His three most infamous roles: Freeza of Dragon Ball Z, Mayuri Kurotsuchi of Bleach and Caesar Clown of One Piece pretty much sums up the quality of his main forte roles. But... we did say he is a versatile actor, right? In fact, when it comes to Western Animation dubs, he tends to play the heroes/protagonists (mostly the trickster ones, but still)
But then again, considering his reputation for being a charming gentleman and ladies' man with a sweet and gentle (you read that right) singing voice....
Appeared as a guest in Denshi Sentai Denziman, where he got to sing a disco number. Then, he went on to voice the Big Bad of Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger then the Evil Genius for Shuriken Sentai Ninninger.
Compare with other voice actors that specializes well in villain roles like Norio Wakamoto or Joji Nakata
Interestingly, most (if not almost all) of the characters he voices tend to have the color purple incorporated into their design.
Some of Ryūsei Nakao's most notable roles include:
- Agent Abrella (voice) in Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger, as well as his cameo in Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger
- Ameno-sagiri in Persona 4: The Animation
- Anre in Granblue Fantasy
- Arekshim in Tech Romancer
- Baikinman (Bacteriaman) in Soreike! Anpanman
- Bartok in the Japanese version of Anastasia
- Batty Koda in the Japanese version of FernGully: The Last Rainforest
- Mr. Bergstrom in the Japanese dub of The Simpsons
- Bethor Zelazny in Phantasy Star Online 2
- Boober Fraggle in Fraggle Rock (1985 NHK dub)
- Brain Freezer in the Japanese dub of Johnny Test
- Buster Bunny in the dub of Tiny Toon Adventures
- Brad Kilstein in Psychic Force
- Caesar Clown, Eric and Indigo in One Piece
- Captain C. Howard (Joe Pantoliano) in the TV Asahi dub of Bad Boys II
- Carlos Rivera in Tomorrow's Joe (Playing Against Type since Carlos is mostly a Nice Guy when off the ring)
- Cindelman in Live A Live (2022 remake)
- Cobra Commander in the Japanese dub of G.I. Joe: The Movie
- Cranky Kong in the Donkey Kong Country TV series
- Croaker in the Japanese dub of Kermit's Swamp Years
- Darkwing Duck in the dub of... well... Darkwing Duck
- Droopy in the Japanese dubs of several Tom and Jerry DTV movies
- Edison Crisper in Kamen Rider: Beyond Generations
- The level 3 Akuma Eshi in D.Gray-Man
- Electro in the Japanese version of The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man
- Eyesmon in Digimon Ghost Game
- Farfarello in Weiß Kreuz
- Ferdinand in the dubs of Babe and Babe: Pig in the City
- Fool in Tail Concerto
- Multiple roles in the Dragon Ball franchise:
- Prior to his more famous role, he voiced Tambourine who was responsible for Krillin's first death.
- Freeza in Dragon Ball Z - his Star-Making Role, not to mention the beginning of over three decades of (marvelous) typecasting.
- Cooler, Chilled and Frost in the same franchise.
- Goldie Wilson (Donald Fullilove) in Back to the Future
- Heathcliff in the Japanese dub of Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats
- Him in Powerpuff Girls Z
- Himley in Daimos (A one-shot yet heroic role, in the previous decade before he got his most famous role)
- Howard the Duck in the Tokyo Broadcasting System dub of... Howard the Duck
- Igano Kagemaru in Iga No Kabamaru (Playing Against Type since he's the main protagonist, and his child self is voiced by Masako Nozawa)
- Ickis in the Japanese dub of Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
- José Carioca in the Japanese dub of DuckTales (2017)
- Katsumi Sagai in Yakuza 6
- Kraken Isaac in Saint Seiya
- Icelus in Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas
- Imagawa Yoshimoto in Nioh 2
- King in GARO: Vanishing Line
- Jean-Bob in the Japanese dub of The Swan Princess
- Jon Arbuckle in the Japanese dub of Garfield and Friends
- Ling in the Japanese dub of Mulan and Kingdom Hearts II
- Lucemon Falldown Mode in Digimon Frontier
- Mac Gargan/Scorpion in the Japanese dub of Spider-Man (PS4)
- Masakage Tsugomori in Shuriken Sentai Ninninger
- Mayuri Kurotsuchi in Bleach
- Mganga in the Japanese version of Arena of Valor
- Mito's Male Avatar in Sword Art Online the Movie -Progressive- Aria of a Starless Night.
- Monkey King in Jackie Chan Adventures (Japanese dub; how ironic for you, Freeza, to be cast as a closer-to-original version of your nemesis)
- Muma in #COMPASS
- Alien Nackle in Ultraman Mebius and the Ultra Brothers
- The Playing Card Bomber in Toei's Yu-Gi-Oh! (first anime series)
- Popuko in Pop Team Epic Ep. 3 Part B and Pop Team Epic Kinen
- Pretty Cure:
- Noise in Suite Pretty Cure ♪
- Night Pumpkin in Go! Princess Pretty Cure: Go! Go!! Gorgeous Triple Feature!!!
- Professor Gibellus in Ultraman Decker Finale: Journey to Beyond
- Professor Quirinus Quirell in the Japanese dub of the Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone video game adaptation
- Robin the Frog and Bean Bunny in the Japanese dub of The Muppet Christmas Carol (dubbing for Jerry Nelson and Steve Whitmire, respectively)
- Takashi Shirogane in GoLion (Sven in Voltron. Oh and this role also had him Playing Against Type)
- Sho Terashima in Zanki Zero
- Simon Orestes Cohen in Ace Combat 3
- Sniff in Moomin (1990)
- Snowball in the Japanese dub of The Secret Life of Pets
- Stanley in the Japanese dub of A Troll in Central Park
- Tanji Washijō in Haikyuu!!
- Tatsuya Sudou in Persona 2
- The Tramp in the DVD dub of Lady and the Tramp
- Vaccineman in One-Punch Man (which is one hell of a Casting Gag)
- William Conrad in Trigun Stampede
- Yakko Warner in the Japanese version of Animaniacs. He sings all of Yakko's songs.
- Ziro the Hutt in the Japanese dub of Star Wars: The Clone Wars