 Nanairo no Koe wo Motsu Otoko
'The Man With The Voice of Seven Colours'........... is the great description given to Yamadera Koichi (山寺 宏一) and his talent at manipulating his voice. Yamadera is a very famous Japanese 'seiyuu' (声優), a voice actor, and is given this flattering title due to his wide range in the sound of his voice, and personality of the character.
Anime fans around the world would probably recognise his deep and manly, but at the same time, smooth and cool voice, in some of their most favourite series and characters. For example...
Kaji Ryoji
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Togusa
Ghost in the Shell
Spike Spiegel
Cowboy Bebop
Although these guys have a very cool voice, which is also one of the reasons they are popular, it's basically the same one. Just basing it off these famous characters, most people would probably question the 'Man of seven coloured voices' tag.
But that's only because his other roles are basically unknown to many people outside of Japan. The reason for this is generally because these other roles are from shows that even some of the most devoted anime freaks wouldn't bother watching, let alone know about. Basically I'm talking about anime aimed at little kids lol.
I don't know if you can even get your hands on a subbed version of some, like Anpan-man (Anko bread man), or Kaiketsu Zorori.
Oh wait ....they do have Kaiketsu Zorori on youtube
He plays Zorori the fox dude in the middle
Yeah.......anyway he also plays as Cheese, a dog off popular kid show Anpan-man
He also has had some sort of small role in all of the Pokemon movies, and even some Pokemon creatures.
Kamonegi
Can't remeber the English name..
Mew
Lugia
Daffy Duck
.......Okay Daffy Duck's not a Pokemon but he sort of looked like he belonged in that group when I was uploading the pictures. It still doesn't change the fact however, that he is voiced by Yamadera in the cartoons, and the Kingdom Hearts game series.
He also has a LOT of Walt Disney roles including the
Beast man from "The Beauty and the Beast'
Genie off 'Aladin'
Mushu from ' Mulan'
Sebastian (little lobster thing) from 'Little Mermaid'
Donkey from 'Shrek'
Stitch from 'Lilo and Stitch'
.........and a few others
Such as with the Disney films, many roles are from dubbed versions of foreign movies ......and most foreigners wouldn't have much of a reason to watch these, unless if they were looking for a laugh. He's been the Japanese voice for many American stars, and quite a wide variety as well. Just a few are:
Robin Williams
Brad Pitt
Eddie Murphy
Jim Carey
He's also does the voices for other stars such as Tom Hanks, Steven Chow, Michael J. Fox, Jean Claude Van Damme.
His career goes beyond voice acting though. He has also acted in several movies and hosts a popular a morning television show for children called 'Oha Suta', (short for 'Ohayou Sutajio', which means Good morning Studio). On this show they basically introduce stuff that kids would generally find interesting, like the latest toys and newest godzilla or pokemon movie.
Another show he hosts is the Monomane Kouhaku Utagassen ものまね紅白歌合戦 (Red and White: Impersonation Song Contest), a show that they have a couple of times a year, where people impersonate famous people, not limited to, but generally musicians.
**'Red and white' because in Japan, contests with two opposing sides traditionally consist of a red and a white team (symbloising the national flag).
As well as being host, he is also a regular participant in this contest and other 'Monomane' shows, and has proven to be one of the best at it.
Here's a compilation of some of his impersonations. If you skip to around 4 min he does 'When they Saints Go Marching In' by Louis Armstrong
'When they Saints Go Marching In' by Louis Armstrong
Soooo yes is the man with the seven coloured voice, Yamadera Koichi.....hope you admire/appreciate his work more now, and that you found this post interesting. Stay tuned for some other random Japanese related stuff.
Wonder if Ken Watanabe from the Godzilla movie was a seiyuu one time. He does have a way of his own in that movie.
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