In a wonderful story of friendship and how one should never give up on their dreams, Masakazu Morita, the famous voice actor who brought Bleach‘s main protagonist, Ichigo Kurosaki, to life, says he can credit landing his career-defining role to two other voice actors. To Masakazu Morita, the process of becoming Ichigo’s voice was filled with uncertainty.
It wasn’t until Noriaki Sugiyama, who did the voice for Uryu, and Hideo Ishikawa, Ukitake’s voice actor, gave Morita the confidence boost that he needed. Now you might wonder how exactly this chemistry between them actually started.
Masakazu Morita Was Three Hours Late For The Audition of Ichigo Kurosaki
Masakazu Morita certainly did not have an easy time becoming the voice of the anime legend, Ichigo Kurosaki. His audition for the role was full of unpredictable turns and events, and the shocking revelations were revealed in a very exclusive interview with Morita-san.
A piece of wrong communication on the date for the audition left Morita watching TV at home, when the actual audition was on that day. He only found out about this mistake when his manager called him in a panic. He then got up, grabbed his bike, and pedaled to the venue—three hours late!
I was preparing to go outside while watching TV. Then the manager called me and said “What are you doing? You’re auditioning for BLEACH today!” I thought it was strange, because the date was the following day. The schedule that was shared with me turned out to be incorrect, so I rode my bike hurriedly to the venue to give my audition. I always loved BLEACH, but since I arrived three hours late, I thought I failed.
Although he messed up the initial timing, he surprisingly received an invitation for the second round of auditions. This close call was just the start of Morita becoming Ichigo Kurosaki—a character name that would come to be associated with him and etch his contribution to the world of anime forever.
Morita-san Got The Warmest Welcome From Uryu & Ukitake’s Voice Actors
The second audition for Bleach really became a turn of events for Masakazu Morita. While waiting, he bumped into Hideo Ishikawa, who was about to audition to be the voice actor for Juushirou Ukitake. Also, Noriaki Sugiyama called out to Morita very kindly, asking him if he wanted to join them for dinner after the audition.
During the 2nd audition, I ran into Hideo Ishikawa (the voice actor of Juushirou Ukitake) and he said, “I’m almost done, so let’s go out for dinner after this, shall we?” He invited me and so I waited. I also ran into Sugiyama-kun (the voice actor of Uryu) and both of us waited.
But just when they were waiting for Ishikawa, Morita was called in for his audition!
Then someone called, “Is Morita-san still here? Please come into this booth so we can take your audition.” That’s how I was able to play.
He reflected on that moment many times, humbly admitting that if he had left Ishikawa and Sugiyama, he would probably have lost the audition opportunity. Graceful and brotherly, these two veteran voice actors touched Morita’s heart and transformed what could have been an ordinary audition into a real fateful experience. This warm reception proved to be not only a boost in Morita’s confidence, but also paved the way for his successful portrayal as Ichigo Kurosaki, which definitely found a niche in the annals of anime history.
You can watch the Bleach series on Crunchyroll.
