Jet's Voice Actors, Without Which He Would Have Laryngitus All the Time.

Jet's Japanese Voice: Ishizuka Unshou

Ishizuka Unshou has had many previous roles, including but not limited to "Trigun" (B.D. Neon), "Street Fighter 2 the Movie" (Blanka), Pokemon (I believe as Professor Oak but don't quote me on that), and Fujiwara Bunta in Initial D. If you saw Bebop on DVD, you got to see Mr. Unshou (I'm assuming that's his family name, but it's difficult to tell with Japanese names where the family name can be listed first-PLEASE correct me if I am wrong by sending an e-mail to Usagichan2@juno.com) ahem, comment on his role as Jet. Interestingly, he seems to be a very quiet soft-spoken man who looks about as opposite as Jet as you can get (although somehow I doubt there are that many Japanese men who look like Jet....) Interestingly, he originally thought the voice of Spike (Kouchi Yamadera) would have been better-suited for the role.

Jet's English Voice: John Billingslea

A.K.A Beau Billingsly. For some reason, many anime va's in English have pen names. Maybe it's a contractual thing? Relatively famous VA's like Ruby Marlowe appeared in "Fushigi Yuugi: The mysterious play" under different names, and this happens all the time. One day, I will figure this out. Anyway, Billingslea/Billingsly has only voiced a few other characters. In Outlaw Star (which has aired on Cartoon Network), he played the Narrator, and in Rurouni Kenshin he played first season recurring-baddie Hiruma Gohei. As much as I enjoy the Kenshin dub, this has kind of ruined those episodes for me since I can't stand hearing Jet Black's voice being used for characters who get kicked in the groin by ten year olds. It's just wrong! Upon seeing up to DVD 10 in the Kenshin series recently, I also noticed he played the voice of Juppon-Gatana underling Senkaku (I'm almost positive it's spelled wrong, but any Kenshin-ophiles should know who I'm referring too). This was another case where I thought Mr. Billingslea did a good job, but I would like to see him get some better parts! I was kind of surprised that he wasn't in more anime. I mean, Geez, do you know how many parts David Lucas, voice of Spike, has been getting since Bebop? He's done Gene Starwind in Outlaw Star, Roger Smith in "Big O", Yuusuke in the new "I wanna be an Angel", arch-nemesis Shishi and little-nemesis Toma in Rurouni Kenshin, and GOD KNOWS how many other parts (most of which are the leading men of the series.) Oh, oh, and you wanna know about Wendee Lee, voice of Faye??? She's been in EVERYTHING, from Fushigi Yuugi to Rurouni Kenshin to I wanna be an Angel....dang, any series that's come out in the past ten years has had Lee in it in some capacity. So why isn't Jet's voice actor getting more parts!? WHY? I'll tell you why, because it's a DAMNED CONSPIRACY! It's life immitating art! Jet gets shafted while Faye and Spike get all the glory, and it's even happening with their VOICE ACTORS!!!!! As retribution for for this horrible oversight, I think Beau Billingsly should get to be the voice of God in the dub of the Oh My Goddess! Movie. If you're going to have God as a supporting character, you should get James Earl Jones to do the voice. And if he's not available, you get the voice of Jet Black.

Back to the Shrine

Here's some information about Jet's voices in Japanese and English. This is an interesting subject, because i've heard some people proclaim high and loud that they love the Japanese voice and don't like the English voice, and vice versa. Peronally I think they both did an EXCELLENT job, but I personally like the English Actors take on the character a little better. You are free to disagree with me, but that may explain why I go on for longer about the English Va here.