Steve Blum. The
Man. The Myth. The Legend.
He has been one of the most popular voices in all of Anime, his roles
ranging from leads to equally memorable supporting roles. For many of us, we know him as the voice of a
generation, a man who’s vocal awesomeness introduced us to the world of Anime,
mostly through his time as the bad ass Tom 2.0 on Toonami. He is Steve Blum, there’s many like him but
only one true him. So, to celebrate the
recent return of Cowboy bebop to Toonami’s late night line up, this week im
taking a look at my Top 5 Favorite Steve Blum roles. These are the characters I cant imagine being
voiced by anyone else and some of them are personal heroes. Keeping my fingers crossed too that I can
maybe meet him at Katsucon next year (leave it to me to let slip I wrote a blog
about him.)
#5-Kyohei Kadota
aka Dotachin (Durarara)
Kadota roles with a group of rabid otaku and his best
friend who is prone to anger when someone messes with his van. Somehow I feel like this is the kind of crew
Steve Blum would roll with in real life.
Kadota often plays the peacemaker and older brother figure to many
individuals in Ikebukero and is the man to seek out when you need a job. He basically runs Ikebukero’s equivalent of
The A Team…that’s just awesome.
#4-Makoto Shishio
(Rurouni Kenshin)
While he is known for playing the cool hero, Steve Blum
can easily jump into the role of bad guy just as easily. And there is no hotter opposite to the cool
hero than the rage inferno that is Makoto Shishio. Betrayed by his own allies and left for dead
after being badly burned, Shishio dedicates his life to overthrowing the Meiji
Government. Shishio headed the most
popular arc of the Rurouni Kenshin anime, a foe who could go toe to toe with
and best Kenshin blow for blow. I wish
that when Funimation did the English Dubs for the RuroKen movies that they
could’ve gotten Steve back for a role most people associate with such a bad ass
and meanacing character.
#3-Roger Smith
(The Big O)
This had to be the easiest pitch to a voice actor ever:
Hey, you want to play Batman but he is always Bruce Wayne and has a giant
robot? If Bruce Wayne was an Anime
character, he’d be Roger Smith, Paradigm City Negotiator and secret pilot of
the Megadeus, The Big O. Much like his
distant spiritual cousin, Spike Speigel, Roger carries himself with an air of
cool and confidence that only Steve Blum could provide. This is the guy you want negotiating when you
are in a tight spot. That or he could
just call forth the Big O in grand fashion to just step on a guy…yeah I like
that approach better.
#2-Leeron Littner (Gurren
Lagann)
I was a little shocked to hear this one. So flamboyant, so out there with his personal
desires, freaking hitting on both Kamina and Simon without a particular care of
who might swing his way. This was a role
im sure Steve had a blast voicing.
Leeron gets some of Gurren Lagann’s best lines and speeches. He can also make technobabble make so little
sense but also make a ton of sense at the same time (or sound convincing
enough, same difference right?). I feel
like out of all the voice on his resume, this is one of the most unique roles
Steve has taken on and he excels at it.
#1-Spike Speigel
(Cowboy Bebop)
Come on, was there a doubt in anyones mind this would
take the top spot? The King of Cool, the
man we all wish we could be in life.
Spike is a flawed person on the inside but on the outside he’s one of
the most flawless Anime Anti-Heroes. He
practices Jeet kun Do, aka the martial arts style developed by Bruce Lee
himself. He was able to win the hearts
and admiring eyes of Julia and Faye Valentine respectively. He has the coolest ship in the Swordfish
II. He has the best wit, best action
scenes best…gahhh im fanboying now. And
you know what? He isn’t complete without
Steve Blum doing the voice. The lazy,
philosophical slacker was a role perfect for the Blum man and it’s a role that
continued to define his career as a voice actor. It’s such a huge role, when Toonami first
shut its doors years ago, he ended Tom’s epic speech with the same line he used
to close out Spike’s story on Cowboy Bebop…and it’s the same line ill close out
this Top 5 on…
“Bang”.
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