Oricon has conducted a survey of the Japanese public, asking them which seiyuu they consider “legendary,” and the results are instructive, covering every kind of voice actor and actress from acting geniuses with decades of experience and hundreds of roles to idol-seiyuu distinguished by their taste in swimsuits…
1. Nobuyo Ōyama / 大山 のぶ代 (Doraemon/Doraemon)
2. Akira Kamiya / 神谷 明 (Kinnikuman/Kinnikuman, Hokuto no Ken/Kenshiro)
3. Masako Nozawa / 野沢 雅子 (Dragon Ball/Son Goku, Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro/Kitaro)
4. Yasuo Yamada / 山田 康雄 (Lupin III/Arsène Lupin III) (RIP)
5. Minami Takayama / 高山みなみ (Detective Conan/Conan, Kiki’s Delivery Service/Kiki)
6. Kōichi Yamadera / 山寺 宏一 (GitS/Togusa, Cowboy Bebop/Spike Spiegal)
7. Noriko Hidaka / 日高 のり子 (Ranma ½/Akane Tendō, Inuyasha/Kikyo)
8. Mayumi Tanaka / 田中 真弓 (One Piece/Luffy, Urusei Yatsura/Ryuunosuke Fujinami)
9. Megumi Hayashibara / 林原 めぐみ (Evangelion/Rei Ayanami, Slayers/Lina Inverse)
10. [Joint] Keiko Toda / 戸田 恵子 (Anpanman/Anpanman, Thomas the Tank Engine/Thomas)
10. [Joint] Aya Hirano / 平野 綾 (Haruhi/Haruhi, Lucky Star/Konata Izumi)
Obviously this list is taking into account sheer mainstream success rather than otaku fervour or ability to rally a horde of stalkers into buying CDs, so it is inappropriate to complain of a lack of idols, not that this will stop devotees howling about the omission of Rie Kugimiya or similar…
In case you were wondering about Nobuyo Ōyama, now 73, she once looked quite different:
There is Satsuki Yukino???
WHERE IS NORIO WAKAMOTO?
OMAE WA MOU… SHINDEIRU!
aya hirano go to hell bitch
…no Mizuki Nana?