16 Facts About Kiyoshi Kobayashi

Kiyoshi Kobayashi was a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Tokyo.

Kiyoshi Kobayashi was attached to the Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society.

Kiyoshi Kobayashi was a graduate of the arts department of Nihon University.

Kiyoshi Kobayashi was best known for his role as Daisuke Jigen in the Lupin the Third series, voicing the character for over 50 years.

Kiyoshi Kobayashi voiced roles in Humanoid Monster Bem, the Droopy cartoons and Shazzan ; Kobayashi was the official dub-over voice of James Coburn and Lee Marvin for Japan.

Since junior high school, Kobayashi had excelled in English and had vague aspirations of becoming a writer in the future.

Kiyoshi Kobayashi was initially busy translating at the rate of two translations a month along with his voice acting work, and he was so busy that in the 1962 TV series "This Man Dawson," he took on the role of a translator at the same time he played the lead role in the series for the first time.

Kiyoshi Kobayashi appeared in many animation and narrated many TV shows.

Kiyoshi Kobayashi had his own particular preoccupations and aesthetics regarding his work, such as "not using a microphone pop filter" and "eating a piece of caramel before recording".

Kiyoshi Kobayashi said that dubbing Coburn was "the first role I ever held" and "a role I could do naturally".

Kiyoshi Kobayashi played the role of Daisuke Jigen in the anime series Lupin the Third for more than 50 years, from the pilot version in 1969 to the first episode of Part 6 in 2021.

Therefore, unlike the other four central characters, Kiyoshi Kobayashi was the only candidate for the role of Jigen.

When several members of the main cast were replaced in 2011, including Koichi Zenigata, the role of Jigen was initially scheduled to be replaced as well, but Kiyoshi Kobayashi was retained because "we just couldn't find anyone suitable for the role".

Kiyoshi Kobayashi has been told by those around him that he "looks like Jigen himself," even when he is not consciously aware of it, to which he expressed his delight, saying, "It's a gratifying story for an actor to hear".

Kiyoshi Kobayashi described Jigen as "the culmination of himself and synonymous with himself," and often said in interviews that "he is like an alter ego".

Kiyoshi Kobayashi was replaced by Akio Otsuka, known for dubbing Denzel Washington and voicing Solid Snake in the Metal Gear series, and whose father Chikao Ohtsuka voiced Goemon in Lupin the 3rd Part I "Episode 0", the first episode of the TV series Lupin the 3rd Part 6, was Kobayashi's last performance as Jigen.