Starz's Spartacus: Vengeance hits the UK tonight, just three days behind its US premiere. The Japanese have to wait a little longer to see the new show, but then again, that’s because they have to dub it all. As so often happens with foreign TV shows in Japan, the actors have been pulled from a roster heavy with familiar voices from the world of anime.The face of Spartacus might change in Vengeance, but his voice in Japanese remains the same, supplied by Rikiya Koyama. Koyama had his anime debut as Doctor Doc in Pokemon, before finding meatier roles as Coyote Stark in Bleach, Tenshiro in Rideback, and Hideo Kuze in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Individual Eleven
The GITS connection continues with his nemesis Lucretia, whose Japanese voice is provided by Atsuko Tanaka, better known to English ears as leading lady Motoko Kusanagi. Meanwhile, the scheming Roman leader Glaber is voiced in Japanese by Jin Yamanoi, heard by anime fans most recently playing Lucio in Darker than Black. And Spartacus’s fellow revolutionaries, Oenomaus and Crixus, are played in Japanese by Kenji Nomura (Yami Llargo from Bleach), and Shunsuke Sakuya (Ryo Utagawa from Bleach, and Sakon/Ukon from Naruto).
Spartacus: Vengeance starts tonight on Sky1 in the UK.
