Mamoru Miyano is one of the top Japanese voice actors who has been in the anime industry for almost twenty one years. He has received awards for many roles over the years, such as Light Yagami from Death Note and Rin Matsuoka from Free! Here are ten of Mamoru Miyano’s leading and supporting roles, ranked.
Minor spoilers appear in this article.
10. Douma - Demon Slayer
One of Mamoru Miyano’s more recent roles is Douma from Demon Slayer (aka Kimetsu no Yaiba). Douma is associated with the Upper Moon Demons and holds second place within these rankings. He first appeared at the end of the Entertainment District Arc in a brief flashback. He appeared rather briefly again at the start of season three, the Swordsmith Village Arc.
When fans heard that Mamoru Miyano was cast as Douma, many watched in anticipation for his future appearances in the series. Douma is characterized to be carefree and charismatic on the outside. However, many fans are wary of what lies under this facade, knowing of Mamoru Miyano’s past characters that he has taken on and the duality they possess on the screen.
9. Death The Kid - Soul Eater
One of Mamoru Miyano’s earlier roles was Death The Kid, a young adolescent with an unhealthy obsession with symmetry and the son of Lord Death. In this series, he is a student going to the Death Weapon Meister Academy as a Meister, with his two symmetrical Death Weapon partners, Liz and Patty. He adores Liz and Patty in their weapon forms, as they are a pair of completely symmetrical pistols that he wields with excellent precision and efficiency.
In any fight throughout the series, his skills are noteworthy and his intelligence is high, as he has proven himself capable of holding his own in several battles. However, this is compromised when it comes to anyone or anything he encounters that does not have perfect symmetry. This includes his own hairstyle that remains asymmetrical with three lines on one side and none on the other.
8. Ling Yao - Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
In the remake of Fullmetal Alchemist titled Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, the animators included many characters and large plot pieces that were cut out of the 2003 original. One of the largest characters and plot pieces removed was Ling Yao. Ling Yao is a foreign prince who came to the city of Resembool in Amestris determined to save his kingdom. He encounters protagonist Edward Elric, and interacts with other main characters for quite some time. He is characterized as an idiotic prince who is childish but a talented fighter.
Later, Ling Yao becomes possessed by the ruthless and inhumane Homunculus known as Greed. Greed takes over Ling Yao’s body until the end of the series when the Homunculi are destroyed. Mamoru Miyano was an excellent choice for this role, as he goes from being a touristic and childish foreigner to being a coldblooded killer who causes much grief to the other characters of the series.
7. Haru Kato - Balance: Unlimited
Haru Kato is a young hot-tempered detective who presents a fiery passion about his job and teams up with the seemingly snotty rich boy, Kambe Daisuke. Haru Kato works in the Metropolitan Police Department, solving smaller cases and focusing on helping other people. He has experienced deep trauma, where he used to be part of an elite police force until he shot a person by mistake. He leaves this task force and refuses to move up despite his skills.
Later in the series, Haru Kato encounters Kambe Daisuke, a young man with great wealth that claims any problem in the world can be solved with money. The two of them are partnered up in the Metropolitan Police. This character was a bit different from Mamoru Miyano’s typical roles of playing funny characters with dual personalities and brought out a more aggressive side of his voice acting skills.
6. Tamaki Suoh - Ouran Highschool Host Club
The princely type and founder/co-founder of the Ouran Host Club, Tamaki Suoh is a true ladies man. Tamaki Suoh is a half Japanese, half French high school student who works his hardest to bring a smile to every student (and especially every girl) that he encounters. When meeting Haruhi Fujioka, the commoner of Ouran Academy who entered through her grades alone, she is thrown into the crazy antics of the Ouran Host Club.
Tamaki is characterized as egotistical and dramatic, while maintaining excellent standing in his studies and his duties as the president of the Host Club. He is a bit naïve for his age, but he possesses a good heart and merely wants everyone around him to be happy. Tamaki is known for his ability to draw people in and bring them together, a trait that founded the host club in the first place. As one of Mamour Miyano’s earlier roles, he perfectly brings this energetic and adorably foolish host to life.
5. Joker - Black Butler: Book of Circus
Joker is the leader of a circus founded by other members of the Renbourn Workhouse. He strives to look out for his childhood friends that he regards as his brothers and sisters by putting on a cheerful smile and happy personality to please the audience and the man who “saved” them, Baron Kelvin.
The display of these positive emotions are a mask he heavily wears, as he is a very serious individual who will not allow himself to be swayed by emotions so easily. He puts forward his duty to please Baron Kelvin, and more than anything, to protect his brothers and sisters. The ability to switch from a loveable circus juggler to a former killer who used to live in the slums was perfect for Mamoru Miyano and allowed for viewers to absolutely adore the character.
4. Iketeru Daga - Uramichi Oniisan
Iketeru Daga is a song instructor on the children’s television series Together With Maman. He has a very strong and melodious voice, and is partnered up with Utano Tadano. The two perform fun children’s songs to teach them important life lessons throughout the series.
Despite his mature appearance, Iketeru Daga is rather absentminded and dense. One of his more prominent traits is his inability to control himself whenever someone makes a joke. This is revealed when his coworker, Uramichi Omota, begins to tease him by telling Iketeru low-level jokes that cause him to burst out in a fit of laughter. Mamoru Miyano got a bit more recognition for this minor role through a clip of his laugh that went viral from the joke and the genuineness of his laughter.
3. Peter. B. Parker - Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse
Peter B. Parker is the Spiderman of another universe in the feature film Into the Spiderverse. Unable to balance his duties between being Spiderman and dedicating time to himself and his wife Mary Jane, everything fell apart. He begins to neglect his aunt and divorces Mary Jane, causing himself to spiral into a phase of depression and loss of interest in his job as a superhero.
Peter still possesses some compassion and it shows when he meets Miles Morales and goes on to become his teacher. While he clearly is down in the dumps and not doing well, Peter B. Parker still shows empathy and understands why the bad things in his life happened. He tries to find the good in them and later regain some of them. When fans heard Mamoru Miyano took up this role, the Spiderverse series grew even more popular at the peak of its release.
2. Masaomi Kida - Durarara!!
As Mikado Ryuugamine’s best friend, Masaomi Kida encourages him to come to Ikebukuro so that they may attend the same academy, Raira Academy. Masaomi Kida is originally characterized as a failure of a womanizer and the comic relief between Ryuugamine and Anri Sonohara. The three of them are friends for the first season, until it is revealed that Masaomi is the founder of a gang called the Yellow Scarves. Aside from his extroverted personality and confidence, it is all a facade to hide the fear and hesitation he possesses in making large decisions. When it comes to members of his gang, he is ruthless and violent when they disobey and intimidate even those who are older than him.
Masaomi Kida’s goal is revealed to be to get revenge on a rival gang that nearly beat his ex-girlfriend to death, and to take down Izaya Orihara, a man who causes ruckus throughout the entirety of the series. Towards the end of the series, Masaomi begs for Ryuugamine to not kill himself and threatens that if he does, he won’t stop until he hunts down Izaya Orihara to the ends of the Earth. This role is where Mamoru Miyano’s career as a voice actor truly spiked in his ability to portray such a heartbreaking scene between two friends with such power and raw emotion.
1. Dazai Osamu - Bungou Stray Dogs
A suicidal maniac working for the Armed Detective Agency, Dazai Osamu is one of the most complex and popular characters that Mamoru Miyano voiced. Dazai Osamu is a womanizer who has a desire to commit a double suicide with a woman. Throughout the series, he is shown to be a childish and carefree mentor to the protagonist, Nakajima Atsushi, a young orphan boy he took in and brought to work at the Armed Detective Agency in Yokohama.
Despite this happy and carefree façade Dazai displays, he is a man who has faced much violence and bloodshed as a former executive in Yokohama’s crime organization, the Port Mafia. His suicidal antics and attempts at ending his life, while comedic, all come from a darkness within his heart to be a “good man.” Dazai is such a complex character, that not even the character himself can understand the depths of his emotions and his own thought process.
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