Norio Wakamoto
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Norio Wakamoto (若本 規夫) is a Japanese voice actor known for playing Johnny.
This article is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Guilty Gear Wiki by expanding it.
Biography
Other Major Roles
Credits
| Game | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Guilty Gear X | Johnny | 2000 |
| Guilty Gear X Plus | Johnny | 2001 |
| Guilty Gear X Advance Edition | Johnny | 2002 |
| Guilty Gear XX | Johnny | 2002 |
| Guilty Gear X ver 1.5 | Johnny | 2003 |
| Guilty Gear XX ♯Reload | Johnny | 2003 |
| Guilty Gear XX Slash | Johnny | 2005 |
| Guilty Gear XX Accent Core | Johnny | 2006 |
| Guilty Gear 2 -Overture- | Johnny | 2007 |
| Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus | Johnny | 2008 |
| Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R | Johnny | 2012 |
| Guilty Gear Xrd -Sign- | Johnny | 2014 |
| Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- | Johnny | 2015 |
| Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2 | Johnny | 2017 |
| Guilty Gear -Strive- | Johnny | 2021 |
| Game | Role | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Guilty Gear Isuka | Johnny | 2004 |
| Guilty Gear Dust -Strikers- | Johnny | 2006 |
| Guilty Gear Judgment | Johnny | 2006 |
Secret Voice
XX Accent Core Plus
The following is a transcript of Wakamoto's "Secret Voice" message found in Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus and Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R (fan translated)[1]
- “We need you to record some bonus voice content, please.” I need to improvise too, huh…?
- Hmm… Fine. I don’t dislike this kind of surprise. *Clear his throat*
- Hello, everyone. This is Norio Wakamoto, the person inside Johnny.
- I vividly remember playing a role for Guilty Gear, even though I’ve done a lot of voice work and it usually don’t ring any bells if I only hear the names of the titles.
- There’s this one time when I was invited to an annual festival at Doushisha University, and had a little speech in front of 200 or 300 people, and there was this QA section where the students got to ask me questions.
- This guy asked me for inside stories from when I was playing Johnny in Guilty Gear.
- There’s no such a thing as an inside story for voice work in games because all you do there is just sit there and read scripts.
- I apologized to the guy, but I guess that, from then on, I remembered I did a role for Guilty Gear.
- Alright, I wanna start answering these questions now.
- Hm… The first question is “What was it like to play Johnny?” Eh~ I gotta say Johnny is truly a man among men. He’s not shortsighted.
- He’s able to quickly adapt himself to any women, children, men, and even monsters like chameleons, so it was such an interesting role for me.
- I wonder if the game will ever become a movie, or maybe an anime? Hehehehe. I hope that’ll happen someday. I guess that’s about it for this question.
- The next question is “Any comments for the Johnny fans all over the world?”
- Well… Let’s see… I guess Johnny probably isn’t a kind of man that exists in Japan.
- Hm… unfortunately. I wish I could be a man like him, but I don’t think I ever can.
- So, his point of view, and his human qualities that we Japanese men don’t have, I hope you can enjoy that part of him.
- The next is “Relay-style questionnaire answer section”?
- “Please answer the question from Takeshi Kusao.” Alright, here is the question from Takeshi!
(From Takeshi Kusao)
- I’ve always wondered why he hasn’t changed much in twenty years. I’m taking about his health and his stance as a voice actor.
- And especially his physical strength? He hasn’t changed since I first met him. So, I’d love to know what kind of training he does on a daily basis for his mental and physical strength.
- I’d appreciate it if you can let me in on your secret, Mr. Wakamoto.
- I see. What kind of physical and mental training, huh?
- Let’s see… Well I guess it’s good to do one certain thing everyday for at least 30 minutes.
- I see lots of books in bookstores nowadays that talk about how important it is to do something on a daily basis for even 30 minutes a day.
- I don’t think it’s such a good idea to do something for you mental and physical health today but not tomorrow.
- So find some spare time for thirty minutes or an hour everyday.
- I usually have about three hours of spare time: I wake up at five in the morning to do my Yoga, Nishino breathing, and Hida-style culturing of mind and body.
- I also take time to swing a wooden sword around.
- And I do several other breathing exercises, but like these examples, training for your mind and body would require you to study yourself by looking at your usual self, and capturing your real self.
- It’s always a bad idea to pretend to be someone you’re not. Eh, especially for those who act for a living…
- They have to be willing to show their real selves, like showing their clumsy or dirty side to strangers (laughs).
- If you reach a point where you’re no longer afraid of showing yourself, it’ll definitely expand the variety of your performance.
- I guess that’s all I have to say about that.
- Eh~ the next is “Relay-style questionnaire question section”.
- So, this is when I get to ask someone a question, huh?
- Alright then, here is my question to you, Iemasa Kayumi—a veteran in the world of voice acting, and the person inside Slayer.
- Eh~ when I first started out as a voice actor, Mr. Kayumi was already a star, playing main characters for many genres.
- My first impression of him was that when he reads Japanese, or rather, when he reads Japanese lines, he does so perfectly, without making any mistakes, as if he’s a precision machine.
- I’ve never seen or heard him stutter or mess up.
- …But I make tons of mistakes, unlike him, so if you can let me in on your secret of how to become a precision machine like you, that’d be fantastic.
- Finally. To all the fans out there, please continue supporting the Jellyfish Pirates. I’m open to marvelous fan letters as well~.
- For all the Johnny players in the world, practice well so you don’t get beaten. That’s all from me, the person inside Johnny, Norio Wakamoto.
- I’ll see you all soon in the next title!
Xrd
The following is a transcript of Wakamoto's "Secret Voice" message found in Guilty Gear Xrd -Revelator- and Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2.[2]
Arcade
- Hello, I play Johnny and my name is Norio Wakamoto. As usual, Johnny's lines are, well...
- they make him sound like such a playboy. And suffice it to say, it was quite fun. And, I hope all of you will enjoy the game as much as we did!
- Thank you very much!
Consumer
- This is Norio Wakamoto, and I've been to plenty of college campus culture festivals for private schools,
- but for the first time, I was invited to a public school's event. And, this all happened in the University of Osaka Prefecture, and Okayama Prefectural University...
- but particularly the school in Osaka is very close to my hometown, which meant that they wanted me to be part of a 90 minute long talk show,
- as I haven't been home in quite a while. And during the opening of said talk show, they wanted me to sing, you know... in front of people.
- Of course, there was this anime from about 50 years ago called 8-Man, created by Jiro Kuwata and performed by Shigeru Katsumi.
- They wanted me to perform this very song. And, since this wasn't Karaoke, I had to memorize all the lyrics,
- you see... and with pressure like this, if you mess up the entry into a verse, it'll really throw off your rhythm, so you can imagine how nervous I was.
- It certainly gave me an even greater respect for singers, how they can just dive right into the beat and perform.
- And, it reminded me of how important it was to memorize your lyrics. Song and singing is really important... oh yes.
- And, well, I had an experience like that lately. Probably one of the most nerve wracking, recently.