This is TOM. He is the host of Toonami, the greatest programming block in the history of television. He has been voiced by two people, Sonny Strait(Krillin in Dragon Ball Z, Usopp in One Piece) and Steven Jay Blum. Steve retweeted my post regarding last week's piece on Mary McGlynn and I promised it would be his turn next, so here it is. Mr. Blum not only voices TOM as he introduces anime every week on Toonami, he also was instrumental in bringing it back two years ago. First he joined forces with the Toonami team to bring TOM back for the greatest April Fool's prank ever, then when the Toonami Faithful demanded a comeback for real, he tweeted every week for #BringBackToonami, and then when it was announced the campaign succeeded, Blum was among the first to tweet #ToonamisBackBitches. But all of this is just the tip of the iceberg, Blum isn't just the guy who brings us the anime, he IS the anime. Steve has a ridiculously long list of roles in anime voice overs, he even set a record for most roles ever in anime dubbing. Arguably the number one role is Spike Spiegel of Cowboy Bebop which actually earned him the rol of TOM because the guys behind Toonami were fans of his work on that show. But he hasn't just sat around in the Absolution(Tom's spaceship) he has a lot other roles that make him popular at the conventions. As a Final Fantasy fan, I'm partial to Vincent Valentine from the FF7 sequels/spin-offs, say what you will about them, Steve makes Vincent even more badass than he already was, which is sayng something. Blum also had a role in IGPX the gorundbreaking first ever anime made for Toonami as Alex Cunningham, the defending champion for the first season and rival of the protagonist Takeshi. He has also been Wolverine numerous times including the Marvel Anime X-Men, sadly he did not reprise the role in Wolverine and instead played Kikyo, a badass swordsman who has the same regeneration power as Wolverine and can retract his sword into his arm the same way Wolverine can retract his claws. Unfortunately, the one downside to Kikyo is that Blum does him with about the same voice as Orochimaru from Naruto which is also very similar to Leeron fro Gurren Lagann. Did I mention Leeron is openly gay? I don't hate gay people, and I don't hate any performance by the great Steve Blum, but in an attempt to make them sound more sinister, Blum ends up making Kikyo and Orochimaru sound gay, which actually makes them sound less menacing to me. I once shared this opinion with a girl at a convention and she said it made sense because Orochimaru is clearly gay for Sasuke, pointing out how the first time they met he gave him a hickey and is always going on about how he wants Sasuke's body. Come to think of it, it puts a whole different light on Kikyo's obsession with Logan. Okay, enough of that, Steve is a badass and he brings it with pretty much every role he has, from video games(Sanjuro in .hack) to anime(Kazuma in S-CRY-ed) to Transformers and X-Men, even, I believe, an Arby's commercial. Without him there is no Toonami, not just because there would be no TOM but there would be no anime without the voice acting god that is Steven Jay Blum. I bow down to you oh mighty one, I am not worthy, please forgive me for my criticism, do not send the wrath of the snake upon me!
It should go without saying that as big a fan I am of Steven Jay Blum, he did indeed influence 7th Moon. Since it was inspired by Toonami I have always imagined the voice of the main character Hidariude, his doppelganger antagonist Seichei, and his mentor he was cloned from, Ryu as being that of Steve Blum. Lately I've been thinking about taking over these roles myself, but seriously, if Blum is willing to be a part of this project, he can have any part he wants, hell I'll let him do all of the voices if he wants, even the female voices! Steve is god he can do whatever he wants! Until then, may his voice be in your mind when you read the book, still available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and my private e-store that you can reach from the llinks on this page.
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