Rina Hidaka:

The latest entry to my great seiyuu list, which brings the number up to 115, is yet again of the female persuasion.  Rina Hidaka specializes in playing cute girls and imoutos.  Silica from SAO, Last Order from Index, Airi Kashii from Ro-Kyu-Bu, etc.  These are fantastic roles and they all share the similar trait of being young and innocent and wonderful little girls that everyone falls in love with after about five minutes in their presence.

However, despite being so cute for so long, I didn't think she was on the level of a great seiyuu until today.  After watching her performance as Sherry in Gate this episode, I was utterly floored by how evocative her voice ended up being.  Not only did Rina Hidaka prove herself as a great seiyuu today, but Gate proved itself as a great anime today.  Now I have no doubts and no qualms about having it included in my anime rankings.  If anyone argues with me I can just point to Rina Hidaka's scene in this episode and the case is automatically closed.

Thinking back, when Last Order asked Touma to save Accelerator, it was another amazing emotional moment.  Rina Hidaka has always been great, it's my ears that have failed her all this time.  But I don't think she's ever performed as well before as she did today.