Yuki Kaji (梶 裕貴, Kaji Yūki) is a Japanese voice actor and singer who voices Koichi Hirose in the third and fourth seasons of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The Animation, Diamond is Unbreakable and Golden Wind. He is also the voice of Johnny Joestar in the Bandai Namco video games, All-Star Battle and Eyes of Heaven.
He is also well-known for voicing popular characters such as Eren Jaeger in Attack on Titan, Shoto Todoroki in My Hero Academia, Meliodas and Zeldris in The Seven Deadly Sins, Pina in Beastars, Clemont in Pokémon the Series: XY, Kenma Kozume in Haikyu!!, Issei Hyoudou in High School DxD, Speed-o'-Sound Sonic in One-Punch Man, Judeau in Berserk, Haruyuki Arita in Accel World, and Hyunckel in Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai.
Biography
Kaji was born in Tokyo, Japan, but spent most of his childhood in Sakado City, Saitama Prefecture.
During his high school years, he joined his school's drama club with the goal of becoming an actor. In his sophomore year, he was introduced by his friend to a free acting training center for rookies in Japan Narration Acting Institute, and was later granted a scholarship for his talent. This ultimately inspired him to become a voice actor through his peers. According to Kaji, he did not hesitate to become a voice actor during his time in the institution because he was a scholarship student and his tuition was free. At the same time, he was the president of his student council and engaged his sports activities, though these prevented him from being active in voice acting.[2]
Kaji was among the finalists in the 2003 VS Audition hosted by the record label Pony Canyon, which helped boost his idol career. After graduating high school, he went on to continue pursuing voice acting. In 2004, when he was 19 years old, he debuted as a voice actor for the Japanese Playstation 2 game Teikoku Sensenki. In 2006, he made his TV anime debut as an unnamed character in Twin Princess of Wonder Planet.[4]
One of his breakthrough roles was Finnian in the 2008 TV anime adaptation of Black Butler. He would later go on to voice Eren Yeager in the 2013 anime Attack on Titan, which won him the 7th and 8th Annual Voice Actor Awards in 2013 and 2014 respectively - this was also the first ever consecutive awarding for a leading male voice actor in its history.[5] He also won the 12th Tokyo Anime Awards as well as Animage's 35th Anime Grand Prix for the Individual Voice Actor category in 2013.[4]
Kaji first debuted in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure as Johnny Joestar in the 2013 fighting game All-Star Battle, followed by Eyes of Heaven in 2015. He returned to voice Koichi Hirose for the TV anime adaptation of Diamond is Unbreakable in 2016. He also hosted Morioh RADIO 4 GREAT with Yuki Ono.
Aside from voice acting, Kaji is also prominent in the music industry as an idol. He was a part of the music group G.Addict in 2009. He debuted as a singer in February 22, 2012, with his single "sense of wonder".
On June 23, 2019, he announced his marriage to voice actress Ayana Taketatsu on her 30th birthday through Twitter.[6]
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Roles
| Title | Media | Year |
|---|---|---|
| All-Star Battle | Video Game | 2013 |
| Eyes of Heaven | Video Game | 2015 |
| All-Star Battle R | Video Game | 2022 |
| Title | Media | Year |
|---|---|---|
| All-Star Battle | Video Game | 2013 |
| Eyes of Heaven | Video Game | 2015 |
| All-Star Battle R | Video Game | 2022 |
| Title | Media | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Diamond is Unbreakable | Anime | 2016 |
| Morioh RADIO 4 GREAT | Radio | 2016 |
| Diamond is Unbreakable Drama CD | CD | 2016 |
| Stardust Shooters | Video Game | 2017 |
| Diamond Records | Video Game | 2017 |
| Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan | OVA | 2017-2020 |
| Golden Wind | Anime | 2018 |
| JoJo's Pitter-Patter Pop! | Video Game | 2019 |
| Last Survivor | Video Game | 2019 |
| All-Star Battle R | Video Game | 2022 |
| Puzzle & Dragons | Video Game | 2022 |
| Title | Media | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Diamond is Unbreakable | Anime | 2016 |
| Stardust Shooters | Video Game | 2017 |
| Diamond Records | Video Game | 2017 |
| Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan | Anime | 2019 |
| JoJo's Pitter-Patter Pop! | Video Game | 2019 |
| Last Survivor | Video Game | 2019 |
| All-Star Battle R | Video Game | 2022 |
| Puzzle & Dragons | Video Game | 2022 |
Gallery
Signature
Yuki Ono and Yuki Kaji on Morioh RADIO 4 GREAT #1
Yuki Ono and Yuki Kaji - #2
Yuki Ono, Yuki Kaji, Wataru Takagi, Takahiro Sakurai, and Daisuke Ono - #21
Yuki Ono, Yuki Kaji, Wataru Takagi, Takahiro Sakurai, and Daisuke Ono - #22
Kaji & Part 4 Final Episode Cast
Kaji with the Part 4 Movie
Yuki Kaji Stats on Morioh RADIO 4 GREAT
Yuki Kaji at Anime 10th Anniversary Exhibition
Trivia
- Kaji is a close acquaintance of Takahiro Sakurai, who is also the voice actor for Rohan Kishibe. In Takahiro's 2016 segment on Club AT-X, Kaji revealed that when he was still a newbie voice actor, he once went to Sakurai's house who gave him clothes and bought dinner for him.[7]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://www.animatetimes.com/tag/details.php?id=306
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 芸能人有名人学歴偏差値 | 梶裕貴
- ↑ VIMS Talent Profile
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 HMV Books | 梶裕貴 プロフィール
- ↑ Anime News Network | Yuuki Kaji, Kana Asumi Win 7th Annual Seiyū Awards
Anime News Network | Yuuki Kaji, Rina Satou Win 8th Annual Seiyū Awards - ↑ 竹達彩奈 Twitter | Marriage announcement
- ↑ 櫻井孝宏の(笑) | 第32回ゲスト：梶裕貴 (Archived)
