Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1057
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Kappei Yamaguchi represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 37 years in, and Kappei is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Kappei Yamaguchi appears in 21 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Kappei. Chibi Maruko-chan is the clearest case: a film rated 8.5 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, screen presence. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for action, science fiction, animation. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Naoya Ando, Masaki Kitamura, Katsuya Shigehara and others, Kappei Yamaguchi 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.
Chibi Maruko-chan (2019) as Kenichi Oono (voice) · Gintama the Movie 2026: Yoshiwara in Flames (2026) as Inorin (voice) · Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) as Tombo (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #1057 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
21
1989–2026
Career length
37 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.5
Chibi Maruko-chan
Average Nutevio score
7.1
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.5
Chibi Maruko-chan
Most frequent director
Chika Nagaoka
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Chika Nagaoka
Most common genre
Animation
21 titles
Average runtime
1h 40m
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
7.1
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
12 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 | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | — | 7.41 film | 7.61 film | — |
| Action | — | — | 6.95 films | 7.08 films |
| Thriller | — | 7.41 film | — | 6.51 film |
| Comedy | — | — | 7.82 films | 6.82 films |
| Crime | — | 7.41 film | 6.32 films | 6.77 films |
| Romance | — | — | — | 6.51 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Tombo (voice).
Highest rated performance · Career peak
8.5 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
2026Assassination Classroom the Movie: Our Time
The current state of the argument, as Futoshi (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.
21 of 21 films
as Kenichi Oono (voice)
Directed by Unknown
as Tombo (voice)
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
as Inorin (voice)
Directed by Naoya Ando
as L (voice)
Directed by Tetsuro Araki
as Shinichi Kudo (voice)
Directed by Katsuya Shigehara
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
Kenichi Oono (voice)
Chibi Maruko-chan (2019)
Performance score8.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Kenichi Oono (voice) gives Kappei Yamaguchi a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Tombo (voice)
Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
Performance score8.1
Kiki's Delivery Service asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Tombo (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Inorin (voice)
Gintama the Movie 2026: Yoshiwara in Flames (2026)
Performance score7.8
Gintama the Movie 2026: Yoshiwara in Flames asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Inorin (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
L (voice)
Death Note Relight 1: Visions of a God (2007)
Performance score7.7
Death Note Relight 1: Visions of a God asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. L (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 Kenichi Oono (voice)
Start here. Chibi Maruko-chan is the clearest statement of what Kappei Yamaguchi does — accessible, 94 minutes, and rated 8.5 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Kappei 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.
Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
Keeps the family register of Chibi Maruko-chan but asks for a colder reading of it.
Death Note Relight 1: Visions of a God (2007)
Keeps the fantasy register of Kiki's Delivery Service but asks for a colder reading of it.
Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback (2025)
Keeps the crime register of Death Note Relight 1: Visions of a God but asks for a colder reading of it.
Gintama the Movie 2026: Yoshiwara in Flames (2026)
Keeps the action register of Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Chika Nagaoka
Director
3 films together
Notably Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar Pentagram
Hayao Miyazaki
Director
1 film together
Notably Kiki's Delivery Service
Tetsuro Araki
Director
1 film together
Notably Death Note Relight 1: Visions of a God
Munehisa Sakai
Director
1 film together
Notably One Piece Film: Strong World
Mamoru Hosoda
Director
1 film together
Notably The Boy and the Beast
Junji Shimizu
Director
1 film together
Notably Mazinger Z: Infinity
Konosuke Uda
Director
1 film together
Notably One Piece: Episode of Skypiea
Yasuichiro Yamamoto
Director
1 film together
Notably Detective Conan: The Scarlet School Trip
Baku Kinoshita
Director
1 film together
Notably ODDTAXI in the Woods
Susumu Mitsunaka
Director
1 film together
Notably Detective Conan: The Bride of Halloween
Yuzuru Tachikawa
Director
1 film together
Notably Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine
Toshiya Shinohara
Director
1 film together
Notably Alice in Wonderland –Dive in Wonderland–
Katsuya Shigehara
Director
1 film together
Notably Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback
Masaki Kitamura
Director
1 film together
Notably Assassination Classroom the Movie: Our Time
Naoya Ando
Director
1 film together
Notably Gintama the Movie 2026: Yoshiwara in Flames
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Chika Nagaoka
Director
3 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Detective Conan: The Million-Dollar PentagramNaoya Ando
Director
1 film together · 8.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Gintama the Movie 2026: Yoshiwara in FlamesHayao Miyazaki
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kiki's Delivery ServiceToshiya Shinohara
Director
1 film together · 7.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Alice in Wonderland –Dive in Wonderland–Mamoru Hosoda
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Boy and the BeastMunehisa Sakai
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
One Piece Film: Strong WorldTetsuro Araki
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Death Note Relight 1: Visions of a GodMasaki Kitamura
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Assassination Classroom the Movie: Our TimeKatsuya Shigehara
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Detective Conan: One-Eyed FlashbackKonosuke Uda
Director
1 film together · 7.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
One Piece: Episode of SkypieaYuzuru Tachikawa
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Detective Conan: Black Iron SubmarineJunji Shimizu
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mazinger Z: InfinitySusumu Mitsunaka
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Detective Conan: The Bride of HalloweenYasuichiro Yamamoto
Director
1 film together · 6.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Detective Conan: The Scarlet School TripBaku Kinoshita
Director
1 film together · 6.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
ODDTAXI in the WoodsSix 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
Chibi Maruko-chan
as Kenichi Oono (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
Kiki's Delivery Service
as Tombo (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
Chibi Maruko-chan
as Kenichi Oono (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine
as Shinichi Kudou (voice)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Chibi Maruko-chan
as Kenichi Oono (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. Kappei Yamaguchi 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
21 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
Kiki's Delivery Service
as Tombo (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback
as Shinichi Kudo (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Alice in Wonderland –Dive in Wonderland–
as The White Rabit (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Detective Conan vs. Kid the Phantom Thief
as Kaito Kuroba / Kaito Kid (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Gintama the Movie 2026: Yoshiwara in Flames
as Inorin (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
One Piece Film Red
as Usopp (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
The Boy and the Beast
as Teenage Jiromaru (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Detective Conan vs. Kid the Phantom Thief
as Kaito Kuroba / Kaito Kid (voice)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
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
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Jamie Harris
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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