When Yuri!!! on Ice slid onto screens back in 2016, it wasn't just the "butt magic" or the gravity-defying quad flips that hooked everyone. It was the voices. Honestly, there is a specific kind of alchemy that happens when a seiyuu or a dub actor manages to capture the exact frequency of a character's anxiety. Or their ego. Or their mid-life crisis.
Most fans can name the big three. But if you think you know everything about the Yuri on Ice voice actors, you're probably missing the weird, messy, and deeply emotional details that happened behind the microphone.
The Japanese Cast: More Than Just "Pretty Voices"
Let’s talk about Toshiyuki Toyonaga. He voices our protagonist, Yuuri Katsuki. Toyonaga didn't just "act" the role; he lived it. During the recording sessions, he famously admitted to crying multiple times because he felt such a raw connection to Yuuri’s imposter syndrome. He’s been in the industry since he was a kid, so the "mortifying feeling of returning home" after a failure wasn't just a script line for him. It was a memory.
Then you have Junichi Suwabe as Victor Nikiforov. Suwabe is basically royalty in the seiyuu world (you've heard him as Sukuna in Jujutsu Kaisen or Aizawa in My Hero Academia). But Victor was a nightmare for him at first.
Why Victor was a "Difficult Character"
- Interpretation Clashes: Suwabe and the sound director didn't see eye-to-eye during the first few sessions.
- The Genius Problem: Suwabe mentioned in interviews that he couldn't personally relate to Victor’s "absolute genius" nature. He found it hard to voice someone who literally doesn't understand why other people struggle.
- The Silver Hair Trope: Suwabe joked that he always seems to get cast as the "cool silver-haired guy," but Victor required a vulnerability that almost felt "reckless."
Kōki Uchiyama, who plays the "Russian Punk" Yuri Plisetsky (Yurio), took a different approach. He was told to start his aggressive lines with "low tension." Think about that for a second. Instead of just screaming, he had to layer the anger under a veneer of teenage exhaustion. It’s why Yurio sounds so genuinely prickly rather than just loud.
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Yuri on Ice Voice Actors: The English Dub Controversy
The English dub is a polarizing beast. Some people hate the accents; others think they make the show a comedic masterpiece. Josh Grelle (Yuuri), Jerry Jewell (Victor), and Micah Solusod (Yurio) had a massive task: translating the nuance of a very Japanese-coded story into a global context.
Josh Grelle, who now goes by Jessie James Grelle, delivered a Yuuri that felt remarkably grounded. Fans often point out that the English dub is actually "more accurate" in its comedic timing than the subtitles. When Victor delivers a brutal insult in English, it hits different.
The Accent Choice
Jerry Jewell’s Victor has those "hints of Kaworu Nagisa" from Evangelion but wrapped in a Russian lilt. Some fans found the accents "bad-good"—meaning they were so campy they actually fit the over-the-top world of figure skating. Whether you love it or cringe, you can't deny that the dub cast brought a theatricality that changed the show’s DNA for Western audiences.
That Time the Director Almost Fainted
It wasn't just the regulars. The production team went all-in on authenticity. They brought in actual professional figure skaters like Nobunari Oda and Stephane Lambiel to voice themselves.
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Director Sayo Yamamoto and writer Mitsurō Kubo were so obsessed with the "reality of emotions" that they used the choreography videos from Kenji Miyamoto to write the monologues. Imagine being a voice actor and having to time your breathing to the sound of a blade hitting the ice. That’s the level of detail we’re talking about here.
Mamoru Miyano, the voice of JJ (Jean-Jacques Leroy), apparently couldn't stop laughing during his sessions. JJ is a polarizing character—you either love to hate him or you just hate him—but Miyano’s performance was so "abnormally convincing" that he basically hijacked every scene he was in.
What Most People Miss About the Supporting Cast
The secondary characters are where the Yuri on Ice voice actors really got to flex.
- Wataru Hatano: He voices Georgi Popovich (the guy who skates to his own heartbreak). Fun fact? He also sings the ending theme, "You Only Live Once."
- Christopher R. Sabat: The voice of Vegeta himself showed up in the dub as Christophe Giacometti. Let that sink in.
- Ayumu Murase: Before he was Hinata in Haikyuu!!, he was voicing Kenjirō Minami, the adorable Yuuri superfan.
Beyond the Script: The Unseen Work
The sound design in this show is insane. They didn't use stock sound effects for the skating. Every scrape, every jump, and every landing was recorded by Kenji Miyamoto on actual ice. The voice actors then had to act over those sounds, matching their vocal strain to the physical exertion shown on screen.
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When Yuuri is gasping for air after a free program, that’s not just "acting tired." The actors had to study the physical toll of a four-minute routine to make sure the audio didn't feel detached from the animation.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Aspiring VAs
If you're looking to dive deeper into the world of these actors or even learn from their techniques, here’s what you should actually do:
- Listen to the "No-BGM" Tracks: If you can find the raw vocal tracks, listen to the difference in Toshiyuki Toyonaga's voice between Episode 1 and Episode 12. The "quavering" is gone. It's a masterclass in character growth through tone alone.
- Compare the "Butt Scenes": Mitsurō Kubo specifically mentioned that Christophe Giacometti’s "sexy voice" was designed to emphasize the "peak of butt-ness" in the animation. Watch those scenes in both Japanese and English to see how different cultures interpret "sexy."
- Follow the Venn Diagram: Many of these actors (both JP and EN) cross over into other sports anime like Haikyuu!! and Free!. If you like the chemistry in Yuri on Ice, look for projects where Suwabe and Uchiyama work together again—their "rivalry" energy is a specific niche they've perfected.
- Watch the Interviews: Seek out the "Otomedia" interviews from 2017. They reveal that a lot of the character dynamics were developed by the actors clashing with the directors, rather than just following a set path.
The magic of this show wasn't just in the animation or the "History Maker" opening. It was in the fact that the people behind the mics were just as invested, just as emotional, and sometimes just as "hopeless" as the skaters they were bringing to life.
To truly appreciate the series, stop looking at it as a sports show and start listening to it as a vocal drama. The cracks in the voices are where the real story lives.
Next Steps for Deep Research:
Check out the official Yuri!!! on Ice Blu-ray commentaries if you can find them. The English cast, especially Sonny Strait (the ADR Director) and Josh Grelle, go into deep detail about the "localization" choices that made the dub so distinct from the original Japanese script.