[Pellissier]

Sincerely Sawashiro Miyuki's Suruga sounded more like Shugo Chara's Yoru (Ikuto's Shugo Chara for who's ever followed that show) than any roles mentioned here. Yoru is a male, and Suruga's voice was a bit masculine, which is not unusual for female sport stars in anime.

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I loved her as Hazuki and Becky, but in part lost track of and in part was not struck by her performances in more recent years.

Same here, Chiwa Saito had been mostly forgotten since the times of Tsukuyomi. Perhaps she didn't have enough astounding roles, or better, not enough of such rules in my anime picks. Now, with Senjougahara, she certainly can aim to the best year performance, although I won't put her in a top ranking just for one, even if wonderful role.

In some other post, you said that Chiwa Saitou's Senjougahara and Koshimizu Ami's Horo are among the top perfomance of the year. I wouldn't forget Hanamura Satomi's rendering of Mirai in TM8.0 , that sure is a complicated role.

Top five? I find recently that I have a lot of trouble picking five top seiyuus, since I like too many, and there are too many ways of being great. What is a seiyuu's job? To not sound artificial? To have a voice that suits the character? To have a voice that makes a strong impression? To have a voice you like listening to?

I also have troubles when it comes to rank the seiyuus, and one of my major qualms is to dissect them between novices/seminovices (ie voices who appeared in the last two years) and veterans. So usually trying to rank them is just mess, and strongly depending on how many roles they've had in the last period. But generally speaking, and only considering the "veterans", my favs would be Nakahara Mai, Kitamura Eri, Kugimiya Rie, Shizuka Itou, Kuwashima Houko, Hirohashi Ryou, Horie Yui and Ueda Kana. I'm sure I'm forgetting at least a couple of them.

I love hearing distinctive voices like Sasaki Nozomi or Toyosaki Aki, but they are far from the "best."

Other voices of that kind (distinctive, like one in a million) would be Nazuka Kaori's, Noto Mamiko's, or Sakai Kanako's. By the way, while we're currently oversaturated by Toyosaki Aki, there's an almost total lack of Sasaki Nozomi. Her magnificent protagonist role in Bokura ga Ita didn't bring her any other major roles, and it's been 3 years since then. It quite saddens me.

The voice I most like listening to is Hayami Saori's. She is just learning her trade, but she is already fairly skilled and a decent actress within a certain range, but the sound of her voice is just such a pleasure to hear.

My current favourite voice is Tomatsu Haruka's, who's grown so much in just one year. Spunky, fresh, versatile.
Hayami Saori has a great potential, but still lacks a very distinctive trait, imho. It's one of those young seiyuus whose voice I don't always recognize at first (despite I'm following her since her Kou-chan role in Wagaya no Oinari-sama).

There are a number of young seiyuu who are rapidly rising in my estimation: Hayamin, Endou Aya, Takagaki Ayahi, Tomatsu Haruka, Itou Kanae. And I am coming to realize that Katou Emiri has talent, too.

It's been two years I've been following Itou Kanae's via Shugo Chara, and finally she's taken other protagonist' roles (Taishou Yakyuu Musume, Sora no Manimani), which is paying off. Tomatsu Haruka aside, she's probably my favourite young voice, especially for the whispering ability. Her whispered voice is one of the best I've ever heard.
To that list I'd add Kotobuki Minako (she was Tsumugi in K-On!, but also Dobashi in Hatsukoi Limited and currently is Kanon in Umi Monogatari, I love her serious low tone which can be switched to high as proved in K-On. She's got potential. She's part of the group "Sphere" along with Tomatsu, Toyosaki and Takagaki). Also adding Fukuhara Kaori, wonderful in Saki as Koromo. I wish Katou Emiri had more roles, as well.

Hanazawa Kana instead, is not growing like I expected her to do. She was quite disappointing in Kannagi as Zange, she gives me the impression of not being good in "mean/mischievous" roles. Like she can only be a cheerful moeblob. Plus, she doesn't star too often as a protagonist.

Anyway, we'll be seeing her in Bakemonogatari from ep.9, as next girl after Suruga.

Sorry about lenght, but KC's post had a lot of interesting points (as always).