Katsuyuki Konishi

Katsuyuki Konishi has one of the most immediately identifiable voices in Japanese animation: low, loud, and built for men who believe their own speeches. Born in Wakayama in 1973 and affiliated with Ken Production, he made his debut as Volfogg in GaoGaiGar and has worked more or less continuously since.

The signature is the hot-blooded idiot with genuine conviction. Kamina in Gurren Lagann is the definitive case, a character whose entire function is to shout other people into believing in themselves, delivered without a trace of embarrassment, which is the only way that role can work. Laxus Dreyar in Fairy Tail, Tank-Top Master in One-Punch Man, Fuegoleon Vermillion in Black Clover and Tengen Uzui in Demon Slayer are all variations on it: large men, large voices, and a self-regard the script is usually laughing at.

The range shows when he stops shouting. The Boss in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is quiet, precise and thoroughly unpleasant. Koutarou Amon in Tokyo Ghoul is a decent man being ground down by his own job. Shuhei Hisagi in Bleach is a straight man in a cast of eccentrics, and he carried Phoenix Ikki through the Saint Seiya Hades chapters across most of the 2000s. Beyond those he turns up in almost every ensemble going, from Kill la Kill and Promare to Hellsing, Blue Lock and The Apothecary Diaries, which is what a thirty-year career in this industry actually looks like.