When it comes to anime, there are fanbases merely for the voice actors alone. This goes not only for the original Japanese versions but also their later English dubs. The growing popularity of anime has given rise to several dub voice acting celebrities, but back in the day, it was a much more niche industry to get into. Despite that, it had some now very big names in Hollywood providing their voices, some of whom fans would least expect.
Bryan Cranston is now a household name, with the former Malcolm in the Middle star gaining immense popularity through the show Breaking Bad. Before all of this, however, he took up voice acting (under pseudonyms) for anime productions that might be familiar to well-versed otaku. Here's how Frankie Muniz' former TV dad broke bad into the anime industry.
Bryan Cranston Voice Acted In Macross and Even Street Fighter
Bryan Cranston's anime work goes back to the 1990s, back when anime was a lot more underground when it came to Western releases. Perhaps due to this, Cranston's roles were done under pseudonyms quite different from his actual name. The actor's anime filmography included Macross Plus, which was a sequel to the original Super Dimension Fortress Macross, as well as Armitage III and the Street Fighter II animated movie. He would also be involved with the English dub of Orguss II, which was a follow-up to a series tangentially related to Macross and Robotech.
In the case of Armitage and Macross, he performed under the stage name Lee Stone. Likewise, his voice work in Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie was under the name Phil Williams. Actors would sometimes do this to separate their voice acting and live-action work, especially if they feel that one might keep them from being successful in the other.
Bryan Cranston's Anime Roles Were Cocky Braggarts
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A recurring trend in Cranston's anime roles was that he would voice young, cocky try-hards, some of whom were more comedic than others. For instance, his most ironic role was easily that of the Bruce Lee stand-in Fei Long in Street Fighter II. Like Lee himself, Fei Long is meant to talk a tough game and back it up with incredible moves -- something that Cranston embraced with his guttural grunting and yelling.
Isamu Alva Dyson from Macross Plus is a similar character type, being carefree and reckless in that well-established hot-blooded anime kind of way. Eddie Barrows from Armitage III is a much less heroic take on this concept -- a conceited sleazebag known for cracking wise-jokes. Given how naturally the voice acting feels for these characters, it's almost hard to place them as being voiced by Bryan Cranston until it's pointed out. From there, the range that Cranston has as a voice actor can quickly be picked up on. It's worth noting that he dubbed the voices for a few monsters in Mighty Morphin' Powers Rangers, years before voicing Zordon in a film reboot, so he's no slouch in the voice acting department.
Perhaps Bryan Cranston's best anime role was Isamu in Macross. It's really something to hear him voice such a young, impetuous character, not to mention do such a good job at it. Given that he's the main character in the OVA series, he's given a lot to work with, and it's a shame that the role didn't translate into a large anime dubbing career for Cranston. Now one of Hollywood's biggest stars, some of Cranston's most underrated acting gems include supplying his voice to some relatively obscure Japanese cartoons.