The ones who starred in Gintama, however, tainted their perception in other shows.
Their performance is very comical and memorable and destroys the seriousness of any other show.
This is a definition of moe gap, and we're not complaining.
It happens all the time — you start a new title and then you think: "Oh! Victor is voiced by Grimmjow!", or "Johnny sounds like Nanamin!", or something like that. And it's fine, because voice actors and their performances are a very crucial part of any anime, and skilled professionals deserve all the recognition they get.
Don't forget that they are actors, though: they act out different characters in different franchises, and it would've been wrong to couple them with one specific title. Until you stumble upon Gintama.
Hours upon hours hearing Zura just to find him in Fyodor
Honestly, it could be right for any long-running anime series, be it Bleach, Naruto, or One Piece, but Gintama's voice-acting performance is extremely memorable. You most likely remember Akira Ishida not for his portrayal of Gaara from Naruto or Fyodor from Bungou Stray Dogs, but for Kotarou Katsura, a rampaging terrorist who is a little bit dense and is usually the butt of many jokes. After all, we didn't see a Twitter account named "Inhuman Gaara Sounds", but "Inhuman Katsura Sounds" exists and is pretty popular.
The same can be said about other members of the cast. We talked about one of the reasons for watching Ikenaikyo being the voice actors: the male lead is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita, who voiced Gintoki in Gintama, and trust us, the performance is pretty similar, especially when Allen gets into his "demon lord" mode and becomes a drama queen. It's hard to watch Initial D now without hearing Takasugi in Takehito Koyasu's performance. And don't get us started on Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: the franchise is known for being quite unhinged, but you just cannot look at Dio and Joseph the way you should after hearing the same voices in Gintama.
Moe gap is real
Gintama ruins the seriousness. The show prides itself on being a joke and not taking itself seriously. It lulls you into this sense of security, making you believe that it will stay pretty lighthearted, and then it hits you with something akin to an uppercut. But the hilarious moments with voice actors sometimes sounding completely inhumane ruin your perception of them in other series. Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood shares the same voice actor with Tatsuma Sakamoto; these two characters cannot be even more different, yet your brain already expects this stupid booming laugh to erupt from Roy.
The cast surely had fun doing Gintama, but now these performances are etched into our minds: they were too good, too perfect, and we spent almost 150 hours hearing them play these characters. The human mind works in funny ways, so now it's hard for some of us to take the characters portrayed by Gintama cast seriously in other shows. Not that we're complaining, though: if anything, such a memorable performance makes us appreciate the voice actors more. We're just thankful that Kenjiro Tsuda wasn't in Gintama in any major role and didn't ruin Nanamin for us.
Don't get us wrong, we love them!
Summary:
Popular voice actors are easily recognized.
The ones who starred in Gintama, however, tainted their perception in other shows.
Their performance is very comical and memorable and destroys the seriousness of any other show.
This is a definition of moe gap, and we're not complaining.
It happens all the time — you start a new title and then you think: "Oh! Victor is voiced by Grimmjow!", or "Johnny sounds like Nanamin!", or something like that. And it's fine, because voice actors and their performances are a very crucial part of any anime, and skilled professionals deserve all the recognition they get.
Don't forget that they are actors, though: they act out different characters in different franchises, and it would've been wrong to couple them with one specific title. Until you stumble upon Gintama.
Hours upon hours hearing Zura just to find him in Fyodor
Honestly, it could be right for any long-running anime series, be it Bleach, Naruto, or One Piece, but Gintama's voice-acting performance is extremely memorable. You most likely remember Akira Ishida not for his portrayal of Gaara from Naruto or Fyodor from Bungou Stray Dogs, but for Kotarou Katsura, a rampaging terrorist who is a little bit dense and is usually the butt of many jokes. After all, we didn't see a Twitter account named "Inhuman Gaara Sounds", but "Inhuman Katsura Sounds" exists and is pretty popular.
The same can be said about other members of the cast. We talked about one of the reasons for watching Ikenaikyo being the voice actors: the male lead is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita, who voiced Gintoki in Gintama, and trust us, the performance is pretty similar, especially when Allen gets into his "demon lord" mode and becomes a drama queen. It's hard to watch Initial D now without hearing Takasugi in Takehito Koyasu's performance. And don't get us started on Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: the franchise is known for being quite unhinged, but you just cannot look at Dio and Joseph the way you should after hearing the same voices in Gintama.
Moe gap is real
Gintama ruins the seriousness. The show prides itself on being a joke and not taking itself seriously. It lulls you into this sense of security, making you believe that it will stay pretty lighthearted, and then it hits you with something akin to an uppercut. But the hilarious moments with voice actors sometimes sounding completely inhumane ruin your perception of them in other series. Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood shares the same voice actor with Tatsuma Sakamoto; these two characters cannot be even more different, yet your brain already expects this stupid booming laugh to erupt from Roy.
The cast surely had fun doing Gintama, but now these performances are etched into our minds: they were too good, too perfect, and we spent almost 150 hours hearing them play these characters. The human mind works in funny ways, so now it's hard for some of us to take the characters portrayed by Gintama cast seriously in other shows. Not that we're complaining, though: if anything, such a memorable performance makes us appreciate the voice actors more. We're just thankful that Kenjiro Tsuda wasn't in Gintama in any major role and didn't ruin Nanamin for us.
