Considering the voice acting business can often draw from a number of pools of talent, it's rare to see any role go to a one off actor who maybe turned up in the office at the right time.
This is a tribute to them.
Some ground rules, the entries on the list have to have been main characters and not had any other named anime character on their resume, background characters are exempt as are American cartoon roles.
No hentai roles.
Honorable Mention: Maile Flanagan as Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto
I so wanted to put her down but she plays a named character in Astroboy, pretty good to net Naruto after only one other role though
10. Purva Bedi as Rion Aida from Agent Aika
The persistent assistant of Agent Aika, the performance lacks some emotion but Purva did a good job with what was otherwise a unique script.
9. Lindsay Doleshal and Shana McClendon as Nina Kirov and Miyuki Ayanokouji from Debutante Detective Corp
ADVfilms had to dig deep to make up numbers for bigger casts in their earliest runs but it is surprising these two didn't get any more roles especially when there were worst actors who did get more roles.
8. Lori Young as Lorna Endou from Ex-Driver
Lorna is one of favourite characters and Lori did a solid job working off the actress behind Lisa.
7. Sarah Strange as Ranma Saotome from Ranma 1/2
Sarah played Ranma for the movies, OVA episodes and half the TV series, at times you wouldn't even guess Ranma to have a female voice actor.
6. Julia Reyna Kato as Mirai Ozora from Moldiver
My inspiration for this list having just reviewed this. While l often call this performance very Nickelodeon, I couldn't ask for a better choice.
5. David Thund as Signal from Twin Signal
I have no idea where this guy came from but in one OVA he owned his whole performance and yet he's nowhere to be found afterwards.
4. Jessica Nigri as Super Sonico from SoniAmi Super Sonico The Animation
Better known for Cosplay and playing Cinder in RWBY, Jessica was a surprise pick for Sonico considering the character is to Nitroplus what Miku is to Vocaloid, so to see Sonico be voiced well in English is welcome.
3. Brennan MacKenzie and J.Patrick Lawlor as Rally Vincent and Bean Bandit from Riding Bean
Riding Bean is my highest rated OVA so to see two unknowns pull off a pleasant Rally Vincent and an Elvis like Bean Bandit is quite a feat.
2. Ellen Gerstell as Mihoshi Kuramitsu from Tenchi Muyo
Tenchi Muyo's cast had some big 80s and 90s names of cartoons among it's books with Ellen having previously been cast in JEM and the Dragon's Lair cartoon. Out of all the one off roles, Mihoshi is the best.
1. Pretty Much the Entire Cast of Miami Guns
All but two actors in this anime have never done any voice works, not before or after. Considering that the ambitious Anime Nation were hoping to ride the success of Excel Saga with this title, what we got was actually surprisingly well acted for a cast of nobodies, Yao's actress is having a ball in this. Miami Guns is a pretty terrible anime but it's fun trash anime at it's finest.
If it hasn't been mentioned yet it is in the top ten.
15. Zoids
This is how I wanted Transformers to be if crossed with Gundam. I grew up with this and it serves as my favourite war anime, how is not licensed.
14. Cardcaptor Sakura
The best solo magical girl in anime, a character that has stayed consistently charming throughout her history and arguably Clamp's best anime.
13. Girls Und Panzer
More tank action and a sport I want to see in real life, a series I can never get tired of and a fantastic tribute to the old metal soldiers of World War II.
12. Riding Bean/Gunsmith Cats
Put together into one as it's same universe. Both shows are an epic showcase of fast cars, gun fights and explosions all set to a Chicago style soundtrack. Would've been number one had it been longer.
11. Little Witch Academia
Growing up I watched the Worst Witch, a series I rate better than Harry Potter. Little Witch Academia scratches a nostalgia itch of the Worst Witch and adds a unique art style and fun characters, I cannot praise this series enough and it only missed the top ten due to me not quite finishing it.
To keep up with something I wrote a couple weeks back, my next review will be on Gunsmith Cats, a series I listed along with four others but included with this review is also Riding Bean as both series occur in the same universe and are short enough to be reviewed together, so here is the review for Riding Bean & Gunsmith Cats.
That is one sexy car
Kenichi Sonoda is a familiar face to anyone whose watched 80s anime Bubblegum Crisis and Gall Force as he is the character designer behind them, although he's a lot better at drawing cars than drawing humans, judging by how good the picture looks.
His first work Riding Bean is about a transporter called Bean Bandit who receives money for courier jobs on both sides of the law, in the OVA he's framed for a kidnapping which he responds by chasing down the real criminal using his custom made car, styled using a Porsche 959 chassis with a Corvette Stingray engine and a few small design features similar to a Honda NSX. The series is definitely 80s due to the ultra violence shown in some parts but all in all extremely toned down compared to it's predecessors, it's an extremely early dub as well, nothing special to look at but it can be forgiven for the time period it was dubbed. Not much else to say about it, creator Sonoda fell out with the production company so another series wasn't made, instead we got Gunsmith Cats.
Existing in the same universe and taking a character who was originally Bean Bandit's partner, Rally Vincent is a bounty hunter and Gunsmith who takes jobs much in the same way Bean Bandit did, her partner in crime is an explosive former call girl Minnie-May Hopkins who custom makes hand grenades which becomes a form slapstick in the first episode.
After the introduction were introduced to Natasha Radinov a former KGB and a juggernaut type character who takes a number of explosions and bullets to kill which is trademark to the series as Bean Bandit himself could take bullets to the head and chest and tear through a car's bodywork with his bare hands; the rest of the short series is Rally & May taking down Radinov with their trusty Shelby Cobra GT500, not much else to say, both series are exactly the same in content, all feature more stylized art on the cars & guns and both series contain Rally Vincent, okay one version is blonde hair & Caucasian and the other is black hair & Indian but both characters look exactly the same; you know that's all you really need. Most series and movies based on the typical Chicago police vs violent criminals don't always see it's audience as being smart, so you see a gun you fire it, you see a car you drive it, but both these shows actually tell you what cars & guns are and why they are effective for the current plot which is Sonoda's greatest strength as a writer.
Final Verdict: Cheap entertainment that was good for it's time that has a lot of style and will easily draw you into the manga, and also translates well for a western audience.
