Summary
There’s no denying thatShoto Todorokiis one of the best and most beloved characters inMy Hero Academia, mainly thanks to his unique design, tragic backstory, incredible powers, and laid-back personality. However, there’s another important factor that explains his immense popularity: his calm voice and the talented performer behind it, the greatYuki Kaji.
Kaji is a legendary Japanese voice actor who has been active in the anime industry for almost twenty years and, as such, has worked in many popular shows, even before he was cast as Todoroki inMy Hero Academia. Kaji’s incredible voice and impressive vocal range have resulted in numerous unbelievable performances, and the following examples are some of his absolute best roles to date.
While Yuki Kaji is mostly known for his edgy and serious characters, his involvement in the animated adaptation ofThe Seven Deadly Sinshas proven that he can also play more heroic and lighthearted figures. In this case, he voices the main character,Meliodas, known for his perverted antics and fun personality.
Needless to say, Kaji was the ideal voice actor to choose for Meliodas, because not only can he embody those traits perfectly, but he can also make the character sound cool or threatening whenever he’s angry or in the middle of an intense battle. This role, alongside many others, cemented Yuki Kaji as a talented performer who often specializes in voicing anime protagonists.
Since the originalDiamond is Unbreakablemangacame out back in 1992,JoJo’s Bizarre Adventurefans spent twenty-four years waiting for an animated adaptation and speculating on which Japanese voice actors were going to voice each prominent character. Naturally, many of them were surprised and delighted to find out that Yuki Kaji had been cast as one of the most important players in the story,Koichi Hirose.
This role is yet another excellent demonstration of Kaji’s impressive vocal range because he made Koichi sound youthful and innocent early on, which was very different from his previous work as Todoroki or Meliodas. However, as Koichi got some incredible character development throughout the story, Kaji made his voice sound a little bit deeper and more intimidating to match, which was a great touch. On top of that, he also had to voiceKoichi’s stand,Echoes, who randomly shouts profanities whenever it uses an attack, and this led to a hilarious performance that became a meme amongJoJofans.
One Punch Man
When taking a look at his performance as Shoto Todoroki, it’s immediately evident that Yuki Kaji has a proclivity for voicing dark or serious characters. This has led to him often being cast as anti-heroes or villains, with one of the best examples beingSpeed-o'-Sound Sonic fromOne Punch Man.It’s important to keep in mind thatthis infamous ninja is equal parts a ruthless anti-hero and a goofy comic relief, which means that Kaji was a perfect choice for this role.
He can seamlessly make Sonic sound calm and cruel whenever he’s plotting against Saitama, only to make him sound silly and pathetic when his plans are inevitably thwarted. Fortunately for fans of this voice actor, Sonic will have an even bigger role in future seasons ofOne Punch Man, so Kaji will be able to further elevate his performance in the near future.
Undead Unluck
Yuki Kaji clearly has a lot of experience voicing both protagonists and antagonists, which means that he’s the ideal voice actor for a character who perfectly embodies both tropes at the same time. That was most likely the reason he was chosen to voiceRip Tristanin the recent animated adaptation ofUndead Unluck.
Rip is introduced early on asan antagonistic figure from Under who wields the deadly Unrepair ability, and Kaji’s excellent performance makes Rip sound as ruthless and violent as expected. However, it is later revealed during the Autumn arc that this villain is actually quite kind and heroic, and, in that same vein, Kaji’s voice work does not disappoint. Rip eventually grows to become one of the most complex characters inUndead Unluck, so his voice actor will certainly get his time in the spotlight in future seasons.
It’s fascinating to think thatSabitois arguably one of the most iconic and popular characters inDemon Slayerdespite having very few appearances because he was already dead before the start of the story. This can be chalked up to a number of different reasons, but one of them is the incredible performance of his voice actor, Yuki Kaji.
In the few scenes he’s featured in, Sabito sounds and feels smart, kind, and heroic, not to mention that he’s a solid mentor for Tanjiro. These traits, combined with his admittedly cool-looking design, have made him a beloved character. Fortunately, Sabito was heavily featured in some emotional scenes with his friend, Giyu Tomioka, during the recent Hashira Training arc, and Kaji’s impeccable performance did not disappoint.
Unbeknownst to most fans (who tend to favor the English dub), many legendary Japanese voice actors have worked on the iconicPokemonanime. Most of them have lent their voices to Gym Leaders or other minor characters that only appear in one episode, whereas Yuki Kaji voicedClemont, one of the protagonists ofPokemon the Series: XY.
When compared to some of Kaji’s other roles, Clemont is a breath of fresh air, seeing as he’s not dark, serious, or perverted. This Kalosian trainer is an intelligent and hard-working genius who knows a lot about technology and has built many innovative gadgets. As a result,Kaji gives a really solid performance that makes Clemont sound friendly and funny. That said, he was also able to make him sound more serious whenever he gets involved in a Pokemon battle, which makes a lot of sense, considering he’s also the Gym Leader of the Lumiose Gym.
Not every role in Yuki Kaji’s extensive career has been in a violent action anime since he also worked onHaikyu!!,which is possibly one of the most popular sports anime in the entire medium. In this case, he voiced the one and onlyKenma Kozume, who quickly became a prominent fan favorite.
Kenma is not too different from Shoto Todoroki, seeing as he’s also very quiet, composed, and reserved, but he’s not afraid to speak his mind, especially when he’s playing volleyball with his friends and teammates. Because of his previous work playing characters with similar personalities, Kaji was the perfect choice for Kenma, and his impeccable and emotional performance undoubtedly contributed to the character’s immense popularity.
Yuki Kaji may be known for multiple roles in the anime industry, but there’s no denying that his biggest and most iconic character isEren Yeager, the protagonist ofAttack on Titan. This is the performance of a lifetime, and Kaji spent over ten years working to bring this complex character to life, with many layers to his performance.
At the beginning of the series, Eren was a more innocent and heroic figure who went through a lot of harsh situations, and Kaji did an incredible job at making him sound kindhearted, but also by screaming and crying during the show’s many emotional scenes. Nevertheless, everything changed in the fourth season,where Eren’s entire character was turned on its head, and he essentially became the main villain ofAttack on Titan. Fortunately, he maintained his voice actor, and Yuki Kaji got the chance to show off his full range by making Eren sound surprisingly ruthless, cruel, and violent whenever it was necessary. At the end of the day, Eren Yeager is one of the most controversial and complicated anime characters ever created, and his talented voice actor definitely contributed a lot to his reputation.
