Akio Ōtsuka

Akio Ōtsuka (大塚 明夫, Ōtsuka Akio, born Tuesday, November 24, 1959) is a Japanese actor and voice actor from the Tokyo Metropolitan area. He is attached to Mausu Promotion.

The astringent and calm quality of his voice has landed him many roles in films, dubbing, animation, and video games. He is most known for the roles of Black Jack (Black Jack), Solid Snake, Solidus Snake, Naked Snake and Venom Snake (Metal Gear games), "Ansem" (Kingdom Hearts series), Shunsui Kyouraku (Bleach), Lieutenant Garuru (Sgt. Frog), Gwendal von Voltaire (Kyo Kara Maoh!), Batou (Ghost in the Shell series and movies), Blackbeard (One Piece), Twin brother police Inspector's Sango and Jugo Yokomizo (Detective Conan), and Anavel Gato (Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory). Apart from voicing villainous or jokester characters, he also occasionally does narration for anime shows. He is the son of the late Chikao Ōtsuka, who was also a voice actor.

Filmography

Television animation

Metal Gear

Metal Gear (Japanese: メタルギア, Hepburn: Metaru Gia) is a series of action-adventure stealth video games, created by Hideo Kojima and developed and published by Konami. The first game, Metal Gear, was released in 1987 for the MSX2. The player takes control of a special forces operative Solid Snake who is assigned to find the titular superweapon "Metal Gear", a bipedal walking tank with the ability to launch nuclear weapons. Several sequels have been released for multiple consoles after requests from Konami to produce new Metal Gear games. The sequels expand the original game's plot adding new characters opposing and supporting Snake, while there have also been a few prequels exploring the origins of the Metal Gear and recurring characters. Various parts were inspired by Hollywood films with character's names, settings and artworks often referencing them.

Other notable traits are cinematic cut scenes, intricate storylines, offbeat and fourth wall humor, and exploration of political and philosophical themes, with references to Hollywood films to add flavor. As of March 2015, 41.2 million copies of the game franchise have been sold worldwide, with individual installments having been critically and commercially acclaimed and having received several awards. The franchise has also been adapted into other media such as comics, novels, and drama CDs. Snake also appeared as a guest character in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Metal Gear Solid

Metal Gear Solid (Japanese: メタルギアソリッド, Hepburn: Metaru Gia Soriddo) is an action-adventure stealth video game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and first published by Konami for the PlayStation in 1998. The game was directed, produced, and co-written by series creator Hideo Kojima, and serves as a sequel to the MSX2 video games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, which Kojima also wrote and directed.

Metal Gear Solid follows Solid Snake, a soldier who infiltrates a nuclear weapons facility to neutralize the terrorist threat from FOXHOUND, a renegade special forces unit. Snake must liberate two hostages, the head of DARPA and the president of a major arms manufacturer, confront the terrorists, and stop them from launching a nuclear strike. Cinematic cutscenes were rendered using the in-game engine and graphics, and voice acting was used throughout the entire game.

Metal Gear Solid was well received, shipping more than six million copies, and scoring an average of 94/100 on the aggregate website Metacritic. It is regarded by many critics as one of the greatest and most important games of all time, and is often seen as the game which helped popularize the stealth genre. The commercial success of the title prompted the release of an expanded version for the PlayStation and PC, titled Metal Gear Solid: Integral; and a remake, Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes was later released for the GameCube. The game has also spawned numerous sequels, prequels and spin-offs, including several games, a radio drama, comics, and novels.