Negima! Voice Actor Appreciation & Discussion

[SleeplessHeart]

The purpose of this thread is to discuss, critique and idolize the Voice Actor cast of Negima. The hope is that the discussion will center on their performances as professional voice actors and not on the show content (which can be discussed in the various Episode threads). Please remember this simple rule when critiquing a VA's performance or reading another forum member's critique:

• Don't take it personally.
  In other words, you’re free to disagree with another person’s opinion, but don’t flame them if they offer a well written and well thought out analysis that differs from your own opinion. Keep it civil.
  
  
• Voice Actors are humans.
  Yes, it’s true. They’re human. Therefore, don’t just indiscriminately rip them and their work apart as if they’re inorganic objects. You don’t have to praise them non-stop, but be thoughtful in your criticism.

This thread might duplicate some discussion in the Episode threads, but it can also serve to demystify various VA roles, disseminate VA information (VA Bios, VA photos, etc) and provide cast information of various types as well as discussion about performances.
End of edit by Mod (xris): Above comments borrowed from an original post by Catgirls

The latest Negima CD contains a bonus DVD titled "Mahoragakuen Chutobu Nyugakushiki (Entrance Ceremony)". Unfortunately, this DVD doesn't show a preview of the animation, but it does reveals the Seiyus of the highly anticipated anime. It is nice to know the seiyus of Asuna and Konoka. The CD itself is basically a four-parts drama tracks plus 4 songs. The first song is the anthem of Mahora Academy. The first drama is about Asuna who is trying to write a Love letter to Takahata sensei. Don't ask me how it goes, I am still learning japanese language.

A few comments:
- Although it has 31 female students, the story mainly involves around Negi, Asuna and Konoka. Other characters usually only get one episode turn, with exception of a few characters. It will be more like "To Heart".
- Asuna's voice meets my expectation, although I really love to see Yui Horie to play the role ( I believe that Asuna = Narusegawa Naru). However for my favourite character, Konoka, the voice sounds a bit younger/less mature that I have expected when I read the manga. It seems that Ken Akamatsu wants to potray Konoka as a cheerful and simple minded girl. Ayaka's voice in the drama needs a bit of improvement. Nodoka character is presented as a very very timid girl, she can hardly finish her sentences.
- Gee, I see Naru in Asuna, Shinobu in Nodoka and Motoko in Setsuna, it brings back the memory of Love Hina. I am waiting for this title with a great expectation.

[kj1980]

Originally Posted by SleeplessHeart

The latest Negima CD contains a bonus DVD titled "Mahoragakuen Chutobu Nyugakushiki (Entrance Ceremony)". Unfortunately, this DVD doesn't show a preview of the animation, but it does reveals the Seiyus of the highly anticipated anime. It is nice to know the seiyus of Asuna and Konoka. The CD itself is basically a four-parts drama tracks plus 4 songs. The first song is the anthem of Mahora Academy. The first drama is about Asuna who is trying to write a Love letter to Takahata sensei. Don't ask me how it goes, I am still learning japanese language.

A few comments:
- Although it has 31 female students, the story mainly involves around Negi, Asuna and Konoka. Other characters usually only get one episode turn, with exception of a few characters. It will be more like "To Heart".
- Asuna's voice meets my expectation, although I really love to see Yui Horie to play the role ( I believe that Asuna = Narusegawa Naru). However for my favourite character, Konoka, the voice sounds a bit younger/less mature that I have expected when I read the manga. It seems that Ken Akamatsu wants to potray Konoka as a cheerful and simple minded girl. Ayaka's voice in the drama needs a bit of improvement. Nodoka character is presented as a very very timid girl, she can hardly finish her sentences.
- Gee, I see Naru in Asuna, Shinobu in Nodoka and Motoko in Setsuna, it brings back the memory of Love Hina. I am waiting for this title with a great expectation.

Asuna's voice is done by Kanda Akemi, who is best known for playing Miharu's voice in "D.C.~da capo~"

Konoka's voice is done by Nonaka Ai, who is did Shipon's voice in "Uchuu no Stellvia"

Anyway, here are the list of seiyuus for Negima, listed in the following order:

roll call number, character name (seiyuu) - notable previous work

1 Aisaka Sayo (Shiratori Yuri) – Narusegawa Mei in “Love Hina”
2 Akashi Yuuna (Kimura Madoka) – Haruna Hitoe in “My Merry May”
3 Asakura Kazumi (Sasagawa Ayana) – first debut in “Negima”
4 Ayase Yue (Kuwatani Natsuko) – Urashima Kanako in “Love Hina”
5 Izumi Ako (Yamakawa Kotomi) – Mary in “Gadguard”
6 Okouchi Akira (Yamamoto Azumi) – debut in “Negima”
7 Kakakizaki Misa (Itou Shizuka) – Hasegura Rei in “Maria-sama ga Miteru”
8 Kagurazaka Asuna (Kanda Akemi) – Amakasa Miharu in “D.C.~da capo~”
9 Kasuga Misora (Bandou Ai) – first debut in “Negmia”
10 Karakuri Chachamaru (Watanabe Akeno) – Sena Robin in “Witch Hunter Robin”
11 Kugimiya Madoka (Deguchi Mami) – first debut in “Negima”
12 Ku Fei (Tanaka Hazuki) – first debut in “Negima”
13 Konoe Konaka (Nonaka Ai) – Katase Shima in “Uchuu no Stellvia”
14 Saotome Haruna (Ishige Sawa) – Paiway Underberg in “Vandread”
15 Sakurazaki Setsuna (Kobayashi Yuu) – Aoba Dandou in “DANDOH!!”
16 Sasaki Makie (Horie Yui) – Narusegawa Naru in “Love Hina”
17 Shiina Sakurako (Oomae Akane) – Chihiro in “Azumanga Daioh”
18 Tatsumiya Mana (Sakuma Miho) – first debut in “Negima”
19 Chao Rinshen (Oosawa Chiaki) – Sakura in “Street Fighter ZERO”
20 Nagase Kaede (Shiraishi Ryouko) – Konoike Chiaki in “Tenjo Tenge”
21 Naba Chizuru (Kobayashi Misa) – Chihiro in “Hi no Tori”
22 Narutaki Fuuka (Koyama Kimiko) – Onigawara Mao in “Rikujou Boetai Mao-chan”
23 Narutaki Fumika (Kanou Mari) – first debut in “Negima”
24 Hakase Satomi (Kadowaki Mai) – Yoshida Mayu in “Kono Minikukute Utsukushii Sekai”
25 Hasegawa Chisame (Shimura Yumi) – first debut in “Negima”
26 Evangeline A.K. McDowell (Matsuoka Yuki) – Kasuga ‘Osaka’ Ayumu in “Azumanga Daioh”
27 Miyazaki Nodoka (Noto Mamiko) – Toudou Shimako in “Maria-sama ga Miteru”
28 Murakami Natsumi (Aizawa Mai) – first debut in “Negima”
29 Yukihiro Ayaka (Minagawa Junko) – Echizen Ryoma of “Prince of Tennis”
30 Yotsuba Satsuki (Inoue Naomi) – first debut in “Negima”
31 Zazie Rainyday (Inokuchi Yuka) – Kamishiro Rin in “Maburaho”

Negi Springfield (Satou Rina) – Takeshima Tsutako in “Maria-sama ga Miteru”
Minamoto Shizuna Sensei (Inoue Kikuko) – Belldandy in “Aa Megami-sama”

[Mr_Paper]

Looks like a good overall voice cast.

I was a bit suprised by how many first time voice actors the were. They make up nearly a third of the cast, but with 30+ voice actors I guess there's the possibility of having more first time voice actors. After all, I think all but two of the voice actors in FLCL were first time voice actors too. ^^;

[bluemist]

BIG cast. Isn't it way too hard to keep track of them all? Even if you say 'it will only focus on a few'...

I haven't tried to read the manga yet but I guess I'm scared of the high number of characters...

[kj1980]

Originally Posted by bluemist

BIG cast. Isn't it way too hard to keep track of them all? Even if you say 'it will only focus on a few'...

I haven't tried to read the manga yet but I guess I'm scared of the high number of characters...

That is what many people thought at first. But then, you realize that most mangas end up having 30 or more characters that you can recall from the top of your head - especially ones from Jump Comics (Naruto, DragonBall, etc...)

[Kyuven]

Originally Posted by kj1980

That is what many people thought at first. But then, you realize that most mangas end up having 30 or more characters that you can recall from the top of your head - especially ones from Jump Comics (Naruto, DragonBall, etc...)

true...but 33 static characters? yeesh!

[Breogan]

Is it me or is the voice actor/actress for Kamo-kun (the ermine) missing?

[bluemist]

Originally Posted by kj1980

That is what many people thought at first. But then, you realize that most mangas end up having 30 or more characters that you can recall from the top of your head - especially ones from Jump Comics (Naruto, DragonBall, etc...)

It's quite astounding though to think that 30+ characters are introduced in the first chapters alone... Naruto took tons of chapters to have as many characters introduced.

I hope it will be a 'long' anime series, if not many characters will be left out in the dark.

[Kyuven]

Originally Posted by bluemist

It's quite astounding though to think that 30+ characters are introduced in the first chapters alone... Naruto took tons of chapters to have as many characters introduced.

I hope it will be a 'long' anime series, if not many characters will be left out in the dark.

unfortunately it'll probably catch up to the manga too quickly and they'll pull a GTO on us (suddenly end it in 2 episodes that are so far from the real ending it's astounding)

[Breogan]

Originally Posted by Kyuven

unfortunately it'll probably catch up to the manga too quickly and they'll pull a GTO on us (suddenly end it in 2 episodes that are so far from the real ending it's astounding)

Hardly since the manga runs weekly. As far as I know they are around chapter 50something

[Kyuven]

Originally Posted by Breogan

Hardly since the manga runs weekly. As far as I know they are around chapter 50something

and how many of those will be animated you think?

[Newprimus]

They're planning the OVA, then a TV series if it's successful.

How are they gonna do that? The beginning in the OVA, then continue in the TV probably?

[brightman]

Originally Posted by Shinova

They're planning the OVA, then a TV series if it's successful.

How are they gonna do that? The beginning in the OVA, then continue in the TV probably?

Usually they do a special stand-alone story in the OVA, then do the actual story in the TV series... Though I do think that it's indeed too early for them to be making an anime to this manga since it's only a year old.

[SleeplessHeart]

I have never seen such an impressive seiyuu line-up, with big names like Kikuko Inoue , Yui Horie and other leading roles from recent anime titles. With budget like this, they must have secured a contract for English license.

[brightman]

Originally Posted by SleeplessHeart

I have never seen such an impressive seiyuu line-up, with big names like Kikuko Inoue , Yui Horie and other leading roles from recent anime titles. With budget like this, they must have secured a contract for English license.

I wouldn't call this that impressive... There are so many new people there... There were a few anime with more impressive names in the last two years (Gundam Seed, Ai Yori Aoshi, etc.)

[Kaoru Chujo]

I quit watching the first Negima in part because I couldn't keep all the characters straight. So I've made a character chart for the new anime.

The chart has a pic of each student, names their seiyuu, links to the ANN page for the seiyuu (or to the entry in the hashihime seiyuu gallery, if I have one there) and gives a brief description of the character, taken from the official site for the new anime. Just making it has helped me a lot.

There are definitely a lot of unknown seiyuu in this show, in addition to the few bigger names. As far as I could see without making a careful study, all the students are played by the same seiyuu as in the first anime. The notable additions seem to be the inimitable Saitou Chiwa as Anya, Shinbou's other old standby Mugihito doing narration, and Sawashiro Miyuki as Nekane Springfield.

(cross-posted to the generic discussion thread)

[Shiroth]

Not a bad idea Kaoru Chujo, i know a good far view of the seiyuu's from the show.. but having a chart like this makes it much easier. :3

Now, here's the fun part - choosing my fav' seiyuu from the show.

[Vexx]

I'm a little surprised.. I thought all the originals were back save one or two. Guess I need to check the list and see who was changed. (I rather liked the VAs for Evangeline, Chach, Setsuna, and Kaede).

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

Now, here's the fun part - choosing my fav' seiyuu from the show.

What the hell was i thinking.. i'm so stupid. ;_;

Of course its going to be Nonaka Ai, the seiyuu behind one of my fav' characters - Konoka! I believe her voice expresses the pure cute side of her, like nothing i've seen before. She brought Konoka to such great life in the later part of the original series.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Well, Shiroth, I liked Kanda Akemi the first time round, but I just adored her voice in the otherwise not so interesting Tonagura. Nonaka Ai became a favorite after Iriya/UFO. Wikipedia Japan says she calls herself a "voice therapist." Inokuchi Yuka was great as Anju in Karin. But ten seconds of Saitou Chiwa is as riveting as ten minutes of a lot of other people. Who to choose, who to choose?

And Vexx, I think they are almost, if not all, the same seiyuus. I just made the chart to get all the names and faces on one page that would be easier to scan. And to get the new images there, which are somewhat different from the old ones. And I myself didn't follow the old show long enough to get everyone straight, so I thought I needed something to help me.