Personal Note:

I’ve been preparing for a while because I wanted to make this with a lot more thought. Sorry for the length of this post. I spent quite a bit of time on it, but I didn’t realize it would get so long! He is one of my top favourite voice actors (both English and Japanese) ever. To me, he’s a relatable, awesome, and passionate inspiration. He puts his all into every role he does, and he never gives up no matter who tells him to. I could probably go on about how much I like many of the roles he’s done, but that would be a whole other essay in itself. I even considered watching Corpse Party (the scaredy cat I am) because I heard he was in it. Yeah, I’m one of those people who gets drawn to anime when I figure out certain studios and voice actors are attached to it. I have watched a few episodes of some really bad anime because I heard he was in it. No regrets! Okay, maybe I have a few… I still haven’t watched them all though! I plan on watching a ton more, and that includes a few bad apples here and there. Despite all the hurdles and adversity he faces, he overcomes it! He has had so many amazing roles, he sings, he’s good at shogi, and he’s just a good person. I respect him a lot. Honestly, I can’t word stuff too well, but I sincerely hope he continues working, maybe gets married and has kids (since he said he wanted to), and experiences all the happiness he deserves.

Table of Contents:

Top Roles (+ clips)

Trailblazer arrangement

Facts + Q&As

Music Recommendations

Additional Sources + other cool posts

Top Roles:

I watched to include even the ones that I didn’t watch entirely, so I put together a whole list. It’s generally not too strict in order, but I went from his good to his best. If I wanted to put a few words, I just included them in square brackets. In those, there will also be recommended clips if I feel the need to add any in.

* = ones that I haven’t watched completely (or up to its current point)

Rui Tatsumi* - Starmyu



Ivan Karelin* - Tiger and Bunny

Shin-ah - Akatsuki no Yona



[This character didn’t talk much, so he actually got to play a MOB character as well. I found this character kind of charming though.]

Mitsuo - Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou

[He’s the one who dropped the hot dog. Rest in Pieces. This anime made me laugh, and even though this character barely appeared, he made me laugh every time he did. Recommended clip: “Glasses”]

Gladion* - Pokemon Sun & Moon



[He’s actually the perfect choice to play this edgy boi.]

Yumeji Fujiwara* - Yumekui Merry

[RIP the can]

Makoto Kashino* - Yume-iro Pâtissière

[I just started this one]

Mizuki* - Kamisama Hajimemashite

[I watched six episodes of this one.]

Rei Ogami - Code:Breaker



[This wasn’t a very good anime, it’s a mediocre manga, but I still enjoyed it.]

Nikaidou Harunobu* - 3-Gatsu no Lion

[I watched around 6-8 episodes of this one. This character is a pure round boi, and I like the way Nobu portrayed this character. Recommended Clip.]

Io Otonashi* - Acchi Kocchi

[I watched around 5 episodes of this one. His bishounen game is very strong.]

Takeru Fujiwara* - Prince of Stride

[These anime characters run like how I run from my life responsibilities and problems. His bishounen game is also very strong. The strong and silent type is always popular. Sadly, I’m the quiet and extremely frail and weak type.]

Shouta Kisa* - Sekaiichi Hatsukoi



[According to Tumblr, he has never done an R-rated (18+) BLCD, but he has been in some shounen-ai anime.]

Issac Foster - Satsuriku no Tenshi

[My reaction to this anime. Don’t worry, I’m following this to the end.]

Ryousuke Kominato - Diamond no Ace



Ryou Kurokiba* - Shokugeki no Souma



Age - Sakasama no Patema

[Yeah, that’s his actual name. If you name your child something that stupid, I would personally like to have a word with you. This movie was really nice though.]

Accelerator* - Toaru Majutsu no Index

[I had to include his laugh to this]

Jurai Andou - Inobato (Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de)



[And jail is just a building you live in! I can’t remember the context of this line.]

Kiyoharu Hyoudou - Welcome to the Ballroom

Yoichi Saotome* - Owari no Seraph



Eiji Niizuma* - Bakuman

[Recommended Clip]

Obi - Akagami no Shirayuki-hime



[When he looks into the mirror and realizes he’s missing his eyebrows.]

Takumi Usui* - Kaichou wa Maid-sama

Yuu Nishinoya* - Haikyuu



[Recommended Clip: ROLLING THUNDER!]

Rin Okumura - Ao no Exorcist

[He’s such a likeable protagonist. Recommended clip: Rin x Shiemi because they’re adorable]

Mikoto Mikoshiba - Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

[This character made me laugh so much. He and Seo are my favourites. I haven’t seen another amazing anime with both Miyuki Sawashiro and Nobu. They’re my two favourites. I hope to see them acting together eventually (even if Mikorin and Seo never really communicated). Thanks to Nobu, we have a voice to this madly embarassed bishounen. Recommended Clips: Mikorin Clips, Mixer Clip]

Katsuki “Kacchan” Bakugou - Boku no Hero Academia

[Bakugou might not always be my cup of tea as a character, but his voice made me like him somewhat anyway whether he’s an asshole or not. There are a few scenes in season three that hit me with mad feels,, but even during season one and two, Nobu aced this role. This role is what shot him up to one of my favourite voice actors. Recommended Clips: Rage moments, Kacchan vs Deku audio segment (scroll down a little for this Tumblr post), Salty Bakugou S1]

Karma Akabane - Assassination Classroom

[While Bakugou is one type of crazy, Karma is another. Honestly, he’s such a sly, cunning, and mischievous character, but that’s what we all like about him, right?]

Trailblazer Arrangement:

This is my first time transcribing a song and arranging it! I improvised and made up some stuff (mostly guitar solos that just didn’t fit as well logically on piano). I usually don’t like (actually, I kinda hate) transcribing because it’s basically like trying to copy down a book that someone reads aloud (and you can’t look at the text). But it was worth doing this! He’s definitely not my favourite singer, but I’d still listen to him.



I didn’t want to go with an original score for this one because I felt like I wanted to improve a lot more as a composer and artist (as if I’m qualified enough to be called those terms). When I make one for him, I want to go all out.



Facts:

I found some other interesting facts online. There are quite a few different sources. I’ll try to list them below all the facts (but I might link them to the actual facts as well. There are a lot, so there’s that.

All [Nat Notes] will be put between square brackets “[these]”.

These are all from THIS POST:

After graduating from secondary school, he entered some voice acting training courses associated with his agency (Pro-Fit) to pursue his dream as a seiyuu.

To be able to pay for his training, he worked at a 7-Eleven and a post office.

His family is very strict and conservative.

He was into video games when he was younger, but his parents were against letting him play video games and ended up limiting him to a one-hour per day time limit [THIS POOR BOI]

[Regarding his gaming] his parents told him, “If you want to play games, you can play shogi.” This ended up being the reason he started playing shogi.

He is a practicing Catholic [ironic since one of his most iconic roles is playing the son of Satan]

He’s a 3rd dan ranked shogi player, and he once aimed to be a professional shogi player.



He has a huge love for sweets. I follow his blog, and a lot of his posts involve sweets.

“His favourite [candy bar] would be Black Thunder chocolate bars (same as Kamiya Hiroshi and Ono Daisuke), and at one point, he always ends up buying Black Thunder by the box, stocking up on it, and eating up to 10 bars in one day, that his agency decided to restrict him into eating just one bar a day.” [let the poor guy eat his chocolate]



He is easily bullied by other seiyuu [check out the original post which has gifs of his mishaps]

“[While recording] …he ran away from the mic, forgetting that he was wearing headphones connected to the mic and ended up messing up the recording room, and the staff had to rearrange everything.”



He’s a big fan of Pokemon [He now plays Gladion in Pokemon Sun & Moon]

These are from “More Nobu Facts”



“As a student, he used to fall asleep on the train and miss his destinations sometimes. He thinks that it’s really comfortable to take a nap there.” [Yeah, you say that until you somehow end up in the middle of nowhere and wonder where you are and why you even exist.]



“He suffers from hay fever in the spring. Said that the symptoms kill him.” [You and me both except mine are year-round and gradually getting worse.]

“He played with Lego bricks when he was a kid.” [If he’s the type of person who left out the bricks and made people experience pain because of it, I will personally leave Lego bricks outside his door. Those things hurt when they’re unexpected.]



“He loves the indoor life.” [don’t we all…]



“He read the Harry Potter series.” [I did too! Not that I remember any of it.]



“His cute, foreign Furby only speaks English. Noburin stated, “English is very hard.”” [HOW DO PEOPLE SLEEP KNOWING THEY OWN ONE OF THOSE? I WOULD BURN IT IF I GOT ONE.]



“In elementary school, the girl he liked gave him chocolate on Valentine’s Day. He said he felt like crying from the shock.” [I haven’t experienced that. Was he happy because it was that girl who gave him chocolate or because he got free chocolate?]



“He was hospitalized before when he was a child due to a bad cold (or maybe the flu).” [Well, that diet sure doesn’t help, and I doubt screaming all the time is good for you. Weirdly, I can’t say anything more than that because I do both too except I scream internally while he does it as his profession.]



He tends to get sick within the first two weeks of October, right before his birthday. [I wish you luck!]



He likes to watch lightning and thinks that it’s cool. [I’M SO SCARED OF THUNDER]



During the summer as a kid, he liked to catch cicadas and dragonflies, and play with water guns. [SAME DUDE]



He was in the badminton club during secondary school.

I’m not going to include quotation marks for this one for the most part. I changed some awkward phrasing. I left out some questions from the original posts as well. Check the sources out!

Nickname: Pikorin

Favourite animal: Dog

[Same. I love my dog, Penny. She’s my little sister. I have no shame.]

[Same. I love my dog, Penny. She’s my little sister. I have no shame.] What are you fond of?: Squirrels

[why?]

[why?] Description of your personality: Moody

[Same.]

[Same.] Favourite Colour: Black

Health and Beauty Routine: I drink two cups of milk in the morning and do squats two times a day.

First thing you do in the morning?: Rinse your mouth

First thing you wash in the bath: Face

Amount of sleep you get: 4 hours on the weekdays, 10 hours on the weekend

[I wouldn’t live with that kind of schedule.]

[I wouldn’t live with that kind of schedule.] Rain or sunshine: Rain!

What did you play as a child?: I slid down the slide and got many scratches.

[I ran up slides a lot in elementary school]

[I ran up slides a lot in elementary school] Something you’re proud of: “I have a shiny legendary Pokemon.”

[I ALMOST NEVER GET SHINIES. LET ALONE LEGENDARY ONES. THAT’S AN ACCOMPLISHMENT RIGHT THERE. The chances of getting one kinda vary, but it’s less than 0.1% I think.]

[I ALMOST NEVER GET SHINIES. LET ALONE LEGENDARY ONES. THAT’S AN ACCOMPLISHMENT RIGHT THERE. The chances of getting one kinda vary, but it’s less than 0.1% I think.] Favourite school subject: Math

[Can’t relate. I’m dumb.]

[Can’t relate. I’m dumb.] Least favourite school subject: Civics

Best school memory?: I won a badminton tournament.

[Can’t relate. I’m a blob.]

[Can’t relate. I’m a blob.] Previous part-time jobs: […]post office, fast food, convenience store and then accounting, I’ve done different jobs.



If you could be reborn, would you be a man or woman? A woman!



Who was your first love?: We were in elementary school, in the same class.

[Related post]

[Related post] Any gesture of women unnerving to you?: My heart skips a beat when ousted or “shooed” by hand.

[He gets shooed like a bug XD]

[He gets shooed like a bug XD] Where would you go for a date?: Tokyo Disney Sea.

[You know you’re at the height of luxury when you can afford to take someone there. I want someone to take me to Disneyland or Disney World, or a Disney Cruise.]

[You know you’re at the height of luxury when you can afford to take someone there. I want someone to take me to Disneyland or Disney World, or a Disney Cruise.] Morning person or night person?: Morning person.

[Can’t relate.]

[Can’t relate.] If you could drive to any time period, what would it be?: Jurassic Period!

[If it just so happens you do, *pats* it was nice knowing you (even though he doesn’t know me). He’ll get eaten by a dinosaur.]

[If it just so happens you do, *pats* it was nice knowing you (even though he doesn’t know me). He’ll get eaten by a dinosaur.] If you were stranded on a deserted island, what would you want there with you?: My Nintendo DS or PSP.

[Good luck without a charger or electricity. What games would he bring though?]

[Good luck without a charger or electricity. What games would he bring though?] Favourite music genre: Anime songs

[Me too fam.]

[Me too fam.] Do you play any instruments? No, playing the F chord on the guitar is my limit.

[I like playing and creating music. I’m just not any good at it. XD

He should try learning though!]

[I like playing and creating music. I’m just not any good at it. XD He should try learning though!] Favourite sports: swimming and badminton

[I’m not good at swimming. I’m not good at badminton. I’m not good at sports.]

[I’m not good at swimming. I’m not good at badminton. I’m not good at sports.] Sweets you usually eat: Macarons and chocolate-related sweets

[AYE, that’s pretty much my taste too, so we pretty much have similar taste.]

[AYE, that’s pretty much my taste too, so we pretty much have similar taste.] Something you’re self-conscious about: The thickness of my eyebrows.

[If his eyebrows were ugly, I would’ve commented on that already. XD (I usually say something along the lines of, “Is that a caterpillar on your face? It’s so thick and bushy! It looks like you took hair from your head and put it on your eyebrow! Maybe you can’t grow facial hair because all of it goes to those eyebrows.”)]

[If his eyebrows were ugly, I would’ve commented on that already. XD (I usually say something along the lines of, “Is that a caterpillar on your face? It’s so thick and bushy! It looks like you took hair from your head and put it on your eyebrow! Maybe you can’t grow facial hair because all of it goes to those eyebrows.”)] What will you do when and if only you became an invisible man one day?: Secretly observe Sugita Tomokazu-san.

[Well, alright then. Fangirls have some competition? More importantly, Nakamura has competition!]



[Well, alright then. Fangirls have some competition? More importantly, Nakamura has competition!] What’s the scariest thing to you?: In a sense, the most intimidating people.

[All people are intimidating for me O^O’]

[All people are intimidating for me O^O’] What is the title of the first game you’ve ever played in your life?: “Super Mario World”.

[For me, it was Pokemon Pearl]

[For me, it was Pokemon Pearl] What would you be if you went into the fantasy world?: A witch.

[Nobu, defying gender barriers. He’ll be a fabulous witch. I would similarly want to be a mage.]



[Nobu, defying gender barriers. He’ll be a fabulous witch. I would similarly want to be a mage.] What if I want to use a weapon to fight monsters?: Bow, crossbow.

[I would want to use magic or a sword!]

[I would want to use magic or a sword!] Favourite season?: Spring.

[I like winter because plants are dead (I have extremely bad allergies), snow, Christmas, my birthday, and New Year’s!]

[I like winter because plants are dead (I have extremely bad allergies), snow, Christmas, my birthday, and New Year’s!] At what spot do you like to linger around?: Starbucks.

[Again, the height of luxury is when you’re able to afford Starbucks regularly.]

[Again, the height of luxury is when you’re able to afford Starbucks regularly.] How’s your tolerance to alcohol?: I can’t drink much.

[I don’t drink]

[I don’t drink] What good books do you usually read?: Original works that are adapted into anime.

[I don’t read a lot. I’m an illiterate fool.]

[I don’t read a lot. I’m an illiterate fool.] What do you buy at convenience stores?: Fresh premium caramel roll cake.

[I wish they had those in Canada…]



[I wish they had those in Canada…] Favourite place in the country?: Okinawa.

[I gotta go there someday!]

[I gotta go there someday!] What countries do you want to go abroad?: Italy.

[He recently said he wants to go to Italy for gelato and to be honest, I relate. Europe has good chocolate and cheese from what I hear.]

[He recently said he wants to go to Italy for gelato and to be honest, I relate. Europe has good chocolate and cheese from what I hear.] What are the challenges to your trip destinations like?: Pickpockets like to snatch!

[He better watch out for those vans that say “Free Candy!” They might be meant for kids, but he might just stumble in.]

[He better watch out for those vans that say “Free Candy!” They might be meant for kids, but he might just stumble in.] Are you nervous in public?: Recently it’s been okay; still nervous during events.

[I’m always nervous in public. I would like to attend an event by the end of my life though.]

[I’m always nervous in public. I would like to attend an event by the end of my life though.] What would you tell your past-self (10 years ago)?: “Don’t give up and eat your dinner properly!”

[I tell that to myself now XD

If I were to send a message to myself, it would be something along the lines of, “What you feel, what you think, and what you believe is important. Listen to yourself. At the end of the day, you will figure out what to do. Don’t be afraid of being alone, and don’t be afraid to wander. Loosen up.”]

[I tell that to myself now XD If I were to send a message to myself, it would be something along the lines of, “What you feel, what you think, and what you believe is important. Listen to yourself. At the end of the day, you will figure out what to do. Don’t be afraid of being alone, and don’t be afraid to wander. Loosen up.”] What would you message to your future-self (10 years from now)?: “The you in his twenties is having lots of fun. Are you having fun?”

[Message for me ten years from now: PLEASE TELL ME YOU AREN’T AS DEEP INTO VOICE ACTORS AND ANIMATION. I BEG YOU, GET A LIFE.]



[Message for me ten years from now: PLEASE TELL ME YOU AREN’T AS DEEP INTO VOICE ACTORS AND ANIMATION. I BEG YOU, GET A LIFE.] If the world was going to perish in 24 hours, what would you do? Gather all my friends and family, and have a BBQ party.

[I would just write something in case it resurfaces. I would want to write my thoughts, opinions, and experiences along with the people around me.]

[I would just write something in case it resurfaces. I would want to write my thoughts, opinions, and experiences along with the people around me.] Where do you want to work?: A place where I could grow.

[Same!]

[Same!] What are your thoughts when you look back at 2010? I issued a sex appeal to play [Usui], and worked hard to reach the targets!

[From the amount of screaming fangirls, I think you did just fine.]

[From the amount of screaming fangirls, I think you did just fine.] What is your current aim?: To be more playful and get more out of acting.

Finally, a message to the world: I’ll work hard from now on to make a voice that everyone will not have a hard time to listen to. Thank you for your support!

[Thank you Nobu! You inspire a lot of people (including me) everyday!]

Additional Facts! [SOURCES WILL BE LISTED BELOW!]

He was once told to give up on being a voice actor!

Thank you for not giving up Nobu!

Music:

List of Links (Sources and other cool stuff!):

Some of the links were included in the actual facts themselves! If a source and other stuff is missing, they’re included above!

Voice Compilations:

Wikipedia:

Haikyuu Stuff:

Haikyuu Awards

Basically, they got the fans to nominate for awards like “Who’s the best dressed?” Then the cast got to comment (and maybe get praised by the two female cast members)

“Imagination Game” - Seiyuu Event

Long story short: to win a pair of Karasuno boxers, the voice actors must answer all the same character when asked something like, “Out of the Karasuno team, who’s the most likely to [blank]”

Cast Pictures

Drama CD: Why Noya isn’t popular with women

(This one is because I fricking relate because I’m too short for this tall world)

“Who’s Best Girl?” - Cast Comments + Nobuhiko’s comments [video with cc]

Nobuhiko Okamoto & Yuuki Kaji being bros

[ 1 ], [ 2 ], [ 3 ], [ 4 ], [That time they challenged a Guinness World record], [Nobuhiko’s message for Yuuki Kaji’s 30th birthday]

Nobuhiko’s athletic ability



Kouki Uchiyama, Daiki Yamashita, Nobuhiko Okamoto: [Comic] BNHA Cast Comments



Daiki lending Nobuhiko his jacket (this can potentially fuel Bakudeku fanfics. I can feel it.)

Nishinoya and Bakugou at Jump Festa