Some of Nobuyuki Hiyama’s more notable roles have been in Bleach and various Gundam series. Moon Chase readers may have also noticed that he appeared in Sailor Moon S episode 112 as Yosaku Eda, in SuperS episode 137 as Tsunawataro, and in the Ami’s First Love special as Mercurius.A full list of his roles is available on ANN here.

When Gundam started many years ago, he played Shiro Amada in The 08th MS Team. The character is suspected of being a traitor due to a relationship with a woman in an opposing army. In Bleach, he primarily played Madarame Ikkaku, which he described as a death god (Shinigami). He said he doesn’t really understand the whole world view of Bleach just yet. For readers unfamiliar with the role, Madarame Ikkaku is a character who greatly enjoys fighting and likes to drag out the “fun” of fighting.

In high school, Hiyama did announcements and radio dramas. During the radio drams, he found he could play a much larger range or variety of characters because it was only based on his voice and he could alter that. This led to his voice acting career later.

Although he will play any type of character and likes all kinds, he mostly likes playing the “cool” guys who are quiet but can be funny. He also said that he enjoys characters that have a wider range the most.

When asked about his opinion of English dubbed anime, he said he hasn’t seen any yet but would like to see what they’re like.

Hiyama regularly holds the talk show Omaera No Tamedaro (available on DVD) with fellow voice actor Toshiyuki Morikawa. He said this is much different from being a voice actor and that it is more focused on personal lives. It is taped live, so he finds the spontaneity fun and attractive. He also participates in the Radio Animage talk show. It’s not about anime or characters, so listeners get to hear his thoughts and views. However, radio is more limited and regulated.

As far as other work is concerned, Hiyama has also been singing for quite a while. He is happy to work in different genres, but voice acting is most important.

When it comes to his music career, he admits that he never studied music, he can’t play any instruments, and he can’t read sheet music. He was given the opportunity to sing because of voice acting. He said that he doesn’t consider himself a “professional” singer so much, but rather an actor who sings.

When it comes to song choice, it depends on the type of song he is singing. For character songs, they are sometimes sung in the voice of the character or with the image of the character in mind. However, when he sings under his own name, he does get to choose songs.

As Hiyama is a fan of Japanese history, he was asked about the possibility of having a role in Sengoku Basara. He said that he doesn’t often get to play similar types of roles so he doesn’t think it’s possible.

When it comes to watching anime, he doesn’t get to watch much. Sometimes he will watch shows he has been in to check if he did well. He generally buys DVDs and Blu-Ray discs of shows he liked when he was younger, but even those he doesn’t tend to watch much. So the amount he owns and the amount he watches are unequal.

Stay tuned for more Anime North convention coverage! There’s still more to come!

Tales of Festival Adds More Seiyuu!

More seiyuu have been announced to appear at the upcoming Tales of Festival! In February we told you that two seiyuu that were involved with Sailor Moon were going to appear, and we can now add a third to that list! Joining Masaya Onosaka (Jadeite) and Hikaru Midorikawa (Fiore, Ail/Alan, pictured right) is Nobuyuki Hiyama who had two small roles as Yosaku Eda and Tsunawataro. Nobuyuki Hiyama plays Veigue Lungberg in two Tales of titles, Rebirth and Graces. This is the third year in a row that the festival is being held. Since February, fans have had the option to help decide what will be performed at this 5-day festival and are currently voting on their favorite skits. Tickets are selling fast, so fans that are in Japan (or will be) had better hurry up and get them quickly as there are only 12,000 available!

And there are even more connections between Sailor Moon and the Tales of Franchise – the brand new PSP game Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X, features Mika Kanai (Mimete) as Arche Klaine, a playful half-elf. She feels doomed that because she is a half-elf she lives forever, and loses many of those who are close to her in her life. No release date has been announced yet, but the game has been teased around the Japanese media since March.

Daisuke Sakaguchi On New Daisuke CD and in New Gin Tama movie!

In Japan, a bunch of seiyuu with the first name “Daisuke” all got together and recorded a drama about the lives of 5 different young men, united by their first name: Daisuke. Among the real Daisukes is Daisuke Sakaguchi, better known to Sailor Moon fans for his very small roles in the show including a Cat, a Boy, a Young Man, and Kyuusuke Sarashina. In Daisuke, he plays the cute, younger Daisuke of the bunch, Daisuke Toma. His character is very close to that of Mitsukuni “Honey” Haninozuka from Ouran! A new drama cd was released on April 24th, and revolves around the birthday of Daisuke Toma. Buzz among fans is pretty good for this comedy! Daisuke also reprised his role as Shimura Shinpachi in the new Gin Tama movie Gintama: A New Retelling Benizakura Arc and attended the premiere. The theaters have been packed since the movie’s release, and over 2000 fans attended a special event weeks before the premiere. He is pictured here in the green-striped shirt! Kazuya Nakai (Oranja and Ittou Asanuma) and Akira Ishida (Fisheye) also appeared at the premiere, and reprised their roles as Hijikata Toushirou and Kotaro Katsura for the movie.

Kazuya Nakai sings with Nobuo Tobita and is So Not A Hero!

Just released in Japan is a brand new character single devoted to the villains Shade and Torch of Kiddy Girl-and, the sequel to the popular anime Kiddy Grade. Kazuya Nakai (Oranja and Ittou Asanuma) plays Torch (left) and Nobuo Tobita (Pupuran, Jinta Araki,Honjou and Yamagishi) plays Shade (right). The two are partners in crime ’till the end, and the songs of Kiddy Girl-and Vol. 6 Phantom of Rainbow are supposed to reflect that.As of this writing we were unable to find any samples of the songs online. And for those of you who are big fans of the Wii Game No More Heroes, did you know that the role of the Video Game Otaku Travis Touchdown is played by none other than Kazuya? He is set to reprise his role in the upcoming port of No More Heroes to the PS3 and XBOX No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise, and will probably play Travis again in the Japanese sequel No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle when a Japanese release is announced.

Machiko Toyoshima Can Finally Play an RPG That She Is In!

For ten years now, Machiko Toyoshima (PallaPalla) has been the voice of Misha (the love interest of the main character Carmaine) in the Growlanser RPG franchise for Playstation. A year ago, an adaptation of the RPG was finally released to PSP, and Machiko was excited at the chance to finally play this RPG since she couldn’t before. In honor of the franchise’s tenth anniversary, a special series of drama CDs are being released and Machiko reprised her character in them. She was happy that ten years later this franchise is still going strong. The CD will be released on May 26th.

JunJun Invades Space!

Kumiko Watanabe (JunJun) is the voice of the lead character in Keroro Gunso (Sgt. Frog), Sergeant Keroro. The fourth movie Keroro Gunso the Super Movie: Creation! Ultimate Keroro, Wonder Space-Time Island just premiered in Japan, and Kumiko attended the premiere event held at Ikebukuro Sunshine Cinema. On stage, she was joking around with her other castmates and told the critics to give the movie a good review so that the fans can be as excited to see the movie as they were making it!She also made special mention that it took a lot of teamwork to make this movie special and acknowledged her fellow castmates. This movie also has a second connection to Sailor Moon, in that it was directed by the same animation director, Junichi Sato! As of this writing we do not know if any of these movies will be released by FUNImation, as officially we understand that they have only dubbed the first 51 episodes (first season).

Hey Moonies! We’re catching up on several sightings and this is the first of a multi-part update!

Kotono Mitsuishi and Akira Kamiya Judging Next Generation of ANISON singers!

ANIMAX’s ANISON Grand Prix singing contest is starting up again, and NHK in Osaka are starting their pre-preliminary rounds as we speak. On May 5th, at NHK’s BK85 Spring Wonderland festival, a 5-judge jury will hear successful applicants sing and choose their top 15 to move onto the Osaka Preliminaries later this summer. Included on this jury are Kotono Mitsuishi (Sailor Moon) and Akira Kamiya (Professor Tomoe). Mitsuko Horie (Sailor Galaxia) will also be performing during a special concert in the second part of this competition, and HIMEKA herself will also be performing as well. Mitsuko and Akira will also be judging a second Anison contest on June 6th – the Anime Song Rush at Tokyo’s Yomiuri Land Open Theater East. Good luck to everyone entering these competition in Osaka and Tokyo!

(Big image of everyone together)

Kotono Mitsuishi Performing Drama CD Live!

The popular Japanese manga Brocken Blood is getting a drama CD adaptation! But instead of only releasing the drama CD on May 12th, the cast members are also going to perform it live sometime in August. Fans will have to enter a lottery once again to get a ticket, but it sounds like it will be worth it, especially when Kotono is playing Yomodo Shihoden, a magical girl who is one of the heroines in this series.

Kakyuu in New Eden of the East Movie!

Sakiko Takmagawa (Princess Kakyuu and Elsa Gray) reprises her role as the multi-faceted AI Juiz in the latest Eden of the East Movie, Eden of the East 2: Paradise Lost. The premise of the series is very similar to the movie The Matrix, and fans can read an almost full synopsis of the movie here. In the second movie, her character is spread out among four, so it will be interesting to see if she changes how her voice sounds. There is also a second Seiyuu in this movie, Nobuyuki Hiyama. He had two minor roles in Sailor Moon as Yosaku Eda and Tsunawataro, but has a much bigger role in this movie as the hacker Yutaku “Pants” Itazu. This will be released by FUNImation in 2011.

We’ll cap off this part with a few convention appearances this summer!

☽ Keiko Han (Luna), Chika Sakamoto (Yaten Kou/Sailor Star Healer), Kappei Yamaguchi (Artemis in PGSM) and Yasuo Yamaguchi (Producer) will be appearing at this year’s Animazement from May 28th-30th.

☽ Nobuyuki Hiyama (Yosaku Eda and Tsunawataro) will be appearing at this year’s Anime North on the same weekend!