Otanjoubi Omedetou, Suwabe Junichi-san!

Today's the 34th birthday of Suwabae Junichi who plays the charismatic captain of Hyotei Gakuen, Atobe Keigo! His hometown is Tokyo, blood type A and his agency is Tokyo Haiyuu Seikatsu Kyoudoukumiai or Haikyou for short. By the way, fellow Tenipuri seiyuus who also come from the same agency include Kondo Takayuki (Oishi), Namikawa Daisuke (Ootori) and Minagawa Junko (Echizen). For your information, the picture which I've provided in this feature was scanned from the latest issue of Seiyuu AniMedia where he had an interview with another seiyuu for the anime Fate / stay Night.

In case you wonder if I'm practising favouritism because this birthday feature is unusually detailed as compared to the other seiyuus, it's just that there's more information on Suwabe-san. If I had the same amount of data for my other favourite seiyuus like Kusunoki Taiten or Okiayu Ryoutarou, I will do the same. Of course, I do admit that I have a soft spot for Suwabe-san...^__^

Actually, Suwabe-san became a seiyuu cum narrator after going through a number of jobs since his university graduation. He has a significant number of projects under his name considering that his career is relatively short compared to the veterans. I've heard his voice in other animes like Fullmetal Alchemist (Greed is so charming!). Besides this, he also appears in Karin, Gundam, Gokujo Seitokai, GTO, Shakugan no Shana, Tenjou Tenge, Peacemaker and BLOOD+. Suwabe-san's latest project would be in the upcoming spring anime, NANA where he takes on the role Takakura Kyosuke. No doubt it may not be a major role, I'm still looking forward to hearing his voice in the anime. As for his narrator projects, you can hear his voice in programmes like Shin Docchi no Ryoori Show, Hello! Morning, Hustle Hustle and Sky PerfecTV! promotion channel.

As Atobe Keigo, Suwabe-san has released 8 singles, 1 album and had a guest appearance in the Seigaku Trio single, "Bokutachi no Shippai". Among these CDs, he holds the title of having the highest ranking single under the Tenipuri CD series as the 100th title, "Riyuu/E-kimochi" debuted at No.9 on the Oricon weekly singles chart dated 11 April 2005. He will also be teaming up with Okiayu Ryoutarou (Tezuka), Kusunoki Taiten (Sanada) and Minagawa Junko (Echizen) in the new unit GIGS for the single cum OP for the OVA series, "FLOWER~Sakuranka" due to be released on 31 May.

Suwabe-san is known to be a car-maniac and owns 3 European cars and 2 motorbikes. Besides that, he is also enthusiastic about his sneakers collection and has a pet chihuahua by the name of Zero. The photos on his official website are all taken by himself. Refer below to more of Suwabe-san's interesting little facts about himself according to what he has provided on his profile page:

- He doesn't like to be told whether someone looks like him or he looks like some celebrity.

- Height = 173cm, Weight = 60 kg (deviation of 2 to 3 kg most of the time)

- Shoe size = 26.5cm (same as me...yes, my shoe size is considered quite big for females but it runs in the family...^___^ I can't help it anyway.)

- Hobbies: cars, motorbikes, movies, music, collecting sneakers, soccer, cooking and drinking alcohol

- He doesn't smoke and hates smoking. (Understandable for someone who needs his voice to make a living...I'm also an anti-smoking person.)

- He uses DoCoMo FOMA P900iV as his mobile phone.


- Traits he likes in a girl: Likes to laugh, enjoys eating, similar views on finances, independent in many ways, ability to recover from disappointment/problems and someone who has everything that he doesn't have.

- He likes all types of food and is especially fond of stewed food of late.

- He dislikes natou, cucumber and Japanese desserts especially those which come with a filling. (Hmm...I don't really like sweet stuff too...)

- Favourite drinks include most alcoholic beverages especially beer, shochuu and bourbon.

- He dislikes drinks which are supposed to be fruit juices but are artificially made without real juices as well as coffee which has sugar or milk added to it. (I don't drink coffee and I understand his annoyance with those "half-baked" fruit juices because I don't like those stuff too.)

- Favourite TV programmes are mainly documentaries like "Jounetsu Tairiku", "Sekai Issan", news programmes like "World Business Satellite" and soccer-related shows.

- There are too many favourite movies to name but the most recent movie he watched was "Brothers Grimm" which he gave 3 stars out of 5.

- He likes books by Edogawa Ranpou.

- Favourite sports = soccer & motor sports like F1, WGP, WRC

- He has no particular preference when it comes to music.

- Favourite brands include SOPH., STUSSY, PRADA SPORT and NIKE.

- Favourite flowers include roses, sakura and osmanthus. (Roses do suit the image of Atobe-sama. ^__^ No wonder Suwabe-san is perfect for the role of Atobe Keigo!)

- Owns 3 cars and likes English & Latin-style models. 2 motorbikes i.e. a Racer and Big Star.

- Favourite animal: dog

- He would catch up on sleep during his off days and loves to cook dishes which take up a lot of time while sipping his alcohol.

- He wants to have time and a strong heart as well as aspires to do work which will bring satisfaction.

- He treats work as play and vice versa so he enjoys himself so much that he doesn't have the need to find a special place to have fun.

- The first CD he bought with his pocket money was Tahara Toshihiko's "Kimi ni Bara Bara" (Giving you roses) and he couldn't remember why he chose this.