Masakazu Morita

Masakazu Morita is an actor, born 1972.

Two roles explain the career, and they sound nothing alike. Masakazu Morita, born in Tokyo in 1972 and formerly of Aoni Production, voiced Ichigo Kurosaki when Bleach began in 2004, a part built almost entirely out of strain and volume. He has also voiced Whis since the 2013 film Battle of Gods, through Resurrection 'F', Dragon Ball Super, Super Dragon Ball Heroes and Super Hero, and that one runs on lightness and unbothered calm. Hearing them back to back is the fastest way to understand why he keeps working.

The rest of the resume is the standard shape of a Japanese leading voice actor, which is to say enormous. Pegasus Seiya in the Saint Seiya Hades chapters, Marco the Phoenix in One Piece, Maeda Keiji in Sengoku Basara, Auel Neider in Gundam Seed Destiny, Ryo Yuki in Eden of the East, Li Xin in Kingdom, plus Shogo Haizaki in Kuroko's Basketball, Rhya in Black Clover and a lead in Death Parade. Games take up as much room as anime: Tidus in Final Fantasy X, Thoma in Genshin Impact, Lechter Arundel across the Trails of Cold Steel series. He is also the official Japanese dubbing voice of Zac Efron, which is a job with its own kind of longevity.

He won Best Rookie Actor at the first Seiyu Awards and hosts the radio show Bleach B-Station, so even his time off the microphone is spent on the series that made him.

Movies (23)

Where to start with Masakazu Morita

Go to Bleach first, because it is the role that defines him and because the shonen shouting is the easiest thing to judge: either the raw edge in the voice works for you or it does not, and you will know inside two episodes.

Then break the pattern deliberately. Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods introduces Whis, the anti-Ichigo, all courtesy and no effort, and Dragon Ball Super is where he gets to live in that register for years. Death Parade is the one to reach for if you want him in something quiet and adult, and Eden of the East is the odd, talky one most of his fans skip. SAINT SEIYA: Knights of the Zodiac carries the Pegasus Seiya role he has taken across more than one series. If you want the Bleach voice at feature scale, Bleach the Movie: Hell Verse is the one to reach for.

Bleach

Ichigo Kurosaki is one of the defining shonen leads of its generation, a role that has required shouting more or less continuously for twenty years across the series and four films.

Dragon Ball

Whis is an angel who is unbothered by anything at all, which is about as far from Ichigo as the same voice can travel, and he has played it across the whole recent run of films and series.

The other leads

Pegasus Seiya in the Saint Seiya revivals and Amidamaru in Shaman King are the other long-running roles, and Baccano is the best acting on the list by a comfortable distance.

Genres Masakazu Morita works in

More about Masakazu Morita

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