A Japanese Dream Cast for Supergaint’s Hades
(Spoiler for Type-Moon stuff, Supergiant’s Hades, anything branded “A Hideo Kojima Game”, Saint Seiya Knights of the Zodiac and Greek Myth in general.)
This is a blog yours truly thought up at the “tender” age of 30 but could not write until theygot Type-moon brained and more importantly Homer (not Simpson, mind you) brained at the “rugged “age of 32.
The first, and hopefully not only, Hugo-award winning video game Hades had the habit of boasting about its titanic script. Thus, it’s understandable that when 8-4 was doing this hard as Hercules’ labor localization, Japanese voice-over is left out. It’s a shame though since Hades has the ethos yours truly would call “classic myth re-imagined by weebs for weebs”. Since Type-Moon introduced the idea of having King Arthur being a blonde cutie and a weeb’s virtual wife, the fire of such ethos had been burning for almost 2 full decades.
I think even though it had been more than one whole year since Hades’ Japanese language patch came out, a weeb can still dream about who could have been in the game.
Part 1 Hosts
This first part is about the residents in the House of Hades, starting with player character Zagreus. Cerberus and Charon are intentionally left out. Dog sound is universal and even the Japanese dub audience is entitled to at least one Logan Cunningham performance.
1. Bond in Hell
Makoto Furukawa as Zagreus
Introducing Achilles reimagined by the artists over at Type-Moon and it’s quite a classic.
Usually when a Dragon Quest style fake video game is played in an anime, the player character does be looking like this. Thus, Makoto Furukawa, the voice behind this pretty face with spikey hair above since 2017’s Fate Apocrypha animated adaption, can lend his voice to Zagreus, another character with similar design.
Yours truly know Mr. Furukawa mostly through Sylvain in Fire Emblem Three Houses. Even though Sylvain is a womanizer with consistent grieves thrown at him, that game still wants you to see him as a cool dude. As someone who did rewatch 8 Bond movies recently, yours truly tend to agree about the red-head boy being cool. Besides being ass-kicking and gallivanting, Sylvain also has that so-called “bleed heart liberal” edge the late Ian Fleming gave to his imperial agent, one side that Bond movies still avoid even after 60 years and 26 installments. Mr. Kurukawa should be right at home dubbing the ass-kicking and gallivanting bleed heart liberal in the hell of Greek Myth.
2.A flair for the comedic
YutakaAoyama as the Storyteller
Voice-over narration had been a main-stay in Supergiant titles since their first released title. After 3 iterations, Hades tried to make things different by making things sporadic and comedic. For the Storyteller character, I present to you Makoto Furukawa’s Kakuya-sama: Love is War co-star Yutaka Aoyama, who of course does the voice-over narration in the “will they, won’t they” rom-com.
Mr. Aoyama is a voice actor has a flair for the comedic. His senile Hannibal Barca is still the comedic standout among the warmongering goofballs in Drifters. Kakuya-sama is a recent example of how voice-over narration can enhance the comedy. Mr. Aoyama’s tune adjusting and emphasizing on different words can make a daily scene into the funniest thing one can hear. Though Furukawa’s character in Kakuya-sama has not talked at the narrator, it’s only fair the two would appear in conversation in a video game.
3. Time to revision
Akio Otsuka as Hades
For the first Hideo Kojima collaborator on this list, I present to you Makoto Furukawa’s Fate Grand Order co-star Akio Otsuka, whom Tamoor did mention here. Yours truly sees Mr. Otsuka as Keith David’s Japanese counterpart, both men voice acting with the same mix of smoothness and gravitas. Otsuka had been in everything branded “A Hideo Kojima Game” so far since 1998’s Metal Gear Solid, he had voiced every Snake except Liquid. He also voiced the too beef-cake to be historically accurate Alexander the Great reimagined by Type-Moon. A character named Hades is already somewhere in his filmography.
Saint Seiya is a comic and later anime about pretty boy hoplites fist fighting. In that book’s trilogy of main story arcs, the first one has modern day hoplites known as Athena’s Saints fighting each other. Then they would face off Poseidon’s Mariners in the second and eventually throw down with Hades’ Specters in the final arc. Hades, voiced by Otsuka in the animated adaption, in this story is too much of an anti-Christ with pretty face against Athena’s Christ but a girl. Otsuka deserves a chance to play the Olympian who got the short end of the stick for revision.
Plus who doesn’t want to fight a final boss look and sound like this.
4. Serving Hades
Maaya Sakamto as Nyx
For the second Hideo Kojima collaborator on this list, I present to you Makoto Furukawa’s Fate Apocrypha co-star Maaya Sakamoto, who played Jean of Arc in the light novel turned anime. Ms. Sakamoto is a one-time Kojima collaborator since she voiced Mama and [REDACTAED] in Death Stranding, maybe the so-called video game auteur would keep her as a regular dubbing Margret Qualley. Ms. Sakamoto also acted in Saint Seiya Knights of the Zodiac, played a girl with dark purple hair and close tie to Hades named Pandora. Yes, THAT Pandora. Well, kinda, sorta.
In Saint Seiya, the story of Pandora’s Box plays out in the following way: Pandora is a young woman living in the modern days. Hades’ servants, Hypnos and Thanatos had placed a box in her house long before her birth then tricked her into opening it so Hades can rise in modern days. She remained Hades’ side until Athena’s Saint launched their final assault on Elysium. In short, Ms. Sakamoto played a woman serving Hades not unlike how Nyx the Night appears as Hades’ servant in Supergiant’s game. Even as non-gamer, Ms. Sakamoto should play the role flawlessly.
5.Holy Centaur
Shunsuke Takeuchi as Achilles
Introducing Chiron reimagined by the artists over at Type-Moon and it’s another classic.
From rock stars of yesteryear to comic books for boys since 1980s, pretty man with prettier long hair had been one type of ideal masculinity. The aforementioned Saint Seiya practically drowns its readers with characters like that. Since Chiron is Achilles’ teacher in the myth, it’s only fair to have Mr. Kurukawa reunited with his Fate Apocrypha co-star Shunsuke Takeuchi as another Mentor-student duo.
Born in 1997, Mr. Takeuchi would be the youngest Japanese voice actor on this list. Which would be quite fitting since Achilles is a mortal among long-lived immortals in the House of Hades.
6.Emmerich, Orpheus Emmerich
Hideyuki Tanaka as Orpheus
The third Hideo Kojima collaborator on the list, I present to you Hideyuki Tanaka, who also dubbed Pierce Brosnan's James Bond. Mr. Tanaka has a longer history collaborating with Kojima than Otuska since he played Jonathan Ingram in Policenauts before he settled into playing the wimp Hal “Otacan” Emmerich and the despicable Huey Emmerich in MGS series. Maybe Kojima found him too old for his bullshit by the time Death Stranding rolled around.
Having him voicing Orpheus is totally because of yours truly’s first impression of the Hades character through second hand source. Gita Jackson once described Orpheus in Hades as a whining wimp on Waypoint Radio back in 2020. Yours truly thought “That sounds like Hal Emmerich in Metal Gear Solid games” and playing Hades did not change that impression. Guess outside things branded “A Hideo Kojima Game”, Otsuka and Tanaka can reunit as the tough guy and a wimp he knows duo here.
7.Crush my bones
Rikiya Koyama as Skelly
From the man who dubbed Pierce Brosnan to someone your truly consider more pitch perfect for the 4 times James Bond actor, I present to you Rikiya Koyama. Mr. Koyama’s performance as the gun-trotting wizard killer Kiritsuku Emiya in Fate Zero is closer to the Irish actor’s husky voice than Tanaka’s smooth like vanilla voice. Koyama is also someone yours truly wish had collaborated with Hideo Kojima, he would have made a great young Big Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater. Another fun fact, Koyama is Kiefer Sutherland’s Japanese dub in 24 among other things, so 2004 was a better time than 2014 for Kojima to cast the voice of Jack Bauer if you ask me.
Koyama also has a flair for the comedic especially playing monster with kid-friendly design. He played the titular Tora in the supernatural comic adaption of Ushio and Tora, the 39 episodes long one air in 2015 and 2016. He was quite a funny cat in that moment when Tora was not kicking ass and taking name. His funny voice can be identical to what Darren Korb did as the boney target practice for the player character he played as well. So Rikiya Koyama should be high on the short list for Skelley.
8. Here are “Northy”…
YoshitsukaMatsuoka as Hypnos
Looking for “Trash for Boys” type anime on streaming services is one of the favorite pastimes yours truly have. They pick a random one, listened to the leading man speak, thought “Was that Yoshitsuka Matusoka?” and 9 out of 10 times had confirmation by the end credits. One cannot walk 5 steps without hitting a trashy anime starring Mr. Matsuoka like they can spit and hit a released-in-late-aughts video game starring Nolan North.
So, if you are reading this, Mr. Greg Jasavin, please let the Japanese Nolan North dub you, sir. It would be well worth the effort since he can do that annoying loud laugh you develop for Hypnos to a perfect pitch in Japanese. Just watch the How To Raise A Boring Girlfriend finale movie for the first several minutes and you can hear it.
9. …“Bakey”…
Natsuki Hanae as Thanatos
Yours truly called Natsuki Hanae Japanese Troy Baker before, mainly because Mr. Hanae’s output in early 2017 is quite similar to Baker’s in early 2013. There are the critically acclaimed post-apocalypse stories in the Last of Us and NieR Automata then there are those in their shadows in Bioshock Infinite and Fire Emblem Echoes Shadow of Valentia.
Mr. Hanae is one among the new wave of more they-sounding than he-sounding voice actor of his generation. Even the only-into-the-cis-ladies yours truly would not mind a boyfriend sounding like that chasing after me and help killing my enemies.
10. …“Johnny”…
Yui Ishikawa as Dusa
Like how Ashley Johnson was Baker’s co-star in 2013’s Last of Us, Yui Ishikawa was Hanae’s co-star in 2017’s Automata, both played the more beloved character in the more beloved game even on stage. But only Ishikawa would return as 2B on 2023’s tv screen while Johnson would be replaced by “tough gal in a wasteland expert” Bella Ramsey as Ellie in HBO’s Prestige Television project.
“Overly enthusiastic intern” is a type of Ms. Ishikawa. Even the stoic Misaka Arkaman in Attack on Titan and titular heroine of Violet Evergarden fit that bill, their enthusiasm just got covered by stoicism. Having Medusa, the Gorgon being help in the house is another thing Type-Moon also did as early as 2004’s Fate/Stay Night but their take is more “mum” than “little sister”, not fitting the intern mold. Ishikawa showing more enthusiasm is perfect for the sweet Gorgon head named Dusa.
11. …”Drappy”…
Nao Toyama as Megaera
As Courtney Drapper was Baker’s co-star in Bioshock Infinite, Nao Toyama was Hanae’s co-star in 2017’s 3DS Fire Emblem side story remake, both played the female lead in the overshadowed game with more color plate. Even as a self-identified sadist, yours truly heard Ms. Toyama’s soothing and robotic performance as the Humanoid Interface Element of Artificial Super Intelligence Lacia in science fiction novel turned anime Beatless and went “Step on me, madam.”
Megaera in Supergiant’s Hades is many things: the only love interest for people only-into-cis-ladies; the first of the Furies that would make player go “Where is Merg? I want Merg.” like looking for their loving mother after the 2 other meaner Furies appear. The 30 years old as the time of writing Nao Toyama is prefect for Supergiant’s Megaera in every way.
12. …and “Haley”
Miyuki Sawajiro as Persephone
Now from someone sort of like Courtney Draper to the woman who actually dubbed the American actress, I present to you Makoto Furukawa’s Fate Apocrypha co-star, Miyuki Sawajiro. Ms. Sawajiro played Mordred, the Roundtable Knight who went “To hell with Roundtable and King Arthur” from Arthurian myth, in Fate Apocrypha, so she is fitting to play the Olympian tired of the divine mountain, Persephone.
Chances are one’s Steam Library contains games with one language option away from having Ms. Sawajiro’s vocal performance: she provided Japanese voice for Elizabeth in Bioshock Infinite, thus yours truly called her the lady actually dubbed Courtney Draper; she played Ciri in Witcher 3 Wild Hunt; she was also little Teresa in Bayonetta. Yours truly hope to hear her as Commander Shepard in Mass Effect trilogy, hence the nick name “Haley”, but EA just refused to give in even with Legendary Edition. Speculation asides, the 3 mentioned above are all daughter figures to those games’ player character. Guess it’s high time for Ms. Sawajiro, already a mother in real life, to dub a player character’s mother.
(To be continued in the Dead and the Dwelling)
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