Playing Against Type/Anime

• In Neon Genesis Evangelion:
  • Megumi Hayashibara was chosen to play Rei Ayanami, who became the archetypical Emotionless Girl; at the time, Hayashibara had become famous for her portrayals of Bokukko, Genki Girls, and generally outspoken characters — characters like Asuka Langley Soryuu, basically.
  • This is also the case in the English dub where Amanda Winn-Lee, more known for playing hyperactive Rio in the Burn Up series, filled the part of Rei.
  • Same with Rei's Rebuild dub actor, Brina Palencia, aka Silvia de Alicia.
  • Additionally Kotono Mitsuishi as Misato Katsuragi. Her most famous role until then? Usagi from Sailor Moon.
  • Interviews from the Rebuild 2.0 Complete Records indicate that the makers deliberately cast voice actors whose voice and image would conflict with the characters, which is why they continued the tradition by having Maaya Sakamoto play the very eccentric Blood Knight Mari Makinami. Then again, Sakamoto did voice act Ciel Phantomhive, Ryougi Shiki and Rip Van Winkle.
• From Code Geass:
  • Lelouch, the Magnificent Bastard Anti-Hero, is played by Jun Fukuyama, an actor known for playing more straightforward heroes like Touga Tenkuji. Meanwhile Suzaku, the White Knight, is played by Takahiro Sakurai, known for playing Anti-Heroes like Cloud Strife. Reportedly this surprised even the other voice actors, who assumed that the two would be cast in the opposite role. Director/co-creator Goro Taniguchi has said he did this on purpose, to show that Lelouch and Suzaku are both trying very hard to be something they aren't.
  • The US dub got this as well, with Lelouch being played by Johnny Yong Bosch, best known for being a former Power Rangers, while Suzaku is played by Yuri Lowenthal, best known for playing Sasuke Uchiha. The dub's producers remarked that Taniguchi had a hand in the casting, indicating that he pulled the stunt a second time.
• The aforementioned Power Rangers alumnus Johnny Yong Bosch has had several roles that could be considered playing against type.
  • Shortly after being cast as Lelouch, Bosch would go on to play Rossiu from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
  • He went further against type in Persona 4, where he plays Tohru Adachi, a seemingly incompetent Butt Monkey of a police detective, which is a far cry from his usual heroic roles. This becomes even more apparent when it turns out that not only is Adachi the killer, he's an Ax Crazy Complete Monster to boot.
  • While being cast as Izaya Orihara could also be considered Playing Against Type, Johnny's basically established "evil, slimy, and/or manipulative bastard" as his secondary type at this point.
  • Actually, Bosch has a second secondary type other than playing slimy anti-heroes/villains: the soft spoken/whiny young boys. There are Renton and Claus among quite a few others.
• Rie Tanaka usually provides voices for peaceful, meek and/or strait-laced heroines like Chii from Chobits, Lacus Clyne and Meer Campbell from the Gundam SEED verse, and Yomi from Azumanga Daioh...but she was also the voice behind at least three devious/brutal villains: Suigintou from Rozen Maiden, Tomoe Marguerite from Mai-Otome, and Liang Qi from Canaan.
• Kikuko Inoue is well known for her Yamato Nadeshiko, kind characters like Belldandy, Kasumi Tendou, and Shuuko Suzuhara. However, she also has many instances where she breaks the mold.
  • I-No... is anything but kind. She's a mega bitch.
  • Her performance as gorgeous exhibitionist high school teacher Yoshimine Mitsuka in DearS, who likes to strip down to her lingerie in front of her students and, at least in the manga version, openly stated that it turned her on to know that teenagers were checking out her body. In fact, she nearly seemed to be having an orgasm when she said that...
  • The Boss. Though in this case she really is a good mother and mentor... she just can't show it.
  • MS IGLOO 2's Shinigami lady.
  • And Grace O'Connor from Macross Frontier.
  • Louise's older sister Eleonore is even more cruel than Louise—and without the gentle/affectionate moments.
  • One of the earliest examples of hers: Panther of Saber Marionette J.
  • And even more earlier than that, Princess Vespa in the Japanese dub of Spaceballs.
  • She also played a sex-crazed nurse in Ogenki Clinic.
  • The arrogant and sociopathic Alv from Kiddy Grade and Lobelia Carlini from Sakura Taisen are also her doing.
  • Lust in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
  • Akira Yoshii, Akihisa's Cool Big Sis yet has a bro-con tendency in Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu.
  • Insarn, the sexy Evil Genius in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger.
  • And among all of these ladies... there's a boy. His name is Tsubasa Ohzora, and she voices him from age 12 to 15.
  • Mizuho Kazama was many things, but Yamato Nadeshiko was not one of them.
• Another voice actor which falls into this category is Yūko Gotō, most known for her cute-and-vulnerable Moe-roles like Mikuru Asahina. She is really a down-to-asphalt motorcycle-devotee and actually voiced her own caricature, the hyper-masculine Yakuza-styled Gotouza, in Lucky Star.
• How is Toshiyuki Morikawa not on here? He almost always voices imposing characters, ranging from demon exterminators to downright creepy ones. However, in addition to voicing a protagonist's father (in Bleach, where he also voices a villain), he's also the voice of Spider-Man himself in the Japanese dub of Spider-Man: The Animated Series.
• Jurota Kosugi, known for usually voicing villains, plays the late Asuma Sarutobi in Naruto and its sequel Naruto Shippuden.
• English dub example: Steven Blum, who tends to be cast as impossibly cool leading men like Spike Spiegel.
  • Many people were surprised to hear him in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann as the extremely Camp Gay Leeron. It should be noted that his range is far from limited.
  • See also: Dr. Ludger Brink from the 1995 Lucas Arts videogame, The Dig, or his appearance in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law as... Yakky Doodle.
  • In Lego Batman, there are plenty of characters that are his type, like Batman, The Joker, Two-Face, Killer Croc... except Killer Moth, who's possibly the biggest loser in Gotham, and Blum voiced him too.
    • His role as Killer Croc really shined in Batman: Arkham Asylum.
  • The Green Goblin in The Spectacular Spider-Man and Orochimaru from Naruto are both higher-pitched madmen compared to his normal deep voice.
  • He accomplished a similar feat to fellow Digimon VA Masami Kikuchi. Hell, Digimon Tamers has 3 of his ranges in there -- Badass Yamaki, young boy Kenta, and Ridiculously Cute Critter Guilmon!
    • Funnily enough, he stated in one interview that Guilmon was one of his favorite characters to voice ever. "Takatomon!"
  • Blum has also voiced children (J.P.) and small creatures (Blunk)
  • In Ghost in The Shell Stand Alone Complex, Blum voices Aoi, a sensitive and soft-spoken intellectual better known as The Laughing Man.
  • And, of course, there is Orochimaru in Naruto. He's not exactly known for playing slimy scheming parasites.
• Mai Nakahara, who is known for cheery and sweet face Moe Action Girl. Voice Valerie the villainess and umm...yeow.
• Norio Wakamoto is best known for a long string of villain and/or Badass roles.
  • Then there's Azumanga Daioh, where he played... a cat. Okay, it's Chiyo-Dad, so it's not completely out there, but still... a freaking cat!
  • Who can forget the melon-loving, v-shaped demon from Zatch Bell, the almighty Victoreem-sama? VERY MERON!!!
  • It was just as weird when he played a dog statue in Yoshinaga Chi No Gargoyle.
  • He also played the Lemony Narrator of Hayate the Combat Butler; a voice job not only totally at odds with his usual hard tone, but also so oily that it can melt butter from a range of thirty feet.
  • Onsokumaru from Ninin ga Shinobuden.
  • And the Butt Monkey Koujun in Ryofuko-chan.
  • One of his first roles was Master, a kindly bartender in the very, very romantic Maison Ikkoku series.
  • He played the gender-flipped Chousen in Koihime Musou, whose Macho Campness seems to be lifted straight from Cho Aniki.
• Vic Mignogna often is cast in shows such as Fullmetal Alchemist, Ouran High School Host Club, and Tsubasa Chronicle.
  • This makes his casting as Broly all the more jarring. Not surprisingly, Dragon Ball Abridged took aim at how...vocal he is at not liking to do the Screaming Warrior.
  • He also shows up in Tales of Vesperia as a psychotic assassin gleefully screaming: "I'll tear you into tiny pieces!"
  • The above wouldn't the last time he played someone more than a little Ax Crazy.
    • In this specific instance, however, Vic originally tried out for the role of Gino Weinberg, a goofy and cheerful character more his type (and he's said that he really wanted the role too). Gino ending up going to Dave Wittenberg while Vic was cast as the psychopathic Luciano Bradley instead.
  • No, It most certainly wouldn't.
  • His role as Mamoru in RahXephon is also against type. The character initially seems to be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold Bromantic Foil, but then shows himself to be a Jerkass and does a Face Heel Turn. So, Vic playing him goes against his usual casting as heroic characters.
  • For that matter, he also played Rom Ro in Heroic Age, who is not only the closest thing the series has to a Big Bad, but is very quiet and pensive.
  • And let's not forget Vic also voices Greece!
  • Vic Mignogna also sings some of FUNimation's One Piece openings. He doesn't seem like the singing type.
• Stephanie Sheh usually plays shy, quiet girls such as Hinata Hyuga, Eureka Seven, and Mikuru Asahina. But she also plays Akira Kogami, Kin Tsuchi, and Kaguya Sumeragi.
• The Gundam 00 series seems to apply this trope intentionally.
  • Tohru Furuya, who typically play heroes like Amuro Ray, Chiba Mamoru, and Pegasus Seiya, plays Ribbons. Initially thought to be a side character, he turns out to be the Man Behind the Man (season 1) AND the Big Bad (season 2).
    • And one of the villains in the fourth Bleach movie, Shuuren.
  • Aside from Furuya, many seiyus of past Gundam protagonists or a Major Supporting character voiced antagonists within the series namely; Romi Paku (Loran), Kazuki Yao (Judau), Daisuke Namikawa (Al), Tetsu Shiratori (Sai) and Keiji Fujiwara (Eledore). The English version followed suit with the casting of voice actors such as Scott McNeil as Ali Al-Saachez (Duo), Kirby Morrow as Billy (Trowa), Nicole Bouma as Nena (Meyrin), Meryke Hendrikse as Liu Mei (Lunamaria) and Michael Adamwhaite as Ribbons (Yzak).
  • Possibly the biggest surprise in 00 may have been the casting of Brad Swaile as Setsuna F. Seiei. Swaile was at this point best known for his emotional characters (and yes that includes Light, who while sociopathic is still rather hammy and over the top at points), and the casting of him as the nearly emotionless, traumatised Setsuna was a surprising one. It still worked out pretty well though.
  • The Filipino dub also followed suit; Setsuna is voiced by the guy who voiced Ippo Makunichi, Lockon by the guy who voiced Reito Kanzaki, H/Allelujah by the guy who voiced |Youhei Sunohara, Tieria by the guy who voiced Yuuji Sakai, Liu Mei by the girl who voiced Chiyo Mihama, Sumeragi and Louise by the girl who voiced Ami Kawashima, Marina by the girl who voiced Ranpha Franboise and Feldt by the girl who voiced Winry Rockbell.
  • Scott McNeil would later play Antoine from Dead Rising 2 an insane cannibal chef who kidnaps people and cooks them alive to be made into his "special dish" so he can be famous.
• Rie Kugimiya, who is commonly known for her Tsundere characters including the "Four Tsundere Wonders" Shana, Louise, Nagi, and Taiga, is often pigeonholed into these types of roles. This just makes the exceptions stand out all the more.
  • In the aforementioned Gundam 00, there's the cute Nena Trinity... HEY WHAT ARE YOU SHOOTING AT?!?!
  • Another case is from Bleach. Ladies and gentlemen, we present you Nemu Kurotsuchi who is really melancholic and shy and spends her time being abused from hell and back by Mayuri Kurotsuchi... and she won't even dare to protest because he made her that way. And she's not a little girl.

Mayuri: "Very good, Nemu, just smother him with those. Worst case is, he dies happy."

• • And there's also cute little Lichtenstein and the male Shrinking Violet (and potential Yandere) Latvia from Axis Powers Hetalia. Well, maybe not completely...
  • She was also the upbeat Rise from Persona 4. Hell, there's even a comic out there referencing this trope...
  • She also plays Natsu's partner Happy in Fairy Tail. Interestingly enough, during the Nirvana/Oracion Seis arc, Happy becomes smitten with Wendy's partner Charle, who happens to be a tsundere...
  • Mizore Shirayuki is a Shrinking Violet Stalker with a Crush. She's not busty, but she's far from a pint-sized Pettanko. Then again, she wears Zettai Ryouiki
  • She also played Alphonse Elric and Ikuto Noguchi.
  • A special case is that of Yua Sakurai, who has some of Rie's more famous characters' physical traits (long wavy hair, short stature), but is actually quite a nice girl.
  • She's also voiced Emotionless Boy Miharu Rokujou, which is definitely a huge contrast to some other roles she's played.
  • Her first male role was the sweet Kaname (also known as Taiki) in Twelve Kingdoms. So yeah, that was her first pigeonholing, and then jumped into another...
  • Replacing the late Tomoko Kawakami as Miu Furinji in Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple. She is very well-endowed as much as she can kick ass.
• Ryusei Nakao in the past sometimes does more than the screechy voiced sadistic, mostly villainous men he's known for (and very UN-like his Nice Guy Real Life behavior). In GoLion, he played as the Sacrificial Lamb (but still heroic) Shirogane (Voltron fans will recognize him as Sven).
  • He seems to do this often when he dubs Western Animation rarely does he play villains usually he plays the hero or comic relief sidekick examples include Yakko Warner from Animaniacs, Buster Bunny from Tiny Toon Adventures, Bartok from Anastasia, Jon Arbuckle from Garfield and Friends, Heathcliff from Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats, and both Droopy and his son Drippy.
• Nobuyuki Hiyama is one of the kings of Hot-Blooded.
  • He broke type when playing the sensitive, responsible and almost fatherly Shiro Amada from the Gundam 08th MS Team.
  • As well as Complete Monster Muruta Azrael from Gundam SEED.
  • He also voices Emotionless Girl chessmaster Wilhelm from Xenosaga. If you listen carefully, he sounds vaguely like a really calm Viral.
• Mamiko Noto, known for having a naturally soft voice, tends to play the cute characters. Yukino Kikukawa, Angol Mois for Sergeant Frog, and |Kotomi Ichinose.
  • She then went on to play Masane Amaha, the Action Mom from Witchblade.
  • Add to that her roles in Monster, specifically a certain terrifying Villainous Crossdresser.
  • There is also Sexy Mentor Shigure from Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple.
  • Or Endless Frontier's Suzuka. Watch the meek and demure Mamiko Noto let out a shrilling Noblewoman's Laugh! OOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!
  • And the Alpha Bitch Lilicia Toudou in Student Council's Discretion.
  • And Broken Bird Satellizer from Freezing.
  • And Kosuda-kun's Cool Big Sis in B Gata H Kei.
  • Don't forget Oichi from Sengoku Basara, who is demure and cries a lot but goddamn terrifying the rest of the time.
• 07th Expansion, responsible for the When They Cry series loves to have voice actors do this, especially when casting them in supposedly pigeonholed roles, only for the character's true nature to come out:
  • Daisuke Ono: Known for playing charming bishounen, has played Mamoru Akasaka and plays stubborn, rebellious, somewhat perverted Battler Ushiromiya.
  • Rie Kugimiya: Famous for her tsundere little girl roles, plays kind and surprisingly... complex Meido Shannon.
  • Soichiro Hoshi: Often cast as passive characters who snap. His role, Keiichi Maebara snaps a number of times, but is anything but passive.
  • Yukari Tamura, who has played many happy-go-lucky little girls:
    • Rika Furude smiles a lot, says "Nii~pah!"... and is, in fact, Really Seven Hundred Years Old and prone to drinking alcohol to forget her sad fate.
      • And it was AWESOME.
    • Now over the top with her role as Frederica Bernkastel, the Witch of Miracles in Umineko no Naku Koro ni, by virtue of her being a Fallen Hero and Rogue Protagonist.
  • Yui Horie: Made famous by her cute (and occasionally Tsundere) roles. Although Hanyuu is very cute, she's very pessimistic. Maria Ushiromiya is also very cute, but she is also very Creepy Child.
• Yui Horie also plays against type in Prétear (as Takako/Fenrir) and Ikki Tousen (as Chuubou)
• Partial example: Richard Ian Cox is usually in the role of hotheadeds like Ranma ½ and Inu Yasha, but was cast as the generally calm Allelujah Haptism. However, he was in-type for Allelujah's Super-Powered Evil Side.
• The Japanese voice actor for Ranma, Usopp, and Inuyasha, Kappei Yamaguchi, also tends to be Pigeonholed Voice Actor into hotheaded hero roles. And then there's L.
  • Yamaguchi also plays Tobia Arronax, possibly one of the cleverest Gundam protagonists ever (though he does have his Hot-Blooded moments).
• The actor who played L in the English dub of Death Note, Allesandro Julliani, had previously mainly voice acted as the Prince Charming equivalents in the Barbie movies.
  • This is really playing against the type when you consider that L is said to be socially awkward and has no luck in romantic areas. Not that L really cares.
• Masami Kikuchi is one of the few who do this in the same franchise.
  • Let's see which characters did he play in the Digimon series: The So-Called Coward Jou, Filler Villain Demon, The Professor Rob McCoy aka Dolphin, Cloudcuckoolander Neemon... KURATA?!
  • Digimon was not the first time Kikuchi played against type BIG time. He was Kouji's Jerkass older brother Akihiko in the Bronze OAV.
  • Just wait until you play Tales of Rebirth. There he voiced Saleh, who can be summarized as an utterly sadistic Complete Monster
  • And then there's The Prince of Tennis, where he's the very hammy and vain Wakato.
• Brad Swaile was usually cast as awkward and/or dorky characters, usually teenagers. Then comes the Death Note dub, and he plays Magnificent Bastard main character Light Yagami. This totally works and is generally considered to be his best performance ever.
  • Plus, Swaile usually plays lead characters, like the afore-mentioned Light Yagami, but in Shakugan no Shana, he was Keisaku Sato, a minor character.
  • He was also "Slappy" from Dead Rising 2 a giggling delusional lunatic who believed himself to actually be the mascot he was portraying in costume while wielding a pair of flame throwers spraying them in random directions.
  • As of recent chapters/episodes, Rock from Black Lagoon.
• In Pokémon:
  • Creepy Child psychic Gym Leader Natsume/Sabrina is played by Kae Araki aka Chibi-Usa in the Japanese version, and by Lisa Ortiz aka Lina Inverse in the English version.
  • Dan Green voices....Ash's Treecko. That's right, a foot tall grass gecko.
    • Actually a double subversion if you pay attention to Treecko's characterization.
  • Ikue Ootani voices Pikachu, but in this disturbing game, She's the The main Antagonist, a murderous spirit.
• Baccano! has a number of noteworthy seiyuu playing against type. To name a few: Kappei Yamaguchi (known for playing Hot-Blooded Idiot Heroes) is cast as Extreme Doormat Stepford Smiler Tic Jefferson; Tomokazu Sugita (known for Deadpan Snarkers like Kyon and Yuuichi) plays a Talkative Loon and extremely Large Ham Graham Spector; and lastly, happy-go-lucky Masakazu Morita (aka Ichigo and Tidus) plays one of the biggest psychotic bastards known to man. The dub has J Michael Tatum, who usually voices characters that are The Stoic or at least fairly serious, playing upbeat, scatterbrained, and less-than intelligent Isaac.
• Susumu Chiba tends to be associated with calm bishonens like Castor from 07 Ghosts and Sai from Hikaru no Go. Yet he also plays middle aged gorilla Stalker with a Crush Kondo Isao in Gintama. I kid you not.
• Lisa Ortiz, as mentioned before usually voices cheery upbeat characters like Lina Inverse, Amy Rose, and Chisa Tsukamoto, but in addition to the aforementioned Sabrina, she was also Lala-Ru from Now and Then, Here and There, and if you hear her voice as Kaku Bunwa, you won't recognize it's her.
• Paul Eiding is most well known for his voice as older leader types, in particular Col. Roy Campbell. Imagine this troper's surprise when he was the voice of Mad Scientist Professor Hojo from Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII.
• Kaori Shimizu was formerly known for her deep, sometimes deadpan voice but mostly tough voices that is suited for Kuudere Action Girls (Case in point: Signum).
  • Tales of Hearts gives her the role of Richia Spodune, a... uh... really soft-spoken, feminine Mysterious Waif. Whoa.
  • And then you have Hiyori Tamura from Lucky Star. Double whoa.
• Miki Ito was originally this, playing Femme Fatale roles, until she did the switch-pigeonhole as a result of Playing Against Type.
  • Case in point: Taiga Fujimura, Asa Shigure.
  • And then there's Miyo Takano, who happens to be the milkman in a Milkman Conspiracy.
  • Also portrayed by her role as Sachiko Ogasawara.
• In another English dub example, Laura Bailey seems to voice a lot of cute, generally innocent teenage girls (such as Keiko/Kayko Yukimura from Yu Yu Hakusho, Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket, Marta in Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World.)
  • But then she also voices Lust in Fullmetal Alchemist! Wow!
  • Don't forget Tia Harribel.
  • She's also young Chichi in Dragon Ball. Between Lust, Harribel, and Young Chichi's wardrobe, I'm sensing a pattern with her characters' designs despite the characters' personalities being completely different.
  • And then there's BloodRayne...
  • She comes back in her against type mode in Dissidia Final Fantasy, being the Cloud of Darkness.
  • Don't forget she takes over from Mamiko Noto for the aforementioned Oichi.
  • A little kid role that's anything but innocent -- Shin Nohara.
    • Another -- Warrant Officer Schrodinger.
• While Tomokazu Seki simply plays too many roles to be a true Pigeonholed Voice Actor, he nonetheless usually finds himself playing either Hot-Blooded or Stoic Badasses like Domon Kasshu, Beyond the Grave, Anime Tenchou, Sousuke Sagara, Gai Daigouji, and...Shuichi?
• Megumi Matsumoto, pigeonholed for many years as the cute young boy, voiced Meganekko Genki Girl Suzuri in Rideback.
• Akira Kamiya, a man who is the archetype of Hot-Blooded voice acting:
  • He's gone on to voice loony mad scientist Dr. Tomoe from Sailor Moon.
  • He also dubs Iago from Aladdin (movie and in Kingdom Hearts).
  • This Kenshiro seiyuu also voiced Shun Mitaka in Rumiko Takahashi's most romantic series Maison Ikkoku. Yes.
    • AND Shutaro Mendou (Urusei Yatsura's, version of Mitaka), and Kazamatsuri from Yawara (a Romantic False Lead again), not to mention Ryo from City Hunter. He did a LOT of romantic rivals/sex maniacs. Some fans think the action hero bit was just a sidelight (he was also Kinkuman, but no one brings that up)..
  • Let's not forget that he was also the first voice of Kogoro Mouri, the egotistical Jerkass detective wannabe.
• Kämpfer: Most of the cast is Playing Against Type, notably Kaori Nazuka as Shizuku, Yukari Tamura as Seppuku Kuro Usagi, Nana Mizuki as Kanden Yamaneko, Mamiko Noto as Chissoku Norainu, Yui Horie as Akane (oh god her mouth is so filthy).
• Kenta Miyake as Genma in Darker than Black is a lot like the Nena Trinity example mentioned above, where the actor plays a character who on the surface seems like their typical role (in this case, tall, deep-voiced Big Guy characters), but is revealed to be insane and evil. Also, as with Steve Blum, the actor sometimes plays against type with Camp Gay characters.
• Yuuichi Nakamura usually has roles where the jerks have a golden heart but thanks to his role as Hazama/Terumi, he can finally be a full blown Jerkass.
• Maryke Hendrikse is known for playing Genki Girls and the shy type, but in Black Lagoon she plays Revy the angry, violent, foul mouthed protagonist who is a Heroic Sociopath.
• Ryuzaburo Otomo manages to play against type while playing a character within his type! In Dragonball Z, he voices Dabura, a sinister devil under the control of Babidi. When he is killed by Majin Buu, however, his soul is deemed too evil to be punished in Hell, so his punishment is to be sent to Heaven, where he suddenly becomes a Friend to All Living Things, which everyone close to him finds creepy.
• Greg Ayres is known for playing innocent young boys or fun loving teenagers, but he has played vastly different characters at least twice first in Fullmetal Alchemist he voiced Bido a former human who has been turned into a lizard chimera who is a con artist and trouble maker and in Gantz he voices Hajime Muroto a psychotic teenage serial killer and rapist.
  • He's also Guldo on Dragonball Z Kai.
  • In both Samurai Seven and Nightraid1931, he voices characters who initially seem to fit his fun-loving, easy going type, but are revealed to have Stepford Smiler traits and are actually less nice/more melancholic than you'd expect.
• Kae Araki plays more often than not Moe Genki Girls. Then we get to the already mentioned Natsume/Sabrina, and Dark Magical Girl Ai Shinozaki...
• Probably due to her voice type, Luci Christian usually gets cast as characters who are bratty to some degree (Desert Punk, Solty Rei, Samurai Seven). So people were quite surprised when they found out that she portrayed Ax Crazy Blood Knight Ophelia in Claymore.
  • Not to mention the psychotic Medusa from Soul Eater.
    • And now, she has a third nut-case in her resume.... ALOIS TRANCY!!!!!!
• Ai Nonaka usually does cutesy and nice characters. Kyouko Sakura in Puella Magi Madoka Magica is definitely not one of them. And so is Eimi/Emilia in Blaze Union.
• Kenji Utsumi often is the go-guy for voicing rather big characters, yet in the Red Ribbon Army saga, he voices the leader of the eponymous villainous army, Commander Red... who is a complete midget. Still met up with the other standard of being a Military dictator, though.
  • And let's not forget about his role as Gimli in the Japanese dub of The Lord of the Rings movies.
• Satoshi Hino back in the day used to be the second fiddle or non action guys like Yuji Sakai, Saito, or Shuuyu Koukin. Come present day, he starts to diversify his roles like Yuuto Kannagi, Kamui, Ryo Mogami, and Riken Yoshinokazura to the point he's barely even recognizable.
• Soichiro Hoshi: Like above, the man does generally passive characters who... Umm, yeah. You don't make angry, or get in the way. Kira Yamato happens to one of the more famous ones of this type. Along side to this is Lio Shirazumi, a homicidal, Knife welding, cannibalistic, Manipulative Bastard, Villainous Crossdressing, maniac.
  • Actually Kira Yamato was Playing Against Type for him, before then he was known for playing generally hot-blooded and short tempered characters, Soichiro Nagi, Kazama the Shell Bullet and Yuki Aiba were par for the course before Gundam Seed.
• Chris Ayres normally plays deep-voiced characters who are either antagonists, or in the supporting cast who are in middle-age, so it's surprising to see that in Gantz he played Kei Kurono, who's not only a young-teenager-like character, he's also the main character, and this troper can't think of any other show where Chris Ayres plays the lead role.
• In the English dub of Linebarrels of Iron, Todd Haberkorn, who generally plays heroes or comic relief characters channels a Ribbons wannabe main villain, who is assisted by a character voiced by Vic Mignogna, who generally (with some exceptions, see above) gets the same kind of casting. In the other direction, Jerry Jewell, who often plays sinister characters, is cast as a cool Nice Guy.
  • He also does the voice of Death The Kid from Soul Eater. That's right, Vegeta's little brother Tarble is also a grim reaper who suffers from massive OCD and believes everything should be symmetrical.
• Kirby Morrow is typically the Ocean Group's go-to guy for dashing young heroes in both anime and western animation such as Miroku from Inuyasha, Ryo Takatsuki in Project ARMS, Trowa Barton from Gundam Wing, Cyclops/Scott Summers in X-Men: Evolution, and Ken of Barbie fame.
  • However he joins fellow voice actor, Brad Swaile in playing against type on Death Note were he voices Knight Templar turned mass murderer, Teru Mikami, as well as Gyunei Gus, Char Aznable's Ax Crazy right hand man in Chars Counterattack, and the cynical Raimi Mathews in Broken Saints.
• Crispin Freeman is known for mostly playing Badass Mr. Fanservice Anti Heroes like Alucard, Itachi, and Alex Rowe.
  • However, he also starred in Chobits as dweeby loser Hideki.
  • He's also Fire Leo from the Viewtiful Joe cartoon. That's a pretty big difference from Alucard, Itachi, or most of his characters.
  • And then there's Kyon...
  • Freeman's stereotype as a Badass because he was played against type. His first popular major role was Justy Ueki Tylor, played against when he was given the role of Zelgadis of Slayers.
• Megumi Ogata is known for her deep and abrasive voice that leads her to mostly play young boys, such as Shinji Ikari, and tough Action Girl types, like Sailor Uranus or even Lara Croft before Atsuko Tanaka took the role.
  • But she is also the one to play Kunio Murai's Hot Mom in Great Teacher Onizuka, the very feminine and sexy Julia Murai...who is also a construction worker though!
  • The true against type for her is Princess Emeraude from Magic Knight Rayearth, who is tiny, willowy, super feminine and NOT EVEN TOUGH. That is, until her lover is killed... but even her feminine touch still lived on. The show, however, also has a more in-type role for Megumi Ogata, though: Eagle Vision.
• Chiaki Takahashi usually plays characters who is usually kind hearted and if the character experiences a Face Heel Turn or does something morally ambiguous, the character usually retains some sympathy to make her an Anti-Villain. Except in Neptunia, whereas her character Majiquonne/Arfoire is not only the Big Bad, she's also intentionally designed to be unsympathetic and her motivation overall seems close enough to Generic Doomsday Villain.
• Kazuya Nakai is the voice actor for when it comes to badass swordsmen, such as Zoro, Toshiro Hijikata, Date Masamune, Mugen...and then there's Kokuto...sweet merciful jesus, KOKUTO.
  • Not to mention the crazed and foul-mouthed Jan Valentine.
• Show Hayami is mostly known to voice characters who appear good but in fact they are evil sociopaths that love playing with people's minds and torturing them like Aizen in Bleach. Yet, he also voices characters completely different from his normal type like Ichiya or Umibozu in Gintama. Or if you want a Crazy Awesome example, there's Klein Sandman.
  • The most jarring example, however, has got to be a minor role he got in GEAR Fighter Dendoh where he plays Ginga's overly flamboyant father who's EXTREMELY PRONE of broken English. In fact, flamboyant doesn't even begin to describe this character (though only for 1 episode, and Hayami also voiced the Big Bad, who's more in-line of his type)
• Kenichi Suzumura is mostly known to play characters that are Hot-Blooded like Shinn from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny or Deadpan Snarker like Okita from Gintama or Ayumu from Spiral. He also plays Yamato Nadeshiko transsexual Ginshu in Amatsuki, and the childish (and often whiny) Maya in Saint Beast.
• Yuri Lowenthal traditionally voices the Kid Hero. Ironically enough, his Star-Making Role in Naruto was as Anti-Hero-turned-villain Sasuke.
• And speaking of Naruto, Nolan North as Madara Uchiha.
• Daisuke Namikawa ought to get a mention too. He can voice literally anyone with his diverse tonal range. Contrast characters such as Tsubasa's Fai and the Italy brothers with Ulquiorra!
• Yoshiko Sakakibara usually plays Hot Mom and female Hot Scientist roles as well as The Baroness, such as Haman Karn, And then she played Rosemariné of Kaze to Ki no Uta, a Bishonen-type Long-Haired Pretty Boy.
• Robert Axelrod, best known as Power Rangers's Lord Zedd plays Badass Adorable Anti-Villain/Hero Wizardmon.
• Yuuki Kaji has both played Shu and Issei in the same season. One is a brooding, angsty guy who is forced to become king, and the other one is a lecherous hotblooded kid who wishes to become the ultimate pawn. You try listening one then go to another. It's pretty amazing that he has two protagonist roles which are polar opposites of each other.
  • Then comes the next season where he plays Haruyuki, the resident Gonk and subject to lots of bullying almost everyday in Accel World. Personality-wise, he believes he is but trash in the real world and often locks himself up in a virtual world.

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