Kanichi Kurita

Kanichi Kurita (栗田 貫一) is a Japanese Impressionist, comedian and voice actor.

A veteran Impressionist, he is known in Japan as "One of the Four Heavenly Kings of Impressionists". His most famous role as a voice actor is the titular character of the anime series Lupin the Third.

Career
Kurita was originally a company employee, but when he went to karaoke with his colleagues and sang, he was praised for his singing voice, which resembled that of singer Hiromi Go, and he began to emulate his singing voice and gestures. In 1983, Kurita appeared on an amateur audition program and was scouted because of his impersonation skills, and made his debut as a professional impersonator in 1984.

While performing impersonations of various singers and actors, Kurita also began imitating Arsène Lupin III from "Lupin the Third" series. This led to Kurita becoming friends with Yasuo Yamada, who played Lupin.

In 1995, Yamada collapsed due to a cerebral hemorrhage just before recording "Lupin III: Farewell to Nostradamus" and became unconscious. Due to this situation, the production company discussed the matter and decided to release the film in theaters with Kurita as a substitute for the role of Lupin, saying that he is a celebrity who has known Yamada and would not destroy the character image of Lupin that Yamada had built. Kurita was initially offered "just a little bit, please," which he accepted, mistakenly thinking that he only needed to perform one phrase. In reality, however, the situation was such that no dialogue had been recorded at all, and Kurita had to handle all the lines, so he had to struggle to play Lupin.

After that film was released, Yamada passed away without regaining consciousness, and Kurita was again offered the role of Lupin as the official successor. Kurita turned it down several times, but the enthusiasm of the production staff, who followed him to the bullet train where he boarded for another job, broke him, and he accepted the offer.

Kurita's role as Lupin marked his debut as a voice actor. Unlike Yamada, Kurita began playing Lupin without any theatrical education or experience, and was received severe criticism by many fans for a performance that fell short of Yamada's. On the other hand, there were many fans who supported and defended Kurita, who used impersonation techniques to protect the image of the character Lupin created by Yamada. Kurita said, "The ideal is to give the illusion that Mr.Yamada is playing the role," and thoroughly studied Yamada's way of speaking and intonation. He also worked hard, encouraged by his co-stars, and continued to play Lupin.

In 2011, when some of the main cast members were replaced, Kurita began to give Lupin a little of Kurita's own personality. At the same time, he began to focus less on "recreating Yamada's voice" and more on "playing the character Lupin". On the other hand, he said that "protecting the character image of Lupin established by Yamada" is "a basic rule that must never be broken" since it was the reason he was cast in the first place. Even now, Kurita always rewatches Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro on the day of recording and checks Yamada's voice before going to the site.

In 2021, Kurita became the oldest and the longest-serving performer among the main cast.

Kurita does not do much work as a voice actor, except for playing Lupin, and is mainly active in Impressionist.

Impression repertoire

 * Aki Yashiro
 * Eiko Segawa
 * Hiromi Go
 * Keisuke Kuwata
 * Masakazu Tamura
 * Yasuo Yamada (Lupin III)

Original net animation (ONA)

 * Lupin the 3rd vs. Cat's Eye (2023), Lupin III

Dubbing

 * Burn Notice, Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan)