Akira Kamiya

Akira Kamiya 神谷 明
Born	September 18 1946 (1946-09-18) (age 62) Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Occupation(s)	Seiyū

Akira Kamiya (神谷 明, Kamiya Akira^?, born September 18, 1946) is a veteran seiyū who was born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Yokohama. He has been represented by Theater Echo, Aoni Production, and others. He is currently represented by Saeba Shoji.

Career

Kamiya made his debut on Mahou no Mako-chan in 1970 while working for Theater Echo. He went on to have a regular role on Akaki Chi no Eleven as Sasuke Yatsume and later co-starred with Kei Tomiyama in Fushigi na Merumo.

In 1973 he played the title character in Babel II, and then went on to play the lead role in many Super Robot anime, such as Nagare Ryou in Getter Robo, Akira Hibiki in Yuusha Raideen, Jimmy Orion in Mechander Robo, and Takuma Ichimonji in Wakusei Danguard Ace. Because of his tendency to shout dramatically, he earned the nickname Sakebi no Kamiya (叫びの神谷, Sakebi no Kamiya^? Screaming Kamiya).

Kamiya has also played many playboy lady-killer types, including pretty-boy pitcher Satoru Satonaka in Dokaben, Godai's tennis-coach rival Shun Mitaka in Maison Ikkoku, and the rich and arrogant Shinnosuke Kazamatsuri in Yawara!. In addition to this he has also played goofier roles, like Tosaka-senpai in Kyuukyoku Choujin R and Nyarome in Mouretsu Atarou. Currently, he is playing the lazy, washed-up private detective Kogoro Mori (Richard Moore) in the long running Detective Conan anime.

The 1980s would see a string of memorable performance from Kamiya, including Shutaro Mendou in Urusei Yatsura, Suguru Kinniku in Kinnikuman, Kenshirou in Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star), Roy Focker in Super Dimensional Fortress Macross and Ryo Saeba in City Hunter.

Apart from anime, Kamiya has done some dub work, most notably dubbing Pierce Brosnan in Remington Steele and 2 James Bond movies (Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies).

In recent years, he has lectured at the Nihon Kogakuin Vocational School. Some of his students include Megumi Toyoguchi, Ryoko Shintani, and Ai Shimizu.

The Kinnikuman Incident

After reprising the role of Ryo Saeba for the City Hunter movie series and Kenshiro for the Hokuto no Ken (Fist of the North Star) video games, Kamiya reprised the role of Kinniku Suguru for the initial Kinnikuman Nisei movie and the Game Cube game Kinnikuman Nisei: Legend Chojins vs. New Generation Chojins. However, he was replaced by Toshio Furukawa for the Nisei (Ultimate Muscle) TV series and the expanded version of the video game (Kinnikuman Generations, PS2). No official reason had been given for this cast change and Kamiya himself claimed in an interview on Waratte Iitomo that he was never even offered the roles. Most fans were upset by the change and confused about why it was done. During a February 3, 2007 guest appearance on Seishun Radimenia, Kamiya said that he was unable to play Kinnikuman on those occasions because of the production budget.

As of the second expansion of the video game (Kinnikuman Muscle Generations, PSP), Kamiya has resumed the role of Kinniku Suguru.

Notable voice roles

Lead roles in bold

Trivia

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• Blood Type: A
• Hobbies: Photography, Driving, Computers.
• His favorite role he's played is Ryo Saeba from City Hunter, saying in interviews that the character reminds him of himself. His own personal voice acting firm, Saeba Shoji, is named after him. He reprises this role in Angel Heart.
• He has frequently co-starred with Hideyuki Tanaka, often playing characters who are connected with each other in some way.
  • In Dokaben they play teammates Tarou Yamada (Tanaka) and Satoru Satonaka (Kamiya); in Kinnikuman they play best friends and tag team partners Kinniku Suguru (Kamiya) and Terryman (Tanaka); in City Hunter/Angel Heart they play business partners Ryo Saeba (Kamiya) and Hideyuki Makimura (Tanaka); in Hokuto no Ken 2 they play Kenshirou (Kamiya) and Falco (Tanaka), whom consider each other equals as fighters and decide to travel together; in Entaku no Kishi Monogatari: Moero Arthur they play foster brothers Arthur (Kamiya) and Kay (Tanaka); in They Were 11 Kamiya plays the main character Tadatos Lane while Tanaka plays Maya Baceska, whom considers himself the leader of the crew.
  • Other smaller connections exist between their characters in anime like Record of Lodoss War, Detective Conan, Saint Seiya, and Maison Ikkoku.

External links

• Tokyo Saeba (Japanese)
• Kamiya Akira Fanclub - AKKIE CLUB (Japanese)
• Akira Kamiya at Anime News Network
• Akira Kamiya at Internet Movie Databasees:Akira Kamiya

ja:神谷明 th:อากิระ คามิยะ