I was a rabid fan and official Power Rangers expert at the age of four, so when I found out that one of my favorite “rangers” had now become one of my favorite anime voice actors years later, I couldn’t help but laugh and think, “Wow, I was a nerd back then, too.”
To those not anime-savvy, Johnny Yong Bosch is best known for playing the role of Adam on the popular live-action kids’ show, Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers back in the early 90s. He remained on the show for a number of seasons, until he was asked to leave after finishing Power Rangers Turbo (presumable because of his age). After leaving the show, Bosch continued to pursue a career in acting, using his martial arts skills to land leading roles in various action films. He actually got into voice acting because of a movie flaw. Upon completing an entire movie, all of his audio was somehow lost, forcing him to dub over all his lines. Listening to him perform, the film’s producer told Bosch he had a good “hero voice.” Soon after the incident, he auditioned for his first voice acting role as Vash the Stampede from the classic anime, Trigun.Since then, Johnny Bosch’s voice acting talents have allowed him to play main characters in several popular anime series and video game titles. Occasionally, though, he returns to his “roots” as an actor, making cameos in a few new episodes of Power Rangers.
Bosch is also the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of his indie rock band, Eyeshine. He can usually be spotted as one of the judges at Anime Expo’s “AX Idol” talent show, held every summer at the L.A. Convention Center.
Johnny Bosch is one of my favorite voice actors mainly because of his wide vocal range and personality. He can go from being a seriously convincing badass, to being a cowardly little boy or eccentric clown in the span of about 2 seconds. His take on Vash the Stampede, for example, made the character that much funnier whenever he squealed or shouted extremely cheesy lines during some of Trigun’s most chaotic gunfights in a voice akin to that of a pre-pubescent boy. In comparison, a short-tempered character like Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach) requires a much more serious tone and punk-like attitude, something Bosch can still pull off quite well. After watching mini-episodes and interviews from behind the voice actors’ studio, I have come to appreciate this specific performance art and the actors a bit more.
To view a complete list of Johnny Yong Bosch roles, both anime and non-anime, click HERE.
I was also a fan of Power Rangers as a kid and find it really surprising that one of them does the voice in one of my favorite anime. When I read that part it was like the alarms in my head went off and I realized that his voice is Ichigo’s. I also have great respect for voice actors because they have to have a wide range of emotions like you pointed out. We all rely on types of gestures to communicate our emotions but voice actors have to do it with nothing but their voices.
ReplyDelete