Kenichirou Matsuda

Kenichirou Matsuda (Japanese: 松田 健一郎, Hepburn: Matsuda Ken'ichirō, born 22 January 1978) is a Japanese voice actor from Saitama Prefecture, affiliated with Arts Vision.^[1] He is known for starring as Batou in Ghost in the Shell: Arise, Vainney Halter in Clockwork Planet, Jacques Yvain in RErideD: Derrida, who leaps through time, Thors in Vinland Saga, Gordon Agrippa in Black Clover, Arnold in Magatsu Wahrheit: Zuerst, Miles Morgan in Engage Kiss, the narrator and Bond Forger in Spy x Family, Richard Parker in Highspeed Etoile, and Marcella Nuvolari in Dahlia in Bloom.

Kenichirou Matsuda, a native of Saitama Prefecture, was born on 22 January 1978.^[1][2] As an elementary school student, he learned about voice acting after hearing his two older sisters were interested in such a career, but stopped watching anime because he thought it was "something for kids to watch", so he instead wanted to be a baseball player or a police officer.^[3] During his early adulthood, he attended a legal vocational school with the goal of becoming a civil servant, but dropped out after not being able to keep up with a higher class he was moved into.^[3] Enrolled into the Japan Narration Acting Institute [ja],^[1][3] he considered quitting after three years and a third failed audition, but instead continued, and the following year he was accepted into Arts Vision.^[3]

In February 2013, it was announced that he would voice Batou in Ghost in the Shell: Arise.^[4] Jaclyn Appelgate of Comic Book Resources said Matsuda "captures Batou's rough personality and does especially well with expressing the character's rage".^[5] He later reprised his role in the 2015 movie Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie,^[6] and he later starred as Vainney Halter in Clockwork Planet and Jacques Yvain in RErideD: Derrida, who leaps through time.^[7][8]

In February 2019, Matsuda was cast as Thors, a major character in Vinland Saga.^[9] Regarding his performance of Thors, Appelgate said "Kenichiro may have not had many lines with Thors since the character is a man of few words, but the voice actor managed to balance Thors' strong appearance with his massive compassion, using a deep masculine voice with soft undertones."^[5] He later starred as Arnold in Magatsu Wahrheit: Zuerst and Miles Morgan in Engage Kiss.^[10][11]

Matsuda originally considering retirement after several unsuccessful auditions, but in April 2022, he began voicing the narrator of Spy x Family, and in October 2022, he started voicing main character Bond Forger.^[12][13] Matsuda uses several different barks to express Bond's emotions, with different ones to express happiness and sadness.^[12] Appelgate said of his performance of Bond: "when it comes to how the dog sounds when he does open his mouth, Kenichiro adds a nice, subtle layer of charm to this gentle giant with his iconic "borf" speech."^[5] In 2024, he starred as Richard Parker in Highspeed Etoile and Marcella Nuvolari in Dahlia in Bloom.^[14][15]

• The Beckoning Silence (Toni Kurtz (Roger Schäli))^[53]
• BlacKkKlansman (Detective Ron Stallworth (John David Washington))^[54]
• Blood Ties (Chris Pierzynski (Clive Owen))^[55]
• Deep Blue Sea 3 (Eugene Shaw (Emerson Brooks))^[56]
• Doomsday (Sergeant Norton (Adrian Lester))^[57]
• Fast & Furious (Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson))
• Fireproof (Wayne Floyd (Stephen Dervan))^[58]
• Jersey Boys (Nick Massi (Michael Lomenda))^[59]
• The Maze Runner (Alby (Aml Ameen))^[60]
• The Night Before (Chris Roberts (Anthony Mackie))^[61]
• The Perfect Host (Detective Morton (Nathaniel Parker))^[62]
• Rogue Hostage (Kyle Snowden (Tyrese Gibson))^[63]
• Young Justice, Kaldur'ahm

• Arts Vision profile (in Japanese)
• Kenichirou Matsuda at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Kenichirou Matsuda at IMDb