Kappei Yamaguchi

Summary

Mitsuo Yamaguchi (山口 光雄, Yamaguchi Mitsuo, born May 23, 1965), better known by his stage name Kappei Yamaguchi (山口 勝平, Yamaguchi Kappei), is a Japanese actor, voice actor, and rakugoka affiliated with Gokū[1] and 21st Century Fox.[2] After making his voice acting debut in 1989 as the male version of Ranma Saotome in Ranma ½,[3] Yamaguchi went on to other notable roles, including Inuyasha in Inuyasha and L in Death Note. He currently voices Shinichi Kudo and Kaito Kid in Detective Conan, Usopp in One Piece and Teddie in Persona 4. He is married and has a son, Ryunosuke, and a daughter, Akane.[4] Ryunosuke and Akane are also voice actors, while the latter is also a rakugoka.[3][5]

Kappei Yamaguchi
山口 勝平
Yamaguchi in 2016
Born
Mitsuo Yamaguchi

(1965-05-23) May 23, 1965 (age 58)
Fukuoka, Japan
Other names
  • Kyōya Ushihisa (牛久 京也)
  • Nonoya Pepepee (のゝ乃家ぺぺぺぇ)
Occupations
Years active1988–present
Notable workPersona 4 The Animation as Kuma
Height160 cm (5 ft 3 in)
Children2

Biography edit

Early life and education edit

Yamaguchi was born in Fukuoka. He graduated from Fukuoka's prefectural Chikuzen High School. In 1984, Yamaguchi moved to Tokyo and entered the Tokyo Announce University College, a vocational school training various performers from voice actors to singers to announcers or even reporters and dancers.

Background edit

He is the son of a carpenter father. As a child he liked carpentry and animals, so he wanted to be an assistant director because he liked working with animals, kindergarten teachers, boats and the sea.

At the time, he was into TV animation, but when he was in high school, he was in charge of vocals as a side guitar in a band, and I was excited about other things like motorcycles, and he stopped watching anime.

Ever since he was in kindergarten, he has enjoyed playing at elementary school fun parties and art festivals. He found an ad for a school where Masako Nozawa, who she liked since she was unaware of voice acting as a profession, was a teacher, and Kaneta Kimotsuki, who later became her teacher, was also a teacher. He had no choice but to join the Kimotsuki class. At the time, Kimotsuki had just formed the 21st Century Fox theater company, and when he learned that a theater company was the way to become an actor for the first time, he repeatedly said, "The stage is interesting" and joined the same theater company and began with staff work as props and props. He will voluntarily drop out of the locution school in half a year to dedicate himself to the theater company. About a year after joining the theater company, he took the stage for the first time in a supporting role and played the lead role of the boy detective, the main character in So Kitamura's "Odoriko ~THE DANCER MURDER CASE~". After that, the sound director Shigeharu Shiba, who was looking at the stage where he was playing the role of Kuroko, said only one line: "Private conversations in the classroom are strictly prohibited."

Subsequently, Yamaguchi joined the 21st Century FOX theater company and worked there as a stage actor while also acting as a voice actor from the age of 23. In 1989, Yamaguchi played the role of Ranma Saotome in Ranma ½, which became a breakthrough role for him. Since then, he has appeared in many jobs as a voice actor.

Activities as a voice actor edit

He has appeared in numerous works such as television animation, games, foreign film dubbing. In anime, he specializes in playing lively children and young people, and often plays wholesome and brilliant roles in stellar works. After playing the role of Ranma Saotome in "Ranma ½", playing the role of a child, "not acting well" is the core, and the feeling is said to be that it will be good if the result is great. instead of acting cool. In the early 1990s, he also played low-key roles such as Eto in Record of Lodoss War and Gokujurota in Gale! Iron League. Regarding improvisations, in "Kyatto Ninden Teyandee", he learned that "If you're wondering whether or not to do it, do it." In the "Beast Wars" series, "If you put in an ad-lib, it's not right to put it back in the script, even if it doesn't work." It's rude", and when improvising, prepare 3 or 4 stories. for a line, change the line between the test and the actual performance, and the receiving side will respond with impromptu improvisations, turning into an impromptu battle. "It's fun, but my stomach hurts. But it's still fun. It was that kind of study".

In Case Closed, he plays Shinichi Kudo and Kaito Kid. He regrets that Shinichi doesn't show up often, but that's why when he has a turn, he says, "I'm a high school student, Detective Shinichi Kudo and grabs Shinichi's character before challenging the dub. . Also, my favorite "Conan" episode is "Flying Locked Room Shinichi Kudo's First Incident". It's a position to create a person with Minami Takayama, who plays the role of Conan and as the story progressed and Conan Takayama became cooler, Shinichi also became cooler and there was a time when he was confused. At first I was worried about the role of Shinichi and Kid, but when I played the story of the meeting of the two, the picture was the same as when Kid met Conan for the first time, and instead, Shinichi and Kid. Conan is looking directly at Kid from below, and Kid is looking at Conan from above with plenty of room to spare. He has a directive in his mind that he should act in that position.

In One Piece, he originally wanted to play the role of Monkey D. Luffy, the main character, and went to audition, but was unsuccessful. He decided to play the role of Usopp in the form of receiving an offer. Yamaguchi has been reading the original work since the beginning of the serialization, and while he was happy when he found it, he was also confused. As for the reason, he recalls: "Even after reading the original, I couldn't imagine Usopp's voice." He said that he tried various things because he didn't know at first, which is why he said, "I may be the freest character I've ever played." Usopp's line, "I really know everything, I already know that Merry is no good!" I thought it was there, and I gave it to my favorite lines. Also, in the scene where Usopp, who has gained weight in the Boyne Islands, provides the voice, Yamaguchi himself has noticed his weight before going on to dub.

Other ventures edit

In Japanese dubs of international works, Yamaguchi is the voice of Kyle Broflovski, Glenn Quagmire, Bugs Bunny, and Crash Bandicoot. He appeared in hentai and eroge as Kyōya Ushihisa (牛久 京也, Ushihisa Kyōya).[6] After performing rakugo at an event in 2017, Yamaguchi started studying under Shirano Tatekawa.[7][8] He uses the name のゝ乃家ぺぺぺぇ as a rakugoka.[8]

Yamaguchi made his first public appearance in North America at Otakon 2008[9] and in Sakura-Con 2009.[10][11] His third appearance to date has been at Animazement in 2010. He also made a fourth appearance in Hawaii at Kawaii Kon in 2011.

Yamaguchi won the individual seiyu award at the 2003 Tokyo International Anime Fair.

Yamaguchi established his own entertainment production company called Goku Co. Ltd., of which he is president.

In 2019, Yamaguchi won the Kei Tomiyama Award at the 13th Seiyu Awards.

Filmography edit

Anime series edit

Original video animation edit

Anime films edit

Web animation edit

Live action edit

Video games edit

Drama CD edit

Dubbing roles edit

Live-action edit

Animation edit

Commercials edit

Discography edit

Audio dramas edit

Devil May Cry CD Drama Volume 2 Episode 1: Devil's Neverland - Peter Pan

Singles edit

  • Rollin' (1990-10-24), Futureland/Youmex – TYDY-5147[98]
  • Kon'ya ha April Fool (1991-01-21), Pony Canyon – Ranma ½ character single as Ranma Saotome (male)[99]
  • Otousan (1991-01-21), Pony Canyon – Ranma ½ as Ranma Saotome (male), sings "China kara no Tegami" with Megumi Hayashibara[100]
  • Characters Christmas (1991-01-21), Pony Canyon – Ranma ½ as Ranma Saotome (male)[101]
  • Ranma to Akane no Ballad (1993-10-06), Pony Canyon – Ranma ½ as Ranma Saotome (male)[102]
  • Unbalance City (1996-07-20), Nippon Columbia – COCC-13586[98]

Albums edit

Radio shows edit

Awards edit

Year Award Category Result
2019 13th Seiyu Awards Kei Tomiyama Memorial Award Won

References edit

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External links edit

  • Official website (in Japanese)
  • Official agency profile at Gekidan21 Seiki Fox (in Japanese)
  • Kappei Yamaguchi Archived 2016-03-18 at the Wayback Machine at GamePlaza-Haruka Voice Acting Database (in Japanese)
  • seiyuu.info[permanent dead link]
  • Kappei Yamaguchi convention appearances on AnimeCons.com
  • Kappei Yamaguchi at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
  • Kappei Yamaguchi at IMDb