Kanichi Kurita (Japanese: 栗田 貫一 Hepburn: Kurita Kan'ichi, born March 3, 1958) is a Japanese voice actor and comedian.[1] His most famous role is as the titular character of the anime series Lupin the Third. He inherited the role from Yasuo Yamada after the latter's death in 1995, and his first role as Lupin was in the theatrical film Farewell to Nostradamus.
Roles[]
As Lupin III[]
- Farewell to Nostradamus
- Pursue Harimao's Treasure!!
- Lupin III: Dead or Alive
- The Secret of Twilight Gemini
- In Memory of the Walther P38
- Tokyo Crisis
- Da Capo of Love: Fujiko's Unlucky Days
- $1 Money Wars
- Return of the Magician
- Alcatraz Connection
- Episode 0: First Contact
- Lupin the 3rd: Treasure of the Sorcerer King
- Operation: Return the Treasure
- Stolen Lupin
- Lupin III: The Inheritance of Columbus is Dyed by Blood
- Angel's Tactics
- Seven Days Rhapsody
- Lupin III: Lupin is dead, Zenigata is in love
- Elusiveness of the Fog
- Sweet Lost Night
- Green vs. Red
- Lupin III vs. Detective Conan
- The Last Job
- Blood Seal - Eternal Mermaid
- The Woman Called Fujiko Mine
- Record of Observations of the East - Another Page
- Lupin Family Line-up
- Daisuke Jigen's Gravestone
- Princess of the Breeze
- Lupin III vs. Detective Conan: The Movie
- Lupin the 3rd Part 4
- Italian Game
- The Blood Spray of Goemon Ishikawa
- Lupin the 3rd Part 5
- Is Lupin Still Burning?
- Puyo Puyo!! Quest
- Goodbye Partner
- Fujiko Mine's Lie
- Prison of the Past
- Lupin III: The First
- Lupin the 3rd Part 6
- Lupin the 3rd Part 2: Episode 18 (Japanese soundtrack - English versions only and uncredited, saying "Happy Birthday" to Fujiko redubbing Yasuo Yamada singing "Happy Birthday to you".)
Other[]
Notes[]
- Kanichi inheriting the role of Lupin from Yasuo's last will. Originally, Yasuo Yamada did not want a successor and wanted the series to end. However, the producers persuaded him otherwise.[2]
- Before he was the voice of Lupin, Kurita did voice impressions of Yasuo Yamada's Lupin. One time, he phoned up Yamada leaving a voicemail with his Lupin voice. Yamada replied back and repeated the entire message as it was in his Lupin voice, adding at the end, "You idiot! I'm Lupin!"[3][4]
- He's one of the few voice actors of Lupin III to not have been a cast member of the Japanese dub of Monty Python. Taichiro Hirokawa was Eric Idle, Yasuo Yamada was Graham Chapman and Toshio Furukawa was Terry Gilliam. The only other one was Lupin's very first voice actor, Nachi Nozawa.
- Has voiced Lupin longer than any other voice actor. As of May 2024, he has beaten the late Roberto del Giudice's record of 28 years.