How difficult is it to recognize a seiyuu?

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How well are you guys able to recognize foreign voice actors in an anime? Is it easy to pick apart Japanese seiyuu who speak a completely different language from you, or have you developed an ear for instantly knowing who is voicing a particular character?

The more you watch anime in Japanese, the easier it gets based on the certain characters they will normally play. Yukari Tamura has a pretty 'obvious' voicing for me, especially since every time I hear a cute character in an anime, it seems that she would give herself away in a heartbeat.

The same goes for Yuki Matsuoka, who whenever she speaks, her character might have a tendency to sound like Osaka from Azumanga Daioh. :)
 
After a while you start hearing the same voice over and over, even if you're not sure who it is. There's only a few voice actors I've committed to actually caring about, like Mamiko Noto, Norio Wakamoto, Jun Fukuyama and teh Rie, probably because their voices are so overly recognizable and the characters they play tend to be memorable.
 
I can recognize a few from time to time like Souichiro Hoshi and people like that. It's usually people that have distinct voices or that I associate with a good character of anime. I have to say that I know a lot more English voice actors than Japanese. I think it's mainly because I understand the language.
 
The only Japanese voices I seem to be able to pick out without fail are Norio Wakamoto, Toshio Furukawa, Aya Hirano, and Romi Paku. Especially Romi Paku, it's impossible to not recognize her.
 
I can recognize Hidenobu Kiuchi's voice fairly well now, although it took me thirty episodes of Monster to realize that Tenma kind of sounded like Hei.
 
I haven't been able to develop much of an ear at all for Japanese actors...nor would it matter if I did, because I'm not really familiar with any of their names. I did consider picking out Kappei Yamaguchi as a bit character in an episode of Seirei no Moribito to be somewhat of a personal accomplishment, but that probably had more to do with me having heard him as Usopp for 250+ episodes than anything else. :P
 
The easiest voice for me to recognize is Macross' own Kamiya Akira. He has a very distinct voice that's hard to miss.
 
About the only seiyuu I can pick out without any research is is Chiwa Saito (Hazuki in MoonPhase, Becky in Pani Poni Dash and Aika in Aria, among many others), Tomokazu Sugita (Kyon, TMHS and Yuichi Aizawa, Kanon) and Ai Nonaka (Konoka in Negima, Ichijo-san in Pani Poni Dash).

Most of the time, I'll hear a familiar voice and scour ANN's encyclopedia to find out where I know that voice from. This most recently happened with Lucky Star Vol. 6. Something in the way the seiyuu for Hiyori Tamura delivered a line made me think of Nakayama from Doki Doki School Hours. So, I went to the encyclopedia and confirmed they had the same seiyuu.
 
I can tell only 3 people when I hear them:

One Piece
Mayumi Tanaka- Luffy
Kazuya Nakai- Zoro

and

Naruto
Junko Takeuchi0- Naruto

Other than that, all the voices are lost on me.
 
I recognise a lot of them by character name rather than by va name (for instance, I knew straight away that the AI in sora kake girl was Lelouch, as with Lawrence in Spice and Wolf, and that Horo was Kallen's va...)

The one I do know is one of my favourites; Kugimiya Rie. I don't necessarily like the characters of the parts she has to play (Louise, Shana, Nagi) although some are awesome (Taiga) but she undeniably does an excellent job of them all, and has a memorable voice to boot. She's probably my favourite..
 
penguintruth said:
The only Japanese voices I seem to be able to pick out without fail are Norio Wakamoto, Toshio Furukawa, Aya Hirano, and Romi Paku. Especially Romi Paku, it's impossible to not recognize her.
Click to expand...

Anyone who doesn't recognize Paku Romi from the first syllable her character speaks is just plain deaf. She has the most awesome, distinctive voice ever.

I usually start recognizing seiyuu after hearing them in two or three roles, although the ones I don't hear particularly often are usually more of a 'I could have sworn I've heard that voice before...-checks ANN encyclopedia- Ah, yes, that was so-and-so!'. I can recognize tons of seiyuu just by hearing them, though, like Ueda Yuji, Yamaguchi Mayumi, Konishi Katsuyuki, Ohara Sayaka, Neya Michiko, Shibata Hidekatsu, and the amazing Satou Yuuko, who is recognizable merely by the fact that she's a fantastic actress with an absolutely beautiful voice who is barely in anything >.>
 
I think that once I've heard a person enough I can get a general idea based on their tone, inflection, timbre, etc.
 
I can recognize some Japanese VAs, although I am better at picking out English voices, particularly Texas-area actors.

The first J-VA I consistently recognized was Ayako Kawasumi, mainly because watched a string of shows that featured her in gentle/Yamato Nadeshiko roles, like Ai yori Aoshi, Mahoromatic, To Heart, Piano, and Outlaw Star. Come to think of it, that's usually how I start recognizing J-VAs. Due to typecasting, they'll usually show up in similar roles, and I'll start to realize, "Hey, that voice sounds just like the one in..."

Like Satsuki Yukino, who plays a lot of outspoken/angry girls. (Himeno in Pretear, Kaname Chidori in FMP, Mion/Shion Sonozaki in Higurashi, Saki Kasukabe in Genshiken.) Chiwa Saitou as petulant/mysterious lolis. (Arisu in Da Capo, Hazuki in Moon Phase, Aika in Aria, Becky in PaniPoniDash.) Of course, Rie Kugimiya for tsunderelolis. Yui Horie for quirky/airheaded girls. (Multi in To Heart, Tohru in Fruits Basket, Ayu in Kanon, Minori in Toradora.) Takehito Koyasu for smooth-talking bishounen. (Dan Simmonds in Argentosoma, Banba Chotarou in Gatekeepers [horrific miscast], Sei Arisaka in Hime-chan's Ribbon, Fool in Kaleido Star, Ukyo in Samurai 7.)
 
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