Yoshitsugu Matsuoka

Yoshitsugu Matsuoka is a Japanese voice actor born on September 17, 1986, in Hokkaido, Japan. He is affiliated with the talent management agency I'm Enterprise. Over the course of his career, he has established himself as a prominent performer in the anime and video game industries, earning recognition for his extensive work in leading and supporting roles across numerous animated series and multimedia franchises.

Matsuoka first became interested in voice acting at fifteen after a friend recommended the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion, where Akira Ishida's performance as Kaworu Nagisa inspired him to learn about the profession. Although he initially considered becoming an auto mechanic during his final year of high school, he researched voice acting schools in Hokkaido before deciding to move to Tokyo upon advice that studying in the capital was necessary for success. He worked as a newspaper scholarship student while attending Yoyogi Animation Gakuin and subsequently joined the Japan Narration Actors Institute. Following an audition in 2009, he joined I'm Enterprise and made his voice acting debut the same year as AKX20000 in Eden of the East.

In 2011, Matsuoka secured his first lead role playing Narumi Fujishima in Heaven's Memo Pad, an achievement that earned him the Best New Actor award at the 6th Seiyu Awards in 2012. That same year, he was cast as Kirito in Sword Art Online, a signature role he continued to reprise in subsequent projects. His performance in leading roles earned him further acclaim, leading to the Best Lead Actor award at the 10th Seiyu Awards in 2016.

Matsuoka has lent his voice to many notable anime characters, including Inosuke Hashibira in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Fūtarō Uesugi in The Quintessential Quintuplets, Sora in No Game No Life, Sōma Yukihira in Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma, Bell Cranel in Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, Petelgeuse Romanée-Conti in Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World, Hajime Aoyagi in Yowamushi Pedal, Mechamaru Ultimate in Jujutsu Kaisen, Noi Komazawa in Cosmic Princess Kaguya!, Nijee in Star Detective Precure!, and Zanka Nijiku in Gachiakuta. He has also voiced Helios in the 2021 film reboot Sailor Moon Eternal, Vash the Stampede in the 2023 reboot series Trigun Stampede, and Xiao in the video game Genshin Impact.

Alongside his anime performances, Matsuoka has gained recognition for his radio and gaming contributions. In March 2015, he and co-host Ai Kayano received two awards at the 1st Aniradi Awards for their No Game No Life companion radio show, winning both the RADIO OF THE YEAR Best Radio Award and the Revival Hope Radio Award. On June 17, 2019, he set an official Guinness World Record for supplying over 10,000 unique spoken words for the mobile game Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?: Memoria Freese, the highest amount recorded by a single voice actor for a mobile game. Additionally, in October 2021, he participated in a promotional collaboration for the Sword Art Online Progressive film with the Yomiuri Giants baseball team, throwing the opening pitch and entertaining attendees alongside actor Hiroki Yasumoto.