Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#264
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Akio Otsuka represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 37 years in, and Akio is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Akio Otsuka appears in 30 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Akio. Samurai Ballerina -L'étoile de Paris en fleur- is the clearest case: a film rated 9.0 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for action, mystery, crime. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Takahiro Hasui, Yuzuru Tachikawa, Takahiko Kyougoku and others, Akio Otsuka helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Samurai Ballerina -L'étoile de Paris en fleur- (2026) as Kenkichi Sonoi (voice) · Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger VS Lupinranger VS Patranger (2020) as Ganima Noshiagalda (voice) · Howl's Moving Castle (2004) as King of Ingary (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #264 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
30
1989–2026
Career length
37 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
9.0
Samurai Ballerina -L'étoile de Paris en fleur-
Average Nutevio score
6.7
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
9.0
Samurai Ballerina -L'étoile de Paris en fleur-
Most frequent director
Hayao Miyazaki
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Hayao Miyazaki
Most common genre
Animation
27 titles
Average runtime
1h 41m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.2
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
7.2
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1980s
7.8 average MV
The 1980s are where the work and the material meet. Kiki's Delivery Service — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1980s
7.8
Across 1 catalogue film in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1980s
7.8
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1980s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Kiki's Delivery Service.
Most productive era
2020s
19 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | — | — | 7.61 film | — | 6.25 films |
| Action | — | 7.91 film | — | 6.93 films | 6.313 films |
| Comedy | — | 6.51 film | 7.61 film | — | 5.34 films |
| Crime | — | — | — | 6.42 films | 7.76 films |
| Romance | — | — | — | — | 7.11 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Captain of the Airship (voice).
First Nutevio masterpiece · Highest rated performance · Career peak
2020Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger VS Lupinranger VS Patranger
The first film here to clear 9.0 on our scale — a threshold fewer than one film in ten reaches. 9.0 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2026GROTESQQQUE
The current state of the argument, as Space Agency Bureau Director (voice).
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
30 of 30 films
as Ganima Noshiagalda (voice)
Directed by Katsuya Watanabe
as Kenkichi Sonoi (voice)
Directed by Unknown
as Daisuke Jigen (voice)
Directed by Unknown
as King of Ingary (voice)
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
as Batou (voice)
Directed by Mamoru Oshii
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
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The defining work
#1
Ganima Noshiagalda (voice)
Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger VS Lupinranger VS Patranger (2020)
Performance score8.9
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Ganima Noshiagalda (voice) gives Akio Otsuka a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Kenkichi Sonoi (voice)
Samurai Ballerina -L'étoile de Paris en fleur- (2026)
Performance score8.6
Samurai Ballerina -L'étoile de Paris en fleur- asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Kenkichi Sonoi (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Daisuke Jigen (voice)
LUPIN THE IIIRD: Zenigata and the Two Lupins (2025)
Performance score8.2
LUPIN THE IIIRD: Zenigata and the Two Lupins asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Daisuke Jigen (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
King of Ingary (voice)
Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
Performance score8.2
Howl's Moving Castle asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. King of Ingary (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Ganima Noshiagalda (voice)
Start here. Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger VS Lupinranger VS Patranger is the clearest statement of what Akio Otsuka does — accessible, 55 minutes, and rated 9.0 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Akio at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
Keeps the action register of Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger VS Lupinranger VS Patranger but asks for a colder reading of it.
Howl's Moving Castle (2004)
Keeps the animation register of Ghost in the Shell but asks for a colder reading of it.
LUPIN THE IIIRD: Zenigata and the Two Lupins (2025)
Keeps the adventure register of Howl's Moving Castle but asks for a colder reading of it.
Samurai Ballerina -L'étoile de Paris en fleur- (2026)
Same director as LUPIN THE IIIRD: Zenigata and the Two Lupins, different problem to solve. Watching them in order shows how much of the effect was the collaboration.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Hayao Miyazaki
Director
3 films together
Notably Howl's Moving Castle
Mamoru Oshii
Director
1 film together
Notably Ghost in the Shell
Hiroshi Watanabe
Director
1 film together
Notably Slayers Return
Andrew R. Jones
Director
1 film together
Notably The Animatrix
Satoshi Kon
Director
1 film together
Notably Tokyo Godfathers
Yasuto Nishikata
Director
1 film together
Notably The Seven Deadly Sins: Prisoners of the Sky
Kenji Nagasaki
Director
1 film together
Notably My Hero Academia: Two Heroes
Hiroyuki Kato
Director
1 film together
Notably Lupinranger vs Patranger vs Kyuranger
Naoyoshi Shiotani
Director
1 film together
Notably Psycho-Pass 3: First Inspector
Katsuya Watanabe
Director
1 film together
Notably Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger VS Lupinranger VS Patranger
Takayuki Hirao
Director
1 film together
Notably Pompo the Cinephile
Shinji Aramaki
Director
1 film together
Notably Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable War
Kazuya Tsurumaki
Director
1 film together
Notably Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time
Yoshiaki Kyougoku
Director
1 film together
Notably Laid-Back Camp the Movie
Hiroyuki Seshita
Director
1 film together
Notably LUPIN THE 3rd vs. CAT'S EYE
Tensai Okamura
Director
1 film together
Notably My Hero Academia: You're Next
Toshiki Hirano
Director
1 film together
Notably Baki Hanma VS Kengan Ashura
Shinji Takagi
Director
1 film together
Notably Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League
Ai Yoshimura
Director
1 film together
Notably The Rose of Versailles
Atsushi Nishigori
Director
1 film together
Notably GROTESQQQUE
Takahiko Kyougoku
Director
1 film together
Notably The Idolm@ster Gakuen: Story of Re;IRIS
Yuzuru Tachikawa
Director
1 film together
Notably Mob Psycho 100 Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary
Takahiro Hasui
Director
1 film together
Notably Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Hayao Miyazaki
Director
3 films together · 8.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Howl's Moving CastleKatsuya Watanabe
Director
1 film together · 9.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger VS Lupinranger VS PatrangerMamoru Oshii
Director
1 film together · 7.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ghost in the ShellTakahiro Hasui
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the HighwayKazuya Tsurumaki
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a TimeToshiki Hirano
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Baki Hanma VS Kengan AshuraYoshiaki Kyougoku
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Laid-Back Camp the MovieNaoyoshi Shiotani
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Psycho-Pass 3: First InspectorKenji Nagasaki
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My Hero Academia: Two HeroesSatoshi Kon
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tokyo GodfathersYasuto Nishikata
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Seven Deadly Sins: Prisoners of the SkyTensai Okamura
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
My Hero Academia: You're NextTakayuki Hirao
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Pompo the CinephileAndrew R. Jones
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The AnimatrixAi Yoshimura
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Rose of VersaillesShinji Aramaki
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 Sustainable WarShinji Takagi
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza LeagueHiroshi Watanabe
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Slayers ReturnHiroyuki Seshita
Director
1 film together · 6.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
LUPIN THE 3rd vs. CAT'S EYEHiroyuki Kato
Director
1 film together · 5.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lupinranger vs Patranger vs KyurangerYuzuru Tachikawa
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mob Psycho 100 Celebrates Its 10th AnniversaryTakahiko Kyougoku
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Idolm@ster Gakuen: Story of Re;IRISAtsushi Nishigori
Director
1 film together · 0.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
GROTESQQQUESix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Howl's Moving Castle
as King of Ingary (voice)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Samurai Ballerina -L'étoile de Paris en fleur-
as Kenkichi Sonoi (voice)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger VS Lupinranger VS Patranger
as Ganima Noshiagalda (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
My Hero Academia: You're Next
as All for One (voice)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger VS Lupinranger VS Patranger
as Ganima Noshiagalda (voice)
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Akio Otsuka has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
37 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Animation Legend
Awarded
27 catalogue titles in animation, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Howl's Moving Castle
as King of Ingary (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger VS Lupinranger VS Patranger
as Ganima Noshiagalda (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Samurai Ballerina -L'étoile de Paris en fleur-
as Kenkichi Sonoi (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway
as Jyuugo Yokomizo (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger VS Lupinranger VS Patranger
as Ganima Noshiagalda (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
LUPIN THE IIIRD: Zenigata and the Two Lupins
as Daisuke Jigen (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Tokyo Godfathers
as Isha (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Howl's Moving Castle
as King of Ingary (voice)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Rumi Hiiragi
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Miyu Irino
Works with the same directors — shared collaborators
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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