It’s My Favorite Voice Actor’s Birthday!

Mamoru Miyano

Mamoru Miyano, one of the most notable seiyu (voice actor, cover voice, voice over), actors, and music artists turned 37 today.

For those who do not know him, here are some of his roles in your favorite anime:

1. Light Yagami from Death Note (2006)
2. Death the Kid from Soul Eater (2008)
3. Osamu Dazai from Bungo Stray Dogs (2016)
4. Haru Kato from Fugo Keiji: Balance Unlimited (2020)
5. Jean-Jacques Leroy from Yuri!!! on Ice (2016)
6. Gilthunder from Seven Deadly Sins (2014)
7. Masaomi Kida from Durarara (2010)
8. Rin Matsuoka from Free! (2013)
9. Atsumu Miya from Haikyu!! (2020)
10. Tamaki Suoh from Ouran High School (2007)
11. Chrollo Lucilfer from HunterxHunter (2011)
12. Rintaro Okabe from Stein’s;Gate (2011)
13. Shu Tsukiyama from Tokyo Ghoul (2014)
14. Zero Kiryu from Vampire Knight (2008)
15. Tokiya Ichinose from Uta no Prince-sama! (2011)

For more, here’s Mamo’s entire voice acting career: https://myanimelist.net/people/65/Mamoru_Miyano

This is just to name a few roles. Some of my favorite roles by Mamo are Tamaki, Tokiya, Dazai, and Death the Kid.

I was first introduced to Mamo’s voice acting in Ouran High School. This was way before I delved into the voice acting fandom and was learning who was voicing who. Tamaki was always so cheery and comedic, which is one of my favorite things about Mamo: how funny he is. Some of his other roles like Dazai embody this. My first role that I actually delved into Mamo fully was when he was

Mamo has always been a person who was lively, animated, and joyful. It was shocking to hear the opposite in roles like Chrollo, Tokiya, and even Zero. I know that Mamo does sound the same in a lot of the roles that he plays, but there’s something that he has that keeps me hooked: his passion.

Mamoru Miyano is so good in @InSpectreAnime 🥰 pic.twitter.com/AzvQBQVOYI

— Crunchyroll (@Crunchyroll) January 12, 2020

His passion goes even into his music. From his song Kimi e (君へ。。。) to Tada Soba ni Ite (ただそばにいて) you can hear how much of him he puts into his ballads. In his dance songs Shine, Egoistic, New Order, and Magic, you can hear and even see how much he puts into his moves. Everything about Mamo comes from the heart.

Here are some of his songs that appeared in anime:

1. Orpheus, Uta no Prince-sama
2. Canon, Uta no Prince-sama
3. Shine, Uta no Prince-sama
4. Tempest, Uta no Prince-sama
5. Last Dance, In/Spectre
6. Break It, Cardfight Vanguard!! G
7. Shout!, Cardfight Vanguard!! G
8. Hikari Sasu Hou E, Ahiru no Sora
9. How Close You Are, Ajin

One last thing that keeps me going back to Mamo is the visuals in his music video. Here are some of my favorite music videos:

Last Dance, 2020

Identity, 2013

Even his concerts have great visuals!

Break It, 2015

Magic, 2014

Shout!, 2015

Once again, happy birthday Mamo! I hope that you enjoyed the festivities at home!

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Thoughts on the Year 2020 So Far

Tell me how this year went from Mamoru Miyano's Last Dance to Mamoru Miyano's New Order in a matter of weeks….

We were about to go party and shit and now we usurping a lot of shit.

— Elly 🔜Ayiti Cheri 🇭🇹 (@MsEllyG) May 27, 2020

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I was listening to Mamoru Miyano’s song Unstoppable (STY Remix) earlier and was in a mood to listen to more of his songs. While searching up songs that came up at the top of my head, I realized something: two songs came to mind for the year 2020 so far.

The first song that came to mind was “Last Dance.” This song released as Mamo’s 18th single this year on January 29th. The music video aired on YouTube as of January 11th.

Last Dance by Mamoru Miyano

“Last Dance” was featured in the Winter 2020 anime season under the title In/Spectre (Kyokō Suiri). This song features a snazzy jazz beat. Trumpets blaring, rhythmic snaps, double bass strums, all the works. We as a society were prepared for our come back from 2019 being mentally exhausting.

お遊びのまま
いじらしいまま
君らしく暴れて
ふざけないなんて
つまらない
僕ららしく踊らせて
I’ll save the last dance for you

Playing around like this
in a teasing way
Uncontrollable like you
I’m not messing around
It’s foolish
Let’s dance as we do
I’ll save the last dance for you

Mamoru Miyano, “Last Dance,” 2020

For the ones who do not follow Mamo, the songs in question are as follows:

Last Dance. We entered the roaring 20s and stuff about to be all clubby and stuff, ownership of self, you know, carpe diem.https://t.co/cZreh5VBc3

— Elly 🔜Ayiti Cheri 🇭🇹 (@MsEllyG) May 27, 2020

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2020 was the year of our Renaissance. Our revival. Hell, the best damn year of our lives. A lot of us were ready to be reincarnated into our better and best selves. Some were going to be more daring. Others were going to try new things. Others even to do a full 180° career wise.

However, with the 20s, history has chosen to repeat itself: a plague.

COVID19 has shown a lot in humanity. There is still a lot of racism and xenophobia afoot. A lot of income disparity continues to reveal itself in many forms from real estate, to medical industry, to the workforce itself. And yet time and time again, people are selfish.

Throughout COVID19, in the United States, at least 30 million people have filed for unemployment as of April 30th. Countless of people cannot pay their rent or bills due to the long queue and slower turn around time. For the ones who can pay off their bills as they collect unemployment, they’re getting a whole lot more than their regular wages.

Here’s where a new order comes in.

New Order by Mamoru Miyano, Short Version

New Order by Mamoru Miyano, Dirty Orange Remix

What comes to mind for Mamoru Miyano’s 12th single and a song in his 2015 album Frontier, “New Order” is the Latin phrase “carpe diem.” We as humanity want to seize ownership of ourselves again. We want to seize the means of production. We want to seize change.

とっくにもう目覚めてしまった衝動
未来は不確かだけど
もう既に we can’t go back no more
僕らの New order…
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh…
つまらない明日ならいらないから
ムリしても止めないで

It’s already been a long time since this impulse awakened
The future is uncertain but
It’s already too late we can’t go back no more
Our New Order…
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh…
Since I don’t want tomorrow to be boring
I won’t stop doing the impossible

Mamoru Miyano, “New Order,” 2015

What Mamo said is indeed correct. It’s already too late; we can’t go back no more. Things will not return back to normal. We are facing a new “normal” where we have to wear personal protective equipment and continue to practice social distancing. With summer quickly approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, the future is also uncertain. There are reports that COVID19 will have its resurgence in the fall and winter, where flu season also runs rampant.

We are also facing a new normal where uncertainty is even more anxiety inducing. How will our bills be paid in case there is another unemployment spike? How many more will die? When can we go back to doing things the way that we used to? The only thing that we do know is that we have to be more cautious on all of our decisions.

Hikari Sasu Hō E (Toward Where the Light Shines) by Mamoru Miyano

翔べないわけじゃない
幼い翼で
もう一度　光を取り戻せるように
こんなとこで終われやしない
ここからまた始める為に
超えて進めよ！
暗闇切り裂く方へ

It’s not that we can’t fly
With growing wings
Once again, may the light come back to you
We won’t end it here
We’ll start over from here
Over and above, go further!
To cut through the darkness

Mamoru Miyano, “Hikari Sasu Hō E (Toward Where the Light Shines), 2020

Among the darkness, there is always light. There’s hope. There’s change that is for the better to come soon. Hikari Sasu Hō E, Mamo’s 19th Single, shows that we will rise from the ashes like a phoenix. Adversity whether it be a microorganism or a conglomerate, has chances to be overturned. The million dollar question is: what moves will you make to make a change?

Raise it up Raise your voice
Let’s make it louder
To the flight
In the sky
ただ光射す方へ…

Raise it up Raise your voice
Let’s make it louder
To the flight
In the sky
Just towards where the light shines…

Mamoru Miyano, “Hikari Sasu Hō E (Toward Where the Light Shines), 2020

All lyrics were sourced from jpopasia.com. 1. Last Dance, 2. New Order, and 3. Hikari Sasu Hō E (Towards Where the Light Shines)