These are the voices I usually try to imagine in my head whenever I read the manga! Some of these I came up with myself, others I just accepted after looking up videos of the same topic on YouTube. I also know most, if not all of these castings would be impossible, since some of the listed actors have aged out of the roles and others would not conceivably work for an anime.
Try these out whenever you next read the manga! And if you have any suggestions for voices you think fit better, feel free to tell me about it!
(Long post, so it’s under the cut!)
Red (Gen 1-2): Veronica Taylor (Original Ash Ketchum)
- Since they start out pretty similarly and are counterparts anyways, why not?
Red (Gen 3+): Bryce Papenbrook (Origins Red)
- I’m not a hardcore fan of the guy’s work, but he fits well enough and is easy to recall!
Blue (Gen 1-2): James Cathcart (Gary Oak)
- He definitely isn’t the best choice for his more edgy counterpart, so any generic shonen rival voice would also be just as good!
Blue (Gen 3+): Johnny Bosch (Origins Brock)
- Taken off a YouTube suggestion, I think this one’s pretty fitting!
Green (Gen 1-2): Tara Strong (Kitten Walker- Teen Titans)
- I think this one fits very well with Green’s cheeky and flirty personality!
Green (Gen 3+): Michelle Knotz (May- Pokemon AG)
- I feel Green could keep Tara Strong as her voice actress throughout, but I included this for equality in case anyone wanted to see!
Yellow: Laura Bailey (Maka Albarn- Soul Eater)
- Another YouTube suggestion which really impressed me! Laura has a lot of range, which is needed to play Yellow!
Gold (Gen 2-3): Maddie Blaustein (AJ- Pokemon episode 8)
- While his accent was a bit much, I like him as a spunky counterpart to Ash! Any better versions of a similar character would be appreciated!
EDIT: Now that I think about it, Ben Schwartz would actually be a good choice for Gold!
Gold (Gen 4+): Scott McCord (Dan Kuso- Bakugan)
- (YouTube suggestion) There’s probably many other voices that’d fit here too!
Silver: Julian Rebolledo (Paul- Pokemon DP)
- Any super-edgy anime guy would fit (I saw Sasuke as one suggestion and agreed), but I’m going with the closest existing Pokemon comparison!
Crystal: Janice Kawaye (XJ9, Ami Onuki, etc)
- I think Janice’s peppy voice and strong “voice of reason” tone would be perfect for Crystal!
Ruby (Gen 3): Scott Menville (Robin- Teen Titans)
- Scott’s capability of playing both a campy loon (Er… thanks, TTG?) and a young badass was what really motivated me to choose him!
Ruby (Gen 6+): Todd Haberkorn (Hikaru- Ouran Host Club)
- While I still think Scott could voice Ruby all the way, the many occurrences of Todd on other people’s list and the voice clips they provided convinced me to begrudgingly put him here for his sheer skill.
Sapphire: Carolyn Richards (Sandy Cheeks, Cindy Vortex, etc)
- I think she would pull off Sapphire’s tough attitude, southern (?) accent and semi-tsundere nature based on the two roles listed above!
Emerald: Tara Strong (Ben Tennyson- Ben 10)
- Maybe I’m biased because he also has the green and #10 motif, but I think Ben 10′s voice would be a perfect for a spunky little kid like Emerald! I don’t think most usual anime dub voices would fit him very well otherwise…
Diamond: Zach Eisen (Avatar Aang)
- For a pure boi like Diamond, I think he’d 100% need an actual kid actor voicing him. And for ease of imagination, the rest of the Sinnoh Trio’s voices will also line up with the Gaang’s, because they actually fit quite well!
Pearl: Jack DeSena (Sokka)
- Barry’s voice also fits really well since the two are almost identical characters, but this works pretty well, too!
Platinum: Mae Whitman (Katara, many other roles)
- I think Mae Whitman’s impressive repertoire of wise and strong girl characters speaks for itself. For more anime-oriented folks, I’ve also seen the great Christina Vee on other people’s suggestions!
Black: Michael Reisz (Takuya- Digimon Frontier)
- For the longest time I imagined Black played by Yuri Lowenthal, but when I saw Michael’s voice clips from a YouTube suggestion, they immediately won me over!
White: “Miss Paradox Space” (White, PokeSpe BW Fandub)
- While certainly not the most professional actress on this list, hearing her in the YouTube fandub series for the manga was a great pleasure! She has a very unique voice that fits the role very well! If you know a similar and better actress, make sure to tell me about her!
Blake: Yuri Lowenthal (Sasuke Uchiha, teen Ben Tennyson, Mercury Black, etc)
- Similar to Scott Menville as Ruby but more adult, Yuri has the range of playing both a badass and a dweeb (for Blake’s campy playboy facade.)
Whitley: Haven Paschall (Serena- Pokemon XY)
- Haven’s amazing skill at conveying “sweet anime girl experiencing despair” was what led me to choose her for this role!
X: Mike Erwin (Speedy- Teen Titans)
- I know there are many roles that fit better than this, so let me hear them! Personally I never liked that X and Y were aged down for the manga, so my choice here might be a bit biased.
Y: Ashley Johnson (Ellie- The Last of Us, many many other roles)
- One of the best tough girl voices for one of the toughest Dex Holders!
Sun: Jacob Hopkins (Original Gumball Watterson)
- It was super-tough deciding whether or not to give Sun a kid actor or not (I was dead-set on Ben Schwartz for a while) but I think this probably fits? Gumball’s personality of a well-meaning kid with a slightly askew moral compass should work well for Sun! Any better suggestions?
Moon: Kimiko Glenn (Peni Parker, Lena DeSpell, etc)
- Kimiko’s voice really fits a friendly and composed yet badass girl like Moon!
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