Shukuro Tsukishima, new resident Bleach baddie.
If you’re following the Bleach anime, you may have been introduced to the new baddie Shukuro Tsukishima this past week! Reading the manga, I thought he was pretty bad-ass for a villain, and I was glad that the anime did not disappoint! He actually got even a bit more awesome, as the voice they cast for him was none other than award-winning seiyuu Daisuke Ono! Best known for his roles as Sebastian Michaelis in Kuroshitsuji / Black Butler (which won him the “Best Actor in a Leading Role” award in 2010′s 4th Seiyuu Awards), Shizuo Heiwajima in Durarara!! and Itsuki Koizumi in the Haruhi Suzumiya saga, this prolific voice actor has a wide-range of cool characters, who are often sleek and suave, if not a little dark. This makes him a perfect fit for the quiet-but-deadly Shukuro Tsukishima.
But did you know this isn’t Ono-san’s first role going by the name of Tsukishima?
Izayoi Tsukishima, resident monja-maker of the Miracle Train.
A little-known-outside-Japan anime series came out in 2009 called Miracle☆Train ~Ōedo-sen e Yōkoso~ (“~Welcome to the Oedo Line~”). The series is short at only 12 episodes long, and the plot is that when a troubled girl attempts to get on the Oedo Line subway, she enters the alternate-dimension’s “Miracle Train,” where the attractive male physical-embodiments of each train major station exist to solve the girl’s problems. Absurd, I know, but with a stellar seiyuu cast and a well-drawn male character lineup, it serves it’s purpose of essentially being an otome-game (dating sim targeted at female players) come to anime form. In this silly little anime, Daisuke Ono voices the role of the mild-mannered, monja-making Izayoi Tsukishima, the physical embodiment of the Tsukishima Station.
Monja Street in Tsukishima
Tsukishima is actually an island in Tokyo made by landfill, which was completed in 1894. The name, written 月島 literally means “Moon Island,” but it’s said that it was originally written with the kanji 築島, which reads “Constructed Island.” The characterization of Tsukishima in Miracle☆Train is always making monja (or monjayaki), a dish of batter mixed with various ingredients like vegetables (similar to okonimiyaki) which is prepared on a flat-top grill, served runny and is eaten directly off of the grill with a flat, spatula-like utensil. He’s doing this because Tsukishima is known for its many monja-serving restaurants, and the dish is said to have originated there!
Daisuke Ono, Voice of the Tsukishimas.
Now don’t you feel enlightened? Shukuro Tsukishima seems a little less intimidating when you picture him sitting and making monja, doesn’t he?
...Tsukishima doesn't like waiting for monja...
