杉田智和Sugita Tomokazu — the voice actor who keeps adopting people

Vocal blueprint

Sugita has been polishing his Wakamoto impression since middle school — it sits underneath nearly every vocal choice he makes. In Gintama, the production cast him as the Cell parody character Cell-O instead of casting Wakamoto himself.

Magnet Combi (磁石コンビ)

Met April 2001 on Web Diver — Nakamura's TV debut. Same age, 90% overlap in favourite games. Sugita once stayed at Nakamura's apartment four nights in a single week before being told to go home. When Sugita's own mother heard Nakamura ad-cover his Gintoki line, she rang him: 'That Nakamura is amazing. Tomokazu, we don't need you.' Since April 2020 Nakamura has been running a separate web show, わしゃがなTV, with Mafia Kajita — that Sugita is on record being jealous of.

Anigera co-host, 12 years

Met at a werewolf-game gathering when Kajita was 19–20. Kajita didn't know who Sugita was — he just registered him as 'the guy who's really good at Wakamoto Norio impressions.' They bonded over both loving Suigintou in Rozen Maiden. From episode 101 (2013) Kajita was the official co-host of アニゲラ!ディドゥーーン until it ended March 25, 2021.

引き籠もりヒーロー co-host

Co-personality on 杉田智和と後藤邑子の引き籠もりヒーローラジオ, launched November 21, 2021 on Onsen to promote the crowdfunded audio drama 「引き籠もりヒーロー」 in which Sugita plays Masquerade and Goto plays Minamiha.

Yorozuya · 万事屋

Sakaguchi has voiced Shimura Shinpachi opposite Sugita's Gintoki since 2006. After Gintama THE FINAL Sugita called Sakaguchi and Kugimiya his '特大のセーフティネット' — an extra-large safety net — and said he couldn't thank them enough for being there for fifteen years.

Yorozuya · 万事屋

Sugita's Kagura since 2006. Same 'safety net' quote — Sakaguchi for his part has called both Sugita and 'Kugi-mī' geniuses with abilities he himself does not have.

Casting trust since Peace Walker

Cast Sugita as Kazuhira Miller in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (2010). For Death Stranding 2 he booked Sugita for roughly 2,000 lines of dialogue across 27 recording days and 60 cumulative studio hours — by the director's own description, one of the longest performance commitments he has ever asked of an actor.

DGS hosts' inner circle

One half of Dear Girl ~Stories~. Sugita has guested on DGS multiple times — most famously the December 29, 2007 episode with Nakamura Yuuichi and Yasumoto Hiroki. The three of Sugita, Kamiya and Ono Daisuke are part of the same regular dinner group.

DGS hosts' inner circle

Other half of Dear Girl ~Stories~ (running since 2007, into its 20th anniversary in April 2026). Has co-starred with Sugita in 39 separate works — one of his most frequent screen partners outside the Magnet Combi.

Recurring trio member

Co-guested with Sugita and Nakamura on the December 29, 2007 DGS episode — the prototype for the Sugita/Nakamura/Yasumoto trio that recurs at events and games to this day.

Kindan radio guest

Toriumi co-hosts 禁断生ラジオ with Yasumoto. Sugita has been a recurring guest and was later joined by Toriumi on Sugita's own Mushoku Tensei radio.

Close junior friend

Frequent co-star and private dinner partner. In 2025 Sugita joined the 'rice-from-paddy-to-sake' unit Matsuoka founded, alongside Funato Yurie and Maeda Kaori — Sugita's friendship is durable enough to commit to actual rice planting.

Trained from before debut

In 2013 Sugita pulled the still-unknown Yuuma onto the A&G All Star 2013 stage at Pacifico Yokohama. Sugita now describes himself as 'the relatives' uncle' to the Uchida siblings.

The one who asked

Before her younger brother Yuuma's debut, Maaya was the one who went to Sugita: 'Yuuma is debuting from I'm Enterprise — please teach him how to carry himself as a male voice actor.' Sugita has joked publicly that the Uchida siblings are 'abnormally close — Yuuma only ever talks about his sister, and they spent Christmas together.'

Yumeria handover

Sugita had assumed he'd voice the anime version of Mikuri Tomokazu in Yumeria. When Hatano got the role instead, Sugita's first words on meeting him on a later show were: 'I'm glad it was you who played Tomokazu.' Hatano has cited it as one of the most meaningful things a senpai ever said to him.

Gargantia handheld

Met at the Gargantia audition in 2013 — Sugita spotted him from across the room ('界人くんじゃないか') and Ishikawa, then a teenager, ended up confiding in him about a difficult relationship with his younger sister while they waited. During the recording Sugita acted as Ishikawa's bridge into the senior cast, and has said he consciously played Chamber as a character designed to 'draw words out of' Ishikawa's Ledo. They reunited as Jiji and the yokai Taro on Dandadan in 2024 — by Sugita's own count, the first time in 'more than a decade' that Ishikawa had been at a mic next to him.

Tanjiro's reassurance

After recording the Hashira Training Arc scene where Himejima 'acknowledges' Tanjiro, Sugita publicly said 'I'm glad it's Hanae-kun playing Tanjiro' and credited Hanae with 'a power of words that reassures people' — and used that as the emotional spine of his Himejima.

Atomic Monkey 1st-gen junior

First-generation graduate of the Atomic Monkey training school (opened April 2006). In the agency's own Sarumaga column, Ono calls Sugita '頼れる兄貴' — a reliable big brother — while Sugita writes that Ono is 'good at yo-yo, theoretically flawless in both brains and athletic ability.'

Agency senpai, 2001–2020

Atomic Monkey's founding centrepiece. Sugita was a junior at the agency for the entire 19 years they overlapped there.

Same-age cohort

Born 1980, same year as Sugita and Nakamura — one of the small same-age peer set that Sugita has called 'the people who could actually relax around me' in a 2000s industry full of older actors.

副座長 since 2008

Sugita has appeared in every instalment of Mizuki Nana's 'Ōi ni Utau' stage-concert series since 2008, holding the role of 副座長 (vice-leader). He has been an open Mizuki Nana fan for as long as he has been a working actor.

CV部 unit

The three play recurring 'CV部' brothers in Toyota's long-running Corolla anime CMs — written so the three voices feel like a single household. Sakurai and Sugita also guest-co-hosted Mikado Radio together in January 2009.

Anigera musician guest

Musician/actor Hoshino Gen guested on Anigera!Didyun on February 25, 2021 — one of the final guests of the show's 12-year run — to talk with Sugita and Kajita about BlazBlue Radio (ぶるらじ) and his song 創造.

The 2001 introduction

Was on the Web Diver booth in 2001 and pulled Sugita over to say hello to the nervous rookie Nakamura. Without that introduction the Magnet Combi never forms.