Kenichirou Matsuda

Kenichirou Matsuda (松田 健一郎) is a Japanese voice actor from Saitama Prefecture, affiliated with Arts Vision. 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, 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.

Biography
Kenichirou Matsuda, a native of Saitama Prefecture, was born on 22 January 1978. 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. 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. Enrolled into the Japan Narration Acting Institute, he considered quitting after three years and a third failed audition, but instead continued, and the following year he was accepted into Arts Vision.

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

In February 2019, Matsuda was cast as Thors, a major character in Vinland Saga. 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." He later starred as Arnold in Magatsu Wahrheit: Zuerst and Miles Morgan in Engage Kiss.

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. Matsuda uses several different barks to express Bond's emotions, with different ones to express happiness and sadness. 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." In 2024, he starred as Richard Parker in Highspeed Etoile, and he will star as Marcella Nuvolari in Dahlia in Bloom.

Dubbing

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