Hello there! …remember this segment?
I felt like I’ve apologized too many times for not doing these kinds of posts more often so I’ll shut up about that now. However, if you’re not familiar with this particular segment on SoA, I’d be more than happy to tell you!
Because I love the seiyuu side of anime and everything J-entertainment, I started this segment, Seiyuu Spotlight, for the purposes of showing my appreciation towards the voice actors and actresses that bring life to our beloved anime characters, as well as informing you of them, providing fun facts, and showcasing their specific talents. I find these types of posts really fun to write about, mainly because from my perspective, the voice actor/actress side of anime isn’t acknowledged a ton within the anime fan community (I may be wrong though). But either way, I have a blast spreading the love for seiyuu to other people.
That being said, I’ve got an incredible seiyuu in the spotlight for today so let’s jump right in!
General Information (thanks to MyAnimeList)
- Given name: 真守
- Family name: 宮野
- Birthday: June 8, 1983
- Birthplace: Saitama, Japan
- Blood type: B
- Height: 183 cm
- Website: http://miyanomamoru.com/
Before Miyano Mamoru became one of the most well-respected, talented, and loved male seiyuu in today’s industry, he joined The Himawari Theatre Group (an acting company for junior actors and actresses) at the young age of 7 after being influenced by his older brother, Shouta… that’s pretty much all the information I gathered about that specifically, but if you were wondering how Miyano-san got his start in acting, there it is. One of the stage performances he has done was in the musical The Prince of Tennis, where he portrayed Ishida Tetsu.
From there, he got his very first voice acting role in 2002 as Riku in the Square Enix video game Kingdom Hearts, and for a first role, that’s a pretty damn good one in my opinion. Kingdom Hearts is a very highly praised video game franchise, even from the beginning, so Miyano-san having a major role in it was a great start for him in his voice acting career.
But before we get into more discussion about his anime performances, allow me to run some interesting, fun facts about Mamochan (yes, that’s his nickname around the industry):
- Was nominated in the 2007 Seiyuu Awards for his role in Death Note; won “Best Lead Actor Award” at the 2008 Seiyuu Awards for his role as Setsuna F. Seisei in Mobile Suit Gundam 00 and as Rikuson Hakugen in Koutetsu Sangokushi
- In 2008, he announced his marriage AND that he was expecting a child at the same time (you’d imagine his female fans being irate at his marriage announcement lol). The latter was a pretty big deal to him, mainly because due to health problems, the doctor told him he had a pretty slim chance of having children. After five years of trying to conceive with his wife, he was granted a wonderful miracle and finally was blessed with a kid of his own.
- He was once told that he looked similar to American comedian and actor Jim Carrey (which I personally thought as well lol)
- Hobbies are playing soccer and singing
- Instruments he can play are the harmonica, harp, and he’s pretty good with vocals
- Named his miniature dachshund dog Riku, after Mamochan’s character in Kingdom Hearts
Okay, now onto his voice acting abilities. I’ve decided to divide his types of roles into a few different categories, so let’s see how this works out.
First off, most of Miyano Mamoru’s roles have a very cool, reserved, and ikemen (Japanese word for “cool, hot dude”) kind of voice. A great example of that is with arguably his most popular role of Yagami Light in the well-known series Death Note.
As you can tell, Miyano-san gives off a deep and pretty reserved tone, which is perfect for someone with an evil-like presence like Yagami Light. This kind of voice has been a reoccurring one for most of Mamochan’s roles such as Matsuoka Rin from Free!, Tsukiyama Shuu in Tokyo Ghoul, and Setsuna F. Seiei from Mobile Suit Gundam 00. There are tons and tons of roles of his I could list in this category, but we’d be here for a while.
Mamochan can also do the opposite of what he usually does, and has done some pretty lighter or happier types of characters who have more of a higher pitch. Most of these are, I would consider as, characters who are more on the teenager/young adult age spectrum. Good examples would be Izumi Cinque from Dog Days or Ling Yao in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.
If you have seen a ton of anime with Miyano Mamoru in them, you might have noticed that he loves to do said happier/light-hearted characters and has done a ton of them in the past. Mamochan is a pretty goofy person in general and usually talks in a energetic and happy tone (probably another reason why people think he is similar to Jim Carrey) so it’s a given that he does a great job portraying those kinds of character in the anime he’s been in. Some good examples I can think of are when he was in Black Butler: Book of Circus as Joker or Dent/Cilan in Pokemon Best Wishes. But the one that takes the cake for me is when I heard him as Ijuuin Kaoru from Doga Kobo’s Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai. He is just full on goofy and lively in that show.
Lastly, it seems like he can combine those two types of voices into one character REALLY well. If you happen to be watching Zombieland Saga this Fall anime season, Miyano Mamoru plays the idol producer Tatsumi Koutarou, or what we should really be calling him, “Necroducer”. It’s a blast watching him be an entertaining character in that show, and it’s one of the reasons why I’m enjoying it.
But the quintessential example of him combining cool/a deep voice with funny is with one of his most well-known roles as Rintarou Okabe/Hououin Kyouma in the Steins;Gate series. The voice of the chuunibyou-like scientist in this popular franchise has been pretty iconic whether that be with him shouting his preferred alias of “Hououin Kyouma” or that ridiculous, villainous laugh he does.
Pretty much the biggest takeaway you should get from this post is that Miyano Mamoru has the ability to portray any kind of character, and also has the ability to do so BRILLIANTLY.
As for his musical career, he has quite a large discography under his belt. Putting aside the abundance of music he has done for various anime franchises, Mamochan has released 6 full albums, a best album, 17 singles, and has been on 11 live tours/concerts since 2009… damn, this man is dedicated to his musical career, that’s what I’ll say right now.
His main genre of music is more on the pop side of things, and he’s not a bad singer at all. Overall when he sings, Mamochan maintains that cool, ikemen voice from his performances in anime. I’ve only really taken a small listen at his music but anime character songs like “Soup” (Mobile Suit Gundam 00), “The Impregnable New Gate” (Steins;Gate), and “Love Song” (Kimi ni Todoke) are all great examples of his singing abilities.
Alright, I think that’s all I gotta say about this dude. After learning much more about him, I can really see how talented, funny, hard-working, and most importantly, good looking Miyano Mamoru is. He has a pretty wide and impressive vocal range, both in his acting and singing abilities, and I think that’s one of the best things about him. I have mad respect for Mamochan and I hope he and his career maintains the amount of success in the future.
MyAnimeList Page: https://myanimelist.net/people/65/Mamoru_Miyano
Thank you for reading today’s post! I had a ton of fun writing about Miyano Mamoru and I hope you had fun reading it!
I’ll see you guys in the next post 😀
-al
omunibasu 
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